LOVE These Summer Reading Videos Created By Our 3rd and 4th Graders!

            
The 3rd and 4th graders created Animoto's to promote Summer Reading!  They are awesome!

The above YouTube playlist are the WINNERS of the Summer Reading video contest.  These are going to be shown at the "End of the Year Assembly" in the morning.

All of the summer reading Animoto's were soooooo great....Thank you everyone for sharing your creativity, collaboration and FUN with all of us.

And don't forget.....Have FUN getting your SUMMER READING ON!
               

               

               

               

               

               

               

The First Graders Created Digital Stories Using TuxPaint, Google Presentation and Camtasia Relay

                                    

Over the last several weeks our first graders have been creating their very own stories in the library. 

After learning how to use TuxPaint from our friends Andy Plemmons, Kelly Hocking and their students in Georgia, we set off to create our very own stories.  

You can read all about it in the post Van Meter 1st Grade Writers and Illustrators...Turning Them From Paper to Digital. 

           

Once the little groups had their illustrated pages created in TuxPaint, we saved each page and added them as slides in a Google Presentation.  They used different laptops to create the illustrations so we had to save them and add them separately to bring the story all together.

They then started Camtasia Relay to screen capture the TuxPaint story playing in Google Presentation.  Within Camtasia Relay they can also capture themselves in a video player and their voice.

Bailey and Hannah, the two first graders who captured their story today, did this by themselves.  And they were so excited to see the final digital story too.

Using these tools together is an extremely easy, effective and fun way for students to create, publish and share their stories with the world.

A Little Advice Video From Our 5th Graders At The End Of The Year

                                
Today when the 5th graders came for their last day of library and technology time with me they were all excited and a tiny bit sentimental too.

They graduated two nights ago from elementary and will go upstairs to the secondary next year.  They are ready and will do an amazing job.

One of my 5th grade friends Colby came up to me and whispered in my ear,

"I have an idea.  Lets use the iPad stand and get a video using the Fuse app giving advice to the younger kids in our school."  

So we grabbed the video equipment and headed outside.  I just love what they produced.

And especially LOVE the message that they are going to leave our younger ones with tomorrow.
      

Van Meter 5th Graders....

You are awesome young people.....I can't wait to see where you will go from here.  Have a FUN summer and remember to keep on reading, creating, collaborating and being YOU.  

The "5th Grade End of the Year Advice" video can be viewed in Van Meter's EduVision Channel too. 

Our Kindergarteners Last Day....but they left their mark with "Our Iowa Animal Research Project" eBook!

         
Our kindergarteners last day is today.  

What a special year we all had with them...getting to know them, teaching them, laughing with them, reading with them, creating with them and loving them.

One of our favorite things we did with them this year was the Iowa Animal Research Projects.  The project where each of the little ones picked out an Iowa animal they were curious about and found even more than they already might have connected to when they started.

As you have read from several posts over the last 6 weeks, they have learned, collaborated and created several different ways throughout this project.  

They have researched, found information, wrote it down, created a model of their animal, presented to their classmates, drew their animal online using TuxPaint, and now the little ones are taking their knowledge of their Iowa animal to put into one last collaborative eBook using Wordle or ABCya! Word Cloud, TuxPaint, Google Presentation and FlipSnack.  

                           

And if you love these two pages from their flippable eBooks, just wait until you see the rest of the eBook.  It is so adorable....I just love it.  (The window at the top will take you to the entire eBook.) 

In the morning on Monday, the kindergarten teachers helped them use their Iowa Animal Research packets to write down a few things....their name, animal and at least three facts.  One of those facts had to include why their Iowa animal lives where it lives, which is the "Essential Question" we are focusing on through the project. 

In the afternoon, my little kindergarten friends came for library and technology time. Our fourth graders came to the library to buddy up with the kindergartners so they could help them finish the word cloud today.

                                      

After they got into partnerships, they went to Wordle or ABCya.com from the Symbaloo which holds all of the library, school and global resources we use in the library.  

The kindergarteners took the notecard with their information and started to type the main words to be included within the word cloud.  They could ask their 4th grade buddy for help if they needed it.

