Sharing, Persuading, Critical Thinking

All over the RES library this week, scholars were sharing seasonal books. The scholars above shared a nonfiction book about football (that's a season, right!?) First graders shared a readaloud called Dear Rebecca, Winter is Here about the winter solstice...

while second graders enjoyed the wintry Norwegian folktale East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

And kindergartners shared their picture books with third grade reading mentors who come to the library every week to read aloud with them. All three kindergarten and all three third grade classes are participating in this project. It provides the older scholars a chance to build their reading fluency and reading confidence, and the younger scholars a chance to see and hear cool older kids reading for fun.

Third graders are beginning a unit on persuasive writing in their classrooms. For a little inspiration we shared Thank You Sarah, the true story of Sarah Hale,whose letter-writing and magazine campaigns convinced Abraham Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday.

These scholars are ready to go out and change the world

with their persuasive writing!

Fourth graders finished a unit on media literacy in their enrichment library classes. After viewing a series of videos about food stylists and misleading toy commercials, the scholars had excellent discussions about critical thinking and the media. They they evaluated several websites about endangered animals. One was the infamous site The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus...they asked themselves, is this website for real? How about the tree octopus? What are some ways you can tell?

Dear Rebecca cover image from scholastic.com
East of the Sun cover image from barnesandnoble.com