New Books! New Books!

Our Book Fair in October did well, AND the state reinstated our State Library Enhancement funds.  SO...I was able to purchase 122 new books for our library last month.  The kids will be so excited to see so many new choices!

Book Fair

Our annual fall Book Fair will be held in the library on October 5-9.  It will be here before we know it.  The Book Fair is such a FUN event (my favorite!)!  Anyone interested in volunteering can contact me.

About the Author

I have a display wall in the library that I'm never sure what to do with.  I put books on it, and the kids grab those books immediately (now I know how the Hoover Public Library feels when I pick from their displays).
So I decided to make it a wall to feature authors.  This month I chose Christopher Paul Curtis (my favorite children's author), Kate Dicamillo and Marc Brown.  Even if students take the books on the display by those authors, maybe they will notice the information about the author and be interested enough to reserve books by those authors from me or go the the HPL and get books there.

Welcome Back

The 2015-2016 school year is in full swing.  We are learning and meeting expectations, checking out books, learning to check out eBooks, and learning about call numbers.  It's really hard to believe we have been in school only 5 weeks because we've learned so much

Summer Reading

The Hoover Public Library has a fantastic summer reading program each year.  A lot of time and money is put into the program to make it a valuable experience for kids and adults alike.

I hope that our parents will allow our students to participate.  To sweeten the pot, the HPL has offered a $200 Barnes and Noble gift card to the school library that can enroll the most students.  That's a lot of new books for our library...I'd LOVE to win that prize this year.

Please register your students and allow them to participate in this amazing program...and help our school win the prize.

Happy Reading.  Happy Summer.

School Library Month

April is School Library Month.  One of my favorite actresses is the spokesperson for this year's celebration.  I'm glad to have a career that allows me to share my love of reading and books and to hopefully create lifelong readers.

Destiny Quest

This week in grades 3-5 we are learning to use Destiny Quest.  It is a part of our circulation system called Destiny, but it allows students to do more cool things like:

• Friend one another
• Share book recommendations with friends
• Put books on hold with our library
• Review books

The kids think it's really cool that they get to "friend" one another on Destiny and that they get to review books and the WHOLE SYSTEM sees their reviews (the reviews are posted anonymously to protect students identity since anyone can access Destiny).  

I'm hoping to see lots of good, positive conversations about books going on.  

Read. Write. Draw

The Hoover Public Library is hosting a great event this month.  It's called Read. Write. Draw.  The date for this event is April 18.  It is a free event and is a GREAT opportunity for children in our community to see and hear great authors and illustrators.  They will learn about the writing process and the publishing process.  Books will be for sale for autographing at the event.

I hope you'll take your children and let them participate in this FUN, FREE event.

Here is the link to the advertisement that Katie Jane at the library shared with me and that I will be sharing with grades 3-5 next week:  https://youtu.be/x5Kg19HdWDc

New Books

During the month of March, our library added 89 new books to our collection.  This week in K-5 we read some of our most notable new picture books.  The kids were excited to know that we've added new books to our collection and really enjoyed hearing the new books.

Most notable was The Dark by Lemony Snicket (author of the Series of Unfortunate Events series) and illustrated by two time Caldecott honoree Jon Klaussen.  It was one that I thought would win either the Caldecott award or the Newbery award last year when it was published, and I was SHOCKED to see that it was not included on either list.  I shared it with 3-5, and they agreed that it was a very interesting read.

Newbery Award Winners

This week with grades 3-5, we are discussing the Newbery award winners for 2015.  We are also viewing the book trailers for those books.  I love seeing students get so excited about award-winning books.

Caldecott Winners

This week in library for K-5 we have been discussing the Caldecott winners for 2015.  The kids have been very exited to see the selections and have had many good observations about the illustrations in the books.

Theme for 2015/2016

I have chosen a library theme for the next school year...Readers Are Superheros.  My talented daughter and I will work feverishly this summer to pull this theme off and have it ready for the first day of school next year.  Exciting stuff!

Our new books are processed and displayed.  The kids are going to be SO excited next week!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

We are celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday at GVES today.  I'm seeing lots of Cat in the Hat hats in the halls, am eating some green eggs and ham at lunch and am hearing lots of Dr. Seuss books being read.

In the library, we are talking about Dr. Seuss this week.  We are reading some of his books and, we are participating in a One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish estimation activity (MORE math in the library).

