Top Ten Books in 2013

We've been very busy reading at Myron J. Francis this year. In 2013, students and teachers checked out 12,204 books for recreational reading, school projects, and curriculum connections. Below is a list of "top tens" sorted by chapter books, picture books, nonfiction books, biographies, and graphic novels. I'm happy to see that last year's Newbery Award winner, The One and Only Ivan is in the top ten list for chapter books. The chapter book list was dominated by RI Children Book Award nominees mostly because our 5th graders participate in the Rooster Games with Gordon School in February so they are eager to get seven out of the twenty books on the list read.  Mo Willems and Dr. Seuss stole the show for picture books. It's no surprise that the almanac, world record book, and book of facts were in the top ten for nonfiction. Also not surprising is the Patriots, Celtics, and Haunted America as sports and "scary" books are very popular. I was pleased that Dogs on Duty and Nic Bishop Snakes made it on the top ten nonfiction being excellent science and social studies titles.  Our number one biography this year was about Tony Sarg, the Macy's parade puppeteer. Others in the top ten were Barack Obama, Harry Houdini, Taylor Swift, Joe Louis, and LeBron James - twice!  Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books took four total slots in the graphic novel top ten but the remaining six had a nice variety. Although Squish by Jennifer Holm made it in the top ten, I was surprised that Babymouse did not. However, Babymouse and Lunch Lady would have made it into the top fifteen. It's always fun to run these stats and reflect on our school's reading habits. I think out of all the lists, the one that struck me the most was the biographies. Next year, I'd like to continue with the sports and entertainment bios enthusiasm but also see more females, scientists, artists, and Native Americans on the list as we have an excellent selection of biographies representing a wide variety of these and other backgrounds in the library. 2013 was a fun filled year.  I am grateful that we have a wonderful collection of books in our library and am excited that students have access to read a wide variety of genres for learning and supporting their life long reading habits. Happy New Year!

Top Ten Chapter Books
1. My Life as a Stuntboy by  Janet Tashjian
2. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
3. The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
4. When Life Gives you O.J. by Erica S. Perl
5. Pie by Sarah Weeks
6. Fractions = Trouble! by Claudia Mills
7. Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinelli
8. King of the Mound: My Summer with Satchel Paige by Wes Tooke
9. The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani
10. The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan Long Shang

Top Ten Picture Books
1. Won-Ton : a Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw
2. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
3. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
4. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
5. Can I Play Too?  by Mo Willems
6. Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late! by Mo Willems
7. I Am Invited to a Party! by Mo Willems
8. Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
9. Knuffle Bunny Too : a Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems
10. Pigs Make Me Sneeze! by Mo Willems

Top Ten Nonfiction
1. The World Almanac for Kids 2007
2. Nic Bishop Snakes by Nic Bishop
3. Adventures in Cartooning by James Sturm
4. Big book of Why by, John Perritano
5. Dogs on Duty : Soldiers' Best Friends on the Battlefield and Beyond by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
6. Meet the Red Sox by Mike Kennedy
7. Guinness world records, 2012.
8. Haunted America : Ghost Stories and True Tales of Terror by Jeff Bahr
9. New England Patriots by  K.C. Kelley
10. Boston Celtics by  K.C. Kelley

Top 10 Biographies
1. Balloons over Broadway : The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet
2. Barnum's Bones : How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World by Tracey Fern
3. Taylor Swift by Sarah Tieck
4. Who was Harry Houdini? by Tui Sutherland
5. A Nation's Hope : The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis by Matt de la Peña
6. Justin Bieber by Sarah Tieck
7. LeBron James by Mike Kennedy
8. Who is Barack Obama? by Roberta Edwards
9. Jeff Kinney by Megan Gunderson
10.  LeBron James by Jeff Savage

Top Ten Graphic Novels
1. Sidekicks by Dan Santat
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney
3. Adventures in Cartooning by James Sturn
4.  Captain Underpants and the invasion of the incredibly naughty cafeteria ladies from outer space by Dav Pilkey
5. Diary of a wimpy kid 4 : dog days by Jeff Kinney
6. Bad Kitty Meets the Baby  by Nick Bruel
7.  Squish : Super Amoeba  by Jennifer Holm
8. The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan by Maxwell Eaton
9.  Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman : a Fifth Epic Novel by Dav Pilkey
10.  Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke & The adventures of Ook and Gluk : Kung-fu cavemen from the future by Dav Pilkey

Nursery Rhyme Recital in Kindergarten

Kindergarteners & Miss Johnson's class recently finished up a nursery rhyme unit. We read popular nursery rhymes, talked about rhyming words, illustrated rhymes with detail, and worked in pairs to say the rhymes aloud in front of the class. You can hear the recitals below with samples of student work.








