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

We are reading and listening to stories in front of the fire this week!

Of special interest is A Mustache Baby Christmas by Bridget Heos.  The author is coming to visit with our first graders on January 10th--the first Friday of the new semester!  Parents of first-graders, if you'd like to purchase books to be signed by the author, check your teacher's newsletters for information about Bridget Heos and links to online retail sites.

This is the week that we are focusing on overdue books and bills in the library.  Students who have either on their accounts will not check out books for the Winter Break.  Not sure if they have overdue books or bills?  You can check their accounts through our library website; just log in to eLibrary (Enterprise) with their student ID as the username and password.

We hope everyone receives the gift of books this holiday season!  Keep reading, Sommer Stallions; we'd love to hear about your favorite new books when you return from Winter Break!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's the last week of school before Winter Break, so we will be reading by the fire in the library!  A YouTube fire, that is...

Last week, I was honored to be the Mystery Reader for Mrs. Solis' class of third graders.  I brought a Hanukkah book to share:

Simon is traveling to America on a ship that hits an iceberg and sinks (my students love anything and everything Titanic-related).  He gives up his place in a lifeboat to a father, jumps off the ship as it goes down, and lands on an iceberg.  What happens next are truly Hanukkah miracles.

I may share Simon and the Bear with a few more classes, but I also have some other choices for the week:

All of the "Bruce" books are hilarious!

Bridget Heos is visiting our first graders in January!

For my PPCD students!

My older classes loved "Auntie Claus" last year...here's the sequel.

It's Monday, and we're beginning a week of picture book reading by the YouTube fireplace.  What stories are putting you in the holiday spirit?

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

We're continuing our Hour of Code activities, and kindergarten has joined the fun!

Our kindergarteners are practicing their problem-solving skills by telling their Code-a-pillars how to move along a path to get to the star.  The app starts with a simple forward command, and moves into turns, eating leaves, and jumping over logs.  

Second through fifth graders are continuing with LightBot Hour.  They are manipulating their onscreen robots to move along a path and light up squares.  Commands include forward, right and left turns, jumps, light, and repeated procedures.

Ms Margocs published our monthly stats for November:

We are continuing to remind our students about their overdue books and bills.  Students with clear accounts will be able to check out books for Winter Break.

Next week, we'll have storytime by the fire for all grade levels!  Check back then to see what we're reading!

Thanks to Mrs. Melton for the new hallway display!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I read a brand new holiday picture book in my collection!

There are lots of books about the origin of Santa Claus, and I am a fan of the Rudolph tale...but this story is post-St. Nicholas, pre-Rudolph.  This book answers the question you may not know you had--"Just how did Santa come by those flying reindeer, anyway?"

The hushed, nighttime-toned pictures of Matt Tavares' Dasher make this a wonderful Christmas bedtime story.  It has the slightest bit of adventure to hold interest, and ends with happy sigh.  You may just want to peek out at the North Star before traveling to dreamland on a sleigh pulled by eight lovely reindeer.

It's Monday, and I'm still buying Christmas picture books for my collection...even though my children are grown!  What holiday reading is on your list today?

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

Welcome back from Thanksgiving Break!  We are jumping straight into "Hour of Code" in our library--well, more like fifteen minutes of pre-coding practice.

Our first graders are trying a new-to-me Fisher-Price app called Code-a-pillar, courtesy of our wonderful ITS, Mrs. Jackson.  They have to direct the caterpillar to move towards a star with arrows, turns, and leaf-eating commands.

Our second through fifth graders are playing LightBot Hour.  Their virtual robots have to move forward, jump, turn, and light up squares within a limited number of commands.  Several of the students made it to the procedural level--repeat coding within a program!

Kindergarteners are listening to What If this week in the Book Nook and discussing how they have been creative lately.  They will get to try out Code-a-pillar next week!

Our midyear call for overdues and bills will begin next week.  Students who have overdue books and/or owe money for lost/damaged books will not be allowed to check out materials for Winter Break.  Please make sure your accounts are clear!  You can always check them from home.  Just go to our Sommer Library website, click on "eLibrary", and log into your account using your student ID number.  Need help?  Just contact Ms Margocs or Mrs. Melton via the contact info on the website.

Due dates to keep in mind:

Turn in overdues and pay bills ASAP
Bluebonnet Reading Program signature pages due January 24th
Schlitterbahn Waves of Pages reading logs due February 11th
Six Flags digital reading logs completed by March 31st

We're having fun coding and reading in the library this week!  See you in the stacks, Stallions.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Santa showed up at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so it's officially the Christmas season in the Margocs household!  

(Picture taken by Chris Margocs of her television screen, 11.28.19)

Well, technically it's the Advent season; I'm going to attempt to read a bit from this book each morning:

Watch for the Light is thought-provoking and uplifting...but definitely not light reading.  So I decided to pull another book from my shelf for my bedtime enjoyment:

A Cosmic Christmas is an anthology of sci-fi holiday stories--right up my alley!  The twelve short stories will send me off to dreamland in the Christmas spirit for the next couple of weeks.

I've highlighted both of these books as a reminder that winter holiday reading isn't just for children; there are plenty of fiction and nonfiction books on the topic for us grownups.  Next week, I'll get back to children's books; there's a new one I just had to get for my personal shelf!