Readers Become Judges

During the last couple of weeks our students have donned a new hat: they have become judges of the art of the picture book.  Over the next few weeks we will be reading the ten picture books that make up this year's Red Clover nominees.  The children will be noticing things such as how the illustrations match the story, how the illustrator uses the space on the pages, and the placement of text or even the absence of text on a page.  All of these elements are meant to work together to bring the story to life.                                                                                                                                                                       To start off, we discussed what an award is.  I showed the children the recent Caldecott winner, A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka, and another Caldecott winner from 2007, Flotsam by David Wiesner.  The children noticed that Flotsam had won both the Caldecott and the Red Clover awards. 

It seemed fitting to start with reading David Wiesner's Art & Max, a splendid story about an artist and a would-be artist and their discovery of the creative process. David Wiesner wields a lot of power in both his pen and brush and his imagination seems to know no bounds.

Students retell the story of Art & Max with puppets

The next book we explored was Who Stole Mona Lisa? by Ruthie Knapp and illustrated by Jill McElmurry.  Again, the children really enjoyed this book with its playful illustrations (particularly the moving eyes in the paintings!) and exciting drama; it's an interesting blend of nonfiction and imagination.  We followed up the reading with an exploration of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum.  For a close-up of the painting click here, and for an explanation of the painting click here.  We have discovered that one of our UVM student teachers has actually been to Paris to see the Mona Lisa!

In the very first week of April our children will make their final decisions and choose the one book that they think best deserves the Red Clover award.  Last year more than 24,000 Vermont children in grades K through 4 voted for their favorite book (Let's Do Nothing! by Tony Fucile).  Which book will win this April?  Stay tuned!

Naturalist Jim Arnosky Visits EES

     

Vermont author, illustrator and naturalist, Jim Arnosky, spoke to children at Essex Elementary School on Thursday, January 19th thanks to a grant from the district PTO.  The prolific author and illustrator of more than 125 books for children shared with the students his enduring passion for learning about the natural world, and the living organisms within it. 

Jim Arnosky sings a song about hawks riding the warm thermals in the sky

It’s been about 10 days since Jim and Deanna Arnosky visited our school and the children are still talking about it!  The children absolutely loved his songs, stories and drawings.  Mr. Arnosky played his guitar and sang songs from several of his books, such as Man Gave Names to All the Animals, I’m a Turkey, and Gobble It Up.  Each group heard dramatic retellings of stories that had really happened to him while he was out researching and observing for his next books.   Jim enthralled us with tales about raccoons and alligators, bears, mother and baby alligators, and manatees, keeping us laughing or in suspense until the end of each story.  Ask your children which stories they remember.

Jim Arnosky tells how the crocodile sneaks up on the raccoon

Mr. Arnosky exemplifies the attributes of a life-long learner.  His curiosity has propelled him to continue exploring and observing nature wherever he travels. His subjects range from manatees and the environmental hazards that threaten their existence to buffaloes on the prairies; from wildlife tracks to sea monsters; from sketching Great Blue herons on Lake Champlain to the wild ponies of Chincoteague.  His books seek to inform and inspire young readers to become stewards of our environment, with a message that is positive and engaging: keep wondering about the world around you, keep noticing, keep asking questions, keep looking for answers.  Such traits as these are precisely what the Essex Town School District outlines in its Ends Policies (1.2) for its students:  life-long learning involving critical, creative and innovative thinking, and working together to analyze and solve problems in our complex world.

Jim Arnosky to visit EES!

We are so fortunate on several counts.  One, that renowned Vermont naturalist and children's book author and illustrator, Jim Arnosky, will be visiting our school on January 19th.  And two, that we have a super-supportive PTO that is sponsoring this event.

Families will have an opportunity to purchase a selection of his books prior to the visit, and Mr. Arnosky has agreed to autograph after his presentations.  Phoenix Books, Essex's local bookstore, is working with us to provide the books.  We'll be sending home a letter this week with the details.


In the meantime, we are busy studying his books in the Learning Center.

Book Fair Bonanza

Our Book Fair in November was a huge success. Thank you to all who volunteered and shopped and attended our Family Fun event on the Saturday. We had tons of fun!

Miss Cherry gets ready for Saturday

A couple of readers blast off

Clifford love

Clifford gets chased!

Miss Cherry at the Galaxy fishing game.

Mrs. McKenna runs the refreshment table at our Family Fun Event.

Mrs. Heppner hosts a Galaxy Painting activity.

A Special Thai Visitor

Sawaddee Ka! The Essex Elementary School Learning Center has gone Thai! Our special guest educator, Thitima Muakphet, fondly known as Cherry, has been spending the fall months at EES. Cherry teaches 8th and 9th grade social studies in Samutprakarn,Thailand, but she will be spending the school year in our district.

Last week the children of EES had a very special treat. Each class entered the Learning Center to find the lights dimmed, beautiful Thai music playing softly, and Mrs. Scrimgeour, Mrs. Doble and Cherry dressed in festive Thai costumes.

The children were introduced to traditional Thai shadow-puppets, and then watched a shadow-puppet show of the story “Why Frog and Snake Never Play Together,” a pourquoi-style of tale that explains why something is the way it is.  

Cherry showed pictures of Thailand, including some of their important customs for children and their teachers. Each child received a small booklet on which she had written each child’s name in the Thai alphabet (which has 44 characters!). 

Children also learned to greet each other in Thai. Girls greet others by saying “Sawaddee Ka,” and boys return the greeting with “Sawaddee Krab.”

The children thoroughly enjoyed this cultural exchange. Thank you, Thitima Muakphet!  Kob Kun Ka, Cherry!

Transformation in the Library

Just over a week ago a group of Kindergartners made an exciting discovery: a Monarch caterpillar had somehow managed to form a chrysalis under our "mushroom" table.

It was an incredible sight.  "How did it get there?," was the most frequent question.   We can only guess that as a caterpillar it found its way out of the netting, down the table leg, crawled across the great divide of the carpet until it found a place that is peaceful and tranquil: our mushroom table in the garden area.  

It must have thought to itself, "Here's a perfect place to rest inside my chrysalis for awhile."  And so it rested...

On Thursday morning the chrysalis was black.  If you look carefully, you can see the wing pattern through the chrysalis shell:

The children were intrigued.

The resolution is not perfect, but the images are magical nonetheless!

This video clip is taken with a Flip camera and captures the entire emergence. It too is blurry, unfortunately:


And here she is, resting in our incubator net before being released:

Taking Care of Our Books @ EES

It’s our fourth week back in session.  The children are thrilled to be back in the Learning Center looking for their favorite books, discovering our new ones, and simply enjoying spending time pouring over their selections.  

Currently we are in the midst of learning about book care.  This is a two week unit that includes the story, MR. WIGGLE’S BOOK by Paula Craig and Carol Thompson, a puppet show entitled “Don’t Monkey Around With Library Books,” and a visit from Dr. Bookster who diagnoses “medical” book symptoms.  Dr. Bookster consults with the students and together they arrive at a diagnosis for each book.  The students see examples of books with chewed corners, scribbles all over, ripped pages, torn off covers, and  wrinkled and/or stuck together pages.  Some of the students are convinced that I, myself, purposely did this to each book so I would have examples for my lesson, but I assure them I would never ever do that.  Each book is a true example of what can and does happen when they fall into the hands (or jaws) of baby brothers or siblings or pets, or seemingly innocent water bottles in backpacks.  

The goal of course, is to have all children learn to be responsible for the books that belong to all of us here at EES.  Ask your child what things they learned about taking good care of books.  You’ll be amazed at how much they know!