Grade 4 Maps and Atlases

Finding Costa Rica

To coincide with the Grade 4 unit about Geography, we explored different kinds of maps in the library. For example, a physical map shows land features like deserts and mountains, while a political map shows man-made borders delineating states and countries.

Physical maps don't change much during a century, but political maps often do. As I told the students, "When I was your age, there were two Germanys and one giant Soviet Union." (To which Luke replied: "I thought you were going to say that when you were our age, you were 10.")

Finding India

Then students learned about longitude and latitude ... did you know that Rhode Island is on the same line of latitude as France, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and Japan?

Next, they learned how to find locations on the globe using measurements like 42 N 71 W... not the easiest concepts to master, especially if you haven't covered angle degrees and spheres yet in math!

Equator = 0 degrees N/S
The Poles = 90 degrees N/S
Prime Meridian = 0 degrees E/W

Using what they had learned - and helping each other when necessary - the kids managed to find their assigned countries in the atlas as well as on a giant world map.

Using the Prime Meridian to find Morocco

Dewey Decimal number for atlases: 912

Most Held Titles - Fall/Winter 2011-12

1. What’s New, Cupcake? (cookbook)
2. Turtle in Paradise (RICBA*)
3. Lulu and the Brontosaurus (RICBA)
4. The Dancing Pancake (RICBA)
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #1
6. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (RICBA)
7. Bink & Gollie (RICBA)
8. Rapunzel’s Revenge
9. Into the Wild (Warriors series)

* Rhode Island Children’s Book Award nominee

Top Catalog Searches - Winter 2011-12

1. big nate
2. diary of a wimpy kid
3. warriors
4. army
5. dork diaries
6. dogs
7. Christmas
8. world records
9. ghosts
10. judy blume

Grade 3 Obsolete Inventions

The third graders are working on taking notes from "The Inventor's Times" (publish date: 2003). As we went through some of the inventions, I realized that several have already been replaced! Today's third graders may have never seen a Polaroid camera or a typewriter.

However, they can all still watch a silent movie ... Buster Keaton is my personal favorite. Oohs and ahs ensued when I showed this clip.

Edited to add: "The Artist," a mostly silent movie about the silent movie era, is up for an Oscar!

Grade 5 Origami (Yoda)

Getting through Origami Yoda as a readaloud took a lot longer that anticipated. However, along the way, students learned about the Twist, the National Spelling Bee (can you spell "sardoodledom"?), and Tycho Brahe. Not to mention how to make their own Origami Yodas.

Grade 4 Pet Research

Lulu wants a brontosaurus for a pet ... but fourth graders were able to think of lots of reasons why that might not work out so well. So we set out to find information on more appropriate indoor pets.

First, we collected data on the kinds of pets that fourth graders have at home (Note: we had to carefully define that a pet had to be living in your house on purpose, and your parents had to let you touch it. Mice in the basement and a snake once glimpsed in the yard did not count). Then we practiced math skills by reading tables and bar charts displaying the information.

Here is one of the tables:

PETS	4G	4S	4W	4BR	4F	4FR
cat	9	8	11	9	7	12
lizard	2	1	1	2	3	2
rabbit	6	2	3	2	2	2
hermit crab	4	2	1	0	1	6
crayfish	8	1	1	1	6	1

Sample questions:

• Which class has the most students with pet crayfish?
• How many students in 4BR have pet rabbits?

Next, the students created lists of questions that a pet owner would need the answers to. The assignment was to come up with two questions per person in the group; most groups went well above and beyond this requirement. They also graded each other on effort!

Finally, we practiced using a table of contents to find the answers to the most common questions.

Dewey Decimal for pets: 636

New Year, New Additions!

Nonfiction
031.02 Tib - Ripley's believe it or not! : the remarkable--revealed [Book]
133.1 Con - The world's most famous ghosts [Book]
330.973 Hei - The great recession [Book]
338.7 Buc - Pixar : the company and its founders [Book]
338.7 Fir - Nintendo : the company and its founders [Book]
363.25 Ein - Analyzing data in the Jungle Park case [Book]
363.6 Wei - The world's most amazing monuments [Book]
398.4 Jon - The girl's guide to zombies : everything vital about these undead monsters [Book]
512 McM - Learning algebra with pizza [Book]
513.2 McM - Learning about percentages at the mall [Book]
523.48 Tok - Poor Pluto. [Book]
593.5 Sex - The box jellyfish [Book]
597.3 Nuz - Megamouth shark [Book]
618.92 Rau - I know someone with ADHD [Book]
623.89 Wal - Mapping shipwrecks with coordinate planes [Book]
629.133 Irv - Volume and hot air balloons [Book]
636.8 Mat - Exotic cats [Book]
658.1 Jam - Graphing with pets [Book]
725.76 Irv - Perimeter and area at the amusement park [Book]
743 Clu - Drawing speed machines [Book]
743.87 Coo (Drawing) - Drawing fantasy figures [Book]
793.73 Wic - I spy mystery : a book of picture riddles [Book]
796.323 Wal - Understanding angles with basketball [Book]
940.54 Sam - Timeline of World War II. Europe & North Africa [Book]
940.54 Sam - Timeline of World War II. Pacific [Book]
972.94 - The Haitian earthquake of 2010 [Book]
B Cena - John Cena [Book]
B Earhart - Amelia lost : the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart [Book]
B Kinney - Jeff Kinney [Book]
B Swift - Taylor Swift [Book]

