What's+Happening


 * What's Happening at Hidenwood Library (2009-2010)**

toc =April 2010=


 * Kindergarten **

We have moved into my FAVORITE unit of the year - our Mo Willems author/illustrator study! We have already read several of the pigeon books and the Knuffle Bunny books. Next we will get a taste of his Elephant and Piggie books!


 * [[image:pigeon.jpg width="222" height="240" link="@http://titlepeek.fsc.follett.com/tp/query?action=3&subnumber=4500761&isbn=078681988X&appid=4"]] || [[image:knuffle.jpg width="320" height="240" link="@http://titlepeek.fsc.follett.com/tp/query?action=3&subnumber=4500761&isbn=9781423102991&appid=4"]] || [[image:piggie.jpg width="166" height="240" link="@http://titlepeek.fsc.follett.com/tp/query?action=3&subnumber=4500761&isbn=9781423106869&appid=4"]] ||


 * First Grade**

First graders will be voting for the Virginia Readers' Choice book award soon and are still making our way through this year's book list. We only have 2 more books to read! We are noticing a trend - every book we have read so far is somehow about animals! We've learned about bears, butterflies, horses, meerkats, and dogs.


 * Second Grade**

Second graders just completed some GREAT research about Ancient Egypt. They are getting very good at using the inquiry process -- we asked some fantastic questions about Egypt, came up with a plan, and collected tons of facts. Some students gathered over 15 facts in one day! We are now using our research in writing to write informational reports.

Third graders just finished researching and writing informational reports about famous Americans. Matthew from Ms. Woolley's class wrote about Abraham Lincoln and then turned his writing into a "blabberize." Check out his awesome work below! media type="custom" key="5960479"
 * Third Grade**


 * Fourth Grade**


 * The infamous Civil War project has finally begun! Ms. Shoup's class wrote some fantastic interviews about people and events from the Civil War. Their podcasts are coming soon. Mrs. AtLee's class reenacted Civil War battles, and Mrs. Majors and Ms. Jones' classes made interactive Civil War timelines for the SMARTBoard. **


 * Fifth Grade **


 * Ms. Steigleman's class just finished writing their own fractured fairy tales, and they are FANTASTIC. Ms. Black's class is finishing up PhotoStories about the rock cycle. Look for their finished products here! **

=** March 2010 **=


 * Special Events **


 * Ms. Wilkerson and Mrs. Martin's class both got to participate in special "Read Around the Planet" events -- we talked to classrooms in Michigan and New York and got to share what we've been reading and find out about what other students like to read and do! The 3rd grade web show group has been busy producing content for the Huskies. Here are just a few of their news segments. **

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** Unofficial totals for Pennies for Peace are in -- after spending two weeks counting all of the change, we have broken the $1500 mark! Money raised through Pennies for Peace is used to help fund education in impoverished countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Check out our glog for more information. We also finished and presented our volcano SMARTBoard lessons, using some of the tricks Edward taught us about object animation! ** media type="custom" key="5544755"
 * 4th Grade Tech Academy **


 * Kindergarten **

Kindergarten has finished our Caldecott study and is now conducting our super-secret voting! Stay tuned to find out which book was the favorite among our kindergarten students.

**First Grade**

First graders will be voting for the Virginia Readers' Choice book award soon and are still making our way through this year's book list. We are noticing a trend - every book we have read so far is somehow about animals! We've learned about bears, butterflies, horses, meerkats, and dogs. Next up? Chickens !

**Second Grade**

Second graders have been invited to participate in a very special book club. We have been reading Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary and will get to hold a virtual book club with some third graders in Pennsylvania! We can't wait to meet our friends in PA!

**Third Grade**

Third grade has been working on some fantastic habitat PhotoStories and glogs -- we are researching wet and dryland habitats and using our research to make some fantastic products! Stay tuned for finished products.