The next day, Miss McClintock's class came back when the third graders were in the library to help them.  They helped the kindergarteners create their illustrations using TuxPaint.  

It was so much fun seeing them work together to create something unique to their animal.  

As you can see this was a WONDERFUL way to wrap up the end of this research project.  By putting the kindergaren students with the third and fourth graders to work, they were able to also share with the older ones what they learned about their Iowa animal.  

We love how the eBook turned out and cannot wait to share it with the students and their families.

They should all be very proud of themselves.  It is quite an accomplishment.  

And it was so much fun learning, sharing, and caring with all of them.  I can't wait to see what they do next year in first grade.  

Below is the FlipSnack eBook with the word clouds created by all of the Van Meter kindergarteners.

         

Katherine Applegate Visits Our Library....And Gives Us The Gift Of Ivan

Today we were so excited to welcome a very very special author into our library.  

Katherine Applegate, author of The One and Only Ivan and dozens of other books, Skyped with the second grade at Van Meter on Monday.  When I told them who we were going to meet earlier in the day I had lots of very excited students.  

And not to mention....One very excited teacher librarian too!  I just love Ivan's story....It is one of the most beautiful children's books I have ever read.  To share it with students always makes me happy, so to share a visit with Katherine is very special too.  

Katherine told the 2nd graders how she started writing and all of the books she has written over the years.  I then just had to ask about Ivan being the Newbery Medal Winner this year.  

I listened to the American Library Association awards being announced from Seattle in January and was thrilled to hear that Ivan won!  The Newbery Medal is given to the most distinguished contribution to American literature each year.  

Katherine told us how the Newbery committee sent her several of the special medals that go onto the front cover of The One and Only Ivan to show it was the Newbery Medal Winner.  

She shared several beautiful illustrations created by Patricia Casteleo throughout the book...

 And photographs of the real Ivan too.

Shelley Broderick, one of our elementary art teachers at Van Meter, joined us for the Skype since we brought the two classes together for our related arts time.  She asked Katherine about Ivan being an artist too.  It was fun hearing how Ivan loved to paint.

The second graders had so many questions for Katherine and we all loved hearing her answer all of them.  We learned so much about writing, her books, and of course Ivan.

They loved following along in the book as she spoke of certain parts and illustrations.  

The One and Only Ivan website is full of wonderful resources and surprises.  On the opening page, there is a video that we watched before our Skype with Katherine and that I love to show when I am sharing The One and Only Ivan in the library.

Thank you Katherine for visiting our library today and for giving us the story of Ivan.  It is a gift to all of us and one that we will continue to share for years to come.

Hey Mo Willem's.....It's "hApPy pIg DaY" In Our Library!

It's "hApPy pIg DaY" in our library at Van Meter!

Last year we started a new little tradition in our school to celebrate Mo Willem's AWESOME series which we LOVE....

Elephant & Piggie!  This is one of the most loved series within our library.  It doesn't matter how old the students are, they all love Elephant and Piggie.

They especially LOVE Happy Pig Day!  This one makes them laugh out loud so much....It makes me laugh when I read it too.  

In fact, we love all of Mo's books and find him to be one of the BEST authors ever.  On his website you can read all about Mo and his books. 

When Mo's book Happy Pig Day! was published, John Schu and I celebrated it together by throwing a virtual HAPPY PIG DAY party.  We read together, had treats together, and even invited a very special friend to visit our library as we Skyped into Mr. Schu's library in Illinois.  

And today that friend came back to our library! 

Meet Bacon, our pot-bellied pig friend, who lives with the Rice Family in Van Meter.  

The youngest Rice, Payton, is in 2nd grade this year.  As you can see, she loves sharing Bacon with all of her classmates on this special day we celebrate at Van Meter.  

Mrs. Dogget and Mrs. Ferguson's 2nd graders were part of our celebration. 

Shannon Rice did an awesome job at telling us all about Bacon and answering our questions too.

The 2nd graders enjoyed giving Bacon lots of love too.  They all thought it would be very fun to have a pet pig.  

So Mr. Willem's....when you read Happy Pig Day! next time, remember your little friends in Iowa and most of all....

Bacon, who would LOVE to connect with someday and have you read his favorite book to all of us too.