It's Wednesday! What's happening in the Sommer Library?

Bluebonnet Breakfast--that's what happened this morning!

Over three dozen students came to school early to enjoy donuts, juice, and Bluebonnet Bingo!

Everyone walked away with a book, poster, or treat.  Congratulations to our third graders who read at least ten of the Bluebonnet nominees, our fourth graders who read at least twelve, and our fifth graders with fourteen or more Bluebonnets read this year.

A special congratulations to the twenty-five students who read all twenty of the nominees!  Each one will receive a book of their choice from the 18-19 Bluebonnet nominee list. 

On Monday, Ms Margocs went on a field trip with our district librarians to the almost-new Central Austin Public Library.  It's beautiful!

We have three different books going on in our Book Nook these days!

Kindergarten is seeing a day from a pill bug's perspective in Hank's Big Day: The Story of a Bug.

 

First graders are learning about murals bringing color and joy to communities in Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood.

And second graders are oohing and aahing over the clever geometric art in Lucie Felix's Apples and Robins.

Our upper grades are exploring creative apps on the iPads to use for upcoming classroom projects.  

Ms Margocs has highlighted our wordless books with light blue labels--check them out!

And remember our special sections of "Should We Stay or Should We Go?"  These books have not been checked out for three or more years!  Take a peek and see if you might want to take one home!

Good luck to all of our students on their Apex Fun Run tomorrow!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I looked at the reading pile next to my bed last night, and shook my head.  I have started four different books in the last two months that I am still reading.  Three of them are for personal growth, each on a different topic--finances, productivity, and emotional well-being.  Maybe I should be reading one on task completion....

For work, I'm reading I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition) alongside my fifth grade girls' Book Lunch Bunch.

Malala Yousafzai begins by describing her everyday life in Swat, Pakistan--sibling rivalry and games, secrets with her best friend, pride over her academic accomplishments, all the while aware that there are societal norms working against her dreams of education and equality.  She leads us up to the fateful day on the school bus when she was shot by Taliban extremists, dwelling only briefly on the event and then focusing on her relocation, recovery, and the continuation of her efforts to promote education for girls worldwide.  Patricia McCormick has skillfully taken a gruesome, tough story and helped Malala retell it for a middle grade audience. 

It's Monday, and I'm working on book completion!  Have you ever read more than one book at a time?  How do you make sure you take the time to complete them?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It happened this weekend.  I was getting near the end of a book, and skimmed ahead.  I'm not sure why I do this, especially with books I've enjoyed; maybe it's kind of like ripping the paper off of a Christmas present that you've been looking at for weeks under the tree.

Usually the tidbits I pick up from skimming make me happy, ready to go back and read to the finish at a quick trot, my predictions of a neatly-tied-up-ending becoming more and more apparent with each page.

But this book was different.  I was down to the last two chapters, and the details didn't jive with the previous 269 pages.  It made me rethink the entire book, and slowed my pace to a turtle's crawl.  This was not the ending I was expecting.  It's not the ending I want.  Twelve pages to go, and I am not sure I want to finish this story, this way.

I won't give the book title away, because I know there are readers who love this sort of plot twist.  It doesn't make me love the story any less, at this moment before closure...but I may pick up this book again, and reread it, keeping the end in mind.  I wonder if I will like it less the second time around, knowing what I now know, looking through a different lens.  

It's Monday!  Have you read any books that had a surprise ending you didn't like?

It's Wednesday! What's happening in the Sommer Library?

We wrapped up our Spring Scholastic Book Fair yesterday!

Thank you to the many volunteers who helped decorate, run, and take down our book fair.  The proceeds from sales will go towards author visits, books, and supplies for the library!

Our online fair continues through February 21st; click here to order.

The library is back to the book lending business, with new arrivals to share!

Ms. Margocs has been looking for books with Indian authors, themes and characters to celebrate and include members of our learning community who share that heritage.  We're happy to add these titles to our collection!

LEGO Ninjago fans will love these new stories, and we have a new dragon series for our budding chapter book readers:

Our Round Rock ISD Library Services Director, Ami Uselman, came to visit this morning!

Ms Uselman watched our third graders learn about effective online searching, heard a read-aloud of A Bike Like Sergio's with first grade, and saw fifth graders send emails to their teachers about the pros and cons of homework.

Happy Valentine's Day from the Sommer Library!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I have no business buying new books for myself.  There is a mountain range of to-read books piled in several peaks at my house.

But I got pulled in by the cover.  I had to read the dust jacket summary.  Ghosts and children who can see them, set in Nantucket, a place I long to visit.  I picked up the book twice and set it down, before finally placing it in my to-buy pile.

Book fairs are dangerous for librarians' purses, too!

I'm ten short chapters in, and already captivated by the characters in this book.  I'm intrigued by the elders' and children's openness to and acceptance of the spirits that possess Nantucket's old houses.  Creaking floorboards and flickering lights are a part of everyday life for them, while the parents shush away any such talk.  But the ghosts are in trouble, and may need every living being on the island to help save their homes.

It's Monday! What did you find at our Spring Scholastic Book Fair to read this past weekend?  This one had me reading past my bedtime!

It's Wednesday! What's happening in the Sommer Library?

Our Spring Scholastic Book Fair!  That's what's happening in our library!

Book Fair Hours:

Thursday 255p-430p

Friday 715a-615p

Monday 715a-415p

Tuesday 715a-12noon

Our volunteers have worked very hard with Ms Margocs and Mrs. Woodul to turn our library into a bookstore today!  

Teachers got to preview and choose books for families to buy for their classrooms.  Tomorrow, kindergarten, first, and second graders will make out their wishlists, and upper grades will get a video preview.  We open for shopping as soon as school gets out on Thursday!

Here are the library stats from January:

We just got a new shipment of books this week, with more to come in the month ahead--including the new 18-19 Bluebonnet Nominees!

We started a new cycle of lessons which will continue after book fair:  third grade is working on evaluating websites and keyword searches; fourth graders are practicing email etiquette by sending notes to their teachers, and fifth graders will be exploring pros and cons of current issues and writing persuasive emails to their teachers.

First grade classes are discussing ethics after listening to A Bike Like Sergio's, and second graders are viewing multiple perspectives in They All Saw a Cat.  Our kindergarten classes are enjoying Hug Machine as a pre-Valentine treat.

We hope to see you in the library this week for our Spring Book Fair!  Thanks for supporting our Sommer Library program!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's the first Monday of Black History Month, and we have LOTS of reading choices in our library to broaden our understanding of Black History, the Civil Rights Movement, and prominent African-American people.

Searching for contributors to science and medicine?  We have Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions, and biographies of Daniel Hale Williams, Mae Jemison, George Washington Carver, and Benjamin Banneker.

A search for "civil rights" yields 79 results in our catalog of materials, at reading levels starting with second grade on up:

Check out these, and more, from our Sommer Library this month!

It's Monday!  What are you reading to learn something new today?