December Library Happenings!

I'm a little late in posting but we had a blast in the library in December.  We had our annual Winter Wonderland week complete with all types of great activities.  Here's a highlight of my two FAVORITE activities from the week.

How to Catch Santa 

If you did not discover this book during the Christmas Holidays this year, then you are truly missing out on some great fun!!  From the same author as How to Babysit and Grandpa and How to Babysit a Grandma, this book gives you a hilarious Holiday How-To.  After we read the book, we talked about procedural text and how it is organized step by step.  The students then created their own guide telling how they would catch Santa. 

Flying Elves 

Can you create an elf that will fly when attached to a balloon?  What do you need to take into account so that your elf is aerodynamic?  How do you account for friction?  Does weight make a difference?  These are all questions that our students had to think about while creating their flying elves.   They had minimal supplies and 8 minutes to create an original elf and name it.  Here are a few of our creations.  

Next, cam the fun.  We had a track set up across the library that was made from string.  We used a straw attached to a balloon so that the straw would travel down the track.  The elf was taped to the top of the balloon before we began.  As we allowed air to release from the balloon, the elf was thrust forward across the library.  Students timed each elf as it traveled.  

  

Rudolph's Nose Went Out!!

During December, our students worked on a very important challenge in the library.  We read Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer but then we learned that his nose had went out!!

We had kindergarten, first and second grade classes that participated in the challenge.  They were given a paper circuit with a break in the path of the circuit.  They had to find the right materials to complete the circuit and make Rudolph's nose light up.  

They had a great time trying different things and finally fixing Rudolph's nose.  There were lots of great connections made.  

  

Ninja Story Time with a Snowball Fight (of course)!

When I discovered that December 5th was National Ninja Day, I knew immediately that we MUST celebrate this day of awesomeness in the Joy James library. So, we set up our Ninja celebration for Friday, December 4th.

We started out with the EPIC story of Samurai Santa: A Very Ninja Christmas by Rubin Pingk.  The kids loved the story of the little ninja boy who wanted to chase Santa away.  He felt that Santa was ruining his fun.  None of his ninja friends wanted to have a snowball fight because they wanted to stay on Santa's nice list.  Little did he know, Santa loves a good snowball fight as well.  

Once we finished the book we talked about what an epic snowball fight would consist of and how we would protect ourselves with a fort if we were involved in such a snowball fight.  The students were then given the challenge of creating a fort from boxes to protect their teacher from a snowball that would be launched by students from another class.   They loved working together to decide how to protect their teacher.

Students were then given a large ace bandage (with elastic) and a few plush snowballs.  They had to problem solve to decide how to launch the snowball into the fort.  Many of them made a connection to the game of Angry Birds.  We practiced using vocabulary words like pull, push, force, heavy, light, motion and energy.  

Needless to say, the kids and teachers had a blast.  I think that Ninja Day was one of our favorites!