Catholic School 5th Grade: Thursday, 2/28/13, Thursday, 3/14/13, Thursday, 3/21/13
We finally finished No Talking! The kids reported that they were trying a similar exercise as the kids in the book - the girls weren't talking to the boys and vice versa. They loved the book, but they weren't interested in borrowing other Clements titles, which surprised me.
Book: The Boy on Fairfield Street
Notes: The kids got really excited about this, and they saw lots of parallels between Geisel's childhood and his writings as Dr. Seuss.
Books: East Dragon, West Dragon, Miss Nelson is Missing, Apples to Oregon
Notes: I have never had such an attentive audience as I have when I visit this group. They aren't just well behaved because they're in a structured environment. They truly engage with the books and make intelligent comments and insightful connections. All three books were huge hits, and I can't wait to see what else they will love on future visits!
Flannel Board: Quick as a Cricket
Notes: This group loves guessing games, so this was a sure hit. Some of them could even read some of the words, and they tried sounding out many others.
Catholic School First Grade: Friday, 3/15/13
Flannel Board: Quick as a Cricket
Notes: This group got a little wild, but they loved reading words like "quick", "large" and "shy" and got very excited about guessing the different animals.
Books: Brown Rabbit in the City, Find a Cow Now!, Flip, Flap, Fly
Songs: Sing a Happy Song, If You're Happy and You Know It,
Notes: This group loved Find a Cow Now, even though the ending falls somewhat flat. Brown Rabbit is a quieter story, and they're a very quiet group, so it didn't bring out many comments, but some of the kids laughed at Brown Rabbit on the phone at the start of the story, and they liked his guitar. They also liked naming the animals in Flip, Flap, Fly.
Poem: Ears Hear
Books: Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!, Click Clack Moo
Songs: If You'd Like to Read a Book, Hat Coat Pants and Shoes, Chickadee
Notes: The first group's session ran short, but the second one ran the right amount of time. (That second group is much more chatty and they ask a lot more questions.) Both groups loved the opportunity to make loud sounds along with the poem, and they laughed themselves silly over the hi-jinks of those bunnies in Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! I also got them involved by having them repeat the refrain with me each time it came up. Click Clack Moo also got a lot of positive responses, even though everyone had heard it before.
Poem: Ears Hear
Books: Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!, Too Noisy, Bob
Songs: If You're Happy and You Know It, Shake My Sillies Out, These Are My Glasses
Notes: This group loves to get loud, so the poem with all the noise words was a great choice for them. Too Noisy was kind of a flop, but they loved Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! Bob is hard to read aloud effectively, and this was not my best performance. The kids did love getting grossed out by Bob eating bugs, however.
Book: Dinothesaurus
The kids got really into this, and we nearly ran out of time! One boy informed me that he is the class "dino expert" and he had a lot to say about each dinosaur. Some of the kids had strange theories about what happened to the dinosaurs ("They turned into giraffes!") but whether they were dino experts or not, everyone enjoyed hearing the poems and making observations about the paintings.
I LOOOVE Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! It seems to have everything for everyone, and it's fun to read.
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