Ivy and Bean

Last year Haley read Ivy and Bean, Book 1 and recommended it to me. She said it was such a great book that the library should have more of the series. So we started this new school year with the next four books. Fourth graders are reading them from cover-to-cover and many are finished with all five books! I ordered the next in the series but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a few days to read them. The minute they come in,  I'll let you know!

So while you wait for Book 6 (Ivy and Bean: Doomed to Dance) and Book 7: (Ivy and Bean: What's the Big Idea?), visit the website of the author, Annie Barrows, for more fun from Ivy and Bean!

Summer Stinks!

Marty Kelley in his ROCKS hat!

Do you remember Marty Kelley, the author who came to DES last year? The one who wrote The Messiest Desk and Twelve Terrible Things and drew the picture of Autumn not drinking out of the dog's dish? He's a musician as well as an author and he's made a new "Super Cool Punk Rock Version" of his book, Summer Stinks! You can see the music video by clicking here. Now Marty Kelley ROCKS in more ways than one!! And if Summer really does stink, maybe it's good that it's over now?

Ladybug Nominee #1

We second graders read the book, All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon because it's nominated for the NH Ladybug Award. It's a good book because it's beautiful and the watercolor pictures are magical. They pop out colorful from the page. The story tells you that the world is you and me and everything we experience with our senses. The text sounds quiet because it's a soft and gorgeous poem. We loved this book.

The 2010 NH Ladybug Award

Each year, a panel of NH librarians choose ten new picture books as nominees for The Ladybug Award, an state award given annually based on the votes of young New Hampshire students. Voting takes place in November so most DES K-3 ICT classes in the fall feature the reading of one of the nominated picture books. After all, voters need to well-informed! Ask your student about them and we'll try to include some information about each of them on this blog as well. As Voting Day draws closer, our discussions about which book deserves to win inevitably become livelier!

New Names

Kindergartners in ICT class listened to the story Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, the story of a small student who was teased because of the name she loved. We learned a rhyming song about names (it's called "Willoby Wolloby" - listen to it here!) Then we experimented with seeing our names printed in all sorts of different fonts. Finally, we created a Wordle with all of our names and hung it up in the classroom!

we all have such special names with so many different letters - and there are so many ways to look at each of them! See?

Connections

This week, as classes listened to stories or chapters of books, we learned about the mental connections good readers make as they read. Sometimes a book reminds the reader of a personal experience - this is called a text-to-self connection. Often a story reminds the reader of another book. This type of connection is called text-to-text. Finally, the reader may be reminded of something that has gone on in the town, the country, or the world. This is a text-to-world connection.

Younger children listened to a new book called The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania Al Abdullah. It's the story of a two school-age friends who have a disagreement about their respective lunches. There were many text-to-self connections as children shared about favorite sandwiches or times they have disagreed with friends or siblings. Aiden made a text-to-text connection between this book and Yoko by Rosemary Wells, where the main character is misunderstood and teased because she has sushi for lunch. Finally, there were several text-to-world connections made between story and the way countries sometimes disagree so much they go to war.

As you read a book or listen to a story at home, think of and talk about all the connections you can make! It's challenging and it's fun - and it's what good readers do!

We're Back!

Another school year is in full swing at Danbury Elementary School! It was a busy and productive summer for the Library Media Program, but it sure is wonderful to see children again! Lots of new things are going on with details to come in subsequent posts. In the meantime, all students have had their introductory ICT (Information and Communication Technology) class and, in the next few weeks, we'll be settling back into our routine.

It was great to see so many families at Open House. Mrs. Brown tells me the Book Fair was a success! DES Rocks!