April was National Poetry Month. National Poetry Month is a celebration of poetry introduced in 1996 and organized by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States.
In honor of National Poetry Month, students created “Book Spine” poetry during their library lesson. Students arranged book titles to make a poem. Just like regular poetry, they created a poem that was serious or funny.
To make a “Book Spine” poem the students started by moving books around with their spines together so that the titles were like lines of a poem. Students moved books around into different stacks until they found lines that worked best together to create a poem.

Below are some of the “Book Spine” poems our class created.

Take a look at our performance! Our class worked with Mrs. Berubi’s class and presented this wonderful show to all the students and teachers at William O. Schaefer!

Read: Enemy Pie by by Derek Munson

One boy’s perfect summer seems to be ruined when his worst enemy, Jeremy Ross, moves in down the block. Fortunately, though, Dad has a recipe for enemy pie. But it seems that the pie will only be effective if the recipient is treated kindly before eating it. Reluctantly, the boy agrees to spend time with Jeremy.

It might not be Enemy Pie or like your grandma’s apple pie, but these factories go through quite the process and add their own magic touch for a melt in your mouth taste. Watch the video below to see how this factory produces mini apple pies.

People say they don’t have time to be kind. Watch the video below to see how to stop and remind others that kindness only takes a moment! Kindness blossoms…

Read: I Like Your Buttons by by Sarah Marwil Lamstein, illustrated by Nancy Cote

When Cassandra compliments her teacher, she starts good feelings flying throughout the school, out onto the playground, and all around the neighborhood.
Pay It Forward!

Watch a clip from the movie “Pay It Forward.”

tol·er·ance noun \ˈtä-lə-rən(t)s, ˈtäl-rən(t)s\
: willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own
: the ability to accept, experience, or survive something harmful or unpleasant

The start of 2015,a new year, and the days leading up to the celebration of Martin Luther King’s birthday is an excellent time to learn about tolerance. Martin Luther King Jr., dreamed of a world more tolerant than the one he lived in. Tolerance has the power to make a difference in student’s lives — and in the world those students will create.

What is your dream for the world?

Read Spork by Kyo Maclear

His mom is a spoon. His dad is a fork. And Spork, well…he’s a bit of both! Spork sticks out in the regimented world of the cutlery drawer. The spoons think he’s too pointy, while the forks find him too round. Will Spork find his place at the table?

Watch the tailer of this newly released book below.

To share and learn more about tolerance, consider reading the following books:

This week in library, first and second grade students continue to explore the world of programming with an iPad app called Cargo-Bot!

Cargo-Bot is a puzzler designed to teach kids about programming. The concept is simple –tell a robot arm how to move colored boxes around on a platform into different patterns.The implementation may be quite challenging, and just like in coding, a working solution may not be the optimal solution.
The key to learning to code is learning to think like a computer—which is a hard thing to do! Your child may need assistance.
Get Cargo-Bot for free on the App Store.

Thanksgiving is a great time of year to express gratitude. It is important that Americans give thanks for their freedom. The perfect way to do this is by thanking our active troops, our veterans, our heroes. It is important to remind students of the importance of showing gratitude for those who serve.

To honor our service members this Veterans Day, William O. Schaefer Elementary School will have a candy collection for our active troops in Afghanistan. Maureen Kelly from Vetiquette will once again be collecting wrapped Halloween candy for the troops. There is a big red bin in the front hall, across from the security desk, where families can drop off their donations.

If you would like your child to participate, please send in your wrapped candy by Monday, November 10, 2014.

Take a look at the history of the holiday honoring those who fought for America, both living and dead.

Learn how to say thank you to a veteran. I did!

grat·i·tude noun \ˈgra-tə-ˌtüd, -ˌtyüd\
: a feeling of appreciation or thanks

“Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” -Henri-Frederic Amiel Philosopher, Poet, Critic

Gratitude is being Thankful! Take one minute to watch the video, “Biker” from Values.com.

Dallas Clayton is an American author and illustrator best known for his children’s works in the Awesome Book series. Clayton’s adventure started a few years ago after he wrote and illustrated a book for his son called An Awesome Book!. The drawings were bold and the message was simple: Don’t ever stop dreaming, and when you do dream, dream BIG.

