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

 It's a week of new books, new displays, and new lessons in our library!

As you can see above, we are celebrating "Banned Books Week" by displaying children's books that have been challenged and/or censored in the United States.  Our district has a detailed, comprehensive policy to follow in such circumstances. 

Read alouds this week:

PreK social-emotional learning is focusing on waiting, so Ms Margocs is reprising her funny voice to share The Very Impatient Caterpillar with our littlest scholars.

Kindergarteners are learning about the needs of animals, and zookeepers do a lot to fill those needs.  What Do  You Do If You Work at the Zoo? is a Texas 2x2 book.

First and second graders are considering the things they want to be able to do, but can't just yet.  The Magical Yet is an Armadillo Readers' Choice book.

Lessons this week:

Third through fifth graders are reviewing the vocabulary of readers with a talk about genres, in preparation for our Bluebonnet-Genre Mashup Game coming up.

Fifth graders are also getting their second round of research lessons.  We're sharing Journey Box Google Drive folders with their teachers, making sure they've found at least one good article from our databases to save in their folders, and learning about Gale's note-taking tool to help with writing and prevent copy-and-paste (plagiarizing).

Ms Margocs spoke with our Scholastic Book Fair representative this week!  We will have lots of great books to purchase the last week of October!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I finally picked up The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcárcel again and continued reading several chapters this time.  I've had the book checked out long enough for it to be an example of what an overdue notice looks like in our online catalog account; that came in handy for my lesson with our older scholars on logging and checking on personal accounts!  I am enjoying Quijana's voice in the story, and I think her struggle with self-identity in a family that straddles different cultures is one that will resonate with our readers.  I'm planning on finishing this up by the end of the week.

I'm also a hundred pages into Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke, an adult novel about a  Black Texas Ranger navigating murder investigations, a rough spot in his marriage, and racism in East Texas.  This is definitely a windows book for me--I am white, female, not a native Texan, and afraid of guns.

Yesterday was the start of the American Library Association's celebration of Banned Books Week.  Take a peek at their website; you might be surprised to find some of your favorite books on the challenged list.

It's Monday, and I'm going to try and focus on these two books to move them to my "finished reading" pile.  Do you have a reading goal this week?  What does it look like?

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

 We have received two gifts from patrons this past week!  Henry G's grandma perused our Amazon wishlist and gave us some wallpaper and a new dictionary--thank you!

The Dancer family gifted us a beautiful bouquet of flowers and an equally beautiful book to add to our collection:

It is a checkout week for our first through fifth graders.  What's popular these days?  Dog Man is still a favorite, as are our Avatar graphic novels, scary books, and Everybody picture books.

PreK is listening to Sort It By Size and discussing size words:  big, little, large, small, tiny and medium.

Kindergarteners are discussing circles, squares, triangles and more with Shelley Rotner and Anne Woodhull's Shapes, a Texas 2x2 book.

We are celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with books by Latinx authors highlighted and on display!

All day Tuesday and Wednesday morning, our district Hearing and Vision team was conducting screenings in the library.  That didn't stop us from offering checkouts, though--we moved our carts and laptops to the front lobby and made sure our regular visitors were able to get their books for the week.

We are five weeks away from our Fall Scholastic Book Fair!  Who's excited about purchasing new books for your home library?  Keep on reading, Dillos!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Thoughts on wide reading and making connections:

I've been reading five different books these past few weeks, and I finally finished Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.  

(This isn't a children's book, but could be read by sixth graders on up.)

The reviews on Amazon call this book a fairy tale, but I disagree.  As I read the last few chapters, I was reminded of Joseph Campbell's PBS series, "The Power of Myth", originally aired in 1988.  Gods of Jade and Shadow is more of a myth-built-upon-myth, a hero's quest like Campbell described in his series. 

 

The protagonist, Casiopea, embarks on a journey that will test her resolve and the strength of her dreams.  She must conquer trials, even traverse the underworld, in her efforts to save the world and ultimately, herself--exactly what Campbell talks about in the clip.  As she faces her most difficult task, she reminds herself of everything she's gone through up to that point, and her courage carries her through.

This past week I also started the chapter on fear in Jay Shetty's Think Like a Monk.  Shetty opens with a time-and-scientifically-tested truth:  facing hardships and surviving difficult circumstances makes us better prepared to survive future hardships.  I think the key is to mimic Casiopea, to pause in the midst of trouble, look back, and acknowledge the strength we've shown thus far.

This is why we need to encourage our students to read, and read widely.  There are truths to be found in fiction, connections to be made to self and to other text.  While Shetty's nonfiction book educates and enlightens my thinking, books like Moreno-Garcia's take me on that journey, inspiring me vicariously.  It's the difference between reading about an amazing rollercoaster, and riding one. 

It's Monday, and I'm making connections between texts and television learning.  What fiction-nonfiction connections have you made?

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

It's a week of read-alouds and lessons in the AME Library--and we're starting a countdown!

Read-alouds this week: 

Kindergarteners are diving into their second Armadillo Readers' Choice nominee with The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi, illustrated by Lorena Alvarez.  

"Yet" is one of Ms Margocs' favorite words in the library.  Learning to read takes time and effort, and sometimes we're not quite ready for a certain book....yet!  We talk a lot about good fit books and choosing the ones we can enjoy right now, and ones that more experienced readers in our homes can commit to sharing with us.  The books will be waiting when we're ready for them!

