CCEP Grant to Bring New Library Resources!

Wow! I just heard this week that we received a CCEP Grant for $900 that will help us update our library resources. We will be able to add 20 Playaway Digital Audiobooks to our collection and hope to make these listening devices available to 3rd and 4th grade students soon. The photo above shows a sample of the Playaway for The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. There is a protective case that holds the Playaway with lanyard, earbuds, and extra batteries. The entire book is contained in the small Playaway which has functions for volume, speed of reading, and bookmarking.

Our current offerings for audiobooks are all on audiocassettes which are rapidly becoming "antiques". The Playaways will help us begin replacing the tapes and moving into digital resources. Probably the next step will be downloading books from the Internet, but, for now, the Playaways should be very popular with students and teachers.

I wrote the grant with the cooperation of 3rd and 4th grade teachers and we targeted titles for those grades. It's a good start to updating the technology resources in our school and Playaways are very library-friendly in addition to kid-friendly. Thanks, CCEP, for awarding this grant!

Best Wishes for a good Thanksgiving to all of you.

Blogging

Hi,
If you have been a follower of this blog, you've seen this photo on an earlier post. In fact, it was one of my first blogs, done probably last January. This picture of my dog, Suki, has now been added to the blog on a permanent basis. Yesterday I learned how to add a "gadget" and Suki's picture is now at the bottom of the frame on the right side.

Another addition to that area (another gadget) is where I hope to post books I've read recently along with a quick review. The book I wrote about this week is a new one by Kate DiCamillo. She is one of my favorite authors because she is an outstanding writer and really stretches in the variety of stories she creates. Some of her titles are: Because of Winn Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tullane. Her latest book (see below) did not enthrall me the way others have done, but others may love it. As I tell the kids, "If everyone loved the same books, it would be a boring world".

This blog provides me with a quick way to keep in touch with students and their families at home. When I tried to keep up a webpage, I just didn't keep it current and an old webpage is worse than nothing. So far, blogging has been easier for me to tackle each week. I'm hoping that the upcoming PTO newsletter (print) will bring more readers to my blog since it is mentioned as part of "In the Library Media Center". It would be nice to get the two-way communication that blogging can provide, but with busy library days I simply cannot moderate any comments.
Soon I hope to add more library news - new books, class activities, and research project done by students. Stay tuned!

Cindy Reiser-Jones, Librarian

Book Fair Wrap-up

This picture is small way to show my tremendous gratitude to everyone who helped with Book Fair last week. I had to be out and could not attend the big week. When I realized it could be left in very capable hands, my concerns vanished and I said goodbye to worries about how it was going. I did miss seeing all the excited faces and greeting families, but knew that the Book Fair was in good hands.


There is no way to say "thank you" enough times to Lisa Huzyk and Tami Gebelein who organized, assembled, re-ordered, reminded, and did a myriad of tasks associated with Book Fair week. These two ladies stepped in and quickly took care of everything. They even cleaned up and put everything away! Tami was a wizard at counting money and helped me figure out our sales (counting lots of money is not my strength). Thank you, Lisa and Tami!

Besides these two PTO leaders, there were so many volunteers that helped make it all work. Big thanks go to all who helped students shop, straightened up stock, and made the Book Fair a success.

And it was a big success with total sales over $5, 155! Even though Scholastic cut profit margins this year, we still made $1288 to spend on resources for students and staff at our school. This money, put into the library SAF account, is crucial for the extras beyond budgeted items. Everyone who shopped or supported the Book Fair in any way should give themselves a big pat on the back. Once again, Thanks!

Cindy Reiser-Jones,
Librarian