Mrs. Ream's Recital


Miss Wayland's Recital


Miss Martin's Recital


Miss Johnson's Recital

Bookmarks From Boxes

Thanks to Olivia D. in grade 2 for these awesome bookmarks that she made and donated to the library for students in need of a placeholder for their pages.

This Week in the Library

We have lots of different lessons happening in the library this week at each grade level. It will be a busy December!

Kindergarten
Pairs of students were given a nursery rhyme to "read", learn, illustrate and recite. After practicing the nursery rhymes together for several classes, this week students will perform their nursery rhyme with a partner in front of the class.

Grade 1
Students  will continue working on book covers they are creating to practice fiction call numbers, parts of a book, and the beginnings of opinion writing. The book covers include a title of a book they would like to write, illustration,  author (themselves), call number, and testimonial on the back cover.

Grade 2
Students will continue working on book covers they are creating to practice fiction call numbers and book reviews. They picked a familiar book and created a book cover with title, author, and call number. On the back they are writing a book review with a short summary and an opinion piece.

Grade 3
We will continue to learn about our online Destiny Catalog and the social media features including managing book shelves with books read, currently reading, and want to read, book recommendations to friends, and book reviews.

Grade 4
We will embark on week 2 of our reference unit with a look at online maps. Last week we used print atlases and good old fashioned globes to find places on each continent. This week we will use Google Maps and Street View to find and explore places around the world. Later we will make trading cards using the places we found in Google Presentation to share with each other.

Grade 5
This will be week 1 of preparation for our Mock Rooster Games. I will read Snakes by Nic Bishop and explain the rules and activities of our collaborative Rooster Games that take place in March with Gordon School.

Our lessons always follow the American Association for School Librarians' Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Also, we infuse the Common Core Standards followed by our school's curriculum. See below for Common Core Standards that this week's lessons meet.

SL K.5 - Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
SL K.5 - Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
RL K.10 - Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

RL 1.5 - Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.
RL 1.7 - Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

RL 2. 7 - Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
W 2.1 - Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.

RL 3.10 - By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
RI 3.10 - By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
W 3.1 - Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

RI 4.7 - Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.
W 4.6 - With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

RL 5.1 - Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
RL 5.2 - Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
RL 5.10 - By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 4–5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Matchbox Diary & Booktalks

In the book Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman, a great grandfather tells his immigration story by showing his grand daughter a cigar box filled with matchboxes that contain objects representing his journey from Italy to the U.S. The grandfather kept the matchbox diary before he could read and write. The illustrations are warm and tender with an inviting vintage quality. Not only does the book recall the immigrant experience, it also shows the timelessness of cross generational bonding through story telling. I am planning on reading it to  5th graders this week who are doing book talks with their classroom teachers on historical fiction. I think this is a unique example of historical fiction that can provide a springboard for creative book talks. Students could create their own matchbox diary to pass around to the audience, they could connect it to a written diary by asking, "How many of you keep a diary?", or they could reenact one of the scenes from the book. It's perfect as a book talk model and I am curious to see if the students enjoy listening to the book as much as I enjoyed reading it.

Pause & Think Online While Using MyQuest

Beginning in third grade, students at Myron J. Francis start using our library catalog's social media component, MyQuest. MyQuest allows students to create their own book list, friend other class and school mates, recommend books to friends and write book reviews. In third grade, MyQuest is part of students' library grade as we learn how to use the system and write book reviews. In fourth and fifth grade, we review MyQuest but participation is optional. Students love the idea of "friending" their class mates. I love the idea of them practicing their social media presence using book recommendations and reviews as the vehicle. Before we begin the actual, "friending" we do a lesson on digital citizenship. Common Sense Media has excellent resources for this. I recently found a video entitled, Pause & Think Online. I think this video is genius -  a cross between Teletubbies and Boohbaah characters singing School House Rock-style about appropriate online behavior. Originally, I was going to show the video to third graders only as it seemed too babyish for fourth and fifth graders. However, last week I had a few extra minutes with fourth graders during our digital citizenship lesson and showed it, prefacing it with, "this is my new favorite song." Half-way through, students were clapping and singing along. I think it might be their new favorite song too. I'm going to try it with fifth graders this week.

