Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. We are celebrating his birthday this week in the library with activities and stories by the incredible author and illustrator. A movie called The Lorax is coming to theaters this week so we wanted to let the students know where that movie started...with Dr. Seuss's book!

He wrote and illustrated 46 books and they are all still in print today. Also, visiting the library through the month of March are several characters from his books made and donated by Tiffany Wilko.

Check out Dr. Seuss' official website: www.seussville.com/

Valentine's Books

Olive, My Love by Vivian Walsh

Kindergarten - 3rd Grade

Olive is a sweet little dog who finds a giant heart on her front door step that was dropped from her friend, a flying dog with wings. She thinks it is an accident and must return it to him. She gets help from a fast talking squirrel and a helpful web-weaving spider.

This is a delightful, humorous book with a twist on words: "All of my love"/"Olive, My Love"

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone

4th - 6th Grade

Felicity is 11 years old. She lives in London during World War II. Germany is bombing London so many children are being sent away to distant relatives to live. Danny and Winnie, Felicity's parents, decide to take her to Bottlebay, Maine in the USA. The journey to America is dangerous. The Atlantic Ocean is filled with German U boats.

When they arrive, the family's welcome is cold and distant. Felicity has never met these relatives before. Uncle Gideon is Danny's brother. He greets them but seems angry. Despite his feelings, he still talks to Danny, but not Winnie. When Winnie's hat blows down the beach Uncle Gideon is the first to retrieve it for her. Gram stays in the house. Later Felicity meets Aunt Miami who adores Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and recites lines to the play often. There is a room upstairs with someone the family calls Captain Derek. He never leaves his room. Felicity's relatives are strange and mysterious.

Felicity thinks her parents went back to London but when a letter from Portugal arrives in the mail with Danny's writing on it she wants to find out what is going on. Uncle Gideon keeps the letter and others locked in his office but one day Felicity and Derek devise a plan to get a letter. They discover the letter is written in code. Will they ever break the code and find out who is sending Uncle Gideon these letters and why?

This book is a little slow at the start but stick with it because the story line and relationships come together in complex, interesting ways. And yes there is some romance as well. How can the title include Romeo and Juliet and not have romance bloom in its pages?

Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars

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.