List Lovers of the World Unite

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Lana

As a librarian, I’m constantly recommending books.

I clearly remember my first day working in the library (I’d been a 5th grade classroom teacher for 7 years at SAS, and a High School and Middle School English teacher in Australia for a decade before that). All of a sudden, it was expected that I had read EVERYTHING that ever existed, because, hey, I was a librarian! In the early days I admit lying a little, the odd fib here and there “Yes, I’ve read it” “Oh, I know which book you mean” “Mmmmm, I loved that series” because otherwise I felt so ignorant; I had NOT read all the books people were asking about because hey, I’m only human!

A couple of years into my new role, I have read many more books, and have not read many, many, many others. I have several ‘go-to’ sites that I couldn’t live without… sites where others have painstakingly gone through blog after blog, and compiled list after list of great books. I feel grateful towards these sites every single day. They help me help the students walk away with books just right for them. Thank You Bloggers.

Mia Wenjen is a PragmaticMom you need to keep an eye on if you want to be up to date on the best of the best that is out there… whether she’s compiling book-lists about responsibility, a collection of authors on a theme or books for advanced readers, there is something for everyone.

I love Travis Jonker’s 100 scope notes where you can find all manner of information, I especially love reading this blog around ALA award time. Linked are some of the great lists I follow with this blog during the year.

Melissa Taylor’s Imagination Soup is another great blog that both Amy Hossack and I turn to for all sorts of tech and library ideas. I ordered books based on one of her chapter book lists just today.

The Horn Book is another tried and true location for finding books, based on all manner of topics such as St. Patrick’s Day and the Olympics; I do love reading their reviews.

I’ve only just discovered this gem through a friend on twitter, From the Mixed up Files of Middle-Grade Authors is a goldmine for the avid reader. I must have been living under a rock to not know about this blog…

Congratulations Cool Cooking Cake Kids

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Lana

Thanks so much to the over 60 students involved in presenting the 4th and 5th grade Final Books to Eat Competition yesterday. When I say competition, I mean it very loosely… when asked “who won?” my responses included “you did” “we all did” and “when eating cake, everyone’s a winner”. Some of the certificates I gave out yesterday (every entry gets one) were ‘best brother-sister’ ‘most colorful frosting’ ‘best theme display’ and ‘most original idea’…

Have a look at the amazing entries below, I’m sure you’ll agree, they are inspired, creative and clever. Thank you so much teachers, parents and students for all your support of this annual fun event. See you next year!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29894312@N04/14055034452/in/set-72157644401253511/player/

Books to Eat 2014

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Lana

A bit of a reality check for me today with only 7 entries from 2nd and 3rd grade It’s a busy time of year… however those entries were interesting, clever and heart felt, and made by families who care. Thank you so much to Elin, Sophia, Elaine, Jacob, Milo, Jessie, Sean, Jasmine, Saskia and your families for your time and effort. We’re all looking forward to the grand finale next week with unprecedented numbers entered by 4th and 5th graders. Get ready for a feast for the senses!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29894312@N04/8538751312/in/set-72157632942092229/player/

Time to get this party started!

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Lana

Hello Party People

Monday-April 14th-Pre K, K and 1st graders it’s YOUR turn to create!

Fill out an entry form in the library this week and join in the fun on Monday! Remember, the entry does NOT have to be cake, it can be anything edible!!! Here is the information for the entry form…

Entrants name:

Your class (or classes):

Name of Book:

(Please provide a copy of the actual book, or if not, a printout of the front page of the book)

OK, OK… so they’re not based on a book…. but aren’t they cute?

Why I Became a Librarian #whylib

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Lana

I was excited today that my library hero John Schumacher started FOLLOWING ME on twitter! Woo Hoo, I’ve arrived… although when I say he follows me, well, perhaps he just got sick of wondering who this ‘barefoot librarian’ was, retweeting his tweets on the other side of the world. Mr. Schu has his finger on the pulse, of all things literary/library/authorly; where he finds the time and energy I’ll never know, but I love reading his blog and highly recommend it to you.