Goin' Someplace Special - Unanimous Winner!

Our 5th grade Coretta Scott King Book Award unit is complete. The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.  I chose 4 books that were either winners or honors from past years. I tried to pick books from different genres and that represent different time periods and regions from the  black experience. Students were encouraged to vote on the best selection based on the following criteria:
o    Portrays some aspect of the black experience, past, present, or future.
o    Promotes understanding and appreciation of all peoples in an American pluralistic society.
o    Contains quality writing elements: Clear plot, well devoloped characters, & accuracy
o    Illustrations should increase the readers' awareness of the world around him/her.

Students enjoyed all of the books. They were fully engaged in The Faithful Friend, a story based on Grimm's "Faithful Johannes" set in Martinique. As a classic fairy tale containing magic, an evil wizard, and happily ever after in the end, they listened intently to see what would happen as the main character turned to stone before his best friend's eyes.  For the final vote, all three fifth grade classes voted for Goin' Someplace Special, a story about a girl in the segregated South who travels on the bus and through the city to get to the desegregated library for the first time. Students commented that this book had "more" of the black experience past criteria than any of the others. While I did push back on this idea noting that our other books had a slave who later became free and became a Deputy U.S. Marshall and a boy who survived a civil war, lost his parents and still persevered, most students maintained Goin' Someplace special fit that criteria best. The two things that stuck out the most for me in  having this unit was
     a. Many students know a lot more about desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement than I did at their age.
     b. Many students' idea of  African American history revolves around the Civil Rights Movement but doesn't go any further back or forward than that.

Later this year, 5th graders will do a unit on the Civil Rights Movement with classroom teachers which begins with a foundation of slavery. Now that students are aware of the Coretta Scott King Book Award, hopefully, they can use some of the past winners as resources for that and future studies as well as for exploring new types of literature for enjoyment and to broaden their perspectives.

Books we read:

• Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U. S. Marshal by
  Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
• Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan by Mary Williams
• The Faithful Friend by Robert San Souci
  
• **Goin' Someplace Special  by Patricia C. McKissack  - unanimous winner!

Balloons, Witches, Elephants & Cartoons: 4th Grade Sibert Awards

Fourth graders have been studying the Sibert Informational Book Award. The award is given each year by the American Library Association to the best nonfiction children's book. Students used the following criteria to judge whether a book should win the Sibert Award:

• nonfiction book that is clear and accurate with details
• supportive features (table of contents, index, glossary, etc.)
• interesting to children
• well-organized
• excellent language and illustrations/graphics

I read the same 4 books in 3 different 4th grade classes and the results were different in each. Based on comments from their tally sheets, some students thought Balloons Over Broadway should win because of the illustrations and it was interesting to children. Others students thought Elephant Scientist was the best because it had lots of details and would be interesting to children interested in animals. And still others thought that Witches should win because it was a fascinating topic, had supportive features, and had lots of details. I enjoyed doing this book award because the new Common Core Standards emphasize the need to read more complex informational texts. I have to admit that I was nervous that students would find some of the books boring. While there were a few "boring" comments on their tally sheets, most students were interested, actively engaged, and could appreciate the value of all of the informational books on our list.

Book List (taken from the 2012 winner/honor list)
Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer,
Drawing from Memory by Allen Say
Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet
Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O'Connell

Winners by class:
Patton - Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
Moynihan - Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
Cabral - Balloons Over Broadway:The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade

Knuffle Bunny Wins the 2nd Grade Caldecott Award!

Second graders finished up their unit on the Caldecott book award this week. I read the 4 books from the 2005(the year many 2nd graders were born) Caldecott winner/honor list. Students did not know which book won the gold. After reading each book, students had to write whether they thought the book should stay on the list or not and explain why based on the following criteria:

• Excellent illustrations.
• Kids would love the book.
• Illustrations help tell the story.

Based on this criteria, 2nd graders overwhelmingly voted for Knuffle Bunny as the gold even though Kitten's First Full Moon was the actual winner for that year. Many students felt that Kitten's First Full Moon should not have won because it has no color. It was a fun unit with high quality read-alouds, critical thinking and lively debates.

Unanimous Winner!
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

Honor Books
The Red Book by Barbara Lehman
Kitten's First Moon by Kevin Henkes
Coming On Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson

Top Ten Titles This Week

Library book circulation is in full swing this week. Check out the top 10 books being read by Myron J. Francis students. Both fiction and non fiction titles are in the top ten as well as a reference book and graphic novels. I love that Snakes by Nic Bishop is at the top. It's a great read with gruesome but beautiful closeup photographs of snake life.

