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

Did you see our "Library in the Lobby" on Tuesday?  Our usual location was being used for testing, so Ms Margocs and Mrs. Woodul stocked the carts and set up shop just around the corner from the office.  Several classes and individual students stopped by for checkout; it was fun to see all the classes pass by on their way to specials and lunch!

We were back to regular operations in our library space today.  No lessons this week since we doubled up last week, so lots of classes came in, checked out some great books, and spent time reading.  A great way to spend a rainy day!

We are expecting a shipment of new books tomorrow--ninety-six of them!  Keep your eyes peeled for the "Check Out What's New" display.

Ms Margocs will be at the Texas Library Association's annual conference for much of next week, learning lots of ways to be a better librarian for our Stallions.  While she's gone, second through fifth grades will take a library survey, and kindergarten and first grade will have their read-alouds.

Enjoy your three-day weekend!  Squeeze in some reading--Happy Spring!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

For the past thirty-six hours I've been fighting an infection, and didn't feel like reading...until I got to the doctor's office and saw all the magazines in the waiting room.  I got caught up on old and new celebrity gossip, and started reading a medical magazine just before I got called into the exam room:

The office had multiple copies in a pile, so I grabbed one on the way out to read at home.  The story behind Jeannie Gaffigan's brain tumor was informative, as were the articles on exercise and healthy eating.

We forget sometimes that ALL reading is "good" reading--including magazine articles.  Magazines entertain and inform us in easily digestible chunks, and can be put down and picked up hours or days later to continue reading without the loss of recall that can happen when doing the same with chapter books.  For several years now, my teachers of gifted and talented students have especially promoted magazines as learning tools when their classes visit my library.  My son loves his subscription to Muse; my husband, who shies away from novels, reads Cycle World and Maximum PC on a regular basis.

Magazines--they're what I'm reading this Monday.  What are your favorite subscriptions?

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

Welcome back from Spring Break!

We are excited to have our readers back in the library.

Ms Drew's second grade class

Everyone is getting a read-aloud or lesson this week!  Kindergarten is giggling over the fractured fairy tale, Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T. Smith 

while first graders are getting caught up with Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar by Emily MacKenzie, and second grade gets to hear about Hank's Big Day: The Story of a Bug.  We are still exploring our Depth and Complexity icons with our read-alouds; the students are getting really good at deciding for themselves which icons fit the books.

Third graders are exploring nonfiction text features using books from our library (and learning that an index can be a researcher's best friend!).  Since half of fourth grade is in Camp Write-Along this week, we're talking about great opening lines from children's books, and ending our writing with a lesson or truism.  Fifth graders are pairing up on the iPads to review the basics of digital citizenship.  They've got some really good questions for Ms Margocs to cover as we get closer to summertime internet surfing!

Speaking of fifth grade--Ms Margocs accompanied Mrs. Jackson, Mrs.Erickson, and half of our KSTAR News Team students on a field trip this week!  We went to the Apple store to practice iMovie skills, followed by a visit to the KXAN studio to see the professional newscasters do their job.  The students had a blast!

Next week, the library will be closed to all visitors Monday through Wednesday for testing.  School is also closed on Friday for a holiday....so Ms Margocs will be checking books out from a not-so-secret location on Tuesday and Wednesday--the school foyer!

Happy Spring from your Sommer Library!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Welcome back from Spring Break!  Did you read any good books over the last nine days?

I finished my grown-up read, The Power by Naomi Alderman.  It was part science fiction, part dystopian, and very much a commentary on gender roles and dominance in our culture.  The phrase "absolute power corrupts absolutely" comes to mind whenever I think about this book.  Not for the squeamish, and certainly gives adults lots to ponder.

Then I switched to kidlit to lighten things up!

First chapter into Kate Milford's Ghosts of Greenglass House, and I was wishing I had read the first book to this sequel. A few more chapters in, and I felt comfortable in Milo's world of role-playing games, ghosts, and his coming-of-age as an adopted son.  If you can picture Nancy Drew dropped into a game of Clue, with a side of Casper the Friendly Ghost, then you can get a feel for this whacky mystery.  There are lots of clues, lots of suspects, honorable and not-so-honorable thieves, with Milo and his adoptive parents hosting all the mayhem in their inn.  I will have to get the first book for our school library as well!

I must be on a ghost kick; my last kidlit book, Out of the Wild Night by Blue Bailliet, was about ghosts on Nantucket Island; my next children's book will be our Bluebonnet Nominee Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh.

It's Monday!  What did you read over Spring Break?  What's next on your reading list?

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

We placed at the Round Rock ISD Battle of the Bluebonnets yesterday!

Our team of four fifth-graders tied with four other schools at the end of the first round, all with an amazing score of ninety-six!  We were knocked out with two of the others after the first tie-breaker, tying for third place.  It was an exciting and fun event!

Speaking of Bluebonnets...the 2018-2019 Bluebonnet Nominee books have arrived!

The books will be ready for checkout right after Spring Break.  Signature pages are already available in the library, or on the library website.   Be sure to choose the list for the grade you will be in next school year.

Upper grades are still exploring some creative apps to use with their upcoming projects.  One of our fifth graders was already eager to show what she's studying in social studies!

We are just having a quick check out for kindergarten and first grades this week, since library schedules were changed due to Kindergarten Roundup today and Field Day on Friday.  We are doing our best to make sure everyone has a great book to read over Spring Break!  There will be even more new books arriving before year's end.

Have a safe and happy Spring Break, Stallion Readers!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

This being my birthday month, I have let all spending precautions fly away and splurged on books.  In addition to those I need to finish (there's three of those!), I have decided upon my pile for Spring Break: 

Only one is a children's book:  the middle grade novel Ghosts of Greenglass House by Kate Milford.  The top book, Ikigai, is about the health and happiness habits of Okinawans, many of whom live to be a hundred years old.  How Lovely the Ruins is a book of poetry to get you through time of crisis.  The Power, a novel by Naomi Anderson, explores the "what if women had more physical power than men" question--a book recommended by my adult daughter.  The bottom two nutrition books will hopefully help me detox from the ginormous amounts of cake I've eaten today for my birthday, and get me on a path to better health.

It's Monday; what's in your Spring Break to-read pile?