Not a single publisher was interested in the book, so he took matters into his own hands and published it himself. Clayton made the story available to read for free online. People started sharing his story and those people shared his story and so on so forth … readers of the Awesome Book exponentially grew and has impacted children as well as adults. Read, The Awesome Book, the book that started it all!

Dallas Clayton published a second book titled,The Awesome Book of Thanks!

A whimsical, Seuss-esque book that will inspire readers to appreciate the big and little things in life. “Deliciously childlike art…skips across the pages, sometimes silly, sometimes practical…and always appealing.” (Booklist)

Just like Dallas Clayton, you too can publish your own story online using mystorybook.com! mystorybook.com allows you to write, illustrate and publish stories as easy as one, two three! Choose your main characters, create a beginning, a middle and an end. Draw your story. Publish it!

Think about what it means to be grateful and start writing your online book! You can write with a partner or by yourself!

Halloween is a time of excitement and sometimes anxiety for students often fueled by fears and sugar!

Public Broadcast for Kids has many characters that are great role models to help guide students as they explore their fears and learn to make healthy choices. Go to pbskidsgo.org/video, to watch streaming video of Halloween-themed episodes and clips from ARTHUR, CYBERCHASE, MARTHA SPEAKS, FETCH! WITH RUFF RUFFMAN, MAYA & MIGUEL, ANIMALIA, DESIGN SQUAD and more!

Below are several more read-aloud stories to share this ” Halloween Week!”

This week in library students shared a Halloween Kamishibai story titled, “Ghoul Bus.” They reviewed the importance of story elements and story sequence.

They practiced beginning, middle and end using Halloween at Dot’s Story Factory.

Parents, there are also plenty of Halloween-themed games, crafts, masks, costume ideas, recipes, e-cards and more that support this once a year celebration!

 Share an activity with your child!

Ms. Eyer and Mrs. McBride are sponsoring SOCES “Out of Box” Challenge for October. Students in grade 1-5 are encouraged to participate and use problem solving skills and creativity to design and create a masterpiece. Identify a problem and create a solution using any sized cardboard box.

The following stories can inspire you to be imaginative, think critically and creatively, be resourceful and ingenious!

Cain’s Arcade

Antoinetter Portis’ picture book, Not a Box

Hacking the book The Most Magnificent Thing, by Ashley Spires.

Aarambh’s Help Desk

Follow this link to view Cottage Lane’s 2013 Participants – “Out of Box” Entries

Rules:
You can use cardboard, tape and 20% recyclable materials for your project.
You may not buy anything to add to your cardboard box.
The box can be as small as a jewelry box to as large as a refrigerator box. No boxes larger than 4ft x 4ft x 6ft will be accepted.
You can enter as a single entry or as a team. Team can consist up to 4 members.
Entries must be submitted to Mrs. McBride or Ms. Eyer by October 21st.
All entries must have submission form securely attached to project.

Download a copy of the entry form:
Cardboard Challenge Individual Entry Form
Cardboard Challenge Team Entry Form

Simple projects may take a few hours while others may take days or weeks. Problem solve, talk about what is working and what is not working. Be optimistic. You will learn to solve problems and you will tackle real-world issues.

Strap on your thinking caps and get ready to make something spectacular out of cardboard!

The Change Your Name Store by Leanne Shirtliffe (Author), Tina Kügler (Illustrator) Wilma Lee Wu does not like her name. So she marches to the Change Your Name Store where she meets Zeena McFouz, the outrageous owner. Soon Zeena convinces Wilma to try on new names in the magical store. Each time Wilma selects a new name, she is transported to the country from which the name originates. Will Wilma find a new name that she likes? Will she discover her real identity and where she truly belongs?

Today in library we asked tthe class to generate a fictitious name. The students used the name of their pet and paired it with the name of the street they live on! 

Please share your ficticious charcter with the class by posting in the comment section below. Tell us a little bit about your character, What does he do?  If you would like you can respond to a classmates character post. Remember to be respectful.