Graphic Novels

In one sense, this is a new name for comic books. You may be a skeptical about them. However, the publishers now use this technique for all kinds of books and they address a wide scope of interest and reading levels. It was pointed out at the Anderson's Book Store workshop that the pictures in graphic novels go way beyond those in picture books in telling the story. The bottom line is we want the children to read and, for some, graphic novels are very appealing.

We recently acquired a series at Elizabeth Ide called Leave it to Pet. They are intended for young children and the underlying theme is recycling. Having been created by a Japanese gentleman named Kenji Sonishi, they have one other feature that should prove very interesting to our students. They read from right to left and from what we would consider back to front. It is likely that for decades Japanese children have considered translations of Western books to be backwards.

What's going on?

The first few weeks after spring break at Elizabeth Ide will be spent learning about internet safety. We talk about the cyberspace community. There are some things that are just fine for children to do, some that require adult help and supervision, and some that are inappropriate at any time. Another topic is keeping personal information to ourselves. Anything put on the internet will be there forever. We discuss communication with strangers. We need to be very careful about people we do not know in real life. People on the internet may not be who they say they are. We also need to protect our computers from viruses. Children should not go to any program, site, or open any attachment without adult approval. Many of our students tell about viruses on their home computers.

At Prairieview, we are working on some research skills. Third graders have been learning to use guide words. We play a few games which incorporate this skill. Fourth graders are taking a look at the work of great American hero Melvil Dewey. His system has enabled patrons to find materials in most libraries in the United States. Once the students get good at using the Dewey Decimal System, they should have little difficulty adjusting to systems such as the Library of Congress System. Our fifth graders have been exposed to different types of catalogs. Ours if quite easy to use, but they may encounter some that are not and I want them to be confident enough to locate the information they are looking for.