Time to get caught reading!

Have you emailed me your "caught reading" photo yet?

Please email Ms. Cote a photo of yourself reading in a unique or unusual spot!  We will post your photo on our back to school bulletin board (NOT on the blog or social media).  Email photos to cotek@wellesleyps.org  I can't wait to see all your unusual reading spots!

Here's mine-- again this year, I took mine on Little Sebago Lake in Maine (with my daughter, Hannah):

Hannah wanted me to include hers too (reading, upside down, while swinging indoors):

Boston Monument Project in third grade.....

For weeks.... (8 weeks for 3GH and 9 weeks for 3W) third grade has been working on their Boston Monument Projects.  It is an ambitious research project that requires a lot of focus from our third graders.

What does it involve?  Every third grader is assigned a Boston monument or landmark.  Students research his or her monument and take notes.  Students are then assigned a partner who has a different monument.  They write a script in which they teach their partner all about their monument. After rehearsing, I film them in front of the green screen (their monument is plopped behind the student).  It is A LOT of work and this past week, right down to the wire, third graders finished up.  We celebrated in class with our "World Premier Boston Monument Film Festival".  Students snacked on popcorn and watched everyone's videos.

It's the end of the road for Axis 360....

This mostly affects students in grades 3-5.  I wanted to let you know the state has decided to end its pilot with Axis 360 for e-books and e-audiobooks.  Access will stop as of June 30. Wellesley Free Library does have Axis 360, so if your child wants to continue using it at home you can use your public library card.

We are hoping to have another option for e-book reading in the fall-- stay tuned!

Summer Reading Suggestions!

I am so excited about summer reading!  The Wellesley elementary librarians all worked together to come  up with some really great suggestions.  Our online version is here.  Students will also go home with hardcopy packets.

If you lose any of the summer reading paperwork, fear not-- you can reprint everything on the library website.

What's in the packet?  All kinds of great stuff in very bright colors (!!!)!

• Upham reading log
• For students entering grades 1-3, a reading Bingo sheet opposite the log
• For students entering grades 4-5, a reading "Mission" sheet opposite the log
• New this year- the optional "Book Buzz" sheet- if your student would prefer to write about favorite books instead of keeping a log, he or she can give this a try
• All students receive a bookmark with summer reading links

Summer reading is meant to be fun and enjoyable- nothing is required.  I hope your student is excited to read this summer (I am!  I am!) and these are just suggestions.

And lastly, don't forget to help your student "get caught" reading.  Take a photo of your student reading somewhere unusual and fun-- I can't wait to see what Upham students come up with!  We'll hang these photos on our September back to school bulletin board.  I'll post my own photo later in the summer (here's mine from last year!).

Storybook character day!

Upham students celebrated their April break reading challenge win by dressing up as storybook characters.  Kids were asked to borrow or create their costumes-- so it was fun to see the different ideas they came up with!

Some of our Upham kids:

A.J. (My Weird School) and Garfield

Ada (The War that Saved My Life) and Ginny (Harry Potter)

Crenshaw

Gerald (Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems) -- his costume trumpeted like an elephant!

Greg (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) and Garfield again!

Can anyone figure out who I am?!  Add your guess in the comments below!

(Hint: my book was written by a Newbery medal winning author, published in 2002)

Imagineering planning

Last week in library, grades 2-5 started to brainstorm and map out their plans for the day of Imagineering at Upham (May 23).  We started by reading Papa's Mechanical Fish by Candace Fleming:

It's a wonderful story about an inventor who never gave up-- it perfectly matched our imagineering mindset of looking at failures as a learning opportunities (there are no failures!).

Following our story, students mapped out their ideas by brainstorming and drawing what their model might look like:

Upham students are excited to try out these ideas on our actual day of Imagineering!

April reading challenge results!

I forgot to write a blog post about the April reading challenge results!  If you haven't heard the news yet, Upham Students DID it (again!).

Over break, students read for 47,960 minutes!  They surpassed our goal by almost 3000 minutes-- this was after I upped the minutes when they blew away the February reading goal!

Students have all earned storybook character day!  It will be this Friday, May 18.  Students may dress up like a character from a children's book.  I'm asking students to recycle/borrow/reuse/create costume pieces instead of purchasing costumes.

I also want to recognize our classroom with the highest participation.  By far, the highest participation was 4G with 100% of students turning in logs, again!  They earned extra recess time.  Coming in second was 5D at 85%.  Great job to 4G and 5D!

I also want to point out the classes with the most number of minutes read:
#1- 4O (again)
#2- 2C
#3- 3GH

And finally, I want to recognize our top readers in the challenge:
#1- (again!) Kayla from 4O-- 3017 minutes
#2- Karishma from 4O-- 3017 minutes
#3- Riley from 2C-- 2526
#4- Ellery from 4O-- 1790 minutes
#5 (a tie!):
Lila W. from 3GH-- 1190 minutes and Lily H. from 4O with 1190 minutes

Great job to everyone who read over break and turned in a log!