It's that time of the year again...

These holiday websites will be just the thing to spread some holiday cheer! Some of these sites will be familiar from last year, and some will offer new experiences.
Happy Holidays!
Miss B

Design a Gingerbread House
Build a Snowy City
Create a Flake
Stay warm while building this Virtual Snowman
Decorate A Tree
Toss some lights on this Virtual House
Chanuka Game

Math Links

Math can be a tricky subject, but once you begin to understand it, it can also be fun! Below are links to 2 math websites that students may find useful. I will post more as I find and review them.

IXL Arranged by grade level

Math Manipulatives Online manipulatives for you kinesthetic learners out there!

See you soon!
Miss Bacher

Story Corner

Proceeds from the Scholastic Book Fair last year were used to purchase new furniture and equipment for the library. Among the items purchased were 3 new chairs, 2 beanbags and a bookshelf. These pieces can now be found in Lincoln Library's new Reading Corner...a space which was previously used primarily for storage has now been transformed into a relaxing spot for reading and learning. Check it out:Pretty neat, huh?
And so, in the spirit of reading and relaxing, here are some links to websites which feature animated readings of popular children's books.
Storyline
Storytime
Signed Stories
Mrs. P's Library
Smories
MeeGenius
Speakaboos

And finally, below you will find some other New Additions to the library this year. These 3 paintings were completed with the help of some very artistic 5th graders and teachers. A special thanks to Mrs. Hall, our art teacher, for her art supplies and patience :)


Enjoy!
Miss Bacher

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to a brand-new school year! I am so excited to see all of you again, as well as to meet students who are new to the district. We have an exciting year ahead of us, with lots of learning and LOTS of fun!
Be sure to stop into the library soon to see all of our new books and decorations!

-Miss Bacher

Book Spine Poems....The Results

There is not enough space here to "publish" ALL 70 of our book spine poems, but there IS enough space to show off just some of what we have accomplished. This project had many purposes. Students needed to choose a topic, use the library catalog to find book titles which went along with that topic, and then use Microsoft Word tools in order to virtually re-create those library books in stacks, so that their poems could be brought to life. The culmination of bringing all of these skills together has resulted in some creative, fun, humorous, touching and exciting poems! Below are a few (randomly selected, because I had a hard time choosing!) of our book spine poems.
Enjoy!
Miss Bacher

Dino-Mite Researchers

For the past several weeks, the Kindergarten classes have been learning about research. We have practiced developing questions, finding facts and answering our questions. As a tie-in to a classroom unit on "hatching," we began a library project that was centered around dinosaurs. Luckily, this was a subject that everyone was interested in!

Each student has chosen a dinosaur and used World Book Online in order to answer questions about his or her dino; what it ate, how it moved and what it looked like. We then talked about how we learn about dinosaurs since they are extinct, and talked a little bit about bones and fossils. As a final project, we created our own dinosaur fossils this week in the library!

Below are some of the things that we wondered about our dinos before we began our research. Also available for your viewing pleasure are a few of our fossils.

Enjoy!

Miss Bacher

"I Wonder"
-Did my dinosaur move fast or slow?
-Did my dinosaur use its long neck to reach leaves on the trees?
-Would my dinosaur eat a person?
-Why did my dinosaur walk on 2 feet?
-Did my dinosaur have sharp teeth?
-Who would win in a fight, (insert dinosaur name) or T-Rex??

Who Am I?

The first grade classes have been hard at work completing their animal research. They have each chosen an animal, formulated some questions about those animals, and used the facts which they have found in order to create the riddles in the video below. See if you can solve these tricky riddles!
Enjoy!
Miss Bacher


Mrs. Armstrong's Class:



Miss Crowley's class:





I'm sure you came up with some great guesses!
Keep Reading!
-Miss B

"Do We" Know Dewey??

You bet we do! Many of the library classes have been familiarizing themselves with the good old Dewey Decimal System this year, and we have had some fun with this funny "rap", courtesy of YouTube. What do you think? We KNOW this song will get stuck in your head (I've been singing it for months!) but will it help you to find a book on the shelf?

April Showers Bring....Really Cool Poems!

April is National Poetry Month, and each grade level has been immersed in many forms of poetry over the past few weeks! The 4th and 5th grade classes have just begun focusing on "Found Poetry", and have started to create their own poems from book titles found within the library catalog. Pictures of our final "book spine poems" will be posted soon, but to learn more about this fun form of art, you can check out the inspiration for our project here.
Check back later and let us know what you think!
Happy Spring!
Miss Bacher

Happy 107th Birthday!!

Today, March 2, 2011, marks what would have been the 107th birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. Here at Lincoln we have marked this occasion in several ways.
Grades K-2 have been listening to Dr. Seuss stories, discussing our favorites, and visiting Seussville.com in order to learn more about the author and his books.
Grades 3-5 have been researching information about Dr. Seuss' life and his writing career. We have been reading several of his books and discussing what a "moral" to a story is, as well as the messages we've found in the books we have read.
Today the 4th and 5th grades will be reading "The Lorax" and discussing the many messages contained within this story. "The Lorax" was a challenged book when it was first published, meaning that some groups of people wished to ban it from libraries and schools. As a class, we will be discussing why this may have happened, and will be staging our own debate in order to more clearly understand both sides.
Thus far, our learning has demonstrated the famous words of Dr. Seuss:

· “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

Keep Reading!
Miss Bacher

*Image courtesy of http://www.trailershut.com

Flat William Comes to Lincoln

The library welcomed a new visitor this week: William from Nebraska!
William was created by a student of the same name in an elementary school in Omaha, Nebraska. He then mailed him here to our library, where we will record his adventures and experiences during his time with us through pictures and journal entries, and then send him back!
As a part of this project, the 2nd grade students at Lincoln will be reading the book "Flat Stanley" and will also be learning about the similarities and differences between New York and Nebraska.
Some of the questions which we have come up with so far include:
Does it snow in Nebraska?
Are there beaches there?
Is the weather hot?
Are there many buildings?
Are there any trees?
Are there mountains?


We are sure that William will have a wonderful time here with us, and will report positive things about Lincoln Elementary back to his friends in his home state!
Keep Reading!
-Miss Bacher

Too Cold to Play Outside??

Here is another fun website to try if you are stuck inside this winter! SLIME KIDS (aka School LIbrary MEdia Kids!) is a great website which was created and maintained by a librarian, so you know that it has to be cool! It features plenty of activities, such as author pages and book trailers, as well as plenty of fun school-centered games. Give it a try, and leave a comment if you like the website and would like to see more like it!
Happy Snow Days!
Miss Bacher