Saturday, May 31, 2008

Have a great summer.....





Have a great summer!



This is my last post for the school year and what fun we've had this year in our Library. We especially enjoyed posting our video book reviews with Olive, our Library Cat!

Summer is a great time to read and for this last post I have collected a number of links to reading lists. I think you'll find something for everyone! It will remain on this blog until September.

So relax, kick back with a lemonade, and read, read read!

~Mrs. Pedersen




Summer Reading Lists

http://www.ilfonline.org/AIME/ReadAloud/ReadAloud.htm
From the Association for Indiana Media Educators. Read Aloud Book Lists by publication year and reading interest level (primary, intermediate, young adult and “ageless”).

www.bookwink.com
Video booktalks listed by grade level.

http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/5_8.htm.
Nancy Keane’s list of “Books of Interest to Grades 5-8”, with links to her booktalks on the titles.

Battle of the Books 2009 Reading list
These are the 30 books that 4-6th graders will read in order to participate in next year’s Battle of the Books.

2009 Battle of the Books list (pdf file)
or look at our new added feature--Shelfari--on your left. If you let your mouse hover over the book cover you can get additional information about each book!


abe books Children's Reading Lists
http://www.abebooks.com/docs/Browse/childrens-young-adult.shtml

American Library Association Children's Reading Lists
http://www.ala.org/ala/librariesandyou/recomreading/recomreading.htm

Education World Reading Lists
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr244.shtml

The Horn Book Magazine Reading Lists
http://www.hbook.com/booklists/default.asp

100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know from the NY Public Library
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=60

100 Favorite Children's Books from the NY Public Library
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=61

BookHive
BookHive is a web site designed for children ages birth through twelve, their parents, teachers or anyone interested in reading about children's books. Providing reader's advisory service, this site contains hundreds of recommended book reviews in a variety of reading levels and interest areas. Parents may find special "parental notes" attached to some reviews that provide additional information about the book. Users can search for books by author, title, reading level, interest area, number of pages, and even favorite illustrator.
http://www.bookhive.org/

Books for Boys
http://www.talestoldtall.com/BooksforBoys.html

Big a, little a
This is a blog with a booklist of recommended Early readers that you can download as a pdf file
http://kidslitinformation.blogspot.com/2007/05/early-readers_04.html

Bank Street College Children's Library Summer Reading Lists K-8
http://streetcat.bankstreet.edu/children/booklists.html

I also have a some printed lists in the Library if you'd like to look at those. Please stop by anytime over the next two weeks.

Monday, May 26, 2008

News From the Library--May 26, 2008

Arlington West Memorial Santa Barbara, California

Memorial Day
May 26, 2008

The memorial in Santa Barbara, California, which was first put together on November 2, 2003, is installed each Sunday by a team of volunteers on the beach immediately west of Stearns Wharf. Visitors walking to the tourist attractions on the wharf have a clear view, from the boardwalk, along the beach with the white crosses in the foreground. From the walkway, visitors can see a flag-draped coffin and more than 3,000 crosses, made of wood, which are intended to resemble and represent traditional military grave markers. In addition to the simulated graveyard, a placard listing all the fallen American military personnel since the U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq is prominently displayed; this list is updated weekly. Adjacent to the placards is a sign containing the message: "If we were to put up a cross for each Iraqi person killed, the numbers of crosses would fill the entire beach." (article from Wikipedia)



In the Library this week.....

Kindergarten--Barney Saltzerg's story Crazy Hair Day delighted Kindergarteners this week. Even though get the wrong day, his class rallies around him and and makes it a day he will never forget. This story combines both humor and the idea that being flexible in difficult situations is a great attribute. Having good friends and classmates helps too!

First Grade--Where does all the stuff in the Lost and Found end up? Mona, Floyd and Wendell are once again off on an adventure in Mark Teague's delightful fantasy, The Lost and Found. In addition to enjoying the story, first graders were urged to think about all the places their library books might be.....next week all books are due and hopefully none will find themselves in our Lost and Found!

