Our 5th graders had the pleasure of interacting with a real-life scientist from Montreal, Canada. I first heard of this free and wonderful program from a colleague and after several failed attempts at confirming a scientist (scheduling issues, sabbaticals), we connected via Skype! Sejal Davla, PHD candidate and neuroscientist from McGill University, gave students a tour of her lab, discussed in detail her research (the effect of sleep in the brain of fruit flies), and answered a host of interesting questions posed by our students. She reiterated the importance of getting an education and gave examples from her own life and personal experiences. Besides some technical connection issues, the event was a success! Sejal was ever so kind and knowledgeable and we definitely hope to rekindle this friendship in the future!

Sharee Miller, author and illustrator extraordinaire visited 1st grade this morning for a memorable, important and eye-opening visit. Sharee’s books, Don’t Touch My Hair! and Princess Hair, discuss the importance of self-confidence, maintaining one’s personal space and loving oneself and through her uplifting and well-written storytelling and amazing self-done illustrations, these powerful morales come across loud and clear. Sharee opened her visit with an informative PowerPoint presentation that showed her life’s journey till now, the process of creating a book, and her thoughts and advice. She delighted students by reading her two stories and then, heightened the excitement by drawing one of her book characters in real time. Throughout her visit, Sharee was friendly and patient allowing for a sprinkling here and there of questions and comments. She is kind, naturally talented, sweet and cheery which made her visit all the more memorable for our students- thank you Sharee Miller and Greenlight Bookstore for making this visit happen!

In the spirit of Earth Day, all grades listened to an array of read-alouds, both fiction and non-fiction, discussed major topics such as Global Warming and Climate Change and ways to help our Earth, since we only have one and participated in several crafts or writing activities. For instance, Pre-K depicted Earth using coffee filters and washable markers; Kindergarten listened to the beautifully written and illustrated, The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown and The Night Gardener, by Jonathan Auxier, and created their own beautiful gardens incorporating tulip origami art; and First grade worked on a fold and flip worksheet showing ways one can help Earth. Furthermore, to celebrate both Earth Day and Spring and incorporate Makerspace activities, lower elementary listened to various related picture books and made butterflies, sun-catchers, and snails using a host of materials such as, Popsicle sticks, coffee filters, tissue papers, etc.

P.S.110 was honored to host, Geoff Rodkey, the author of several popular upper elementary books like the Tapper Twins series and We’re not from here! and screenwriter of RV and Daddy Day Care. There was not an open seat in the library and one could feel the excitement of the students in the air for this epic and memorable visit. Geoff Rodkey gave a wonderful and informative presentation for our students in grades 3-5 and even returned for a second brief visit to personally autograph his books (book order technical difficulties). He was not only professional in his manner, but beyond kind and sweet- thank you Geoff!

Two lovely librarians from the New York Public Library’s Seward Park branch have been visiting our Pre-K and Kindergarten students over the last few weeks and will, in addition, start to visit 1st grade in the end of May. Marilyn Brant and Emily Small, NYPL public librarians, have exposed our students to a wonderful array of picture books and conducted corresponding craft activities to the delight of our kiddos! Some favorite read alouds have been- Grumpy Penguin by Claire Messer, Shark in the Park by Nick Sharratt, I Broke my Trunk by Mo Willems and many more. The students have looked forward to these visits and we hope to continue this wonderful partnership with the Seward Park branch. Over the next few weeks, the public librarians will make our students aware of the great opportunities and programs the public library has to offer during the summer months- here’s to summer reading!

The legendary Dr. Seuss’s birthday was on March 2nd and all grades participated in the celebratory activities, combining literacy with art, in the library. Pre-K made hot air balloons to replicate the balloons in the story, Oh the places you’ll go!; Kindergarten recreated The Lorax character using brown lunch bags; First grade decorated Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat hats; and Second and Third grades read two of Dr. Seuss’s Lost Stories– The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (a collection of seven rare illustrated stories by Dr. Seuss published by Random House on September 27, 2011, but originally published in the early 1950s). They are quite unique and are considered a literary treasure. Fourth and Fifth grades learned that Dr. Seuss was also an avid political cartoonist, patriot and a strong critic of World War II. He made his views and opinions known through a whole slew of political cartoons published in magazines and students were asked to decode his views based on his political cartoons. To continue the fun, some students joined me in dressing up! To further sweeten the birthday fun, classes received popcorn (Hop on Pop), Swedish fish candy and goldfish crackers (One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fish) collectively, to further make the annual event memorable for students!

We read the timeless and fun story, The Snow Globe Family, written by Jane O’Conner. It tells the story of a little family who live in a snow globe and long for a swirling snowstorm. They hope that someone will give the snow globe a big shake and when the baby comes into the room, they just might get their wish! Students were asked to write their own short story with the sentence starter, “If I were trapped in a snow globe…” Some students chose to bring in pictures of themselves and create a snow globe of their own utilizing plastic plates, fake snow, and a whole lot of creativity and fun!