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.