Through John, I was lead along a link-filled road to Andy Plimmons and the Barrow Media Center and Jennifer Reed and back to twitter and all over the place… but happily landed at padlet where I was able to read many great stories of people sharing why they became librarians under #whylib

A conversation was started on Twitter to share the stories of how librarians found their way to being in a library. Our paths are diverse, but we share a common thread.

Here’s why I became a librarian…

With one of the most amazing Elementary School Libraries in the world on my radar, I set my sights on becoming a librarian because I love telling stories, and recognise the joy people of all ages, not just children, experience when they are drawn in to a great book. After teaching middle and high school students for ten years in Australia, and 5th graders for seven years in Shanghai, I was fortunate that I tossed a coin for studying to be a counsellor or a librarian and the librarian coin won. While continuing to teach 5th grade I completed the five courses necessary for a certificate as a K-12 Library Media Specialist and my dream job became available as I started my practicum.

Now with almost two whole wonderfully exciting years under my library belt, I’m inspired on a daily basis by my students’ enthusiasm, the beautiful picture books that just keep coming out, and the slew of amazing librarians around the world who continue to deliver delicious stories to children.

: Dr. Seuss

: reigns supreme

: in our library

: thanks to our

: amazing Senior

: CAS project

Eat your words…aka Let them eat cake!

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Lana

Books to Eat 2014 will be postponed until after Spring Break so that we can promote this event further.

Our original plan was to start our Books To Eat next week, on April 3rd but as we have very busy with our visiting poets, we felt that there was NOT enough time to properly advertise this event between now and then. So these are the FINAL dates for Books to Eat 2014…I promise. (Check out this amazing Kenn Nesbitt tribute below)

Entry forms will be available in the library from Monday March 10th and you will need:

-your name

-your class

-the name of your book

We began this event in 2013, to celebrate two of our favourite things; books and food! This year, there will be just a couple of changes with each group bringing in their creations on Mondays instead of Fridays; this is a direct result of feedback from entrants last year who would have liked to organise their offerings on a weekend rather than a school night.

Our first group will be PreK, K and 1st grade students, teachers and parents on Monday April 14th.

Our second group will be 2nd and 3rd grade students, teachers and parents on Monday April 21st.

Our third and final group will be 4th and 5th grade students, teachers and parents on Monday April 28th.

Check out our entrants from last year in this great slideshow made by Mrs. Hossack (her son Blake made one of our favourite creations by the way)

http://videonew.saschina.org/player/pak_player/pakplayer.swf?config=http%3A%2F%2Fvideonew.saschina.org%2Fplayer%2Fpak_player%2Fembed_player.php%3Fvid%3D6914%26json%3Dtrue%26autoplay%3Dno

Start thinking about book titles and how you can combine them with anything edible… We’ll have certificates for People’s Choice, Students’ Favorite, Most Amazing, Incredibly Edible and much much more. But the biggest prize of all will be eating ALL that CAKE!!!

Free Pizza

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Lana

Do you like pizza?

Do you like books?

Do you like meeting famous, wonderful, clever authors?

YES? Then return any overdue books as soon as possible and if YOUR class has ALL of their overdue items returned FIRST YOUR WHOLE CLASS will get to have a FREE pizza lunch with our visiting author Kenn Nesbitt during his visit; 24th-28th of February.

Your time… starts… NOW!

And the Winners are…

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Lana

Kid in a candy store…

That was me last night as I surfed the net from site to site getting ready, getting my ‘ducks in a row’ to watch the ALA Youth Media Awards. The big awards are always left ‘til last of course; they were the two I was really interested in, however I learned a lot in the 50 minutes preceding those announcements and was able to boost our orders for next year; adding some wonderful titles from awards such as Belpre, Geisel, Coretta Scott King and the Silbert.

I was feasting on twitter updates as I bought books, texted other ‘book nerds’ updated facebook and e mailed kids getting them to “return the winners tomorrow… please please please” I was in a multi-tasking frenzy!

