Webster Bible Church and Webster Christian School Library Blog

“The story of a rabbit’s exhausting efforts to paint a picture presents the letters of the alphabet.” (Library of Congress) The kindergarten class reads Black and White Rabbit’s ABC.   Next Mrs. Satta shows the students a wide selection of ABC books to consider when they browse for a book to borrow. When the students are [...]

“Desolate Katy Kangaroo has no pocket in which to carry her son Freddy, so she asks all the other animals how they carry their children and finally goes to the city to find a pocket of her own.” (Library of Congress) The pre-K  library class discusses the concepts of fiction (made-up stories) and nonfiction (real [...]

Each year Mrs. Goodearle, the 3rd-grade teacher, and Mrs. Satta, the librarian collaborate to teach a unit on rainforests. The students enjoy watching 3 videos in the classroom:  Animals of the Rainforest, Plants of the Rainforest, and People of the Rainforest. One library class is devoted to reading a nonfiction book about the rainforest and [...]

In 1841, an American whaling ship rescues five stranded Japanese fishermen. The Captain befriends fourteen-year-old Manjiro Nakahama and adopts him. They return to Bedford, Massachusetts, where Manjiro marvels at the Americans’ freedom to pursue their ambitions. Manjiro realizes that he will never be fully accepted in the United States (he is believed to be the [...]

The second-grade class filled out a Know-Want to Know-Learned graphic organizer about penguins in library class. First the students raised their hands and told the class what they already knew about penguins or wanted to learn.  Mrs. Satta recorded these answers on the white board: Know: They are black and white most of the time. [...]

The first-grade library class is learning about the author/illustrator, Kevin Henkes. Many authors/illustrators start to write and/or draw at a young age (as did Kevin Henkes), so I like to inspire any budding artists/writers to think big and learn from successful authors/illustrators. We like to explore how they get the ideas for their stories and/or [...]

  It’s bedtime and little red chicken begs Papa for a bedtime story. As the book title, Interrupting Chicken, and the cover illustration clearly cue the reader, chicken has a problem with interrupting stories.  Despite her earnest declarations that she’ll refrain, chicken can’t resist jumping into the middle of three fairy tale stories (“Hansel and [...]

This February the 5th-grade students read a biography or historical fiction book relating to Black history or civil rights. In addition to creating posters and giving oral presentations to their classmates, each student helped fill the walls of The Civil Rights Virtual Museum below. (Hint:  Click on “menu” to view full screen.) Civil Rights Virtual Museum View [...]

“Tells the story of the doctors and researchers who worked to track down the cause of yellow fever and find a way to eliminate the disease.” (Follett Titlewave) In May 1900, four U.S. Army doctors were given orders to go to Cuba and discover the cause of yellow fever.  This was an urgent matter because [...]

Each January Mrs. Constantino, the 5th-grade teacher, and Mrs. Satta, the librarian, at Webster Christian School collaborate on a month-long unit of study about The Civil Rights Movement. One library class time, the 5th graders use timelines found in books about the Civil Rights Movement to create their own Civil Rights Movement timeline on paper.  During [...]