1.	Nic Bishop Snakes.	Bishop, Nic,
2.	Jake and Lily	Spinelli, Jerry
3.	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever	Kinney, Jeff
4.	True (--sort of)	Hannigan, Katherine
5.	Ungifted	Korman, Gordon
6.	The World Almanac for Kids - 2007
7.	The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan	Eaton, Maxwell
8.	King Of The Mound : My Summer With Satchel Paige	Tooke, Wes
9.	Liar & Spy	Stead, Rebecca
10.	Sidekicks	Santat, Dan

Book Awards: Letting Kids be the Judge

We will be studying book awards for the next few weeks in grades 1-5. Each grade level will learn the criteria for judging their book award. I will read 3-4 books that have either won or were honor books and students will use the criteria to vote on which book they think should be the winner. Criteria for each book award is different. For example, the Geisel Award highlights books that beginning and early readers can read and understand. The Caldecott Award highlights excellent illustrations that tell a great story and work well with the text. Below is a picture grid view of all the books we will read as well as a list of the awards and a child-friendly description of each. I was delighted when I asked a class of 2nd graders if they could describe the word "criteria", several hands went up, and someone actually defined that word. This is one of my favorite lessons because it gets students to think critically, they love the idea that they are the judges, and we get to read awesome books!

Grade 1 - Theodore Geisel Award - Best beginning reader
Grade 2 - Caldecott Award - Best illustrations
Grade 3 - Schneider Family Book Award - Best expression of the disability experience
Grade 4  - Sibert Informational Book Award - Best informational (nonfiction) book
Grade 5 - Coretta Scott King Award - Best work showing an appreciation for African American culture and universal human values

Reading Takes Us Places

This week, students in grades 1-5 are learning how to contribute to the library's continents display, "Reading Takes Us Places". Located at the entrance to the library, each window has a map of a different continent. Students who read a book that has a setting in one of the seven continents will have their book title, name, and map marker added to the display. Books can be fiction or nonfiction and can be read by individuals or whole classrooms (a teacher read-aloud, for example). The display is meant to inspire students to read and share books about different places around the world. Students will be doing research later in the year on a geographical location in library as well as learning more about continents through lessons in art and phys ed.

That Is Not a Good Idea

What happens when a fox entices a goose into the deep dark woods as cute baby goslings watch from afar? Well, it's not what you think. That Is Not a Good Idea, another rollicking interactive read-aloud by Mo Willems provides suspense, fun, and a mind-bending twist that K-2nd graders love. Read it a second time and discuss who outfoxes whom. This is one of my new favorites!

Kindness and Building a Community of Library Learners

This week, in grades 3-5, we focused on kindness and building a community of learners in the library. I thought this was important as we embark on a new year with interactive media spots and a new self checkout system.  Our read-aloud was Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson. In the story, a new girl, Maya, arrives to school with a tattered coat and worn shoes. She smiles and tries to make friends with the narrator and others at the school, but they all shun her. After a kindness lesson by their teacher, the narrator realizes that she has been mean, feels badly, and vows to make friends with Maya. Maya, however, never returns…. she ends up moving to a different town.

What is library?

What is library? I'll be asking students that during their first week of library class. Surely they will mention books, but our definition of libraries is changing rapidly.  After generating students' responses on "what is library?," they will watch the animated PowToon video below to understand and get excited about reading, thinking, sharing and creating in the library.

Bird Creature Puppets in Mrs. Messier's 4th Grade Class

Students in grade 4 did research in groups on different types of birds. Next, they wrote a poem about an imaginary bird creature using the facts they learned as inspiration. In art class, they studied John James Audobon, practiced drawing birds, and made bird creature marionette puppets based on their poems. Below are some of the poems performed with the bird creature puppets. Visit our School Tube Channel and use the search term "bird creature puppet" to view the rest.

Indie

Raissa

Lauren

Bird Creature Puppets in 4th Grade - Mrs. Mello's Class

Students in grade 4 did research in groups on different types of birds. Next, they wrote a poem about an imaginary bird creature using the facts they learned as inspiration. In art class, they studied John James Audobon, practiced drawing birds, and made bird creature marionette puppets based on their poems. Below are some of the poems performed with the bird creature puppets. Visit our School Tube Channel and use the search term "bird creature puppet" to view the rest.

