Summer is coming...

Kindergarteners this week enjoyed Candace Fleming's delightful book, Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! and in the process learned about prepositions. Three bunnies find ways to get over and under and through all the fences Mr. McGreely builds around his garden to keep them from eating his newly planted vegetables. Students cheered for the bunnies as they delighted in the clever sound effects and vibrant, funny illustrations. In the end, the message is that sharing the bounty may be the best and perhaps munching on a carrot or two is a good idea too!



Also in the Library this week...

First Grade--Is it possible to get lost in the "Lost and Found?" Wendell and Floyd meet their new friend Mona while sitting outside the Principal's office waiting to be punished for missing an arithmetic test. (Who knew there would be a giant squid keeping them prisoner in the boys' bathroom that morning?) All three children disappear into the magical world at the bottom of the Lost and Found bin and their adventure pays off with three lucky hats and a new friendship. Mark Teague's bold illustrations and fanciful story addresses that age old question, What's at the bottom of the Lost and Found? and first graders are eager to hear next week's story, The Secret Shortcut.

Second Grade--With summer coming and trips planned, I thought it would be fun to read Margaret Mahy's hilarious story, The Three-Legged Cat. Tom, the cat, would love to roam the world but his owner would prefer a cat that "likes to sleep, and doesn't eat." Her rascal of a brother comes for his yearly visit, complete with his "molting, revolting Russian hat" that looked remarkably like Tom. In a serendipitous mix-up, Tom leaves on top the brother's head and the hat remains behind. And they all lived happily ever after!

Third Grade--With it's rollicking prose and hilarious illustrations, Sir Cedric by Roy Gerrard is always a favorite with third graders. The story of the gentle knight and the black-hearted villain, the princess in need of rescue, the battle, and the happy ending (complete with cucumber sandwiches) would make it easy to just see this as a pleasant tale, but the underlying theme of standing up to a bully is one that resonates with children. Stay tuned, third graders, next week we'll read Sir Cedric Rides Again.

Fourth Grade--In keeping with their studies of California, fourth graders first watched a Keynote presentation I made about the ghost town Bodie, California, and then heard Sonia Levitson's story, Boomtown. It was fun to try to imagine what life would have been like in those early towns of California during the gold rush and students were intrigued by how some of the early settlers made more money than the gold miners ever did just by using their ingenuity and finding the things the miners needed and selling them. In this delightful story, Amanda finds that baking pies leads to having a bakery, which leads to needing more pans, which leads to someone starting a store, which leads to a bank.......you get the idea. It was fun, too, for the students to see the pictures of Bodie and to figure out why Bodie didn't last.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders worked on finishing their research and writing their first drafts of their blog posts for The Research Blog. Next week, our last library time for this year, we'll finish them up.

Sixth Grade--This week was it! Our last library class! To celebrate we played a rousing game of Library Jeopardy. My best wishes to the Class of '07 !

This is the last regular posting on "Voices From the Inglenook" for this year......next week I'll post a list of links to some great summer reading lists. Thanks for all the loyal readers who have made the journey with me this school year. Have a great summer and we'll see you in September!