Creepy Carrots took over Johnson Elementary this week! Look out for these spooky orange guys throughout this week’s photos…
3 and 4 year old pre-school students work on their Creepy Carrot craft. The story Creepy Carrots, written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown, follows Jasper Rabbit as he realizes that he has a creepy problem… he is being followed by the carrots of Crackenhopper Field. This story is full of spooky fun and to keep our carrot theme going, we made our own Creepy Carrots! Little did I know that these carrot’s weren’t planning on just staying in my drawer…
When the students returned to school the next day, the Creepy Carrots had escaped! These little guys hid themselves all over the school, just waiting to jump out and spook unsuspecting Johnson students. The carrots quickly became the talk of the school as students competed to see how many Creepy Carrots they could find in places like the cafeteria, the office, and the stairs. Even Mrs. Kamide was creeped out by pre-schools carrot creations!
After three rainy days of indoor recess, kindergarten needed some time to move and groove. Here, we took a break from our checkout time to get some serious wiggles out with Raffi’s famous song, Shake Your Sillies Out.
This week, our DonorsChoose project was FULLY FUNDED! Already, our high interest, brand new titles have started arriving from Amazon. Thanks to YOUR help, these books will soon be in the hands of hard working, deserving Johnson students! I can’t wait to see how excited these students get over their book prizes.
This morning, hundreds of members of the Johnson community gathered in the cafeteria to celebrate literacy over breakfast. Donuts for Dads was a HUGE success – with a line going out the door into the hallway, tons of books given away to hungry readers, and a lot of faces covered in powdered sugar! I always have a great time at these special events, which are planned and put together by Johnson’s hard working reading team; but there was something very special about Donuts for Dads. Maybe it was the huge number of participants, or the glee of getting to eat so much sugar in the morning, or the special connection that our students shared with their dads, uncles, grandpas, big brothers, and other important men in their life. No matter what made it so special, it was a wonderful event!
After the Donuts for Dads guests took off, it was time for some serious work in the library. This week, Safety Patrol members began our pickup and drop-off of first grade students for morning checkout. This program debuted last year and was so beloved by teachers and students that it was requested again this year! Safety Patrol members pickup kindergarten and first grade students directly from their classrooms in the morning, providing supervision and assistance as the students make the long walk up to the library. Once they arrive, they assist students in choosing their books, checking them out, and reading quietly to themselves. Once everyone is all checked out, the girls take the line back downstairs and accompany students back to their classrooms. This is one of my favorite parts of the morning, because the students are so overjoyed to be getting an extra book and to get to visit the library at the start of their day. It also warms my heart to see our Safety Patrol members working so patiently and kindly with younger students, and I am so proud to see the respect that the students give back to them in turn.
Circulation numbers broke 4,000 this week! Our new system of Thursday checkout for all students in grades 1-4 has helped to lessen our number of overdue books, streamline the checkout process, and give students extra time to peruse, ask questions, and find a book that’s just right for them. I wonder how high our numbers will go this year?
Learning Leopard Library 