Meet the Author; Seymour Simon

Seymour Simon never met a science subject he didn't like. He has written more than 200 science books for kids on almost every subject under the sun. He also created the Einstein Anderson series of stories. All his books, fiction and nonfiction alike, reflect Simon's fascination with learning and discovery.

As a kid, Simon loved animals and was a huge fan of science fiction magazines. That led to an interest in astronomy and technology, and then many other kinds of science as well. After college, he spent 23 years as a science teacher. Teaching, he says, was the best possible way to learn how to write for kids.

Simon writes and photographs from his house in Great Neck, New York, where he lives with his wife, Joyce Seymour. (www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai/simon.html)

"Knowledge empowers people with our most powerful tool: the ability to think and decide. There is no power for change greater than a child discovering what he or she cares about." - Seymour Simon

"I'm more interested in arousing enthusiasm in kids than in teaching the facts. The facts may change, but that enthusiasm for exploring the world will remain with them the rest of their lives." - Seymour Simon

Dogs are the most popular pet in the world and Seymour Simon provides useful tips and guidelines for any kid looking for a new pet. Lavishly illustrated with full-color, appealing photographs, Seymour Simon captures dogs as they work, and play. The students loved reading this book and loved sharing their stories about the pets in their lives.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!!!!

Being so close to the Super Bowl I thought it would be fun to talk sports. Here are the books that we read during the week of January 23 - 27.


Kindergarten - 1st Grade

Cork, a short muskrat, and Fuzz, a tall possum, are best friends. "I want to have a race," Cork says one day. "Me, too!" says Fuzz. "I want to win," Cork says. "Me, too!" says Fuzz. They race and play ball games, but Fuzz wins every time--even when Cork asks him not to try too hard. Then Cork suggests a race across the pond. Fuzz doesn't know how to swim, so Cork is guaranteed to win, but maybe there's something that's even more important than that.

2nd -3rd Grade

Cam Jansen and her friend Eric are having fun at a local basketball game. They watch the team's retiring coach receive a basketball signed by his former players, including the governor. But after the game, the ball is gone. Was it stolen?



4th - 6th Grade

Football, Baseball, Basketball! No Matter what sport it is, there's always a chance that something amazing can happen. In Amazing But True Sports Stories there are 87 true stories about amazing moments in a wide variety of sports.

Graphic Novels, The Trend

The Most Requested Book at Bella Vista Elementary!

A Graphic Novel is a story depicted in comic strip form. Graphic novels are very popular with elementary school ages children, especially 3rd through 6th graders.

One day a 5th grader was checking a book in to the LMC. I hadn't read the book yet so I asked her about it. She enjoyed reading the book so much she spent her entire recess explaining the storyline to me. She has read the book numerous times. Come to find out, other students are "obsessed" with this book as well.

Smile by Raina Telgemeier is a graphic novel based on a true story that happened to the author when she was a girl. She had an accident that caused one of her front teeth to fall out. The other front tooth went up inside her gum. She went through visit after visit to the dentist, endodontist and orthodontist. In the mean time, she was also experiencing the growing pains and social struggles common to students in middle school and high school.

This book was introduced in Bella Vista's LMC the week in January that we had only 2 1/2 days of school. By the end of this short week, 15 students had requested this book! Almost daily, we have at least one or two more students request this book. We have purchased several more copies to keep up with demand. We have also suggested our teachers purchase copies for their classrooms. We are thrilled to have a book that captures the interest of so many students.

The World at Your Fingertips

World Book Online

Students will receive bookmarks introducing World Book Online in the Media Center this week during their class visits. Many teachers have shown their students how to use World Book Online as well. Canyons School District purchased this online encyclopedia, that is constantly being updated, to enrich the educational process in schools.

www.worldbookonline.com

Students are given access to World Book Online with their Canyons School District User Id and Password located on the bookmarks. Use is permitted by students who receive the User Id and Password but not by other individuals who are not affiliated with the school district.

Starting 2012

It's Bingo Time!

In the Media Center we are starting the new year of 2012 with a game-style review of the student guidelines. Grades 2-6 play Bingo with keywords for guidelines and some fun animal pictures too. For example, "check in and check out" are keywords for students to think of guidelines for checking in and checking out books. Here are some smart answers already shared: "Check out books with Mrs. Allison or Mrs. Wilson before books can leave the Library, " "Check in books after two weeks," "Put books on White Zone/tan cart by circulation desk to check books in," "Check books in before sharing with a friend," "Renew if want to keep books longer," "Can't renew if a book is on hold for someone else," "May request a hold on a book that isn't available right now, then get it later on," The first student to cover all words and animals with beans on their Bingo card WINS! Prizes for winners include glow sticks, silly bands and trading cards.

For Kindergarten and First Graders a shorter review with fewer guidelines was given along with "mooing," I mean, reading Click, Clack, Moo; Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin. Okay, we read and "mooed" together as the story unfolds...

The cows on the farm find an old typewriter. They type a note to the farmer to ask for electric blankets to keep warm on cold nights. The farmer refuses. The cows go on strike and refuse to give milk until their demands are met. Someone has to give. Will it be the farmer or the cows? What about the other animals who have needs of their own? Professional book rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

~ Dewey Decimal 800s ~

The 2nd through 6th graders also learned about the Dewey Decimal 800 section of the library. This is where books on literature are found. They saw several books and heard excerpts read from a few books on poetry, jokes, stories and plays. See these books below...