Second Grade--Norvin, who looked a little like a shark and aspired to acting greatness, got a little greedy and wanted Caramel Cove all to himself for swimming. His acting abilities got him some attention he didn't really want (from a female shark!) and he learned that it might have been better to have shared the Cove with the other swimmers. Margaret Mahy's The Great White Man Eating Shark is always a hit with second graders.

Third Grade & Fourth Grade--third and fourth graders missed Library this week because of our (fabulous) Spring Sing.

Fifth Grade--We had a rousing game of Library Jeopardy this week. Can you do our daily double? The answer is: The first name of the man who invented the decimal number system for putting non-fiction books into categories.

Sixth Grade--We only had half and hour because of the Spring Sing so to cap off our gods and goddesses studies I read Persephone and the Pomegranate written and illustrated so beautifully by Kris Waldherr.


Next week is our last week of regularly schedule classes for the Library this year. Check under those beds and in the refrigerator (!) for those missing library books!!







Monday, May 19, 2008

News From the Library--May 19,2008



Martians Don't Take Temperatures
by Debbie Dadey

A Book Review by Amanda and Olive


Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Almost every kindergartener knows how to fidget....it just seems to come naturally so they truly enjoyed Don't Fidget A Feather. This is a great story with a lovely lesson.....what true friendship really means.

First Grade--When Mr. and Mrs. Pig go out they hire a babysitter with the name of......Mrs. Wolf??? In Mary Rayner's hilarious and dramatic story, Mr. and Mrs. Pig's Evening Out, the 10 piglets have a harrowing experience but their cooperation wins the day and maybe next time they should interview the babysitter before letting their parents go out!

Second Grade--Martha the dog loves alphabet soup but one day when she eats some a strange thing happens. The letters go to her brain instead of her stomach and she begins to talk. And talk, and talk, and talk until her owners are at their wit's end. So Martha stops eating the soup, and stops talking only to find herself trying to call 911 to report a burglar. Fortunately for her and her family, the burglar gives her alphabet soup and locks her in the kitchen. She saves the day and now her talking is appreciated.....most of the time. Susan Meddaugh's Martha Speaks is a second grade favorite.

Third Grade--Going along with our theme this month "Pig Out on a Good Book," third graders heard one of my favorite pig tales Hog Eye by Susan Meddaugh. The hilarious story of a pig who tricks a wolf into making soup from poison oak left students rolling on the floor, especially with that wonderful incantation...."Hog Eye, Hog Eye, magic stare.....make him itchy everywhere.....even in his underwear!"

Fourth Grade--Our tall tale Keynotes are almost done and the students have done a fantastic job. Hopefully they will be on display during our annual Art Faire which is coming up soon.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders did another round of website evaluation using our Library Skills Blog lesson, "When in Doubt, Doubt!" They have become very adept at recognizing the hallmarks of a good website--currency, accuracy, authority. Rumor has it that a few students have tried their hand and making a hoax website of their own. Can't wait to see it!

Sixth Grade--I am so pleased with the sixth grader's work on their blog project, "Gods and Goddesses." This was a collaborative project with the art department in which they created a ceramic plate and then did research on the particular god or goddess they chose for their art project. Please take a moment to look at the results at our Research Blog.

Keep looking for those lost library books.....all books are due by Friday, May 30!!

Monday, May 12, 2008

News From The Library--May 12, 2008

The Amazing William Steig





This week the third graders enjoyed hearing William Steig's book, The Amazing Bone, and once again I was struck by the genius of Mr. Steig. As a writer of children's books he is in a class of his own. The respect with which he treats his readers is wonderful to behold and his love of language is contagious. In The Amazing Bone we were treated to a bounty of delicious words such as flabbergasted, dawdled, and odiferous wretch (we decided that last one would be a good phrase to hurl at pesky siblings). This is a great story, full of drama and redemption, and best of all it gives us great practice on using context clues to understand the meanings of words.

