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

We welcomed some of our classes back to the library this week!  Here are the precautions we are taking to keep everyone safe:

Being healthy is super-important, and so is reading!  Students are so happy to choose books to check out.  Remember that we have two other ways to get books--classroom and Grab & Go Curbside Book Delivery.  All of the details can be found on our library website.  All books that have been read by students will be quarantined for seven days before checking them in and placing them back on the shelves.

We are giving away books for your own home library, too!  If you haven't taken the survey yet, check in with your teacher for the link.  We have been delivering books to in-person students as well as during Grab & Go.  A home library gives you lots of reading practice--and reading is fun to do when the weather gets colder and you're stuck inside.

What we're learning this week:

PreK gets a peek into other children's daily lives around the world as we share One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley.  Then we're getting into the holiday spirit with Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean, illustrated by Kimberly Dean.

First and second graders are helping a pirate skeleton get himself together in Give Me Back My Bones by Kim Norman, illustrated by Bob Kolar.  We're talking about story settings and making connections between this book and the last one we shared, a nonfiction book called Skulls!. 

Third through fifth graders are learning how to track their Bluebonnet Nominee reading, how to access our eBooks and new Comics Plus database, and guidelines for in-person library visits and checkouts.

We won a Partners in Education Grant for new library books!  Ms Margocs will be purchasing a collection of board books in English and Spanish for our PreK students.

The library is set up for lessons and read-alouds!  Welcome back to our library space, Dillo Readers!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

 I did some reading for fun this weekend!

I found this galley for Yoko Writes Her Name by Rosemary Wells while cleaning in the library last week.  I have a personal connection to writing in Japanese--my daughter lives in Japan, married a Japanese young man, and I'm learning how to read Japanese hiragana and katakana!  I have a long way to go before I start writing in this language, I think.

I used to subscribe to Woman's Day and Family Circle magazines back in the days of parenting young children.  It's been awhile since I picked one up, so I treated myself this weekend.  It's fun to read shorter articles and snippets of interesting and useful information!

I am still reading Keeper of the Lost Cities and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You for work.

It's Monday, and I'm reading a book with a personal connection and a magazine just for entertainment.  What are you reading that makes you happy these days?

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

Sometimes you need to make a big mess to do a project.  Our tables are covered with piles of books to give away to our students who need books at home to read.  These are books to keep, not library books!

Book bundles will be distributed to students on campus, as well as via Grab & Go Curbside Delivery.  We will even make house calls if necessary to get books into the hands of our readers!  Thank you for filling out the survey to let us know your home library needs.

Still need something to read?  Eagle Scout Alex Oster, an AME alumnus, has built TWO Little Free Libraries on our campus and stocked us with tubs of books to keep it going awhile!

Some of the guidelines for AME's Little Free Libraries:  books should be suitable for elementary and middle school students, relatively undamaged, and for right now, kept at home once taken due to the pandemic.  You can return them in the green AME Library return bin by the portable driveway if you wish; we will quarantine them before replacing back in the Little Free Libraries.

There were no library lessons this week to allow teachers and student to adjust to new schedules and class rosters.  Ms Margocs is working on a schedule to accommodate comfort levels of visiting a communal space to receive lessons and check out books.  Classroom and curbside delivery of requested materials will continue!  

We are still missing approximately two hundred and forty books that were checked out last March, just before shelter-in-place took effect.  If you are back on campus, please return the books to the library via the green bins located in the halls.  If you are still learning at home, there is a green bin located outside on the portable driveway from 8a to 3p every day. You can also drop off books during our Thursday evening Grab &  Go service from 5p to 630p.  There are no fines charged for overdue books!

Ms Margocs came across a donated book this week that shows us why weeding out old books is necessary.

Mumps cases are few these days, thanks to the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine that children receive.  Most students would have little to no connection with this beginning reader book, thankfully!

Our new schedule of library read-alouds and lessons begins next week; see you then, Dillo Readers!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I finally picked up Keeper of the Lost Cities, first in a series by Shannon Messenger.  My former students loved these books, and I purchased them for my new library.

I am seventy pages in and loving this book, too!  I was expecting it to be science fiction...but it's fantasy, with elves and goblins and trolls, oh, my!  I immediately thought of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer the first time Sophie, the main character, gets whisked off to the fairy world...but I think that's where the similarity will end.  

Sophie has felt different than others, including her own family.  Those feelings were amplified when she was in an accident at the age of five--and started hearing others' thoughts.  The story opens when she's twelve, already a senior in high school due to her advanced academic skills and photographic memory.  No one else knows about her telepathic abilities, though, until a strange boy named Fitz shows up.  He seems to have the answers to her questions about her abilities, but he's unwilling to answer all of them.  Sophie must first travel to the fairy world with him, where she will be shown amazing lands and creatures and subjected to tests to prove that she is also one of them.

