Current Events

17/05/2010

Find out what Current Events are happening this week from IST Grade 2…

What is a Current Event? A Current Event is something that is happening somewhere in the world NOW! Current Events are news stories that include a title, author, and date of publication. Grade 2 students are doing more than just looking up information, they are asking, “What is happening in our world TODAY?”

Each week two students choose an article to present from newspapers, magazines and Internet sites. Students read the article and then use our Current Events Note Taking Form to answer questions like Who, What, When, Where and Why. Students include their opinion about the article and then present their information to the rest of the class.

This week Aryan shared with us an article titled Costa Passengers Describe Panic As Cruise Ship Crashed Into Pier from USAToday online.

Aryan stated that, “On the 7th of May in Egypt, a cruise ship crashed into a pier. There were holes on one side of the ship so the captain turned the ship so it would not sink.”

Aryan continued by stating, “I think this article is important because three people died and three other people got hurt.” He also shared with the class, “I wouldn’t want to go on a cruise ship because it might crash.”

__________

Faris shared with the class an article titled, Earth-Friendly Fabrics from Science News For Kids online.

Faris told the class, “This article is about companies that make fabric out of bamboo and corn. People began to understand the need to protect the environment. They started new ways of making fabric using natural products that are easily replaced.”

Faris shared the following facts, “Bamboo fabric is made in the USA, Canada, China, India, Taiwan and Turkey. Corn fabric is made in the USA and China.” Faris continued by saying, “I think this article is important because we need to save our planet Earth and to keep the environment clean and healthy.” He concluded his presentation by saying, “I was surprised to learn that fabric is made this way and I think this is good for the environment.”

Faris used the following slide presentation to share information about his article.

__________

Thank you Aryan and Faris for presenting your articles to the class. Both students answered questions and accepted constructive feedback from their audience at the conclusion of their presentation.


Reader’s Chair

15/05/2010

Each Wednesday one student has the opportunity to share a book of his/her choice with the class. This week, Noah had the opportunity to share one of his favorite books.

Students are given one week to choose a “just right book” to share. Students are expected to practice reading their book aloud to family and friends at home. Students present the book to their class, reading the book aloud, engaging the audience by making eye contact, showing illustrations and asking questions to check for their understanding.

Noah has been working hard this year to become a fluent reader. Noah chose this book for many reasons. He said he likes the many different stories but he also likes the fantastic illustrations in this book. While reading aloud, Noah made sure to involve his audience by showing the pictures on each page and stopping to ask questions. He was well prepared for his reading. He obviously practiced reading at home with his parents and he made lots of notes for himself to remember what to ask and where to stop in the book while reading.

This Week’s IST Grade 2 Reading Recommendation:

When the World Began: Stories Collected in Ethiopia (Oxford Myths & Legends)
Written by Elizabeth Laird
Illustrated by Joseph Kebede and Lydia Monks
Publisher: Oxford University Press; New Ed edition (5 April 2001)
Language: English
Recommended Age: 3-5

This work contains stories about animals and hunters, wise stories, funny stories, stories about cunning and trickery, and love and goodness. These stories are written down here for the first time ever. The author has travelled around Ethiopia collecting stories from this incredibly diverse country. There are stories like those of Aesop, the Bible and Grimm. They are retold by a prize-winning children’s author who loves the country. Elizabeth Laird has won the Reader’s Choice award for the Smarties, the children’s Book award and has been shortlisted for the Carnegie. She has previously published with Egmont, Macmillan, Collins and Hodder. She has spent two years travelling to gather these stories. – from amazon.com


Reader’s Chair

08/05/2010

Each Wednesday one student has the opportunity to share a book of his/her choice with the class. This week, Aidan had the opportunity to share one of his favorite books.

Students are given one week to choose a “just right book” to share. Students are expected to practice reading their book aloud to family and friends at home. Students present the book to their class, reading the book aloud, engaging the audience by making eye contact, showing illustrations and asking questions to check for their understanding.

Aidan is a voracious reader. (That means he likes to read a lot!) Aidan chose a challenging book about King Arthur to read to the class. This being a large chapter book, Aidan was able to read only a small portion of his book but he read with confidence and he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear him. At the end of his reading, Aidan was met with a number of questions as to how the book continues. Aidan did his best to answer questions and suggested that this book would make a good addition to anyone’s library.

This Week’s IST Grade 2 Reading Recommendation:

Arthur of Albion
Written by John Matthews
Illustrated by Pavel Tatarnikov
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 96 pages
Publisher: Barefoot Books (September 1, 2008)
Language: English

“The ultimate book on King Arthur! Combining the best-known stories about Arthur and his court with fascinating research on who Arthur really was and where Camelot was built, and the relationships between the main characters in the legends, the magnificent edition has been designed and illustrated to the highest standards.” – Amazon.com


Reader’s Chair

03/05/2010

Each Wednesday individual students have the opportunity to share a book of their choice with the class.

Students are given one week to choose a “just right book” to share. Students are expected to practice reading their book aloud to family and friends at home. Students present the book to their class, reading the book aloud, engaging the audience by making eye contact, showing illustrations and asking questions to check for their understanding.