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. The poem called "Smart" was read at story time. Students who know basic money exchange and value will get a good laugh from this poem.

Agent P's Top Secret Joke Book by Disney, "What follows Agent P everywhere he goes? His tail."

Pendragon, The Guide to the Territories of Halla by D.J. MacHale. This storybook is a journey through the territories of Halla and the people that are threatened to be doomed by a deceptive demon, ironically named Saint Dane. This book is a companion guide to the successful fiction book series, Pendragon.

Shakespeare and MacBeth, The Story Behind the Play by Stewart Ross. This book takes the reader behind the scenes of the theater in Shakespeare's time. Students learned that women were not allowed to act but teenage young men filled the female roles instead. I am glad to live in a time in history when women's rights give females the opportunity to be actresses, if they so desire and we can still enjoy Shakespeare's plays.

Jolly Holiday Books

Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner; illustrated by Mark Buehner

K-2nd Grade

nookkids

Children have all sorts of things they love to do at Christmas time like give gifts, open presents, feast on delicious food, be with family and friends they love, make snow angels and build snowmen. But what do snowmen like to do? "Snowmen at Christmas" is filled with frigid fun that children will enjoy reading. There are also hidden pictures to look for on each page. It is a good thing the Buehners, a married couple from Salt Lake City, shared their insightful imaginations in this book or all of us would think snowmen just stand still in our yards until the sun comes out or they get knocked over by playful children.

The Holly Joliday, Judy Moody and Stink by Megan McDonald

3rd-4th Grade

Judy wants so many things for Christmas she writes her list on a roll of toilet paper! Stink, her little brother, wants only one thing...SNOW! It hasn't snowed for over 100 years in their town in

Virginia but Stink still wants snow and seems obsessed with the "stuff." (Many of us may feel the same way as Stink during this very dry December). Judy and Stink enjoy the last day of school before Winter Recess. They perform in a school program in the evening and all sorts of out of the ordinary things occur such as the 12 Days of Christmas presented Hawaiian style and a talking parrot who steals the show and an unexpected surprise during the 2nd graders performance of "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

5th-6th Grade

Though many children are familiar with A Christmas Carol either by a book, movie or play it is always wonderful to share this story with older children at Christmas time. I chose sections from

the book to help the students get to know Ebenezer Scrooge's bristly, uncaring personality and then the experience with Jacob Marley's ghost (many students in 5th and 6th grade love reading ghost stories and this is one most parents would be fine with) and to conclude I showed the students the three ghosts that will hopefully change Scrooge's ways from last year's version of Disney's "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Carrey. The video was just over one minute and added a modern twist to a classic tale.

Meet the Author, Chris Van Allsburg

Chris Van Allsburg

Chris was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18th, 1949, the second child of Doris and Richard Van Allsburg. His sister Karen was born in 1947. They had two Siamese cats. One named Fafner and the other name Eloise

Chris went to junior and senior high school in East Grand Rapids. He didn’t take art classes during this time. His interests and talents seemed to be more in the area of math and science.

Chris went to the University of Michigan in the fall of 1967. He majored in sculpture at the University of Michigan, where he learned bronze casting, wood carving, resin molding and other techniques. He graduated in 1972 and went to graduate school at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to continue his study of sculpture.

In 1975, after earning his M.F.A. degree at RISD, Chris set up a sculpture studio in Providence, RI. He also married Lisa Morrison, whom he met at the University of Michigan four years earlier. Lisa was also an art student who had studied education and had become an elementary school art teacher in the Providence school system.

Chris first exhibited his sculpture in New York City in 1977 at the Alan Stone Gallery. He exhibited elsewhere in New England, and though sculpture was his primary interest, he had begun drawing pictures at night in a little room in his and Lisa’s apartment. He did not think of these drawings as very important, but others did. Alan Stone showed two of them to a curator from The Whitney Museum of Art, where they were exhibited in 1978.

Though still involved in making sculptures, Chris set aside some time and created the story and pictures that became The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, published in 1979. Since then, Chris has written and illustrated 15 books and has illustrated three others that were written by Mark Helprin.

In 1980, he was awarded the Caldecott Honor Medal for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. Chris is also the winner of two Caldecott Medals, for Jumanji and The Polar Express, and was the recipient of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. Additionally, he received the Boston Globe Honor for The Polar Express as well as The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Chris has also been awarded the Regina Medal for lifetime achievement in children's literature. In 1982, Jumanji won the National Book Award and in 1996, it was made into a popular feature film.

In 1991, Chris and Lisa became parents when their daughter Sophia was born. In 1995, their second daughter, Anna was born. Chris lives in Providence RI and works in his 3rd floor studio. For recreation and amusement, he rides his bike and plays tennis. He is not really the master of any instruments, but can entertain his children by producing simple tunes playing a recorder through his nose. (Listed below are five of his books.)

We read The Polar Express to all grades this week. We hope your student felt a little Christmas Magic as this book was being read, after all, READING IS BELIEVING!

HaPpY ReAdInG!!