First and second graders are hearing their first Armadillo book, Our Favorite Day of the Year, as we get excited about the fall and winter holidays coming up.

Third through fifth graders are learning how to log in and utilize their accounts within our online catalog.  Our scholars can look up what they have currently checked out, what's overdue, and create reading lists for their projects and enjoyment. This can be done from school AND at home! 

Fifth graders will be starting a major research project soon, so they are searching for books on their topics to save for future use.

We are starting our countdown to our Fall Scholastic Book Fair--more news to come soon!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I know I shouldn't have...but I added two more books to my to-read pile this weekend--an autobiography, and a cookbook.

I watched a television interview with Norman Lear, and knew I had to get his autobiography.  He is responsible for a large portion of my television viewing history, and accomplished groundbreaking shows that managed to be comedic and thought-provoking.  I started reading it last night, and his voice is strong in the writing.

I also skimmed through my new Instant Pot cookbook, and there's some yummy recipes to try!  The author's introduction is clear and helpful, providing lots of tips to make the most of this kitchen appliance.

I also started Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke yesterday.  I will need some dedicated reading time this week--two books going in the morning, now three in the evening, and professional reading in between!

It's Monday, and I'm juggling a LOT of books these days!  Are you a book juggler, or a one-at-a-time reader?

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

 Read-alouds and our first checkout-only classes are happening this week!

PreK students are pausing to listen as we read The Listening Walk by Paul Showers, illustrated by Aliki.  In the library, we can hear quiet music, the air conditioner, and our bodies wiggling on the bleachers of the Story Castle.

Kindergarten students are thinking about their favorite day of the year as we read our first Armadillo Readers' Choice book together, Our Favorite Day of the Year by A. E. Ali. 

We are talking about the feelings we had on our first day of school, and what upcoming holidays we're looking forward to.  Happy New Year to our Dillos celebrating Rosh Hashanah this week!

Our first through fifth graders are spending their half-hour library visit looking for good-fit books and taking the time to read them.  Ms Margocs hopes to get some reading done with them this week, too.

You may get a notice from your teachers that your library time has changed.  We are working on making sure that everyone has a chance to come to the library every week with their class.  

Parents, please ask your students about the books they check out!  Read and/or discuss them together.  Please have a designated spot in your house for your library books so they don't get lost, or have your child return them to their backpacks each night.  Our PreK through first grades have a large plastic bag to store their books in, to keep them clean and dry.

It may still be in the nineties outside, but Ms Margocs is dreaming of cooler weather--so we have some of our Fall books on display!

Keep on reading, Dillos!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

My husband is an awesome handyman, and replaced our dishwasher this weekend.  What does that have to do with reading?  Well, he was reading the manual as he was doing the installation.  And we had to rearrange the living room to get the old dishwasher out and the new one into the kitchen.  When we moved the couch away from the bookshelves, we had access to four sections that were normally covered up...and rediscovered these!

Our kids LOVED this series growing up, and our elementary scholars still love them today.  I Spy scavenger hunt books build vocabulary, critical thinking skills (some of the clues are tricky!) and visual literacy.  We were lucky to have the CD-ROM game versions, too.  The games were fun and challenging for both our school-aged daughter and preschooler son, because the rhyming lines were read aloud and clues could be repeated by clicking on individual words.  Embedded reading lessons while they were having fun, and this was before the term "gamification" was an educational buzzword.

It's Monday, and we're taking a trip down memory lane with I Spy books.  What books do you remember from your childhood that were fun AND challenging?

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

Students are back in the library--that's what's happening!  We are having orientation lessons this week; it's been awhile since many of our scholars have come in as a full class and checked out books.

The spaces are ready!

PreK, kindergarten, and first grade classes are going on a book hunt with Pat Miller and Nadine Bernard Westcott.  (PreK gets a modified story; they're not quite ready for shelf markers and the five finger strategy yet.)  Our scholars will hear Ms Margocs use "cross and hug" and "beep boop beep" all throughout the school year.

These grades are also receiving large plastic bags to protect their library books from water and
food damage in their backpacks.

Second graders are reviewing library expectations with The Shelf Elf by Jackie Mims Hopkins.  It takes all of us to keep our library collection in good shape to use!

Third, fourth and fifth graders are figuring out where library expectations fit within our "Safe, Respectful, Responsible" guidelines here at Anderson Mill.  

There's a quick review of how to use shelf markers (it's been a LONG time since we've touched those!).  We're taking some time to look around the WHOLE library before we reach for those shelf markers, encouraging wide reading this year.

Here are the checkout limits for our scholars:

PreK--1 book

Kindergarten--1 book

First grade--2 books

Second grade--2 books

Third grade--3 books

Fourth grade--3 books

Fifth grade--4 books

If there is a special project going on in the classroom, we allow extra books to be checked out for those purposes.  Scholars come to the library every week with their class; we'll be incorporating time for individual visits as soon as our library schedule is set.

If you aren't following @AMILLLibrary on Twitter, you missed the announcement of new graphic novels to start off the year:

Welcome back to the library, Dillo Readers!  We are SO happy to have you back among our shelves!