Emily R

Brandon J

Andrew

Bird Creature Puppets in Fourth Grade - Mrs. Couto's Class

Students in grade 4 did research in groups on different types of birds. Next, they wrote a poem about an imaginary bird creature using the facts they learned as inspiration. In art class, they studied John James Audobon, practiced drawing birds, and made bird creature marionette puppets based on their poems. Below are some of the poems performed with the bird creature puppets. Visit our School Tube Channel and use the search term "bird creature puppet" to view the rest.

Jonah

Andrew

Amy

Autobiographical Puppets in Mrs. Brun's Class

Students in third grade listened to several biographies and autobiographies in library class. They did biographical research in groups on a famous person of their choice. In art, students made a self portrait stick puppet and finally performed their own autobiographical/memoir piece with their puppet. Below are some of the autobiographical puppets. Visit our School Tube Channel and use the search term "autobiography puppets" to view the rest.


Eliza

Billy

Jenna

Autobiographical Puppets in Mrs. Laviano's class.

Students in third grade listened to several biographies and autobiographies in library class. They did biographical research in groups on a famous person of their choice. In art, students made a self portrait stick puppet and finally performed their own autobiographical/memoir piece with their puppet. Below are some of the autobiographical puppets. Visit our School Tube Channel and use the search term "autobiography puppets" to view the rest.

Ethan

Emma

Ryan

Autobiographical Puppets in Miss Denice's Class

Students in third grade listened to several biographies and autobiographies in library class. They did biographical research in groups on a famous person of their choice. In art, students made a self portrait stick puppet and finally performed their own autobiographical/memoir piece with their puppet. Below are the some of the autobiographical puppets. Visit our School Tube Channel and use the search term "autobiography puppets" to view the rest.

Nini

Dominic

Kaylee

Dancing Dragon Puppets

First grade students spent several weeks exploring dragons in library. We read some nonfiction books about dragons including Behold, Dragons by Gail Gibbons and Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year by Kate Waters . We watched some dragon video clips on Chinese New Year dances and traditional Dragon Dances. Students made dragon puppets in art and then put on a puppet show reciting dragon facts that they had learned and doing a stick puppet dragon dance. We got the music for our show from students at the Las Vegas Kung Fu Academy. View a sample puppet show below. To see all dragon puppet shows, go to the  Student Projects page and click on Dragon Puppet Shows - Grade 1.

Frogs, Puppets, & Performance in Kindergarten

Kindergarten students spent several weeks exploring frogs in library. We read some nonfiction books about frogs including Nic Bishop's Frogs and Elizabeth Carney's National Geographic Kids Frogs! We watched some frog video clips on BrainPop Jr. , viewed a PBS video on metamorphosis, and saw a really cool Glass Frog video. We read classic fiction stories from Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad are Friends as well as Frog and Toad All Year. To tie it all together, we collected frog facts in a frog poster that students illustrated. As a final fun project, students created a frog puppet in art and performed a show reciting their frog facts and singing the song, "Five Little Speckled Frogs."

See below for a puppet show video.  View all puppet shows here.

Autobiographical Puppets in Mrs. Cabral's Class

Students in Mrs. Cabral's class listened to several biographies and autobiographies in library class. They learned biographical information on other famous people online. In art, students made a self portrait stick puppet and finally performed their own autobiographical/memoir piece with their puppet. See videos below.

Sarah

Michael

Trevor

Osbie

Talyah

Marissa

Steven

Austin

Quincy

Tyler S.

Tyler F.

Multimedia Book Reviews in Grade 1

Mrs. MacDonald's class read their favorite books and wrote book reviews for them in class. They drew illustrations for the review using Sharpies and colored pencils. In library they recorded the book reviews using Vocaroo. Put that all together...and voila...we have a multimedia book review. See an example book review below. To view all book reviews, go to the Student Projects page in the navigation above and click on 1st Grade Book Reviews - MacDonald.

Earth Week Bookmarks

We are celebrating Earth Week at Myron J. Francis. Look at the awesome bookmarks that a 3rd grader and his Mom made for the library. Made from cereal boxes and ribbon, they are creative, colorful, and serve as a sturdy placeholder for your favorite book. They are so popular that I decided to raffle one off in each classroom so that students at all grade levels can be inspired and one lucky person per class will have a chance to take it home. Thanks Jack!

