Katherine Applegate Author Visit

When I found out that Newbery Award winning author Katherine Applegate was going to visit our school, I was overwhelmed with emotion. She is one of my favorite authors and writes such beautiful books. Wow! What an honor.

And, what a great day it was! Applegate talked with us about her process and doing research to get into the character of Ivan. She showed us lots of information about Gorillas and the real Ivan. She also talked with us about finding books we love to read and writing. She answered a lot of our questions too. We all loved her presentation.



Ms. Applegate was gracious and a lot of fun to talk with. She also signed a lot of books! Kids at Brimhall love Ivan!

Here are a few videos about Ivan the Gorilla--there are even more online!

Minnesota Youth Reading Awards

 Brimhall students participate in the Minnesota Youth Reading Awards each year. Students in kindergarten, first, and second grade participated in the Star of the North Award and read the ten nominated picture books. Students in grades three through six had the opportunity participate in the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award to read the nominated titles. If they read three or more of the nominated titles they can vote for their favorite. I can't wait to see Brimhall's top books AND what Minnesota kids choose as their favorite books of the year.

KIDS-- VOTE HERE!

Star of the North
MHL Division 1
MHL Division 2

2nd Grade Weather Reports

Modeling Note taking

 In second grade we have been practicing our research skills all year. We are really good at it. These past few weeks the 2nd grade teachers and I collaborated to make one of our big projects of the year. WEATHER RESEARCH which goes with their science outcomes.

We started by having the students by having students come up with questions they wanted to learn ablout extreme weather. Then students practiced note taking with their classroom teachers about Droughts using PEBBLE GO.
                                 

Taking Notes

Students were then broken into groups to research different extreme weather. Classes came to the library and took notes in small groups about different extreme weather using the skills they have been practicing this year.

Using Pebble Go

Next students came to the library and I modeled note taking skills using nonfiction books. I modeled using the topic droughts, and students researched their own topics. After they had notes, students wrote paragraphs about their topics. Students have been learning a lot about writing paragraphs in class. Students then created a news report about their weather.

In library we turned their reports into news LIVE NEWS programs. Check them out. They are AMAZING! (each class will be posted as they complete the project).

Anderson
Kath
Hinderer/Rowan
Olson

Working Together

3rd Grade Research

Our 3rd grade students have been working on their research skills. Students worked with small groups to do research on different Southwest and Great Basin Native American groups of the United States. Students used books and the database Pebble Go Next to learn about the group they were studying.

Each student was responsible to research one or more aspects of their Native American group and then write a paragraph and illustrate a page for their group eBook.  It is so much fun to see how much students grow in their note taking abilities over the years.

Please check out our eBooks. We made them in Flipsnack EDU. I will post each class as they complete their project. Click on the group to see the eBook.

Marek
Apache
Comanche
Shoshone
Hopi
Pueblo
Navajo
Ute

Bros
Apache
Shoshone
Comanche
Hopi
Pueblo
Navajo
Ute

Plana
Comanche
Apache
Hopi
Pueblo
Navajo
Ute

Hessler
Apache
Comanche 
Shoshone
Hopi
Pueblo
Navajo
Ute