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

We are in Week 4 of distance learning in our district!  It seems most of us--teachers, students, and librarians--are getting the hang of teaching and learning by slide decks.  So "what's on deck" in the library this week?

Kindergarten through second grade classes are listening to our last Armadillo Readers' Choice read-aloud of the school year--What If, by Samantha Berger, illustrated by Mike Curato.

It's a story about being creative, so students are asked to show off their creativity!  If they are ready to do so, the Armadillo book review and voting link are on the next slide.  The review and voting link will be repeated in next week's slide number one, so students have time to think about their favorite book.

Third through fifth grade classes have a poetry focus on their slides this week!  There is a rap reading of Dr. Seuss' Fox in Socks for all three grades, with different poetry activities for each--blackout poetry for third and fifth, an inference poetry guessing game for fourth.  You can also listen to a read-aloud from Ms Margocs--poems about books, since it's also National Library Month!

Several families have contacted their teachers and the library regarding book returns.  We are currently working on those plans, and will announce them as soon as they are solidified.  If you are leaving our district, please make arrangements with another returning family to hold on to your books for you.  Please keep your library books in a safe place until you get to return them; thanks for helping maintain our library collection under these unusual circumstances!

Can you believe we only have three weeks of school to go?  We'll be talking about summer reading before you know it, Sommer Stallions!  Happy reading!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I stayed up late last night to finish Mañanaland, one of the books I received from Scholastic last week:

Written by one of my favorite authors, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Mañanaland follows the journey of a young boy in search of the mother he's never known.  

Max is wise beyond his years--he knows he is surrounded by love, cared for by his father, grandfather, uncle, and aunts.  He has good friends to share his joy of soccer and dreams of playing in the professional league like his father and grandfather before him.  But it's this pursuit that reopens his deepest wound--the mystery surrounding his mother's disappearance when he was just a baby.  Why won't his family talk about her?  Why is it taking so long to get his birth certificate so that he can try out for the elite soccer team?  And what connections does his family have to the castle tower, La Reina Gigante, and to the Hidden Ones who were housed there?  A place called "Mañanaland" may hold the answers--but how can Max get there?

Mañanaland is a story of family protecting its own, bravery in the face of injustice, and the truths that can be found in myth if you look hard enough.  A recommended read for third graders on up!

It's Monday, and I'm ready for my next book--I think it will be a 20-21 Bluebonnet Award Nominee.  What are you reading now, and what will you read next?

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

Ms Margocs usually has students fill out the end-of-year library survey while she's away at the annual state library conference.  But it was cancelled this year, so the survey went online in the library slide decks instead.  We've received 508 responses so far!

Most respondents liked coming to the library:

And they REALLY liked our book fairs and using iPads!

Our readers prefer graphic novels and adventure fiction, with fantasy close behind:

Over half the respondents found our lessons helpful:

Lessons they liked (graph is a little messy):

Because read-alouds are so popular at our upper grade levels, everyone gets a story in their slide decks this week!

Kindergarten is all caught up with our Armadillo Readers' Choice nominees, so they get to listen to How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Melissa Stewart--both big award winners.

First grade is listening to Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall, and talking about courage.

Second graders can listen to TWO books:  Jabari Jumps, and Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings.

And third through fifth graders, since they miss read-alouds in the Book Nook, get to listen to Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor by Patricia Valdez and illustrated by Felicita Sala.

You can find these read-alouds on the library slide deck, linked on the specials page of your teacher's remote learning slide deck.  Have fun exploring our many online resources and trying out the suggested activities!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Did any of you pick up a superhero book last week, Stallion Readers?  I finished Ikenga, the ARC I received from Penguin/ Random House, and really liked it!  The author, Nnedi Okorafor, definitely left the ending open for more books about this Nigerian teenager as he learns to control and use his newfound superpowers. 

I revisited one of my children's picture books with some friends last week:

Look Out for the Big Bad Fish!  by Sheridan Cain was published when my son was born (twenty-two years ago!), but it is just as much fun to read today.  Tadpole really wants to be able to jump like his friends the grasshopper, rabbit, and lamb...but all he can do is swim!  Will he ever be able to jump and get away from the big, bad fish?  You'll have to look at the pictures closely to see what happens to Tadpole!

I am really enjoying seeing the pictures on our school Facebook page of some of our readers!  I noticed some favorite series in there:  Keeper of the Lost Cities, Ivy and Bean, Fly Guy.  I am glad you are still having fun reading--so am I!  Remember you can access our ebooks online through your research resources page--and you can always email me for book suggestions.   Keep reading, Stallions!

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

Hello, Stallions!  Did you find the link to the library slides on your teacher's slide deck last week?  It should be on the "Specials" slide toward the end, with music and PE and art.  

This week, we have read-alouds and internet lessons!

Kindergarten and first grades are listening to Superbat by Matt Carr, then doing bat activities to play and learn more about this interesting flying mammal.  Superbat is one of our Armadillo Readers' Choice books.

Second graders are also catching up on Armadillo books with TWO read-alouds this week--Superbat,  and Escargot by Dashka Slater!  They can learn more about bats and snails and practice their French on their activity slide.

Third graders get to play games this week in Common Sense Media's Digital Passport site, practicing their internet safety skills.  They can read and respond to Ms Margocs with activities in their slide deck.