Fiction
E Lar - The haunted hamburger and other ghostly stories [Book]
F Ang - Darth Paper strikes back : an Origami Yoda book [Book]
F Buc - The sisters Grimm : the Everafter War [Book]
F Cle - Troublemaker [Book]
F Dan - School of Fear [Book]
F Gan - Dead end in Norvelt [Book]
F Hah - Deep and dark and dangerous : a ghost story [Book]
F Har - Still just Grace [Book]
F Kib - Amulet / Book 2 / The stonekeeper's curse [Book]
F Kib - Amulet. Book four, The last council [Book]
F Kib - Amulet / The Cloud Searchers #3 [Book]
F Kin (Series) - Diary of a wimpy kid : cabin fever [Book]
F Kor - Collision course [Book]
F Kor - S.O.S. [Book]
F Kor - Unsinkable [Book]
F Lai - Inside out & back again [Book]
F Lup - The underdogs [Book]
F Mas - 13 gifts [Book]
F Mor - The adventures of Sir Gawain the True [Book]
F Oco - Sparrow Road [Book]
F Pau - Flat broke : the theory, practice and destructive properties of greed [Book]
F Pen - Clementine and the family meeting [Book]
F Per - When life gives you O.J. [Book]
F Roc - One day and one amazing morning on Orange Street [Book]
F Rus (Series) - Tales from a not-so-fabulous life [Book]
F Rus (Series) - Tales from a not-so-talented pop star [Book]
F Tar - Hurricane Katrina, 2005 [Book]
F Tar - The shark attacks of 1916 [Book]
F Van - Moon over Manifest [Book]
F Wil - One crazy summer [Book]

What Am I?

The third graders are working on making inferences. What do YOU think this riddle poem is about?

Fitting In

I fit inside your door just right
wherever you reside.
But put me in your neighbor's door
and you'll still be outside.

There's just one hole that I fit in
made specially for me.
There's just one door, one safe,
one skate and one locked diary,

which makes me feel real special.
like I am one of a kind.
Of course, sometimes folks copy me
in case I'm hard to find.

I share a ring with others
of my type; I'm rarely single.
But that's okay 'cause when we
touch each other, then we jingle.

WHAT AM I?
(C) 1998, Arden Davidson

Thanks to Everyone Who Made the Fall Book Fair a Success!

Thanks to everyone who made purchases at our Fall Book Fair. We rely on the proceeds of the fair for almost our entire library budget. 25 - 50% of every dollar spent came back to us in a combination of "Scholastic Dollars" and cash.




Special thanks to our volunteers:

• Kerri Cyr
• Michelle DiNezza
• Cora Dubois
• Becky Grubb
• JoAnn Harlow
• Angie Holt
• Megan Paux
• Nicki Paux
• Janice Phelps
• Jen Roden 
• Beth Sardinha
• Becky Wetmore

Top Catalog Searches - Fall 2011

1. diary of a wimpy kid
2. dogs
3. percy jackson
4. harry potter
5. ghost
6. pugs
7. bone
8. judy blume
9. hockey
10.warriors

RICBA Gives Kids the Vote

The Rhode Island Children’s Book Award (RICBA) goes to the book selected by students in grades 3-6 as their favorite from a list of 20 nominees.

Students who read 3 or more nominated books may vote in February. They will receive extra credit for each RICBA graphic organizer they submit; it asks them to record what the book was about and how they felt about it.

To give everyone a head start, we built research projects around one of the nominees in each grade.

Grade 3: Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum
by Meghan McCarthy

After reading about Walter Diemer and the development of bubble gum, students are practicing taking notes on other inventors. They will be studying inventions more in depth later in the year in science.




Grade 4: Lulu and the Brontosaurus
by Judith Viorst

Lulu wants a pet brontosaurus, but her parents say no. And so does the brontosaurus! Students are researching pet care to develop information for Lulu that she would need to know if she got a different pet.







Grade 5: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
by Tom Angleberger

Fifth graders are working together to brainstorm and choose research topics, then come up with specific research questions and find the answers. They are also learning about paper sculpture in art class.

Our Library Newsletter - Online Edition!

Ever wonder what goes on in the library besides checking out books? How about research? Learning to work in groups? Literary criticism? Math skills?

That’s right … in the library, we seek to support the work your children do in the classroom by reinforcing concepts covered in all subjects, from science to language arts.

We also do as much as we can to place the right book in the right child’s hands. From airplanes to zombies, we get to know students’ interests and steer them towards materials that help them learn more, as well as develop further inquiry.

This newsletter/blog will keep you up-to-date on the lessons, activities, and fun that takes place in the library.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments.

Ms. Moore / mcmoore@nsps.us
Mrs. Roderick / lroderick@nsps.us

School phone: 401-762-2793