The Rooster Games

Excited 5th graders decked out in their team colors

On Thursday, February 21st the 5th graders participated in our 17th Rooster Games along with the students from Lincoln School.  They have been reading from the Rhode Island Children's Book Award Nominee list since the summer.  The list consists of 20 books chosen by librarians and teachers around the state.   The 5th graders must read at least 10.  The kids then play a variety of games focused on the books. They match the title and authors and titles and first lines of the books. They also answer 40 multiple choice questions in just 10 minutes (We've never had a team not complete it!). They match an object to each book, make a poster based on the books without using words or symbols and finally they just have 20 minutes to create a cheer for their team.

We end the event with a celebratory pizza lunch and a beautiful rooster cake.  It really is one of the highlights of 5th grade and so fun to see this level of excitement over reading.  As one 5th grader put it, " It will be one of my favorite 5th grade memories!"

2019 Youth Media Awards

On January 28th the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards were announce. I talked about some predictions on my podcast with Wheeler Voices. Additionally students in second grade have studied one of the awards; the Caldecott Award and they have made their own predictions.

Here's a link to all the winners. These award winning titles serve as a great recommended reading list for children, teens and adults. Many of these titles can be found in our libraries here on campus.

4th grade FlipGrid Vlogs

Last year, Megan O'Hara's class began using FlipGrid to keep track of the Battle Books they read.  This year the whole 4th grade has joined in.  The students have a great time recording short videos that include a summary and the star rating they give their books. The kids then record responses to their classmates videos.   Several students have enjoyed it so much that they have recorded book recommendations at home!  On Wheeler Day Ms. O'Hara's 4th graders showed their parents the FlipGrid videos they previously recorded. The parents and kids then recorded videos together.