Fourth and fifth graders are encouraged to increase their internet safety knowledge playing the games in Google's Interland:  Be Internet Awesome!  There are additional videos and family materials on their activity slide.

There's plenty to read and do in this week's library activities!  If you have any questions, please email Ms Margocs at christine_margocs@roundrockisd.org.

Keep on reading and learning, Stallion Readers!  

It's Monday! What are you reading/

Back in March, our annual state library conference was cancelled, which means I didn't get to return to my library with an armload of books like I usually do.  But Penguin Random House has filled the gap a little bit, with some free ARCs (advance readers' copies) that got sent to my house!  

These books aren't completely edited yet, so they won't go on the library shelves; they'll be added to the giveaway stash I keep for Bluebonnet Bingo and clear account prizes.

I am on a superhero kick, so I picked up Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor to start this weekend.  It opens with a tragedy: Nnamdi's father, the chief of police in their Nigerian town of Kaleria, has just been murdered.  Nnamdi can think of nothing but revenge for the next year...but how does a twelve-year-old boy stand up to well-embedded crime bosses?  The answer arrives the night of his father's memorial service, when Nnamdi receives an Ikenga from his father's ghost.  The Ikenga temporarily transforms him into a grown man with strengths he has yet to discover.  Forty-five pages in, and I'm hooked--and hoping Nnamdi will avenge his father's death and bring order to his town.

Tomie dePaola is one of my favorite author-illustrators, and I was saddened to hear of his passing less than two weeks ago.  Perusing my home bookshelves, I found a paperback copy of 26 Fairmount Avenue, dePaola's first chapter book memoir.  His child-voice is so clear in the retelling of the events that happened while his family's first stand-alone house was being built, beginning with a hurricane! This short book is a great example of memoir writing in detail for students.

It's Monday, and I'm reading something old and something new.  What is on your reading pile this week?

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

How is your first week of remote learning going, Stallion readers?

I can tell that several of you have looked at the K-1 library slides, and even more have opened the 2nd through 5th grade slides--thank you!  We've received over 60 responses on our end-of-year library survey; if you haven't responded yet, please do so.   I have sent the link to your teachers to share with you.

Today I want to remind you about all the wonderful databases we have, for you to explore for your own learning and use for assignments.  If you remember your third grade lesson about url domains, keyword search, and reliable sources (we packed a LOT into that lesson!), then you'll remember that Googling something isn't always going to give you the best or most reliable information--or results that are kid-appropriate (yikes!).  Our databases give us reliable, researched information that is safe and ad-free for our students.

Click here for databases!

You will need your passwords to access these resources--you can get to those through the orange padlock in the middle near the top of the page, after you log in with your student Gmail account.

This week's slide lessons:

Kindergarten and first grade classes are listening to a Tumblebook that just happens to be about spreading the flu--remember to wash your hands!  Don't forget to check out the activities and resources on the next two slides, too!

Second through fifth grades are accessing our ebooks and  filling out our end-of-year library survey, then exploring our resources and joining our new Sommer Library Google Classroom.

There will be a new set of library slides linked on your teacher's slide deck next week!  Until then, keep reading, Sommer Stallions!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

How are you doing, readers?  I've heard from a few of you that you are using this time at home to do a lot of reading--so am I!

This week, I picked a review book to read:

Rise of the Robot Army by  Robert Venditti and illustrated by Dusty Higgins, is the second book of the Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape series.  I have not read the first book, but the author is kind enough to fill in any gaps within the first two chapters.  What I wasn't expecting thirty-six pages into the story was it changing into a graphic novel for the next eight pages!  Then it hops back into prose...then back into graphic novel a few chapters later, and back to prose.  Back and forth, it tells the story of Miles Taylor, an average eighth grader who happened to inherit the legacy and golden cape of Gilded, the local superhero.  The cape is powered by the wearer's good intentions, giving Miles almost limitless strength and the power to fly. 

By the time the story opens, Miles has been Gilded for an entire summer.  School seems boring by comparison; before the first bell of the new school year even rings, Miles is tempted once again to don the cape and help those in trouble.  By doing so, he's broken a promise to his father and best friend to become Gilded only in the direst of circumstances.  But the allure of being a superhero is just too strong for Miles, who feels like a nobody at home and school.  Soon he has bigger problems than fighting his dad and friend--a power-hungry Army general has had his eye on Gilded's cape, and wants it for himself. 

If you like superheroes, robots, graphic novels, and stories about the ups and downs of middle school, Rise of the Robot Army may just be the book for you!  I'd recommend it for strong third grade readers on up.

It's Monday, and I read a fun superhero book!  What are you reading this week?

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

Hello, Readers!
We are in Week 2 of school closure, and just learned that we'll remain closed at least until May 4th.  So, another month without access to our library.

But WAIT!  We have EBOOKS!!!  Let's talk about how to access those.  Remember, you will need your passwords to use and/or checkout these books.  If you can't find your password sheet, you can log into Chrome with your student Gmail, go to our Research Resources page, and click on the padlock:

Your teachers may also be sharing the password sheet via Google Classroom next week, and I'll be sharing it via our brand new Sommer Library Google Classroom as well.  Look for that join code in the library link of your lesson next Monday!

Let's get to those ebooks already!

I hope you try reading an ebook or two this week!

Keep on reading, Sommer Stallions!  Remember:

"Reading gives us somewhere to go when we have to stay where we are."