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

We put new books out this week!

Our first book display was made up of "Should We Stay or Should We Go" books, those that were on the weeding list but might still be of interest.  Our students "rescued" so many books, we had to fill the tops of the shelves with our brand new books!

Our popular series shelves were double-stacked before checkouts began.  

Four days into checkouts, and the shelves looked like this:

Our readers LOVE their series books!

Read-alouds and lessons this week:

Kindergarten and second grade classes are listening to All Are Welcome from our Armadillo Readers' Choice list.  We're lightly touching on the Depth and Complexity icons of Big Idea and Ethics.  Discussions center on connecting with the students in the story, and the importance of feeling welcome in school so that we feel safe enough to learn.  We help our classmates' learning when we are welcoming and kind to one another!

First graders have checkout this week, with a video treat from Ruby Reader to remind us how to take care of our library books.

Third graders are reviewing genre definitions, then playing the Bluebonnet Genre Mashup game to identify what genres several of our Bluebonnet Award nominees fall into.  We hope a lot of our third graders participate in our Bluebonnet activities this year!

Fourth and fifth graders are exploring our databases in preparation for upcoming research projects. Home access password sheets will be distributed soon; they do not need passwords to use the databases at school.

It's been a great second week of visits in the library!  Keep on reading, Stallions!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I am still trying to catch up on the 19-20 Bluebonnet Award Nominees list, so this weekend I started reading The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss.

The story opens as Sister Wanda of the Mostly Silent Monastery walks through the doorless entry (the monastery is being rebuilt) and finds a small child sitting in the entry.  The child doesn't speak, so Sister Wanda decides to call her by the word on her teeshirt--Bicycle.

Bicycle does eventually speak, and becomes a part of the quirky group of monks.  Sister Wanda is worried about Bicycle's lack of friends her own age, and decides to send her off to camp to make some friends.  But Bicycle has other, grander plans!

I am thoroughly enjoying following Bicycle's escapades in this part adventure, part mystery, improbable story of a girl who is not only named for the two-wheeled leg-powered vehicle, but loves to ride them as well.  One day in, and I'm pretty sure I'll finish it by tomorrow--just to find out what happens in the end!
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I met Christina Uss at our Texas Library Association Conference last April, in the "Speed Dating the Bluebonnets" session.

Uss told us that she completed a cross-country bicycle ride as a young adult, raising funds for Habitat for Humanity.  Some of the places in the story are real; Uss said, "Geography is so interesting if you have stories about the places." Some of the people are real, too (like The Cookie Lady!).  She wants kids to wonder if they can have the same experiences as Bicycle, exploring the mysteries of friendship.  Uss specifically wrote this book as a fictional "escape"--no tragedies, just a fun read.

It's Monday!  Are you working on finishing our Bluebonnet Nominees list as well?

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

We are welcoming students back to our library this week!

Thanks to our assistant, Mrs. Melton, for the fun display!

We're starting the year off with our library orientations.  Kindergarteners are learning about walking feet, checking out books, and turning pages carefully while listening to We're Going On a Book Hunt by Pat Miller.  Then their fifth grade buddies are showing them how to use shelf markers and the circulation desk scanner.

First and second graders are reviewing library expectations while listening to The Shelf Elf by Jackie Mims Hopkins.  Third graders are being quizzed via Nearpod on our iPads, with reminders about using the online catalog and reading spine labels.

Fourth and fifth graders are breaking through the digital scavenger hunt that Ms Margocs developed, exploring different sections of the library in pairs to answer questions about checking out books, call numbers, and our expectations of quiet voices and walking feet.

Please return your Beach Blanket Bingo Summer Reading forms by this Friday, August 23rd!  Prizes will be distributed in September!

We are so excited to have students back in the library, learning and reading and having fun.  Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year, Stallion Readers!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I just got this book on my doorstep, and it makes me so happy!

How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, is a one-two punch--if the punch is made of sherbet and limeade and fizzy soda.  Alexander's free verse poetry made me nostalgic for my childhood reading life, when it was so easy to slip inside a story and get lost in the words, cadence, setting.  I almost missed some of the verses, cleverly embedded in Sweet's mixed-media, handmade illustrations.  Her color choices are brightly optimistic and reflect the twisty, turny ride that books can give us, full of interesting details if only we take the time to hunt for them and relish the search.  This copy is mine to keep, but I'm getting one for my school library, too.  

It's Monday; have you ever read a book that brought a smile to your face from the very first page?

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

Ms Margocs was going to post a photo of the typical pre-first-day-of-school mess in our library, but forgot!  You can use your imagination to picture this:

• Teacher supplies stacked on top of shelves
• New teaching materials piled on tables, waiting to be cataloged and checked out to teachers
• Training materials for meetings
• Technology waiting to be worked on by our wonderful instructional tech support, Mrs. Jackson
• Books that were weeded and need to be sent to the warehouse, to box up for Libraries of Love
• Box of PlayAways that don't work anymore
• Posters on the floor that just won't stay taped up
• New books waiting to be displayed
• Some chairs still stacked on top of tables, and our conversation area all topsy-turvy, from summertime carpet cleaning
• And Ms Margocs' office...let's not go there, it's a walking hazard right now!

But this mess is OKAY right now!  It's preparation time, and things are messy and a bit chaotic before they get put back in their rightful places.  Rest assured, this library will be in working order before supply drop-off next week, when we greet our new kindergarteners and take their first ID photos.

Counting the days until our Stallion readers are back, roaming the stacks!

Picture source:  Britannica ImageQuest:

Interior of the Study of Doctor X . Fine Art. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016. 

quest.eb.com/search/108_236609/1/108_236609/cite. Accessed 7 Aug 2019.