Mystery Readers Read "Everything On It"

As part of reading week, mystery readers  will read a poem over the loudspeaker each day. Classrooms who correctly guess the mystery reader will be eligible to win Shel Silverstein's recently published book, Everything On It. Students in library who are on computers this week will be exploring the Shel Silverstein's website which has a fun section for kids only - like this matching game on the left. Happy Reading Week!

Little Dog, Lost

Little Dog, Lost by Marion Dane Bauer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Great free verse story for the beginning-middle chapter book crowd. Abandoned dog, lonely boy, misunderstood caretaker, and friends with a purpose make the perfect ingredients for a fast-paced, heart-warming story that's not just for dog lovers.



View all my reviews

2013 Rooster Games

Myron J. Francis 5th graders took part in the 2013 Rooster Games this month at Gordon School. The games have been a tradition since 2001. To particpate, students need to read at least seven out of the twenty books that have been nominated for the Rhode Island Children's Book Award. During the games, students work collaboratively on teams to solve challenges based on the books. Suzanne Fox, the Gordon School librarian, spearheads the games by hosting and organizing the event as well as making sure that the Rooster Game mascot shows up to cheer on the students. See the video below for this year's dramatic rooster entrance. Students from both schools read many excellent books, worked collaboratively to solve problems and met new friends.

Amelia to Zora

Need a fun way to celebrate Women’s History Month? Check out this book Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee. The book has a fresh selection of inspiring women, with short bios of each containing the basics as well as interesting life details.The book is illustrated with mixed media that make the people pop! Brand new to our library…check it out!

Tweet Tweet!

We got an awesome donation today from a student's father who is a bird enthusiast. The book is Bird Songs Bible: The Complete Illustrated Reference for North American Birds complete with audio recordings of bird songs from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Coincidentally, 4th graders are doing bird research in library and will also be learning about John James Audobon in art, so this is a perfect reference book that will surely generate excitement.  I'm not a stickler for keeping reference materials from circulating, but this beauty will need to stay in the library not only because it weighs about 30 pounds, but because the audio component is just too fancy to risk dropping in a puddle on the way home from school.

Stop by the library to hear the tweets!

This Week at a Glance...

This week we will be doing research in most grades using books, websites, databases, & videos. Here is an overview by grade level:

• K - Exploring frogs through the book, Frogs!  - A National Geographic reader. 
• Grade 1 - Exploring Chinese dragons through the book, Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year.
• Grade 2 - Exploring Insects through the Bug Books series.
• Grade 3 - Exploring biographies through online research.
• Grade 4 - Creating imaginary bird poetry based on previous research.
• Grade 5 - Researching folktale country of origin using Destiny Quest.

Animal Poetry

Fourth graders are beginning units on poetry this week. Several students came into the library, encouraged by their teachers, to take out poetry books.   I booktalked National Geographic's Book of Animal Poetry to one class. The book is organized by themes based on size, type, sound, and others with helpful icons to let you know what section you are in. It has breathtaking photography that National Geographic is oh so famous for that enhances the choice selection of poems. Needless to say, several students wanted to check it out. There will surely be a "stampede of students waiting for this book!

Kindergarten Nursery Rhyme Recital

Kindergarten students performed their Nursery Rhyme Recital today. Students spent two weeks learning and illustrating a nursery rhyme with a partner. As a culmination, they recited the rhyme in front of the class. To get them excited, I began  with an animated light show as a backdrop. There were many, "Wows!" as they entered the library. Students did a fine job reciting, applauding for their classmates, and bowing. We ended the show with some Ray Harryhausen Mother Goose stop-motion animated nursery rhymes.

Pie

In March, fifth graders will be going to Gordon School to participate in the annual Rooster Games. Students who read seven 2013 Rhode Island Children's Book Award nominees and report on them to their classroom teacher get to partake in the games. One fifth grader chose the RICBA nominee, Pie, for her MyQuest Book Club Book review assignment. I love how she described the book and how it inspired her to bake a pie with her Mom! Read the book review below:

"I read a fiction book called Pie by Sarah Weeks. It's about a girl named Alice who was inspired by her Aunt Polly's pie making. Aunt Polly dies and everyone is upset because she made the best pies in town and they want her famous pie crust recipe, so they can be the next pie contest winners. Everyone thought she left her pie crust recipe to her cat Lardo... but did she really? I recommend this book to anyone that loves to bake or loves to eat pies. This book contains real pie recipes that were contributed to the author by real people. My mother and I actually made the Apple Pie recipe and it tasted delicious! This book is great for anyone who wants to try new recipes, as well as, anyone who likes a good mystery." - A.M.