Author Go Round 2007Last Monday four sixth graders attended Author Go Round 2007 at the Santa Barbara County Schools Office. They listened to four children's book authors speak about their work and then they had a chance to meet in small groups with each author. Authors who participated this year were Marni McGee, Sherry Shahan, Joe Cepeda, and Michael Katz. It was a full day of fun and learning. The day culminated with lunch in the library with dessert by Mrs. Pedersen. (chocolate, of course!)
"I liked the Author Go Round because the authors told us how books are made (which is very interesting)."~Jared
" I had a lot of fun at the Author Go Round because I got to understand more about the author's ideas."~Bella
"I liked the Author Go Round because I got to experience the life of writers in their own eyes."~Jordan
I liked the Author Go Round because you can see the process of getting a book published."~Joshua
This week in the Library:
Kindergarten--Continuing our stories of Walter and William, we read No More Water in the Bathtub by Tedd Arnold and followed the hilarious adventure of William as his bathtub breaks loose and careens down floor after floor of his apartment building. We had lots of fun looking at the final picture as William floats down the street and imagining what adventures he might have next. What if William and his bathtub floated into our Library? Books might become surfboards?
Grades 1-3--This week we started one of our favorite projects in the Library--The California Young Reader Medal program. Each year 5 books are nominated by children, teachers and librarians all over the state. For the next 5 weeks we read each of the nominees and then vote for our favorite. Votes are tabulated and we declare our Cold Spring Winner and then our votes are sent to Sacramento to be counted with students' votes from all over the state. In May, the state winner is announced. This year's nominees are fantastic. They are:
| The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle. Illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama. (Dutton Children's Books, 2004) |
| My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza. ( G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2003) |
| Stanley's Party by Linda Bailey. Illustrated by Bill Slavin. (Kids Can Press, 2003) |
| Three Pebbles and a Song by Eileen Spinelli. Illustrated by S. D. Schindler. (Dial Books For Young Readers, 2003) |
| Wild About Books by Judy Sierra. Illustrated by Marc Brown. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004) |
Fourth Grade--Fourth graders are just finishing their California Mission studies and we read a delightful story written by Pam Munoz Ryan. Nacho and Lolita is the touching story of a pitacoche and a swallow who overcome obstacles to be together. Set in Mission San Juan Capistrano, the story tells about a magical bird who provides the beautiful colors of the mission gardens at the expense of his own beauty and by doing this his swallow, Lolita, can find the mission again upon her return.
Fifth and Sixth Grade--This week fifth and sixth graders had another chance to practice researching using our great new resource, Encyclopedia Britannica Online. After choosing a topic, students had to find information from the encyclopedia article, a magazine or journal article, and a website. All this can be done within the encyclopedia. One of the most interesting facts one researcher found this week was that Elvis Presley had a twin. Did you know that? The other important concept we learned and all agreed upon was that the easiest and best information came from the encyclopedia. The magazines and journals and websites were nice, but for finding facts, nothing beats the encyclopedia.
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