Even before the announcements, there was a lot of excitement generated in the school, with students reading the books, talking about the books and reviewing the books… here is one delightful review done by Jasmine Carozza, 2EH, written before she even knew that Flora may be a contender.

So…. Who won?

Caldecott Honors went to three delightful, delicious, incredible books

Journey by Aaron Becker
Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle
Mr. Wuffles by David Weisner

The Caldecott Medal went to Brian Floca, so well deserved for the amazing, Locomotive. We really went from one extreme to another with three without words, and one with so so many… There were no in-betweens. Go Wild now ‘Mr. Tiger’… Open your eyes in ‘The Dark’ Unplug ‘Doug’ and sleep sweetly ‘Bluebird’…

Newbery Honors went to
The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
Doll Bones by Holly Black
One Came Home by Amy Timberlake
Paperboy by Vince Vawter

The Newbery Medal went to Kate DiCamillo’s Flora and Ulysses

While no one in our Elementary (including me) called the Newbery AND the Caldecott Medal winner, there were several students who chose one of the other so well done to the 5^th graders for choosing Flora and Ulysses

Malin and Anirodh (5KW) Audrey (5MR)

And to Chris (5DW) for choosing Locomotive as the Caldecott Winner (you were the only one in the school to do so)

In the Lower ES, the following students can come and collect a prize for correctly guessing a Caldecott Honor book

KMI Allegra and Sophia

1EV James, Ava, Sisi and Amelia

1BE Natalie and Graziela

1CN Ayden

2CN Emma Z and Augustin

2ED Harrison

3EF Brian

3TS Erin, Sydney and Willow

Congratulations to the many students who ‘threw their hat into the ring’ and attempted a very difficult task. Now remember, as you read new books THIS year, any of them could be the NEXT BIG THING…

For a FULL list of all the winners, to see other favourite books listed that we have read in our library, such as P.S. Be Eleven, Nelson Mandela, Navigating Early, A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin, Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers, Penny and her Marble, Better Nate Than Ever, Creepy Carrots, Matilda, Niño Wrestles the World and Parrots over Puerto Rico… check out the ALA site.

Tally Ho

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Lana

It’s kind of annoying that I didn’t do THIS blog post first, instead of this one… so if you care, read the earlier one first!

I’ve just finished tallying the 4th and 5th grade votes for the Newbery and Caldecott… which was a little challenging, and many ballots were incorrect in one way or another. Let’s just say it’s been a learning curve for me, and the students, and I can’t wait to do it all again next year; a little differently!

I started this year by saying the kids would win if they could correctly guess the Newbery AND Caldecott Medal (not honor) and soon realised this was out of the reach of many students so modified the rules for the lower ES. It would have been better to have some sort of grand prize for anyone who could guess both, some bonus prizes for kids who could guess medals and honours, but overall, I should have just blitzed with the Caldecott’s across the board instead of getting kids to guess both; it’s been pretty tough.

I will be so excited if I actually CAN give away any giant hershey’s kisses, and I have plenty of regular ones too.

So here are the books the 4th and 5th graders thought would win the Newbery.

1 vote for Jinx, The Center of Everything and A Tangle of Knots

2 votes for Penny and her Marble and The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

3 votes for The Water Castle, Rump, P.S. Be Eleven and Flora and Ulysses

4 votes for Zebra Forest (which I loved) Doll Bones, The Real Boy, The Year of Billy Miller (which I didn’t love) and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library which Mrs Rekate and Mrs Lau loved and I haven’t read yet.

7 votes for Navigating Early which is brilliant, but I wonder if they will give the award to Clare Vanderpool again after winning so recently with Moon over Manifest in 2011.

9 votes for my favourite so far (and I am running out of time!) Counting by 7’s…

Check this post to see how the Upper Elementary cast their Caldecott votes…

the barefoot librarian

Kimbra Power

Category Archives: library