New Books! New Books!

Our library got 70 new books last week.  Opening the boxes was like Christmas in February.  I am working on processing them and getting them shelf ready now.  The kids are going to be SO excited.  Who doesn't love new books???

Exciting News!

Just when you think you've read ALL of Dr. Seuss' books...NOPE.  THREE MORE MANUSCRIPTS have been discovered!  I cannot wait to see what Dr. Seuss magic publishers have in store for us beginning in July

https://gma.yahoo.com/books-dr-seuss-published-manuscript-discovered-random-house-130656976--abc-news-celebrities.html

And I thought Read Across America approaching was exciting...

Black History Month

February is Black History Month.  During this month, I share books by my favorite black authors and illustrators with my classes.

My favorite black authors are Christopher Paul Curtis and Patricia McKissack.

I fell in love with Christopher Paul Curtis' writing when I read The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963.  (I plan to read a portion of that book with my 3rd-5th grade classes next week.).  His writing is fun and teaches history without bogging one down in the history that he is trying to share.  He's just so talented.  He won a Newbery Honor for The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 in 1999 and the Newbery Medal for Bud, Not Buddy in 2000.  His website is http://www.nobodybutcurtis.com/

Patricia McKissack is also very talented.  I particularly enjoy her use of dialect.  My favorite book by Patricia McKissack is Flossie and the Fox - a southern version of Little Red Riding Hood.  Her use of dialect in this book is OUTSTANDING.  I love to read it aloud (I shared this one with 3rd grade this week).

My favorite black illustrator is Jerry Pinkney.  Everything he does is beautiful.  He has won five Caldecott honors and one Caldecott Medal (for The Lion and the Mouse in 2010).  His website is http://www.jerrypinkneystudio.com/

It's Book Fair Time!

BOOK FAIR IS HERE!  BOOK FAIR IS HERE!

Our students LOVE Book Fair, and so does their librarian!  It is so exciting to see the looks on kids' faces as they pass the library and see all of the books for sale.  

As fun as Book Fairs are, they are also a vital part of our library programming.  Due to cuts in library funding over the past 10-15 years, Book Fair successes have become a critical part of keeping our libraries up-to-date with book students love and enjoy and with books teachers can use to enhance curriculum.

Thank you to Crane Books in Prattville, Alabama for always providing a positive experience for me and for my students.  The selection is always great, and the prices can't be beat!

Thank you to all of you who support our Book Fairs annually and to those who volunteer to run our Book Fairs.  I couldn't do it without YOU!

Did You Know?

Hoover City Schools has a digital library.  You can check out elementary appropriate eBooks via the library.  The steps are as follows:

Simple Steps for Checking out eBooks

1.     Go to https://hooverelem.libraryreserve.com

2.    Enter your student ID#

3.    Select the book you’d like to check out

4.    Click on it

5.    Click “Borrow”

6.    Click “Read in Browser”

7.    A new page will appear.  Click “Read this Book”

8.    When you have to stop, just exit the page.  The book will remain in your account until you either return it or it expires (14 days)

9.    To go back to your book once you’ve exited, go back and repeat steps #1 and #2 then go to the top of the page and click “Account.”  Your book will be on your bookshelf to continue reading.

10.                       To return the title, just click “Return title” from your bookshelf.  

Caldecott and Newbery Award Winners

This weekend, I did a lot of reading.  School Library Journal had picked their choices for the Caldecott Award and the Newbery Awards.  Both of those awards were announced this morning.

I had the Caldecott predictions on hold at the Hoover Public Library but was not able to get to the library this week to get them; so I haven't seen those.

I did get three of SLJ's Newbery predictions and read those.

On Friday night I read The Fourteenth Goldfish:  Believe in the Impossible Possible by Jennifer Holm.  I liked it but was not convinced that it would be a Newbery contender.

On Saturday I read Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson and FELL IN LOVE.  What a beautifully written autobiography.  I was SURE she would win the top honor.

On Sunday I read Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff.  I could see how SLJ saw the potential because the main character is so relatable.

My first two classes and I watched the ALA awards announcements this morning.  I was thrilled to see Brown Girl Dreaming receive Newbery recognition but was disappointed that she didn't win the top honor.

