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

We've got more new books in the library!

The fiction purchases were chosen by student recommendations, need for replacements, recent author visits, a growing need for international language books, and professional recommendations.  We are also getting started on collecting our 20-21 Bluebonnet Award Nominees (not pictured).

Ms Margocs is working on updating our nonfiction collection, so she spent some book fair money on sets from World Book (which is also one of our online database vendors).  The sets cover physical science, robots, space, food, and sports. 

Bluebonnet voting has begun!  We have 140 students eligible to vote.  Voter IDs were distributed on Monday, and students have been voting during free time and their class library visits.  The polls close on Friday afternoon, so we'll have our school results soon!  Our Bluebonnet Breakfast for those students who qualify will be held on February 14th.  They will receive invitations with more information. 

On Tuesday, our Library Shelf Elves Club learned how books are cataloged into our circulation system.  When Ms Margocs has to do it herself, it involves a special software program, sometimes a search through the Library of Congress catalog, and book covering skills.  It has to be done exactly right, or the results do not show up correctly in the catalog and our circulation program.

Read-alouds this week:

Kindergarten classes are exploring feelings in English and Spanish with the Texas 2x2 book How Are You?  Como Estas? by Angela Dominguez.  Luckily, we have some native Spanish speakers to check Ms Margocs' pronunciation.

First grade is having a checkout only week, to spend more time choosing and reading their books.

The second half of second grade is laughing with We Don't Eat Our Classmates! by Ryan T. Higgins.  We can sympathize and empathize with both the children and Penelope (T.) Rex in this story.

Lessons this week:

Third graders are continuing to complete the district student climate survey, answering questions about school safety, teachers, homework, and the library.

Fourth and fifth graders are practicing email etiquette by using proper form to contact their teachers via their student Gmail accounts.  We are discussing the importance of good digital citizenship when communicating online with our teachers and future employers.

Important dates:

February 10th--last day to record Schlitterbahn Waves of Pages reading

February 14th--last day to turn in Schlitterbahn Waves of Pages logs to your teacher

February 14th--Bluebonnet Breakfast for invitees only

March 4th-9th--Spring Scholastic Book Fair

March 31st--Six Flags Read to Succeed online reading logs due

A big THANK YOU to our Library Shelf Elves club and our volunteers for shelving our books!  Thanks to Mrs. Mensing for helping out with our club!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Princess stories continue to be popular in our library and fairy tales are on display this month, so I decided to pull a book from my personal shelves that fit the theme:

A gift for our young adult daughter in 2013, Princess Tales:  Once Upon a Time in Rhyme with Seek and Find Pictures is a poetic jaunt through ten well-known (or not so well-known) princess stories.  "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Snow White" are here, as well as "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", "Thumbelina", and "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" (a new-to-me story). 

The poetry by Grace Maccarone summarizes the stories, making for sweet, short read-alouds that, when accompanied by looking for the handful of items as directed, are nice bedtime read-alouds.  As with all good seek-and-find books, there are extra details to look out for:  references to popular nursery rhymes and a few more images listed just before the table of contents.  The pictures are jam-packed a la Where's Waldo?, so be prepared to look awhile!  Kudos to Maccarone and the illustrator, Gail de Marcken, for featuring diverse characters and settings.

It's Monday, and I'm reading fairy tales!  When was the last time you indulged in favorite cultural stories from childhood?

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

Our first full week of the new semester, and we are back to read-alouds and lessons!

Kindergarten:  We are learning that sometimes helping a friend doesn't mean fixing their problem; sitting quietly, listening, and staying with that friend through their discomfort can be the best help of all.  Rabbit is this friend for Taylor in The Rabbit Listened, by Cori Doerrfeld, a Texas 2x2 book.  It fits nicely with our emphasis on social-emotional learning this year.

First grade:  Letter-writing, patterns, and what animals (and humans!) need to thrive is discussed as we read Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings.  It's a Texas 2x2 and one of our RRISD Armadillo Readers' Choice books.

