Library Programs
Super Sleuth coming soon...great research activity for 4th and 5th grades!
Battle of
the Books
Our Battle of the Books program includes all interested 4th and 5th graders. It is coached by our reading specialist Judy Jones and our media specialist Maud Ann Wilson. Students work in teams of four to read and study 20 selected books and to answer questions in competition with other teams at Matthew Whaley. We have weekly practice sessions and fun at our annual BOB Sleepover. This club begins the second week in December and goes until the beginning of March. There is a school play-off competition in the Spring and one team goes on to compete with other schools in our area.
Find the 2007 Battle of the Books list and see how many you've read.
Virginia
Readers Choice
This is a program for all primary students and also any interested 4th or 5th grade students. Ten books are selected at the state level and students in schools throughout Virginia read or have the books read to them. Then there are art projects, discussions and voting for the "best" book. This year when students at Matthew Whaley voted, Muldoon won on the primary level and Gregor the Overlanderiwon at the elementary level. At the state level The Monster Who Ate My Peas won (Primary) and Say What? iwon at the Elementary level.
Visit the Virginia State Reading Association to find out more information.
Library
Leaders
Media Center classes strive to earn the Library Leader Award as they cooperatively demonstrate GRRRRRREAT citizenship and leadership. The following classes have succeeded in earning this award 10 times this year and will have a celebration:
Mrs. Howard's first grade
Mrs. Daniel's kindergarten class
Mrs. Zanca's kindergarten class
Mrs. Smethurst's first grade
Mrs. Melzer's second grade
Mrs. Cole's fourth grade
Mrs. Walls's first grade
Mrs. Armbruster's kindergarten class
Ms. Mayo's first grade
Mrs. Pegram's kindergarten class
Mrs. Brigham's first grade
Mr. Beatty's fourth grade
The following class has succeeded in earning this award 20 times this year and will have a celebration:
Mrs. Howard's first grade
Beacon
of Freedom
This reading program is sponsored by Colonial Williamsburg and the Williamsburg Regional Library. It features several children's history books both fiction and nonfiction which students read and discuss. One selected student is invited to go to a roundtable discussion where the students themselves select the winning book. The culminating event is for participants to attend the official announcement of the winning book at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitors Center.
Last year the nonfiction book called Victory or Death! Stories of the American Revolution by Doreen Rappaport & Joan Verniero won the Beacon of Freedom Award. It tells of real people -some famous and some not yet known.
Mother
Goose Mania
This program is for third grade students who are interested in reading, re-reading, and studying Mother Goose rhymes, fairy tales, fables, tall tales, myths, and classic picture books. Students try to answer questions about these different types of stories. There is a competition between many of the elementary schools in Williamsburg.
Super
Sleuth
The Super Sleuth program invites
students in grades 4 and 5 to do weekly research to discover the answer
to person, place, or thing clues.