R.E.D

Last week was our R.E.D. pledge week for Road to Success.  R.E.D. stands for READ EVERY DAY.  This means the students pledged to read at least 20 minutes a day, 5 times a week for a total of 100 minutes a week. Along with this pledge, the students all signed the Road To Success poster. The students need to log their minutes onto the Road To Success website at rtsutah.com.  If you don't have access to the internet at home, there is a computer in the library dedicated to Road To Success.  They are welcome to come in anytime and log in their minutes.  Keep track of the minutes read on paper and bring that paper with you to the library. The students who log minutes onto the website every week will be able to get a weekly prize out of the treasure chest during their class library time.  Their name will also be entered into monthly drawings for big prizes.  Please encourage your students to Read Every Day R.E.D.

"Buzz" into Beehive Books

The Beehive Book Club is off and going again this year.  This week the students will color and decorate a Bee.  We will hang the bees around the outside of the Media center.

Beehive Books are books that the Children's Literature Association of Utah have nominated for the Children of the State of Utah to vote on.  There are 4 categories:  Poetry, Picture, Fiction, and Informational.  For a complete list of the 2015-2016 Beehive book Nominees please visit CLAU's website at www.clau.org

Students are encouraged to read Beehive Books and vote on them.  The books can be checked out from our school library or any other library.  After students have read a Beehive Book, They can vote on the books in our library.  We will submit the votes in April.  After you read the Beehive Books, don't forget to sign the yellow binder so that we know what books you have read.


Most important there will be a Beehive Book Club Party in May where the winning Beehive books are announced and prizes are given out for the top readers of Beehive Books.

The Whitmore library also has a Beehive Book Club.  Bella Vista students can participate in both the Bella Vista Beehive Book Club and the Whitmore Library Book Club for double the prizes.  Look for more information about the Whitmore Beehive Book Club in October.

A big THANK YOU goes out to Bella Vista's administration and the PTA for financially supporting our Beehive Book Club! 

September's Brain Booster

We are off to a great start in our library.  This year the Canyons district has given us Brain Booster lessons to teach during library time.  These lessons coordinate with the State Core Curriculum.  This month we have learned the following:

1st grade:

What's my job?  What does a librarian do? Then we read Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen.  What happens when a lion wanders into the library?  Will he be able to follow all the library rules so that he can stay for story hour?

Location of books.  We read The Jolly Postman or Other Peoples Letters by  Janet and Allan Ahlberg. We compared books to letters.  The postman knows where to deliver the letters because of the address on the envelop.  The librarian knows where to deliver the book because of the call number on the spine.

What makes a story a fairytale?  We talked about how fairy tales always have some sort of magic in them.  Sometimes it is a talking animal or an imaginary creature or some other type of magic.  There is usually an element of good and evil in a fairy tale but not always.  We then read The Elves and the Shoe Maker by Jim LaMarche.

2nd-3rd grade:
Parts of a Book.  We used the book You Wouldn't Want to be a Medieval Knight by Fiona Mcdonald.  We reviewed the front cover, title page, table of contents, glossary, index, place of publication, author, illustrator, copyright date, and spine.  We then had fun reading about knights.


Tool Time.  We learned what an encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, almanac, newspaper, and magazine are used for. We then learned how to find all those tools on the computer and how to use the internet for research.

The Right Book.  When you are at the book fair, book store, or library, how do you know what book you want.  We learned how to find the right book that interest you and that is on your reading level.  We learned about the rule of 5.  Then we read Miss Malarkey Leaves no Reader Behind by Judy Finchler.

4th-5th grade:

Dewey 000-500.  We reviewed the 000-500 sections of the library.  The students are getting really good at looking up their book on the computer and finding them by themselves.

Setting.  A setting includes both the time and place in which the action of the book happens.  You can tell a lot about the setting of a book by looking at the front cover and reading the back cover of a book.  We read Appelemando's Dream by Patricia Polocco and discussed the setting of the story.  

Biography.  A biography is a story about someone's life written by another person.  A autobiography is a story about a persons life written by the person.  We learned where the biographies are located in the library.  We then read the biography Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson.

Welcome Back

Welcome back to a new school year. We have some fun and exciting lessons and activities planned for this year. We will be doing genre spotlights, beehive book club, author highlights,  and much more.

 

We have started classes in the library this week.  Look for your students to bring home library books.  Help them find a safe place for them at home where they won't get lost. We hope your students come "Hang out and read".

 

April is National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month.  We had fun with one of our favorite poets, Shel Silverstein.  We read his poems "Little Monkey" and "Headphone Harold" out of his book Falling Up. We did several fun activities including a mad libs to Headphone Harold.  It was fun to read the crazy poems the students came up with.