Second grade:  Our Depth and Complexity icons of Multiple Perspectives and Ethics (in this case, empathy) are covered with humor in We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins, another Armadillo Readers' Choice.

Third graders are taking the district student climate survey using our iPads this week, providing input on school safety, homework, classroom, social emotional, cafeteria, bus, and library topics.

Fourth and fifth graders will be brushing up on email etiquette as they email their teachers using appropriate letter format.  They will be taking the survey soon as well.

These deadlines are coming up fast:

• Bluebonnet signature pages are due this Friday, January 24th for third, fourth, and fifth graders participating in the reading program!  All you need is five to vote, so be sure to turn in your paper to your teacher or the library!

• Schlitterbahn Waves of Pages reading program will be wrapping up on February 10th.  Record your ten hours of reading for a free ticket to Schlitterbahn, and turn your paper into your teacher no later than February 14th!

In other news:
The Texas Association of Future Educators at Round Rock High School is having a book drive for students in Ghana, West Africa.  The donation box can be found outside our library doors until the end of January.  Please donate your gently used books!

Our local PBS station, KLRU, is hosting their annual Kids Writers Contest once again!  Entries can be sent now through March 31st.  Visit their website for more information.

Our library displays this month are fairy tales, folk tales, myths, music and musicians, and the Lunar New Year.  Gung hay fat choy, or gong xi fa cai!  Wishing you happiness and prosperity!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

This year, I am trying to read more of what is already on my shelves, instead of buying new books.  So what did I pull off my shelf this Sunday?

I'm a little embarrassed to say that this is one of those books I thought I had read, only to find out after the first page that I hadn't.  It is a very thought-provoking story, with commentary on wisdom, imagination, and what is truly important from the very beginning.  It's a little like reading A Whack on the Side of the Head , The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and  Start With Why but in allegory.

I'm about halfway through the book.  This is what I'm thinking about while reading The Little Prince:

• Children often arrive unannounced (just like opening my eyes in the middle of the night to see one of my own children standing next to my bed, staring at me and in need of something).
• Children's questions are worth answering, and if we cannot provide an answer, then maybe we need to re-examine the subject at hand.
• Children can see beyond the obvious, into the wonderful world of imagination that grownups often overlook. 
• Adults can be all about the sums and the "matters of consequence", which is really quite sad.
•  A child's world is quite small, when you think about it--home, and school, and the view from a car seat through a tiny window. Any little change can be a momentous event against such a limited background--the appearance of a pretty flower where once there was none, for instance.
• A lot of adult privileges and vices--being in charge, ownership of stuff, drinking, careers, fame--are inconsequential, if they are not truly useful.

Since we have a day off from school and work, I'm going to finish The Little Prince and spend some more time pondering the lessons it holds.  It's Monday; what are you reading that's thought-provoking today?

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

Last Friday, we had a great visit with Bridget Heos, author of the Mustache Baby series!

Ms. Heos has written many fiction AND nonfiction books; we have several in our library collection!  First graders found out that good stories can get quite a few editor rejections before becoming a book.  They learned that to get over writer's block, writing ideas can come from anywhere--friends, family, and even school.

The library was closed for checkout on Monday due to Science Fair judging.  But we had fun in the cafeteria with an author visit--J.S. Puller!

                                 

Ms. Puller wrote Captain Superlative, a 19-20 Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee.  She visited with our third graders on Monday morning, sharing details about her childhood, writing life, and inspiration for this debut novel.  She was very careful not to spoil the ending for those students who are still reading her book!

If you haven't had the chance to read Puller's book, I highly recommend doing so.  It is a heartwarming story (and a little sad, be forewarned) about the ripple effect of the simplest acts of kindness--opening doors, picking up trash, supporting victims of bullying...and recognizing the humanity in the bullies, too.

Lessons this week are all about reviewing library expectations and skills!  Kindergarten through second grades are discovering that in some ways, books are like babies; be sure to ask them how.  Third through fifth graders are doing a self-paced Nearpod slide review, then taking a brief quiz to make sure they know the difference between a lightsaber and a shelf marker, and what those letters and numbers on the spine label really mean.

