Meet the Author - Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, raised in Clermont, Florida, and Currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  She writes for both children and adults.  She likes to think of herself as a storyteller.

Here are a few more facts about her in her own words: "I am short and loud.  I hate to cook and love to eat.  I am single and childless, but I have lots of friends and I am an aunt to three lovely children (Luke, Roxanne, and Max)  and one not so lovely dog (Henry)."

Kate DiCamillo has a fabulous website! http://www.katedicamillo.com/index.html.  There are activities, excerpts, and a lot more information about Kate and her work on the site.  you can even access Kate's writing journal!

She also has a Mercy Watson website www.mercywatson.com.  There are fun activities and games on this site and you can even meet all the characters in the Mercy Watson books.

Here are some of her books we have in our library:
         

Pigeon's Birthday

April 1st was Pigeon's birthday.  Mo Willems created pigeon 10 years ago in his first Pigeon book "Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus."  The ONLY way to celebrate a birthday is to have a party.  We have been having fun pigeon parties all week long in our library.  We played two games, hot cookie and who stole the cookie from the cookie jar.  Then we read the latest Pigeon book, "The Duckling gets a Cookie".  We have also had pigeon coloring pages and bookmarks for the students to take home.  It has been a fun week celebrating such a beloved character in our library. Here is a fun pigeon website you and your children may want to explore www.pigeonpresents.com.  I have posted some other fun books by Mo Willems you may want to check out and read.

           
     

Media Enhanced United States Book Collection

Introducing a new collection of United States books from Davidson Titles for the fifth grade core curriculum titled, A Guide to American States. These books are Media Enhanced so information will always be current. There are audio segments, videos, links to other websites, printable activity pages, quizzes and vocabulary words that correlate with the text, beautiful photographs and more.           

During the third through sixth grade class visits to the LMC, the new media enhanced state books were introduced.  I chose California as the state to introduce because many students have been there or heard of this beautiful, diverse state in our union. The document camera and the laptop computer were used to teach the students how to use these books with the various media enhancements to increase their research capabilities with these books.

The teachers are thrilled with these books! I asked a third grade teacher if she would be interested in this state book lesson for her students and she said yes. One fifth grade teacher assigned her students to each check out one state book during their class visit.  Another teacher knew of this teacher's assignment and let her students know they will be required to check these state books out for an assignment the following week. Students are not only checking them out because they are assigned to but  for their own interest as well. They want to know more about a state they are going to visit, where a family member lives, or where they were born, etc. Within four days all the state books were checked out and several holds were placed on these books as well.
   

Black History Month in February

February was a busy month in the Library.  We celebrated Valentines day, Presidents day, and Black History month.   For grades K-2 we read  a book about civil rights called "This is the Dream" by Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander, Illustrated by James Ransome.  For Grades 3-6 we read a book about the civil war  "Abraham's Battle" by Sara Harrell banks.

"With courage they rallied and answered the call . . . dreaming of freedom and justice for all."

The United States of America was founded on the declaration that all men are created equal. But nearly two hundred years after that proclamation, America was still deeply segregated.

Slowly but surely, powerful leaders as well as everyday citizens spoke up for their dreams and beliefs. Soon, a people proud and strong stood up as one for their rights, and a new America came to be.

barnesandnoble.com

In 1863, as the Civil War approaches his home in Gettysburg and he realizes that a big battle is about to begin, a freed slave named Abraham decides to join the ambulance corps of the Union Army. 

Abraham, tries his best to prepare himself and the little girl in his charge for the Confederate soldiers who have begun filing into Gettysburg. When he comes face-to-face with a young Southern soldier, he's suspicious -- Lamar is, after all, the enemy. Once they begin discussing the war and the general state of events, though, the two find some common ground. They might be friends -- if Lamar wasn't from Georgia, and in Gettysburg to fight.

When Lamar falls in battle, it is not one of his fellow soldiers who helps him off the battlefield -- it is Abraham. One friend helps another. Few had seen such courage and honesty in the Civil War, however, and Abraham's deed does not go unnoticed or unrewarded. He in fact receives the highest honor imaginable...

 barnesandnoble.com

Dr. Seuss Mania

Oh the places you go when it is Dr. Seuss week in the library! 

Dr. Seuss mania is here! We are exploring the Dr. Seuss website www.seussville.com to learn more about Dr. Seuss, his books and enjoy playing games, activities and more!  There is another website, www.sporcle.com that has a fun "Green Eggs and Ham" activity that the students have enjoyed playing every year in the library when celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday, which is on March 2.  Parents/Guardians may go online with their children to enjoy these delightful websites together at home.

When it is time to read Dr. Seuss books to the students in the library, Mrs. Allison warns the students that when she reads Dr. Seuss books she can't help but get quite, ok, VERY expressive and silly.  She may even make your head spin like she did with Mrs. Cicero's class when reading "Fox in Socks," a favorite Dr. Seuss book for many of her students!

  

Mrs. Allison's favorite Dr. Seuss stories to read to students are "What was I Scared Of?" (found in The Sneetches and Other Stories), "The Sneetches," and "The Lorax." 

Meet the Authors: Tomie dePaola and Roald Dahl

Tomie dePaola has written and illustrated over 250 books in the past 40 years.  He lives with his dog, Bronte in New Hampshire and does his work in a 200 year old renovated barn.  He has received several awards for his books including Caldecotts and Newbery honors.  He has received a 
handful of honorary doctorate degrees from prestigious universities including, Georgetown.  Go to www.tomie.com to find out even more about Tomie.

Kindergarten through Second Grade enjoyed the video of Tomie's book, Strega Nona.  This is a story told to Tomie when he was a boy.  He loved the story so much he made the story into a book when he was an adult.



Roald Dahl has been labelled the most successful children's writer in the world.  His first books were published in the 1960's and are still popular today with young readers.  Some of his books have been made into movies, musical works and stage productions.  He was born in 1916 and died in 1990. For more information on Mr. Dahl visit his website at www.roalddahl.com.

Third and Fourth Grade wondered if sweet, poor, young Charlie would ever get one out of five golden tickets to visit Willy Wonka's Factory as excerpts from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were read to them during story time.


Fifth and Sixth Grade were read a section of the autobiographical tale of Roald Dahl's childhood, Boy.  I couldn't resist sharing the chapter titled, The Great Mouse Plot when Roald and some school friends
find a dead mouse and Roald devises a plan to drop it in a jar of Gobstoppers at the candy shoppe run by an old woman with dirty hands.  Oh, the suspenseful dare!  Will he do it?  Roald will become a hero among his friends if it works but, oh, the other consequences of his actions may be miserably unbearable!  Read the book to find out what Roald and his friends do.

Valentine Books

For Valentines week we read three fun books.

For grades K-2, we read: True Love by Babette Cole. In true Love when a new baby arrives, Truelove the puppy must teach his family that there is enough love to go around. This book also teaches the children what love feels like and what it is to give love.
Destiny Quest







 For Grades 3-4 we read: Raymond and Graham Dancing Dudes by Mike Knudson.  This book starts out just before valentines day.  Fourth grade best friends Raymond and Graham are looking forward to valentines day writing poems to the girls they like on their valentines.  The are also looking forward to the annual school hoedown until Raymond learns that his partner will either be the most annoying girl in class or his teacher. The students couldn't stop laughing as this book was read.
Destiny Quest




For Grades 5-6 we read: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbett.  The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older.
Destiny Quest



 

The student also had a chance to write down their favorite book and put it in our valentines box.  We will compile the list of Bella Vista Students favorite books and post the lists next month.  Please feel free to stop by the media center and take a look at what the students at Bella Vista are reading.