Chickadee Padlet 2026 by Presidents MASL

Chopsticks!

deborahlavoie — 2025-12-01 17:34:55 UTC

I purchased 100 sets of chopsticks on Amazon. After reading the books we tried our hand at picking up pompoms and putting them in cups using chopsticks. Students loved trying chopsticks. In the end I had about 50 sets left and I chose a few names per class and gave those students the extra chopsticks. They are still talking about that day!

Change of view

2025-12-13 11:47:31 UTC

After reading the book, we go back through some of the pages, and I point out that all the illustrations show the view from outside the bus looking in. I ask students to imagine being inside the bus looking out: What do they see outside the bus window? Then, they draw the view outside. They can choose any bus view from the story. Many of them have enjoyed drawing the underwater view.

Migrating bird puppet

2025-12-13 11:55:59 UTC

Students design and create a migrating-bird stick puppet using a bird template, a sheet of paper, a popsicle stick, and tape. If time permits, the class then "migrates" through the library.

Spider and Kitten research

2025-12-13 12:04:44 UTC

Students can choose to research a type of spider or a breed of cat on PebbleGo -- one of their favorite research tools.

Courage Wall

2025-12-17 12:31:53 UTC

After reading the book we discuss ways that we can be brave in our every day life. I give the students the example of me trying a new food to give them a starting point. Then, we create "Courage Cards" to hang on our W.E.S. Wall of Courage (the end cap of a shelf as I have no empty walls). I've been surprised at what the students have come up with so far.

Prunella Plants Investigation

jenstanbro — 2025-12-18 13:39:45 UTC

You can purchase carnivorous plants at Terrarium in Portland. Bring your own container to make it affordable.

Also, SciShow Kids on YouTube has short videos about plants with thorns, carnivorous plants, smelly plants, and fungi. For an extension, you can have students watch one of the videos and record some facts. I used SeeSaw to give the students a link to a Google Site with the videos. Here is the link to the SeeSaw activity.

Teaching Hard History

jenstanbro — 2025-12-19 12:46:26 UTC

I read this book aloud to 4th grade classes last year and it was a huge hit—students practically ran to check out more books about Civil Rights heroes. It’s a great read for upper elementary students.

One small moment to be aware of is that an illustration reproduces a historical newspaper headline that includes the word “Negro.” When I read it, I noticed a brief ripple in the form of exchanged looks among a couple of students, so I paused and invited questions. None came up in the moment, and given our time, I chose not to unpack the word whole-group but followed up afterward with the students who seemed to react.

Wanting our department to feel prepared this year, I checked in with our Director of DEI, who agreed there was no need to pre-teach the word and reiterated that, if questions arise, it’s appropriate to explain that the newspaper reflects language that was common at the time but is outdated today. While the term is not considered harmful in this historical context, today we use the term Black people.

I am looking forward to sharing this excellent book again this year.

Create your own plant

2025-12-22 18:05:04 UTC

Students are creating and naming their own plant using pipe cleaners. Their plant can be carnivorous or not. I poked a hole in the top of a small paper cup to give the plants a pot.

Think Like a Crow Stations

presidents4 — 2026-01-04 22:41:18 UTC

I am going to try this tomorrow, the first day back from vacation. After reading the book, our "Think Like a Crow Stations" will focus on memory: choose to play a quick game of memory; observant: use binoculars to look out the window for crows; tools: using only paper clips, string, cups, and pipecleaners, students will try to create a tool to get a piece of popcorn off the floor without using their hands.

-Beth Andersen

Crow Code

presidents4 — 2026-01-04 22:45:29 UTC

With the younger students I might focus on crow communication and make a class code. Students can get a chance to be the head "crow" for

1 clap = “I found food” (make eating motion)

2 claps = “Danger!” (hide under table)

3 claps = “Follow me” ("fly" around the library)

Chicken & Sheep Craft

2026-01-06 14:20:12 UTC

With K-2, students created their own Mavis. They could also create Sandra the Sheep. This is a great way to encourage retelling of the story, and the students really enjoyed the process of the craft.

Choose a creature

presidents4 — 2026-01-06 16:11:42 UTC

I found this idea on an RSU 18 page. This book feels longer than the other Chickadee books, so I am wondering how much time I will have at the end. I might use this extension activity (choose a creature that you are afraid of and transform it into a cute friendly creature). We might go around and everyone can say what creature they are afraid of before book checkout and then students who finish early can begin drawing.

How will you change the world?

2026-01-06 19:36:11 UTC

This was our first Chickadee this year, and we did it just before Thanksgiving. We talked about who the helpers are when there is a disaster, and for grade 2 and up, we showed this About World Central Kitchen video and looked at a map of all the locations where mentioned in the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUOotFAdA2k .

Students then drew or wrote their answer to, "How will you change the world?" which made a very nice and uplifting display!

Finger knitting

2026-01-06 19:59:37 UTC

We are going to attempt finger knitting! Has anyone tried the 5 finger kind (see the video) with K and 1?