**Fourth Grade**

** The infamous Civil War project has finally begun! Ms. Shoup's class wrote some fantastic interviews about people and events from the Civil War. Their podcasts are coming soon. Next up, Mrs. AtLee's class will reenact Civil War battles! **


 * Fifth Grade **


 * Ms. Andrews' class created SMARTBoard lessons demonstrating their knowledge of oceanography. They actually had to become the teachers - writing questions, implementing SMARTBoard tricks, and recording their finished products! Check out this awesome sample from Lowell. **

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=** February 2010 **=

The library was pretty quiet last week due to quarterly testing, but we did still manage to get in some good work!

**4th Grade Tech Academy**

We cannot BELIEVE how much money has already been raised for Pennies for Peace -- early estimates indicate that we have already raised at least $500.00, and it's only the first week! Ms. Shoup's class is leading the standings, having raised over $50.00 themselves! Money raised through Pennies for Peace is used to help fund education in impoverished countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Check out our glog for more information.



**Kindergarten**

Kindergarten continued our Caldecott study over the past few weeks with Tuesday by David Wiesner and The Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman. We LOVED the flying frogs in Tuesday...that one might lead the list of favorites so far! After reading The Song and Dance Man, we got to dance along to The Goodship Lollipop and even got a taste of Gene Kelly's famous "Singing in the Rain!"

**First Grade**

First graders will be voting for the Virginia Readers' Choice book award soon and are making our way through this year's book list. Last week, we read My Chincoteague Pony by Susan Jeffers, which was a huge hit! We LOVED the story of generosity at the Chincoteague Pony Auction. We have also read Old Bearby Kevin Henkes, a beautiful story in which Old Bear dreams of the seasons before awakening from hibernation. After reading, we listened to Vivaldi's Four Seasons and tried to identify the various seasons based on what we heard. We were pretty good at guessing spring!

**Second Grade**

Second graders have been invited to participate in a very special book club. We have been reading Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary and will get to hold a virtual book club with some third graders in Pennsylvania! We can't wait to meet our friends in PA!

**Third Grade**

Third grade completed our inquiry unit on energy -- here is a sample of our work! To see all of the finished products, click here.

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 * Fifth Grade **

Ms. Steigleman's class is starting geometry glogs. They will each be in charge of teaching about one aspect of geometry and will include a practical example, an image, videos, and links in their glogs.

= **January 2010** =


 * 17 Wonders **

The fifth grade girls' enrichment group, 17 Wonders, has begun selling their jewelry to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and has already raised over $100 through their jewelry sales! Check out the slideshow above to preview some of the wonderful jewelry the girls made and listen on the morning show for more information about when you can buy their jewelry!

Prices:

Rings and keychains: $1.00 Earrings: $2.00 Bracelets: $3.00 Necklaces: $3.00

**4th Grade Tech Academy**

4th grade tech academy is SO excited to begin raising money for Pennies for Peace, an international service-learning program where students can make a difference one penny at a time. Money raised is used to help fund education in impoverished countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Our fourth graders have been working hard to publicize our event and we've already started collecting pennies! Check out our glog for more information.

**Kindergarten**

Kindergarten continued our Caldecott study this week. We read Kevin Henkes' 1994 Caldecott runner-up Owen and compared it to other stories we have read. We noticed that Kevin Henkes and Leo Lionni both like to write stories about mice! Over the next month, will be reading former Caldecott medals in preparation for the unveiling of the 2010 Caldecott winner on January 18.

**First Grade**

This week, we finished narrating our Long Ago & Today paragraphs and then began preparation for the unveiling of the 2010 Caldecott award winner. We will read some of the potential contenders and decide on OUR favorite before the January 18th announcement.

Check out Ms. Powell's class finished Long Ago and Today video below!

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**Second Grade**

Second graders have been invited to participate in a very special book club. We will be reading Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary and will get to hold a virtual book club with some third graders in Pennsylvania! We can't wait to meet our friends in PA!

