As we head towards Thanksgiving, I've enjoyed sharing a variety of favorite readings with the students in kindergarten through fifth grade. On Friday, kindergarteners enjoyed a cumulative tale of a mouse who has eyes bigger than his stomach. Earlier in the week the fourth graders learned about the Iroquois good morning message of thanks for all of nature. They also learned a bit about the history of the potato and how King Frederick of Prussia managed to trick his subjects into eating this new food (which may just be a myth, but an entertaining one!). Both second and fifth graders were able to spend time on Scholastic's The First Thanksgiving website to find out about the Pilgrim and Wampanoag culture in the 1600s. Next week I am looking forward to sharing Balloons Over Broadway, which is about the creator of the original Macy's Thanksgiving Parade puppets, with the Third Grade. Finally, first graders will find out about the dangers of green beans and second graders will be treated to the tale of The Great Thanksgiving Escape.
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Last Friday evening, the Barnes & Noble in Edina was the place to be for NDA families, staff, and friends! Those who attended enjoyed wonderful music from Mr. Bestler and the Jazz Ensemble, entertaining book readings by teachers and students, book browsing, and time to catch up with old and new friends. Thank you all for your support of our school's library and your children's literacy development. I am so fortunate to be able to work in this dedicated community!
The Barnes and Noble Book Fair is coming up this Friday and I need to start thinking about what new books we will order with our book fair earnings. This is a big job, so again this year I am asking the 6th graders to help me out. Part of our library time this week will be dedicated to exploring the books recommended on book list and book review sites (such as those on this website's Great Links page). I'm particularly interested in suggestions for narrative non-fiction (this is non-fiction that reads more like a story) but fiction and informational non-fiction suggestions are welcome as well. Sixth graders and anyone else who would like to share a recommendation, please comment below. If you're wondering if we already have a particular book, please check our catalog before posting your comment. Thank you!
What does library time look like? On any given day you might see a class of students listening intently to a Caldecott-worthy book, or individuals answering questions about how to find a book in our library, or students creating artwork in the style of a familiar illustrator, or kids learning how to use the online catalog. We have a great time learning in all of these ways, but perhaps the best part of library time for most students is browsing and checkout time. At the end of every PK-5 library class, the students have time to look for books to check out and to read books alone or with a buddy (live or stuffed). Only on rare occasions are the students silent during part of this time. There is too much fun and learning to be had by talking about and reading books together! Some might be surprised to find the library to be such a lively place, but as long as the talking is about books and our voices aren't carrying way down the hallway, this is the look and feel hoped for in children's libraries these days. Just look at the smiles on the third and fourth graders pictured below!
Would you like Betty White to read Harry the Dirty Dog to your son or daughter? How about some great nonfiction books from National Geographic or some early readers to add to your library? These can all be yours with just a few clicks! Storyline Online, produced by the Screen Actors Guild, offers a variety of new and classic storybooks by famous authors read to you by famous people. For beginning readers, Unite for Literacy and National Geographic Young Explorer have a large selection of free informational ebooks. Both provide pictures with text and both offer narration by clicking a button. The National Geographic books are available at two levels (Scout and Voyager). Look for the "More Issues" tab at the top to access all of the National Geographic Young Explorer ebooks. Enjoy!
Over the past few days the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders have been talking books. Several of them shared brief book recommendations with their classes and everyone heard booktalks about the Maud Hart Lovelace Division II nominees for 2015-2016. They then spent some time exploring and searching the authors' websites to learn more about them and their books. Take a look at the gallery below to see them in action. Remember to click on the images to see them full size.
The NDA Library is up and running again for another school year. All classes have had at least one visit and many of them have been captured in action so you can get a glimpse here. We've been learning about the layout of the library, talking about book care, reviewing policies, and reading fantastic books (of course!). I hope you and your child have been enjoying the library books at home. Please check the home page to see some of the new books that have recently been added to our collection. Coming soon: Pictures of the Middle Schoolers.
Thanks to these two very thoughtful second grade girls, our library has just added almost 50 books to the collection! This second grade class loves books, so the students were more than happy when they found out the requested gifts at these summer birthday parties would be book donations for the library. Thanks to all who contributed! You'll recognize the donated books because each is sporting a special bookplate in honor of the birthday girl who received it.
As I was going through some summer photos on my camera, I discovered the adorable faces of last year's kindergarteners and first graders working on end-of-year activities. I forgot to post these at the time, but better late than never, especially with pictures as wonderful as these. Below you will see the Leo Lionni-inspired "Library Guard Mice" created by the first graders after completing their author study of the award-winning children's writer and illustrator. The kindergarteners are pictured with their Mo Willems' doodles. They doodled on table-sized sheets of butcher paper after learning that Mo Willems likes to do this with his family. The students found out that the alligator from Amanda & Her Alligator was first created as part of a Willems' family doodling session.
Thank you so much to these fabulous first graders for their birthday book donations! I couldn't be more excited about the two new Oliver Jeffers books, plus a historical fiction story of the California Gold Rush, and who doesn't love Fancy Nancy? The first grade class had been very generous with birthday books this year and I am very grateful to them and to Mrs. Anderson for their support of the library.
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