This week in Ms. Tima’s class, Nyan read Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish. He read with confidence and enthusiasm. He stopped every once in awhile to ask the students to make a prediction on how Amelia Bedelia would interpret the instructions she was given. Amelia does exactly what she is asked to do. “Draw the drapes when the sun comes in” is exactly what Amelia does. She grabs a sketchbook and draws the drapes. The children all loved to see how she would “dress the turkey”.

Also in Ms. Tima’s class, Naaba chose a story from the Curious George Treasury. Naaba loves Curious George, and chose to read Curious George Goes Camping. It was evident that Naaba has read this story many times, as he read with a smile on his face, and would often laugh before we learnt what was funny. Naaba felt this was the perfect story to share with the class, as he thought they would appreciate the trouble Curious George gets into. And just to make sure we didn’t miss anything, Naaba would point to small details in the illustrations to help his audience visualise the story even more.

In Mr. McKillip’s class Daniel chose to read the classic tale The King, The Mice And The Cheese. It was obvious that Daniel enjoyed reading this book aloud as he read with expression and made sure to heed punctuation. He also made sure his audience was engaged by showing them not only his face but also the pictures on each page. Daniel was well received with many questions and comments at the end of his book. Well done Daniel!

This Week’s IST Grade 2 Reading Recommendations:

Amelia Bedelia
Written by Peggy Parish and Illustrated by Fritz Siebel
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 64 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st Printing edition (August 30, 1992)
Language: English

Curious George Treasury
Written by H. A. Rey
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: HMH Books (October 25, 2004)
Language: English

The King, The Mice And The Cheese
Written by Nancy and Eric Gurney
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 63 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (August 12, 1965)
Language: English


Reader’s Chair

26/04/2010

Each Wednesday individual students have the opportunity to share a book of his/her choice with the class. This week, Talin (G2M), Aryan, Ilsa and Vansh (G2N) had the opportunity to share one of their favorite books.

Students are given one week to choose a “just right book” to share. Students are expected to practice reading their book aloud to family and friends at home. Students present the book to their class, reading the book aloud, engaging the audience by making eye contact, showing illustrations and asking questions to check for their understanding.

Talin chose a Step-Into-Reading book to share with the class. Talin obviously practiced reading her book at home as she read aloud with lots of expression. Her audience was thoroughly engaged listening as she changed her voice from narrator to the gruff gravelly voice of the dragon. Talin also made sure to stop from time to time to ask her audience questions to check for understanding.

At the conclusion of her reading, Talin presented the class with a scale she made at home. She used the scale to illustrate the weight and measure concepts from the story. Talin asked her audience to help her reenact the weighing contest from the story demonstrating that two items don’t necessarily weigh more than one.

__________

Aryan read Fun With Friends, a Bobbie Kalman Book. It is a book full of delightful poems about friendship. Aryan read with lots of rhythm and energy. It was a book he enjoyed reading and got the rest of the class thrilled about poetry and talking about the things they like to do with their friends. The poem Being a Good Friend got the children to talk about their feelings, and opened the class to a lot of discussion. Thanks Aryan!

Other students to have a turn at the Reader’s Chair were Kizito who shared an Enid Blyton short story, The Goblin Hat, Ilsa who read Rose and Flo by Judy Nayer, a funny book filled with rhyming words, and Vansh who read The Sheppard and the Lion.

This Week’s IST Grade 2 Reading Recommendations:

The Dragon’s Scales
Written by Sarah Albee
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 48 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (May 19, 1998)
Language: English

“When a hot-tempered dragon seizes the local bridge, the people of Berryville are cut off from their supply of beloved strawberries until they can correctly answer three questions related to weight. The grownups of the town are stumped, but one very smart little girl saves the day with some facts she learned in school.” – from Amazon.com

__________

Fun With My Friends (In My World)
Written by Bobbie Kalman
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Crabtree Pub Co (September 1985)
Language: English


John Kilaka Is Back!

19/04/2010

John Kilaka, author and illustrator who visited us earlier this year, will be visiting the library on Thursday at 1:00 selling 8 of his Amazing Tree books for 30,000TSH each. He will also sign them! Please send money with your child if you are interested in purchasing and your library bag if you want him to sign it as well!


Reader’s Chair 2N

18/04/2010

Each Thursday one student has the opportunity to share a book of his/her choice with the class. This week, Nikhil had the opportunity to share one of his favorite books.

Students are given one week to choose a “just right book” to share. Students are expected to practice reading their book aloud to family and friends at home. Students present the book to their class, reading the book aloud, engaging the audience by making eye contact, showing illustrations and asking questions to check for their understanding.

Nik chose the book Parts by Tedd Arnold. He read with confidence and humour. At the end of the book, Nik asked the students questions to check for their understanding. He even closed the book, and asked if anyone could remember the name of the author.

Tedd Arnold says: The idea for this book came from my son, Walter, when he was five years old and experienced his first loose tooth. I made a little note about it in my journal. Then 10 years later, I found the note and had an idea of how to expand that memory into a book. That’s why I say it took me 10 years to write this book. I like to tell kids this is precisely the reason to keep a journal or an idea file. We are all very busy people. You can’t remember every idea you get or every little thing that happens, whether it’s something funny or sad or scary. But if you write things down when they happen, you will always have those memories. Go back years later, read through what you wrote and you will find yourself thinking, “Oh, yeah! I forgot all about that!” So don’t forget–write it down!

