Global Read Aloud

Fifth graders and first graders at Prospect are participating in the Global Read Aloud. What's that? Books have been chosen for classes to read together over a 6-week time period. During that time, they not only read in the classroom but also make connections to other groups and classes that are reading the same book, and even the authors!

There are different books for different age levels. Our fifth graders are participating by having a class read-aloud of Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. In addition to having class discussions and reading responses, they are also connecting with others outside of our school. They connected with other classes in a "Mystery Skype," in which they had to ask yes and no questions to figure out where the other class was. They will be connecting with these classes again later after they finish the book to discuss the story. They also have email penpals with students from The Lane school and are chatting about their thoughts, theories, and predictions about the story. In MRC, we are interacting with the author through videos in which she answers student questions.


First graders are participating in the Global Read Aloud with an author study of Amy Krouse Rosenthal. We just started this week with the book Chopsticks.
In Chopsticks, two chopsticks are always doing things together, until one gets hurt and needs to rest for over a week. The hurt chopstick encourages his buddy to go out and try new things, which in the end, helped strengthen them both. After reading, the first graders gave some ideas of what they like to do alone and what they like to do together with someone else. We shared these ideas online in three Padlets.
Here are 1G's ideas, 1M's ideas, and 1T's ideas.

After book checkout, some of the first graders tried out using chopsticks to pick up erasers.
We are looking forward to reading more of Amy Krouse Rosenthal's books in the next few weeks in MRC!

Aaron Reynolds Author Visit

On Tuesday afternoon, the kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders got a chance to hear from author Aaron Reynolds! He has written over 30 books, including Chicks and Salsa, Buffalo Wings, Creepy Carrots, and his newest book, Nerdy Birdy! He shared the book Nerdy Birdy and talked about his influences in writing the book. He wanted to include a message that what makes us different is what makes us truly awesome. Aaron also shared what it is like to be a picture book writer and how he came up with ideas for some of his other books, like Creepy Carrots. His presentation had students shrieking with laughter as well as listening attentively. Make sure you check out some of his books, and if you're interested in learning more about Aaron Reynolds, take a look at his website!