Welcome Back 2017-18

Paired Programming @PlayTheFoos @codesparkceo @codeorg #HourofCode #CSEdWeek @Woodland_Hgts pic.twitter.com/WHyci3hJ47

— Elizabeth Graham (@Libscigal) December 4, 2016

Author Tweets

@Libscigal Big smiles here! You made my evening - hugs to you & your Ss!! :) pic.twitter.com/fdm6LhswP6

— Laura Murray (@LauraMurrayBook) November 30, 2016

@Libscigal yay! Hooray for your library students!

— Josh Funk (@joshfunkbooks) November 28, 2016

WHES Children's Book Week Events

Welcome Back Student and Parents!

Coming this Fall: Serafina and the Twisted Staff Book Club

Exciting package arrived today Thanks @DisneyHyperion & @BeattyAuthor for giving students gift of reading! #bookclub pic.twitter.com/9SpH4VFTJR

— Elizabeth Graham (@Libscigal) July 29, 2016

Such an honor to be able to help support this! Hope you & your students have a fabulous & adventurous book club :) https://t.co/bNpmuH68mC

— Robert Beatty (@BeattyAuthor) July 29, 2016

Summer Time is Six Flags Read to Succeed Time

Six Flags partners with schools to promote reading through their Read to Succeed program. Students read for six hours and earn a FREE ticket to Six Flags. This year 55 Woodland Heights students participated. The best part - teachers also earn a ticket as long as they have at least one student complete the program! 22 teachers received tickets as well. My family made our trek to Six Flags Over Georgia on a hot day in July. Thank you Six Flags for providing this opportunity for students and teachers and for promoting reading!

Mrs. Graham meets Porky Pig

Poem in Your Pocket Day - April 21st, 2016

In preparation for Poem in Your Pocket Day, students watched Emily Arrow's video for her song, "Poem in Your Pocket", motions included. Here, Mrs. Novak's class sings along:

1st graders rock out to @helloemilyarrow's Poem in Your Pocket @Woodland_Hgts library. #PoemInYourPocketDay #slm16 pic.twitter.com/a8RAFr2POu

— Elizabeth Graham (@Libscigal) April 21, 2016

3rd Grade: Color Thesaurus

3rd graders honed their reference skills using the thesaurus - in print and online. First they created synonym chains out of index cards - some were quite long with up to 25 synonym chains! Next students used artist and author Ingrid Sundberg's Color Thesaurus. The Color Thesaurus is a visual representation of the different names and shades of colors. Students found new words for their favorite colors and then added them to a group poster. Why go with just blue when you have all of these options:

Image from: http://ingridsundberg.com/2014/02/04/the-color-thesaurus/

The word cloud below represents students' color words:

Created with Tagul.com

Dr. Seuss Literacy Celebration Smore Flyer

The One and Only Ivan: Autographed Copy

@kaaauthor I love this surprise you included: Personalized copy of Ivan! @MrSchuReads pic.twitter.com/R03Ezv1j1K

— Elizabeth Graham (@Libscigal) February 18, 2016

Roscoe Riley Books Are Here!

@kaaauthor Special delivery was waiting for me today! Thank you so much! Will share w/1st-2nd grade classrooms! pic.twitter.com/ng4CbhLErW

— Elizabeth Graham (@Libscigal) February 18, 2016

Hour of Code 2015

#HourOfCode 2015 2nd Grade loves @codeorg tutorials, learning in the library #edtec https://t.co/SwnzTtVqrF pic.twitter.com/l04uylvNGa

— Elizabeth Graham (@Libscigal) December 9, 2015

Fun times with 4th grade girls @Woodland_Hgts #girlscodetoo #HourOfCode pic.twitter.com/nIUhTJACzz

— Elizabeth Graham (@Libscigal) December 11, 2015

Ready for a Whole Week of the Hour of Code

@codeorg @Woodland_Hgts Started our Hour of Code a little early! pic.twitter.com/kvEgTkXGZG

— Elizabeth Graham (@Libscigal) November 24, 2015

Guest Reader: Welcome Back Mr. Dearybury!

We had a special guest in the library this week: Jed Dearybury (Mr. D.) stopped by to share a favorite book and lesson with Ms. Tiller's second graders. Students heard Tony DiTerlizzi's Caldecott Honor Book, The Spider and the Fly, and created spider web doodles. Written in 1829, The Spider and the Fly is a famous poem by Mary Howitt. DiTerlizzi's illustrations cast the poem in a film noir, black and white style, with a villain and a damsel in distress. Mr. D. invited the students to identify the tone and feel of the story and, no doubt, turned our 2015 students into fans of this classic poem. Link to Tony DiTerlizzi's website.

As an A.B.C. (Arts in Basic Curriculum) school, Woodland Heights is all about infusing the arts into all elements of our school. Mr. D. guided the 2nd graders through a spider web doodle activity. Check out the results below!

The Spider and the Fly image: http://www.amazon.com/The-Spider-Caldecott-Honor-Book/dp/B0012F29OM

Tagxedo Time

One of our favorite go-to tech tools in the library is Tagxedo.
Tagxedo has many applications and uses for technology integration.
Ideas to inspire: 101 Ways to Use Tagxedo. 

This week our 5th graders are creating Tagxedos as the final product in their Animal Research unit. Students conducted research in class with Mrs. Felton and compiled a list of terms to describe their chosen animal. These terms are used to create an animal Tagxedo. Here are some examples of students' Animal Tagxedos:

Areya's Sea Turtle

Alia's African Elephant

Cooper's Hippo

WHES Children's Book Week

Reading Goals Padlet

Padlet is a web tool that allows students to share their thoughts and ideas on a virtual bulletin board. This week 4th and 5th grade students added books they want to read this year to the following Padlet. Tiny Titans, Captain Awesome and The One and Only Ivan received multiple mentions. I can't wait to see our students achieve their reading goals this year!

Created with Padlet

Summer Learning: Use WHES Super Websites Symbaloo!

Keep the learning going all summer! Students and parents are encouraged to use the WHES Super Websites Symbaloo as a source for SUPER learning sites.

Summer Reading Program 2015: Every Hero Has a Story!

This is a great week in the library as we host visitors from two branches of the Spartanburg County Public Library. Both the Headquarters and the Westside branches have sent librarians to Woodland Heights to promote the SCPL Summer Reading program. This year's theme is "Every Hero Has a Story" and there are lots of cool promotions, prizes and events that go along with the theme. All library classes are learning about the program and why Summer Reading is so important (and fun)!

Catie Cornwell and Isabel Smith of the Westside Branch in the Storywell

Thank you Ms. Catie and Ms. Isabel!!

Ms. Fran hanging with 3rd grade

School Library and Public Library Meet-Up

Parents, please make sure your children participate in this FREE program. Click here for much more information. This year you can even sign up on-line and the SCPL will forgive up to $10 in fines when you sign up for Summer Reading!

Avoid the Summer Slide - the usual drop in reading scores from May to August! Keep reading students!