What great advice!


Reader’s Chair

16/04/2010

Each Wednesday one student has the opportunity to share a book of his/her choice with the class. This week, Yusra had the opportunity to share one of her favorite books.

Students are given one week to choose a “just right book” to share. Students are expected to practice reading their book aloud to family and friends at home. Students present the book to their class, reading the book aloud, engaging the audience by making eye contact, showing illustrations and asking questions to check for their understanding.

Yusra chose a popular Disney/Pixar movie (A Bug’s Life) book to share with the class. Yusra read her book with confidence. She obviously practiced reading her book at home with her family members. While reading aloud, she stopped at certain points to ask her audience questions to check for understanding.

Many (if not all) Grade 2 students have seen the movie, A Bug’s Life and were familiar with the story and its characters. Everyone enjoyed listening to Yusra read this enjoyable book.

This Week’s IST Grade 2 Reading Recommendation:

Flik the Inventor (A Bug’s Life, Book 1)
by Disney Enterprises Inc
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 44 pages
Publisher: Advance Publishing, Inc; First Edition edition (November 1998)
Language: English


More G2 Raz-Kids Reading STARS!

29/03/2010

What? You say you’re bored and need something fun to do – well then READ!

That’s right, you can always practice reading no matter where you are – at home, at school or somewhere out in the world.

What? You don’t have a book? Not a problem as long as you have Internet! Mr. McKillip’s class can log into Raz-Kids read books and earn more stars.

Congratulations to students earning over 1000 Raz-Kids Stars!

Noah is a star reader earning more than 6000 Raz-Kids Stars! Noah has been using Raz-Kids both at school and at home. He is quickly becoming a better reader. Noah likes reading to others and reading independently using Raz-Kids on the computer. Keep reading Noah!

Talin is another reading star having earned more than 2000 Raz-Kids Stars! Talin is proud of her reading. She often enjoys reading to others. She takes her time and makes sure to heed punctuation. Keep reading and setting a good example for others!

Bertha has earned more than 1000 Raz-Kids Stars! Bertha enjoys reading. She likes to bring books from home to share with her classmates. Bertha continues to gain confidence reading. She reads to herself and to others everyday. Keep reading Bertha!

Faris has earned more than 1000 Raz-Kids Stars! He is quickly becoming a more fluent reader. He reads with confidence and if he makes a mistake, he is quick to make self corrections. Faris inspires others to read more challenging books. Way to go Faris!

Keelan has earned more than 1000 Raz-Kids Stars! Keelan is eagerly becoming a more confident reader. She loves to read and it shows. When retelling a story, she often makes connections with other stories she has read. Keep making reading a priority Keelan!

And last but not least, Koby has also earned more than 1000 Raz-Kids Stars! Koby has just recently started using Raz-Kids at home. He likes to read and likes to share his reading with others. Way to go Koby – Keep up your enthusiasm for reading!

You too can earn more stars and become a STAR reader on Raz-Kids. NOW students can board the Raz Rocket and blast off to a distant planet for an out-of-this-world experience!

Star System
Students earn stars for every book read and listened to, and quizzes and assignments successfully completed. Students use earned stars to buy items from the Raz-Rocket Catalog to personalize their rocket.

Rocket Ranking System
As students earn stars, they move up in rank. Ranks are displayed on each student’s individual assignment page.

Have fun reading and remember, the more you read, the better you read so READ READ READ!


Reader’s Chair

21/03/2010

Each Wednesday one student has the opportunity to share a book of his/her choice with the class. This week, Danni had the opportunity to share one of her favorite books.

Students are given one week to choose a “just right book” to share. Students are expected to practice reading their book aloud to family and friends at home. Students present the book to their class, reading the book aloud, engaging the audience by making eye contact, showing illustrations and asking questions to check for their understanding.

Danni chose a classic Fable book to share with the class. Danni was well prepared. She read her book with confidence obviously having practiced reading at home. She made notes for herself to stop at certain points to ask her audience questions to check for understanding.

Earlier this year, Grade 2 students studied about Fables. Danni reminded us that no one really knows who wrote the original Hare and Tortoise tale. BUT thanks to people like Aesop who collected and wrote down these ancient tales, we can enjoy reading and retelling these wonderful stories again and again.

This Week’s IST Grade 2 Reading Recommendation:

The Hare and The Tortoise
Retold by Carol Jones, Aesop
Illustrated by Carol Jones

Interest Level: K – 2
Grade Level Equivalent: 3.5
Lexile® measure: 620L
DRA: 38
Guided Reading: O

Other versions of The Hare and The Tortoise:

There are many online versions of this classic tale. Here is a short illustrated version from childhoodreading.com.

Here is a fantastic clip, Sesame Street News Flash – The Tortoise & The Hare Rematch. Sesame Street retold the classic tale and added some new details to make it even more fun to listen and watch.


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