The winners were as follows:

Newbery Winner:

My understanding is that this is a young-adult novel (more appropriate for middle school), but I have to read it to decide appropriateness for our GVES students

Newbery Honors:

My pick for the Newbery winner.  BEAUTIFULLY written in free verse.  Hard not to fall in love with Jacqueline and her family.  Full of rich history 

Haven't read this one but look forward to reading.  Graphic novel form that I think will be appropriate for our students.

Caldecott Winner:  

Caldecott Honors:

Cannot wait to see this one!

I LOVE John Klassen...glad to see him recognized.  VERY talented

Interesting to see a nonfiction text win a Caldecott

Looks like I have a lot of books to buy.  I LOVE this time of year when the best of the best is recognized.  It's like a librarian's Christmas.

Happy Happy

Our community is so generous and so good to us.  I visit Barnes and Noble once weekly for a little "me" time (Imagine that, right?).  I buy a coffee at Starbucks and gather the gossip mags good, solid literature and sit and review the celebrity gossip for about an hour (I KNOW...rotting my brain).  While I am there, I usually browse the children's book section (LONGINGLY).

This past Saturday, I was in the children's book section when I noticed the cutest cutout featuring the new book Hug Machine.  I am typically drawn to illustrations that appear vintage (Think Peter Brown's You Will Be My Friend and Children Make Terrible Pets); so I fell in love with this display and took a picture of it (along with pictures of the fronts of books I think our library needs).

I happen to work with someone whose husband is a local manager for Barnes and Noble; so when I was going through my pictures on Monday, I remembered the cutout.  I emailed the picture to my colleague and asked her how hard I would have to beg her husband for that Hug Machine cutout.  To my surprise, she walked in on Tuesday with the cutout in tow and left it behind the circulation desk for me.

We DO have great folks around her looking out for our school.  Thank you, Barnes and Noble for the precious addition to my Valentine display.

Twenty Second Annual Author Visit

Our 22nd Annual Author/Illustrator this year featured award-winning, internationally-recognized author John Archambault. Our wonderful PTO provides funds to promote this enriching opportunity for our students.  He was with us on November 21 and was a hit with the kids.

Math in the Library?

SAY WHAT?

Yes, you read that right.  One of my goals this year was to incorporate math into the library programming.  I don't know about the rest of you, but math is not my strength.  I struggled with math in elementary school, middle school, high school and college (cried in college when I had to take Algebra because I was SO sure I would never get past that class and get my degree).  So when thinking about my weakness and creating goals for the year, I chose a focus on math.

My first course of action when doing most anything is to READ about it.  Believe it or not, there is very little written on the topic of math in the library.  So then I visited with our math coach for ideas.  She reminded me that I'm not expected to teach math (WHEW); instead, I could create displays that use math concepts around my space to create interest and to remind students that math can be used anywhere.  So I have worked this year to remember to try to display more math texts and to create displays that might create an interest in math

The first display I created was an interactive Dewey Order display.  The Dewey Decimal System uses numbers to organize books by subject and to organize subjects that are alike together.  This display allows students to take the book spines down, mix them up then re-order them back up onto the wall.  There is a key above the display so students can see if they ordered the books correctly.

The second display I created was a bar graph display to show the results of the AEA Be a Champion and Read submissions.  As you can see, much like the Iron Bowl, Bama came out victorious.  RTR!

The third math display I created was a bar graph to show students which books were liked most of those books written by our visiting author this year, John Archambault.  Not surprisingly, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom won by a landslide.

I have also created a math book display in the windows of the library to show students (and teachers) that we have many math related resources to use and enjoy.

My most recent math display is on the door of our library.  It features a line graph created by Destiny to display circulation statistics along with a list of questions to answer using the line graph.  I've had several students sit on the floor and try to find the answers to the questions using the graph.

Welcome to our Blog

This is the second time I have created a blog.  The first blog I created chronicled the life of my youngest for the first five years of her life...because goodness knows I was NOT going to keep a baby book up to date.  I did pretty well with updating it; so maybe I will be as diligent with this library blog.

The purpose of this blog is to give you a glimpse into our weekly/monthly activities in our library.  If your children are anything like mine, when you ask them what they did today, you get an "I don't know" or a shrug; so a little insight into what is happening in the building is always appreciated.

I hope you will appreciate some insight into at least 30 minutes of your child's week