If you'd like more information about this wonderful children's author, please go the the William Steig website.


Also in the Library this week.....

Kindgergarten--While it may seem that some people will never change, the boy in Barney Saltzberg's Mrs. Morgan's Lawn finds out that you never can tell. The boy in the story keeps losing balls to his cranky neighbor, Mrs. Morgan, who wants her lawn to be absolutely perfect. Especially painful is the loss of his new purple and white soccer ball. He tries to talk to Mrs. Morgan about its return but he gets nowhere. When her illness keeps her from keeping her lawn perfect or taking any more balls, at first it seems like a great thing but after a while it just doesn't seem right to see her lawn so unkempt. A happy ending ensues when the boy takes care of her lawn and find that when she recovers from her cold she has also recovered her sense of humor, too. This is a great story about the power of compromise.

First Grade--I love telling the story of my own son's incredibly messy room (we even had visits by a rat once!) and Pigsty by Mark Teague gives another version of what might happen if you don't clean up your room! First graders loved the idea of the visiting pigs but many decided that maybe when they got home from school they would clean up their own rooms just in case!

Second Grade--We read two different versions of the same story this week. The Fisherman and his Wife, retold by Rosemary Wells, was heard by Ms. Warner's class, and Luba and the Wren, retold by Patricia Polocco, was heard by Mrs. Seeple's class. The lesson of the dangers of greed and envy and the joy in being happy with what you have came through loud and clear. It was interesting also for students to compare the plots of the two stories and find their similarities and difference.

Third Grade--see opening post

Fourth Grader--Fourth graders have begun putting together their original tall tales and will continue to work on them for the new couple of weeks.

Fifth Grade--STAR testing meant that fifth graders did not have library this week.

Sixth Grade--All but a few students have finished their blog posts about their god or goddess plates and they look wonderful. After next week, I will put a final post on the Research Blog to explain the collaborative project.

We are busily winding down our Library program for the year. The Library will close to students on May 30 so I can do my end of year inventory and other library "chores." Start looking for those lost books!!

Monday, May 05, 2008

News From the Library--May 5, 2008




Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
by Betty McDonald

A Book Review by Amanda and Olive


Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Finding a "critter" and keeping it as a pet is something all children like to dream about. Anne Mazer's lovely book The Salamander Room is the musings of one little boy and his mother about what it would be like to have a salamander as a pet. The gentle back and forth between them has a rhythmic quality and the illustrations are magical. The interesting thing about this book is that it quietly explains why bringing a wild creature into the house as a pet would be an almost impossible task and that it is best left to daydreams.

First Grade--Poor BlabberMouse. He just cannot keep a secret. After annoying his friends and family to no end a solution must be found. His classmates and teacher come up with a novel approach and one that first graders thought was a very good idea. (And not something they had ever though of before....) True Kelley's sweet book gives a great example of creative solutions to sticky personal problems.

Second Grade--There is nothing like a classic fairy tale. I like bringing out a book and listening to the students say they have heard it before or seen it as a movie and then find that there is truly something different about having a story read to you. This week I treated second graders to Paul O. Zelinsky's gorgeous version of Rumplestiltskin. What a strange and odd tale this is but it is captivating and attention was paid by all.

Third Grade--to "celebrate" STAR testing this week, we read Testing Miss Malarkey by Judy Finchler and Kevin O'Malley. This is a very funny take on the whole achievement testing phenonemon in which the teachers and administration are more nervous about the test taking than the students.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders finished their illustrations for their tall tale Keynotes and next week we will start to put the project together.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders didn't have library this week because of the STAR tests.

Sixth Grade--We finished our drafts of the blog posts for the gods and goddesses project. Their plates have been fired and I will photograph them now. Next week they will make their final postings with their research and a photo of their plate. Stay tuned....