5th Grade Space Project

Fifth grade students will solve the question "Life on another planet: Where could we live?" By understanding what makes our own planet earth inhabitable students will investigate all the other planets in the solar system and see if any of them would be okay for humans to live on. What do you think? Would you, could you live on another planet? They will use many resources including these websites:

Windows to the Universe

National Geographic-Planets

Astrocentral Planetary Information

NASA; Solar System

Welcome to the planets

Planet Quest

Universe Today

Planet Facts

Nine Planets (now 8)

Kid's Astronomy

Cosmic Quest; Field Guide to the Universe


Use these links to find more information about our solar system and continue your quest for accurate and safe information.

Library Learning August-September

Last week students in the library worked on a variety of skills.  Even learning how to handle a shelf marker is key to their development as a student. 

Kindergarten: It was there first week of library and we talked about book care and library expectations.  For fun we read Manners in the Library by Carrie Finn and Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss.  Each kindergarten student checked out a book from the kinder bins.

First Grade: Our emphasize is on reading, reading, reading this first month or two.  I read Book! Book! Book! to them also and then in small groups we checked out from the easy reader section.  We worked hard to find a book that matches with their reading skills.  After all students have checked out Mrs. Wheeler and I have been reading individually with students to get a feel for their reading levels.

Second Grade: We read Stella Luella's Runaway Book by Lisa Campbell Ernst.  The challenge was to solve the mystery and NOT spill the beans before the end of the book!  Not one student blurted out the title of the missing book...Goldilocks and the 3 bears!  Yeah for 2nd grade!

Third Grade:  We also read the mystery book, Stella Louella's Runaway Book by Lisa Campbell Ernst.  At the end they all were able to tell me the title of Stella's missing book.  This is a perfect genre book that also had us talking about book care.  Students were excited to share the clues and connections they made to figure out the title.

Fourth Grade:  Students are taking a close look at the Dewey Decimal system.  This week they worked in pairs to find a section of the library that matched their index card topic.  Next week they will use Destiny to locate their topic.  They are just thrilled to get their fingers on the computers...

Fifth Grade:  Students will make videos to explore and explain Highland library expectations.  The first week they merged into a small group and picked the expectation they plan to focus on.  This next week they started to write out a script using informal speech outline of Introduction, body and Conclusion.  The week ahead will have them finish their script and practice together as a group.  Students will use the Asus tablets to film their final project.

I'm looking forward to more great projects here @highlandlibrary!

First Full Week of Library

We read a lot of great books this week in the Highland Library.

Third grade students listened to Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book by Lauren Child, which in a mixed-up twisted way helped us to understand why it is so important to take care of books.  The characters don't like getting spilled on, written on, crossed out or cut out of our books!!  So beware if you  make a mess of your book the characters may just take their own revenge! 


If you are a first grade student you listened to me read Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell.  Molly Lou is small, sings out-of-key and has some lovely buck teeth but she's received good advice from her grandma about being proud of herself and it gets her through when a classmate teases her. 

Fourth and Fifth grade students learned how to use their shelf markers and the sections of the library.  Their focus was to find two good fit books for reading.  They were excited to pick new books and are ready for a great new year! 

Free AEA 267 Resources

The AEA has given us access to some fantastic resources from February 1 - March 15.

Click here to access site.  Each site uses the same user name and password: User ID: iec2010

Password: iowalibrary

Bookflix is a Scholastic site that pairs fiction with nonfiction book choices.  Proquest has a section called Culture Grams, which has tons of resources for studying states and countries around the world.  I will be accessing some of these sites with classes in the library but these are really great resources and we want to encourage AEA 267 to purchase and add these to their online resource library as well as the other great tools they already offer.  Please try them as you lesson plan over the next few days and weeks.