Back in the "real world", strange fires are choking the air with even stranger smoke...and Sophie has a home with parents and a sister, the only home she's known for twelve years.  Where does she truly belong?

Fantasy is one of my favorite genres; I'm really enjoying Keeper of the Lost Cities!  What is your favorite genre to read?

 

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

We hope you enjoyed your four-day weekend, Dillo student readers!  Ms Margocs attended some breakout sessions on equity and Google certification and presented sessions on using databases and MackinVIA with your teachers.  We also got some more cleaning done in the library, making sure materials for classroom use were up-to-date.  (Ms Margocs spent some time looking at pictures in the old AME yearbooks--she couldn't help herself!)

Seasonal books are on display!  

Whether you are learning at home or at school, you can request books online.  Directions can be found on our Curbside Service page of the library website.

Ms Margocs also completed her Pear Deck coach training yesterday!  This week, third through fifth graders will be introduced to some of our Bluebonnet Award Nominees and practice their genre-identifying skills in a Pear Deck session.

PreK students are studying patterns in language, so we're reading Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle.

Kindergarten classes are learning some facts from Skulls!, an Armadillo Readers' Choice book by Blair Thornburgh, illustrated by Scott Campbell.

First and second graders are booktalking this week.  Ms Margocs is highlighting some of those seasonal books on display, making sure that everyone has something to read!

Our library schedule will be changing with the addition of more students returning to campus next week.  We will have a hand sanitizing station at the entrance to the library, and distancing and cleaning protocols will remain in place as we move forward.  Stay tuned for more information on the schedule.

Hope to see you at Grab & Go Curbside Book Delivery tomorrow from 5p to 630p!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I've been doing a lot of reading for work this week, Dillos.  

A lot of emails.

A lot of newsletters.

A lot of articles and instructions, while I was learning how to use Pear Deck.

At school, I read aloud three different picture books:  Round is a Tortilla, Cake, and Skulls!.

At home, I read Facebook posts, news reports, and more emails.  

Last night, I realized that I hadn't opened a book just for me for several days, so I reached for Billy Collins' Whale Day: And Other Poems.  Mr. Collins was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003.  I purchased several of his poetry books on the recommendation of a fellow teacher-writer who quoted his work in a blog post.  

Billy Collins is an observer of the everyday world, making connections between what he sees and hears and what he thinks, writing them down in freeform verse.  The cadence of his lines are soothing to me at the end of a long day of reading work-related text.

It's Monday, and I'm reading poetry as self-care.  What are you reading today that makes you feel calm inside?

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

 We are continuing with our library visits via Google Meet this week!  

Our PreK classes have been learning about shapes, so Ms Margocs is sharing Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by John Parra.  It's fun to hunt down all the examples of circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, ovals and stars in the pictures.

Kindergarten classes will be making predictions when they listen to Cake by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet.  What do you think might happen if a cake gets invited to a party?

First and second graders are learning more about the bones in their heads as we read the nonfiction book Skulls! by Blair Thornburgh, illustrated by Scott Campbell.  It just so happens that Ms Margocs has a skull handy by the computer--a Día de los Muertos skull, that is!

Third through fifth grades are either catching up with genre lessons, or discussing what they're reading for personal enjoyment through the genre lens.  When we use the language of readers, we are able to articulate our book preferences and communicate more clearly with other readers.

Don't forget that classroom and curbside book delivery is still going strong!  Use the hold option in our online catalog or the book bundle request on our library website to get your hands on great stories!  Book returns are quarantined for seven days to keep us all safe.

Teachers will be having staff development on Monday and Tuesday of next week; Tuesday library visitors can make up their lessons the following week.

Keep on reading, Dillos!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I picked up another advance readers' copy this weekend:  The Way Past Winter, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.

Mila and her siblings have lost first their mother, then their father, in what seems to be a never-ending winter.  The three sisters and one brother are making do in their house at the edge of the woods when a mysterious stranger shows up with a group of boys behind him.  The next day, the group is gone--and so is their brother.  This last loss is more than the sisters can take, and they set off after the stranger, hoping to save their brother.  What they discover is that the stories their mother once told in front of the fireplace may not just be fairy tales, after all.

I can see fans of Frozen being drawn to this book, and hope that they also choose Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" as a read-along.

It's Monday, and I am reading a great story about adventurous girls and fairy-tale creatures against a winter backdrop--perfect for these days when I'm wishing for cooler weather!  What are you reading?