Important deadlines coming up fast:

• Bluebonnet signature pages are due January 24th for third, fourth, and fifth graders participating in the reading program!  All you need is five to vote, so be sure to turn in your paper to your teacher or the library!
• Schlitterbahn Waves of Pages reading program will be wrapping up on February 10th.  Record your ten hours of reading for a free ticket to Schlitterbahn, and turn your paper into your teacher no later than February 14th!

Remember, we have next Monday off; spend some of that time reading a great book and being of service to others, like Captain Superlative!  See you in the stacks, Stallions.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I got this book for myself and my administrators for Winter Break...and am just now getting around to reading it.

I'm sorry I waited!  Front Desk, by Kelly Yang, is the kind of realistic fiction that has you rooting for the underdogs.  I was a third culture kid, not really an immigrant, so I'm looking through the window at the difficulties immigrants may have as I read this book.  Homelessness, racism, unrecognized training/ degrees, unscrupulous employers who underpay with the threat of calling immigration officers, trying to communicate in a new language with its idioms and slang--all of these problems can make the future seem bleak for families trying to make a new life in America.  

Mia's family has experienced all of these problems.  You would think working in a motel and living there rent-free would be a dream job, but the motel owner, Mr. Yao, is unkind and ruthless in his pursuit of money, without regard for the needs of the Tangs.  Still, the freedoms America offers keeps the Tang family going, with the help of the motel's long-term residents and friends found along the way.  They might, just might, get to live the American dream...if they can just get out from under the thumb of Mr. Yao.

Front Desk is a recommended read for third grade on up, as a window OR a mirror.  It's Monday--what window/ mirror books are you reading?

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

Welcome back from Winter Break, Sommer Stallions!

We hope you had time to relax and read over the break!  If not, no worries; we will be doing checkout only this week, so you can nab some new reading material to get you going this semester.

First graders, don't forget--you are getting a visit from Bridget Heos on Friday morning!  I if you purchased any of her books over the holiday, bring them in to be signed.  Don't forget to use the personalization slip your teacher sent home!

Third graders, you are visiting with J.S. Puller on Monday!  If you'd like her to sign a copy of Captain Superlative, bring your books in on Friday with a sticky note telling us your name and your teacher's name, so we can get it signed and return it to you.

The library will be closed for checkout on Monday due to Science Fair judging.

Next week, all classes will be getting review lessons on book care and library expectations.

See you in the stacks, Stallions!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Welcome back from Winter Break!  I hope you got plenty of time to read just for fun!

So what did I read?  A holiday book!

The 13th Gift by Joanne Huist Smith is worth reading at any time of the year.  It's a true story of how heartfelt gifts from strangers lifted a family out of the depths of sorrow, to find joy once more in the Christmas season and beyond.  If generosity is one of your New Year's resolutions, this just may be the book to spur you on and get you thinking about creative ways to give back.  

What's next on my reading list?  I am returning to the daily reading of one of my favorite books:  Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

I read this book in its first incarnation, twenty-five years or so ago.  This edition, with updates to accommodate technological changes, fits right in with my personal Depth Year challenge for 2020.  The daily passages are short enough to be read in fifteen minutes or so, and set a tone of thoughtfulness and gratitude to carry throughout the day.

I have also started Atomic Habits, by James Clear. 

For better and worse, I am a creature of habits and routines.  I need to establish productive habits at work ("Habits" is my One Word for work in 2020), and improve on my personal routines, so I'm looking forward to what this book will teach me.

I can't forget my kidlit book for Book Lunch Bunch! I am halfway through Once Upon a Marigold, a quirky, fun fractured fairy tale by Jean Ferris.  We get to meet Edric, the friendly troll; Christian, a runaway boy who refuses to go home; and a cast of cute creatures both domestic, magical and mythical.  There's even a few puns thrown in for good measure--i.e. characters can send messages by p-mail.  (Read it to find out what the "p" stands for!)

It's Monday!  What books did you get to read over Winter Break?  What books are on your 2020 to-read pile?