Thank-you!

If you look back to my blog posting of October 15th, it may bring back memories of the visit by Kazu Kibuishi when he did an assembly for our 3rd and 4th graders. He did not have time to do autographs for students but we got something even better!

Kazu sent bookplate stickers with his autograph and the image of either Miskit or Leon to our school recently; enough for each student to have one bookplate. Two of those stickers are shown on the top line of the photo.

Imagine my surprise when I realized he did not simply make copies, but that each sticker was an original sketch! When these stickers were distributed during the last two weeks, the students were quite appreciative. We wanted to do some something special to show our gratitude and Mark, in Mrs. Beaudry's 4th grade class, had the idea that each student could make a sticker for Kazu.

Today we began making them in Mrs. Rathbone's 3rd grade class. I loved seeing the students' original thoughts and drawings and four of them are included in the photo. Mrs. Rathbone's class has many Amulet fans; however, not everyone is crazy about this graphic novel series. One student included a drawing with "I'm not a fan, but thanks!" The rest of the 3rd and 4th grade classes will work on their stickers next week and then I'll be sending them to Kazu Kibuishi in California. I'm sure he will enjoy the students' work as much as we enjoyed his visit.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who bought one or more Gingerbread Books at PTO's recent Holiday Fair. Today I was able to hand $227 to our social worker who will make sure the cash goes to help a family in need. What a great school community!

More Tech!

There will soon be more tech equipment coming since the PTO has generously offered to buy six Ipevo document cameras for the school. These cameras, or visual presenters, offer basic functions similar to the better known Elmo cameras. We've had an Elmo for a year or so and it's great. The Ipevo does not do as much and isn't the same level of quality but they're smaller, much cheaper, and they do the job. Thanks, PTO!

In addition, we now have a total of five SMART Boards in our school. The district budget funded these purchases and we're glad to have them get into more classrooms.

Regarding this week's photos:

• The first photo shows an Ipevo (on loan from CMS; ours are being ordered) connected to the laptop which is connected to the LCD projector. The Ipevo is focused on a penny.
  
• The second photo shows the projection of the penny when viewed by the document camera and projected onto the SMART Board.
  
• The third photo was taken by the Ipevo and easily stored into my picture file. Can you believe it's so big that the image fills the SMART Board? Wow!

Gingerbread Books

Perhaps I'll see you tomorrow, Saturday, December 4th, at our PTO's holiday fair. I'll be the one selling nearly-new books for one dollar - yes, that's right - $1.00. These books are donated or are ones I've collected for this annual event. The Gingerbread Books include some great ones for both children and adults and you might get a real bargain.

Most importantly, the cash raised goes to our district Gingerbread Express program to give a little boost to families in our community that may need help. At our school, the program is coordinated by Mrs. Cafaro and Mrs. Connell who make sure the money goes where it can help the most.

Our school community has been very generous in supporting the program. Some people just throw in some money and don't worry about buying a book! In any case, it's a good cause and I hope to see you there.

Collaboration

It's somewhat fitting that working together in collaboration has been a key element during this holiday week. The photo above shows an assessment project for the Grade 4 science unit on
Soil and Water. Students worked within groups (collaborated) to construct a dam with surrounding materials to utilize what they had learned about water flow, erosion, and much more. It was amazing to hear them use sophisticated terms and concepts as they described their projects. The "final test" of the dam was to pour water and see if it held and whether the surrounding landscape and materials protected the homes. Their assessments included oral and written presentations. Impressive!

I was fortunate to take part in some of the assessments when we decided to show the presentations on the SMART Board in the Library. Ms. Miceli had the idea of using a document camera to capture what was going on so everyone could easily view it. I was able to collaborate in setting up the camera and helping in other ways. Our school has an ELMO document camera/visual presenter so this was a good way to use it. When my library class schedule permits, I really enjoy these opportunities to co-teach with classroom teachers.

As an example of even more collaboration, I borrowed a smaller document camera from Mrs. Steever, librarian at Chariho Middle School, and we used this newer, less expensive camera. Not only did it show the action, but taking photos was easy. What a great little tool! Thanks to Mrs. Steever for bringing this new equipment, Impevo, to my attention and for letting us try it.

You may well be doing plenty of collaboration tomorrow when you enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner - or at least I hope you don't have to do it all yourself. Happy Thanksgiving!

Back to Normal

Our annual Book Fair ended last Saturday with a "bang" and nearly $1,600 sales for the three hours we were open. So, if you waited in line to checkout at 11:30, now you know it was all for a good cause!

Thank you to everyone who visited, shopped and otherwise supported our Book Fair. The biggest thanks of all go to the wonderful parents and PTO members who helped out during the week's activities. We couldn't do it without you.

All the work and high energy paid off with gross sales of $5,300+ and a profit of over $1,300. This money helps me buy books all year and add other resources for students and staff.

The photo of the week was taken not long ago and shows that our library is "back to normal" after Book Fair. I have often said that I love having the Book Fair come - and I love seeing it go!

Busy, Busy Book Fair

As we near the end of the week, it's so busy, there's no time to post a good photo! Our Family Event on Election Day, Nov. 2nd, went great with many families coming in to shop with their children. Students have been coming in all week and now we're seeing lots of coins and change to buy "just one more thing". I always wonder if they're searching under their beds to find some more money!

I'll be here Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and then we have another
Family Event -- Saturday, Nov. 6th from 9 a.m. until 12 noon. Maybe I'll see you!

Book Fair is Next Week!

Mrs. Louzon's 1st graders were very helpful in helping me get the message out about our annual Book Fair next week. The cases of books have arrived and we'll be setting up Friday afternoon so we're ready to go Monday morning. You should have received the Book Fair flyer, a coral-colored sheet with information, plus the earlier PTO Newsletter which featured us prominantly on the back. As usual, if you still have questions, feel free to email me at cerei@chariho.k12.ri.us

Except for Kindergarten, students shop during their usual library class. Remember that if you want to be with your child to help them shop, you have many options. We are open each school day from 8-4 p.m. Also, there are two Family Events this year - one on election day, Tuesday, November 2nd from 3-7 p.m. The other Family Event is Saturday, November 6th from 9-12 in the morning.

Another way to be with your child as they shop is to volunteer during the library class. At this point, we are still short on volunteers to help staff the Book Fair. I would love to get more of the Volunteer Sign-up forms returned ASAP; it would help me sleep better at night!

Our school runs one Scholastic Book Fair per year and it is a major fundraiser for library resources. Many families appreciate the Classroom Wish Lists which help them choose a useful and much desired book for their child's teacher. We accept cash, credit, and checks (made to Charlestown SAF). This year Scholastic sent the EZ Scanner which promises to make for shorter lines, itemized receipts, and easier sales tracking. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of excited kids at our Book Fair and maybe you, too!