An alternate version - maybe better for littles - is one that makes a simple chain ( actually more crocheting) is this one, which also includes a cute song: https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/finger-knitting

Citizen Scientists

2026-01-07 17:45:20 UTC

The Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb 13-16. Has anyone ever done this at school? I could see myself organizing interested classroom teachers to taking classes out at different times that day and recording/reporting birds they see and hear. I would collect the data and submit for the school. https://www.birdcount.org/group-counts/

BROWN SCHOOL: LUIGI AND FIND THE FICTION

2026-01-07 18:28:54 UTC

FIRST GRADE

Because the book is longer than most, we just played “find the fiction” whole group. I held up four books, one being fiction and students had to guess. Four cat books, four spider books, etc. This would be fun for students to do as an extension using just the titles and the library catalog search. PROMPT: find four books on a topic, make just ONE fiction.

Web Cam

2026-01-09 14:25:26 UTC

I put this on a screen for the kids to watch as passive programing

Web cam

2026-01-09 14:26:57 UTC

I put this on a screen for the kids to watch as passive programing.

The kids love it and stop in to see it.

Globe

2026-01-09 14:29:26 UTC

I set out a globe with both Vietnam and Maine marked off. The kids enjoyed exploring the globe.

Crow Escape Room

presidents4 — 2026-01-10 12:29:32 UTC

In almost every class I read Clever Crow to, a student mentioned this Mark Roper video. I haven't watched it all yet, but Roper is a former NASA enginner and the creator of Crunch Labs, so I feel confident passing it on!

What Is A Refugee?

athompson207 — 2026-01-13 12:57:14 UTC

We are watching this after discussing what students already know and want to learn about when learning about refugees. Our school community is overwhelmingly white and rural, so this will be new information for many/most.

WCK video

2026-01-15 15:28:15 UTC

I have shown the other video suggestions but like this one as well for younger classes. It really shows how they feed so many people.

Brain workout

2026-01-16 17:48:34 UTC

Trying to connect the challenge of learning a new language with other challenging tasks, we are giving our brains a workout by using our "follower" hand (non-dominant hand) to color a picture. We talk about how challenging it is to learn a new language because it requires us to teach our brains how to do something new.

Packing MRE's and doing math in the library

2026-01-16 17:52:29 UTC

Working with 1 or 2 others, students have to pack a meal kit following a recipe (3 bags of rice, 2 bags of beans, 1 bag of corn, and 1 piece of fruit (pom-pom). They are challenged to see how many they can pack in 5 minutes (3 minutes for older students). Afterward they have to figure out how many of each item they used (ie: if you packed 10 kits, how many bags of rice did you use?). Great use for all the rice and beans I just happened to have in the library.

Time for Kids: WCK and Chef Andres

athompson207 — 2026-01-21 18:41:38 UTC

A good, short article on WCK in TIME (for kids)

Interdisciplinary Resource

brileyan — 2026-01-29 14:45:24 UTC

This .pdf of interdisciplinary lessons and activities was linked on the publisher's page as a resource for educational activities. I found it a little too late but thought I'd share :)

Kindness

brileyan — 2026-01-30 14:39:01 UTC

At the root of this book is the message of making a difference through simple acts kindness and love. I am giving students the choice of a heart shape or a dove shape to color and add a message of love and kindness.

Onomatopoeia

2026-01-30 17:39:44 UTC

I plan to introduce the term, and focus on the use of onomatopoeia in this book. We can then brainstorm other common examples of onomatopoeia (boom, pop, woof, hiss, etc.). Finally I will encourage my K-2 library students to be aware of other examples of onomatopoeia that they may use or hear throughout their day.

Connecting to Lunar New Year

2026-02-08 16:40:27 UTC

We read Tricky Chopsticks last week (w/o Feb. 2) with K-5 and used chopsticks. This week we will expand on the book by learning about Lunar New Year. I made this display on Canva. Here is the template. https://www.canva.com/design/DAG_t98_9Rw/9MzU5I_Kh70PpvUxtcqBNg/view?utm_content=DAG_t98_9Rw&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink&mode=preview

Experiment with Light Pollution

gigimcallister8 — 2026-02-24 19:44:41 UTC

I got a bunch of small flashlights. I am going to tape a "constellation" on the end of each one, and we will see how the view is impacted by increased and decreased light. Trying it next week (March).

Teacher's guide link

hartleyg2 — 2026-03-04 13:42:46 UTC

This has a nice slideshow which can save you some time and give you some ideas. We provided students with choices: research Vietnam (draw or take notes), design a sweater, learn to sign your name in ASL (cut/paste images of the letters).

Pinhole Art

2026-03-17 18:07:12 UTC

For my first and second grade library classes, I printed simple outlines of a chicken and a sheep. I showed the students how to follow the outline of their animal with a push pin on the library carpet. When they were finished or wanted to check their progress, they held the pinhole artwork in front of the projector screen while the projector was on. They were very engaged.