Learning Tapestry Weaving

This summer I'm practicing some skills I hope to transfer over to students in our library/makerspace. As the result of our Innovation Grant, we acquired several looms.  I took a class with master weaver Cynthia at The Weaving Hand in Brooklyn, and learned some new techniques, like those featured here. I'm looking forward to guiding students in how to make playful tapestries like the ones pictured here.  

Want Audiobooks?

Why listen to audiobooks?  Listening is an important skill to be both taught and learned. Children of this century live in a world where media is a dominant form of communication (25 million iPods sold last year), and imagination's greatest champion in this technological realm is the spoken word. Through the years our cultures have been nurtured and our customs passed on by storytellers--audiobooks carry on that tradition.   

(About the ALSC/Booklist/YALSA Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production)*

Our library now has a subscription to Tales2Go, which provides an enormous library of high-quality audiobook selections for children.  These are available to download onto your device (phone, tablet). Please email mckinleylibrary@gmail.com, if you'd like to sign up.

*Reference:
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/odysseyaward/odysseyabout

Simple Machines: The Way Things Go

A viewing of The Way Things Go was the perfect culmination of the PreK/K's study of simple machines.  The film documents a 1987 installation by German artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss.  The artists created an enormous structure combining ordinary household objects--bottles, tires, spray bottles, balloons, ladders, and old shoes--with physics and chemistry to create a spectacular chain reaction. The only sounds we hear are the whizzing, plopping, and clanging of home-made machine parts moving.  Children were at turns jumping out of their seats and mesmerized.

You can see a clip of the film here:

Meg & Olivia's (grade 1/2) Class How-to WIki

Please visit our Wiki!

World Read Aloud Day

To celebrate World Read Aloud Day Judy's kindergarten class read Madeline with a 4th grade class from Fordham Bedford Academy/PS 54 in the Bronx, via Skype.  We had a great time connecting to kids in another school!

Historical Fiction Posters

Students in 4-406 are making interactive posters using Glogster about their historical fiction books.  They hope their "Glogs" will inspire you to read their books!

Second Grade Poetry

Students from Ms. Farkas' and Ms. Warren's second-grade class used Pixie software to illustrate their original poems.