We also talked about Haiku's.  A Haiku is a poem that has 17 syllables and 3 lines to it.  The first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the third line has 5 syllables.  We read the book Guyku by Bob Raczka.  Guyku is a book written in Haiku format.  The students had fun with counting the syllables as we read the book.

What a fun week to be in the Library!

Meet the Authors: Sara Pennypacker & Gary Paulsen

We learned about the author, Sara Pennypacker this week in Kindergarten through 2nd grade. We read a really fun excerpt from her first book in the award-winning series, Clementine!  Be sure to check it out from the library to see what happens after Clementine helps her friend, Margaret cut the rest of her hair off after Margaret gets glue in it during art class... (uh-oh!)

3rd through 6th grade classes learned about the author, Gary Paulsen. We read excerpts from his exciting adventure novel, Hatchet--a Newbery Honor Book. Be sure to check this book out from the library to see how 13-year old Brian learns to survive on his own after crashing in a plane on his way to visit his dad for the summer with a hatchet as his only tool!

Here are some other great books by Gary Paulsen & Sara Pennypacker in our library for you to check out:

Dr. Seuss 1904-1991

We love Dr. Seuss week at the library!  This week we read "Fox in Socks" and "Green Eggs and Ham." Do you know all 50 words that Dr. Seuss used in his book "Green eggs and Ham"?  Click on the link to test your knowledge. http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/greeneggsham.

Here are some fun Dr. Seuss quotes.

"You're off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting  so...get on your way!" - Oh, the  Places You'll Go!

"If Things start happening, don't worry, don't stew, just go right along and you'll start happening too."

"From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere." - One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

"Today was good.  Today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one."

"You'll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut." - I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

"A person's a person, no matter how small." - Horton Hears a Who

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

"Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than to remember me and cry."


Once again our library and Meet the Authors wall was taken over by Truffula trees and Dr. Seuss characters and quotes. 

For more Dr. Seuss fun, visit the following website: http://www.seussville.com/?home#/home/

Mrs. Coombs and Mrs. Wilkinson have fun reading on Dr. Seuss Day!

Bullying is never okay!

We recently read a new book--Bully by Laura Vaccara Seeger--to all the students. This simple picture book is about a little bull who hasn't learned how to make friends. He has been bullied by the other bulls, so when he is asked to play by other animals, he responds the same way. He puffs himself up and calls them  names until one little goat stands up to him and calls him a bully. Then he realizes the way he has been acting and feels bad. He returns to his regular size and apologizes. His friends are still willing to play with him so off they go.

This book helped us understand that when others say or do mean things, sometimes, it's because they have not been taught the right way. Treating others with kindness is the best way to make friends and be happy. We need to accept one another--it's okay to be different--because everybody is different, and that makes the world more interesting. Bullying is never okay!

 We read Danger on Midnight River (World of Adventure Series) by Gary Paulsen to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. This book has life-or-death situations where the boy who was bullied by his classmates has to decide whether to help the boys who tormented him at school . . . or not. It is a quick adventure read!

Come check out a book or two about bullies!

Mustaches

The first week back to school after the long holiday break we talked about MUSTACHES! What is it about a mustache that changes the way a person looks and sometimes acts?

In the Kindergarten through 2nd grade classes, we read the hilarious Beehive Book nominee, Mustache Baby, by Bridget Heos. We can't wait for the sequel coming out in March . . . Mustache Baby Meets His Match!



In the 3rd through 5th grade classes, we watched a trailer from Tom Angleberger's goofy book, Fake Mustache, or How Jodie O'Rodeo and her wonder horse (and some nerdy kid) saved the U.S. Presidential election from a mad genius criminal mastermind, then read excerpts from it. You will love this over-the-top madcap adventure with a fast-moving plot, suspense to pull you through from start to finish, twists and turns, wacky characters, and dangerous situations the main characters--Lenny and Jodie O'Rodeo--find themselves in at every turn if you haven't read it!

Take a look at Tom Angleberger with his own fake mustache! He's definitely a guy who loves a good joke. You may recognize his name as the author behind the popular Origami Yoda series.

Books to Movies

This week in the Library we talked about books that were turned into movies.  We asked the students what their favorite books are that have been turned into movies.  We discussed how the movies are different from the books.  It is always fun to compare the books and the movies.  Stop by and take a peak at our "Read Box" display that has all the books in our library that have been turned into movies.

For Grades K-2 we read "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss. The Once-ler describes how and why the Lorax was lifted away.

For Grades 3-5 we read "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rolling. Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 destiny.canyonsdistrict.org