**Third Grade**

Third grade completed our inquiry unit on energy -- look for our SMARTBoards, video advertisements, PhotoStories, and Glogs coming soon!

= **January 1, 2010** =


 * 17 Wonders **

The fifth grade girls' enrichment group, 17 Wonders, has finished making our jewelry and is ready to start selling to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation! Check out the slideshow above to preview some of the wonderful jewelry the girls made and listen on the morning show for more information about when you can buy their jewelry!

Prices:

Rings and keychains: $1.00 Earrings: $2.00 Bracelets: $3.00 Necklaces: $3.00

**4th Grade Tech Academy**

Tech Academy students began researching their volcanoes and learned how to use our diigo group to save and share their links with the rest of the group. We are getting ready to start scripting our news segments about our volcanoes, and Ms. Jones has a very special top-secret project in the works!

**Kindergarten**

Kindergarten began learning about the Caldecott award this week. We read Kitten's First Full Moon and talked about Kevin Henkes' choice of black and white illustrations. Over the next month, will be reading former Caldecott medals in preparation for the unveiling of the 2010 Caldecott winner on January 18.

**First Grade**

This week, we will finish narrating our Long Ago & Today paragraphs and then will begin preparation for the unveiling of the 2010 Caldecott award winner. We will read some of the potential contenders and decide on OUR favorite before the January 18th announcement.

Check out Ms. Powell's class finished Long Ago and Today video below!

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**Second Grade**

We finished writing our animal diaries this week and took them home to illustrate. I can't wait to see everyone's pictures! Next we will begin a chapter book study of the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary.

**Third Grade**

Third grade began our inquiry unit on energy and completed some great research last week! We are going to become experts in renewable and non-renewable kinds of energy and decide on a solution for using energy in the future. This week, we will start to take what we have learned and use it in our projects -- look for our SMARTBoards, video advertisements, PhotoStories, and Glogs coming soon!

= **December 2009** =

**Kindergarten**

Kindergarten finished our author/illustrator study of Leo Lionni. We compared and contrasted his books, discussed themes we noticed in his work, and even learned how to make Lionni-esque collages with Mrs. Morelli. We finished the unit with a special treat -- some of Leo Lionni's books have even been turned into videos! We got to see what happens when a book is turned into a movie and talked about the things we liked and disliked about each version.

**First Grade**

First graders are still working on our "Long Ago and Today" inquiry project. We have done some GREAT independent research and are now finishing our illustrated paragraphs. The only thing we have left to do is to complete our narration and turn those puppies into a movie! Here's a sample of what's to come...

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**Second Grade**

Second graders LOVED Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Fly, Diary of a Worm, and Diary of a Spider, so we decided to make our own animal diaries. We conducted research on our animals and storyboarded the pages of our diaries. We were careful to include some facts we learned about our animals but also make our diaries funny, just like Doreen Cronin. After the break, we will create our diaries!

**Third Grade**

Third grade is about to start an AWESOME inquiry project about energy after the break. Stay tuned for more information!

Some special students in Mrs. Barto's class also started working on a web show. They have been hard at work writing their scripts and recording their segments, and their first show is coming soon! You can check out a preview of the "Hunter's Tech Tips" segment above.

**Fourth Grade**

Ms. Jones' class learned how to post book reviews using Destiny Quest. Ask them to show you how!

I've also heard that some of our students who wrote letters to senators about the health of the Chesapeake Bay have received responses. I can't wait to see those!

Fourth grade Tech Academy students conducted their edible volcano experiments -- check out the video recap!

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**Fifth Grade**

Fifth graders finished their awesome photostories about kingdoms! They put a lot of hard work into learning about the kingdoms and building their photostories.

On a special day when Mrs. Crispino booked too many people in the library at one time, some fifth graders in Ms. Black's class got the chance to help out by reading to kindergarteners from Ms. Waller's class. Check out the slideshow to see how things went!

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