La Befana fingerplay and teaching book

La Befana

La Befana rides her broom
*(sweep, sweep, sweep)

flying through the starry sky
(sweep, sweep, sweep)

looking for the Baby King
(sweep, sweep, sweep)

leaving presents for the children
(sweep, sweep, sweep)

created by Julee Murphy/2009

*La Befana Fingerplay: children act out sweeping motion while saying sweep, sweep, sweep) I act out the motions using my hands to show movement across the sky, placing my hands above my eyes to simulate looking for the Baby King, and act out setting presents out for the children.

Wonderful book for teaching Holiday Traditions Around the World

The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie DePaola.

Old Befana is a cranky, old woman who sweeps her home and walkway all day. She is not not welcoming to guests, and children do not like her. One night as Old Befana tries to sleep, a bright light floods into her bedroom. The light is a bright star that has suddenly appeared in the night sky. The next morning, a glorious procession of camels, horses, elephants, and three kings stop at her door to inquire if she know the way to Bethleham. The three kings are guided by the bright star as they search for a Baby King. Cranky Old Befana is too busy sweeping and is of no help to the kings, so they travel on their way. A little boy encourages the old woman to come with the procession in search of the Baby King who has come to change the world. Old Befana decides to follow but first bakes cookies, cakes, and candies to bring as her gift to the Baby. Upon leaving, she decides to first sweep her house clean. Old Befana has to run to try to catch up to the procession and soon tires out. The night sky is suddenly filled with angels singing about a night of miracles. Old Befana rises to her feet and begins to run, crying out to the angels to help her find her way to Bethleham. Suddenly, Old Befana begins to feel lighter as she rises up and miraculously begins runing through the night sky. Old Befana never found the Baby King but every year on the Feast of the Three Kings, January the sixth, Old Befana runs through the night sky. She brings gifts to children and then sweeps their rooms clean. She does this in hopes that one of the children might be the Baby King of Bethleham.

A perfect book for Thanksgiving

One is a Feast for a Mouse

A Thanksgiving Tale by Judy Cox and illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler

Little mouse discovers that you should never let your eyes grow bigger than your stomach when you are hungry.
Read this charming book to find out how mouse learns a lesson about the difference between being greedy and
being thankful.

Book Trailer-Piper Reed, Navy Brat

I have decided to let my library classes (grades 3-5) decide which Piper Reed book trailer will be uploaded to Teacher Tube. Two songs both seemed to fit "Piper". One is upbeat and perky like Piper and the other has a homey and family feel about it. Hmmmm, I wonder which one will be chosen. I think I have decided on my choice.

Kids will receive a score sheet that allows them to rate the music chosen for the video.

Using a scale score from 1-3 (three being a best music-video match).

Is the music a good match for the book trailer?

Does the music fit Piper's personality?

Does the music fit the tone of the story?

Choice A-Piper Reed, Navy Brat

Choice B-Piper Reed, Navy Brat

Welcome Home

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Welcome Home

View more presentations from Andrew B. Watt.

Adapting to Change

The last two days, I have been attending technology training sessions. The first was for a new library circulation software program called Insignia. My main adjustment has been becoming accustom to the teeny tiny font size. The are many positives to the software already. Cataloging will certainly be much easier and I won't waste as many barcode labels as I had to with the old Athena program. I had a few minutes this morning to explore the new system and practice checking out materials.

This afternoon, I attended a Teradon system training. This is the set up our school uses to broadcast video and images to our classrooms. We can download media for future use and encode data from one medium to another. I will explore this system a little more in depth when I return to my office tomorrow.

The Book Fair is here!

Joy! Joy! for every girl and boy.

Destination Book Fair:Read Around the World is here.

Ms. Murphy is frantically running both the book fair and the library.

God bless Mrs. Torres, a parent volunteer, who is donning the super hot and sweaty "Clifford, the big red dog" costume. Clifford is so loved by kids of all ages. Even the college kids that I work with were asking "where is Clifford, is he here?" I will have to see if Clifford can make a special "college visit". You simply never outgrow the book fair. It brings out the kid in everyone.

Scholastic also provides some amazing resources for librarians, teachers, parents and kids on their web site. I have been projecting a giant Captain Underpants with his cape flying behind him on one wall of the library. Alternately, I have also projected some video clips of author interviews from books that I have been promoting as good reads. My book fair is very customized and I promote both the Texas Bluebonnet nominees and the Texas Lone Star Reading list. I design my fair to appeal to the tastes of pre-schoolers up through middle school students, and I also bring in many teacher resources to help pre-service teachers start building their collection of teaching materials. It is an exhausting experience and although I have been considering canceling my spring 2010 book fair, I know in my heart that I will somehow pump myself up again and prepare to run 'Book Fair Diner" with just as much excitement as I am doing now.

The Girl Who Could Fly

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester
Awards: Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year; Booklist Editors' Choice; Utah Beehive Book Award Master List

Piper McCloud was born into a no-nonsense Lowland County family. Actually, while most children were born into the world, Piper "floated" into the world. Piper is not your average girl. She has an itch-an itch to fly. She closes her eyes, thinks of blue sky, and tells herself she is lighter than air and then she flies! Things are fairly smooth until the town picnic when Piper's secret comes out and she is quickly whisked away to a special high tech security learning center to join her new classmates who are just as talented as Piper in their own ways.

This is a sweet tale of a warm hearted girl who is happiest when she is among the clouds (as in Piper McCLOUD) The characters' names tend to reflect their personalities. There is Dr. HELLion who lives up to her name and a shrinking girl named Violet. The learning facility just happens to be named I.N.S.A.N.E. but that's all I can say.

This book was my "lunch break" read and I looked forward to it each day. I highly recommend The Girl Who Could Fly. It will have you wishing for the itch to fly.