New Books!

With Miss Bouffard's help, I think I managed to convert my MSWord document into a viewable image so you can read the list of new books. Since it is so small, try clicking on the list and it should become larger for you to read. If you still have trouble, email me and I'll send the list to you as an attachment. If I hear that it was simply not a good way to read this list, next time I'll try a different tech trick to put in an existing document.

In any case, this list contains titles to give a midwinter boost to our collection. Since budget money must be spent in the fall, later purchases usually come from SAF (Student Activities Fund) money which is administered through the district. The library SAF is funded mostly through Book Fair profits. The flexibility of using SAF allows me to add books when we need them. It's so rewarding to be able to bring in more books requested by students or valuable for our teachers. So, you can look at the latest list and see your Book Fair purchases at work!

The Winners!

On Monday the 2010 winners of the Caldecott Award and the Newbery Award were announced at the midwinter conference of the American Library Association. Here are photos of the book covers along with information quoted from the ALA website:

"The 2010 Caldecott Medal winner is The Lion & the Mouse, illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers). The screech of an owl, the squeak of a mouse and the roar of a lion transport readers to the Serengeti plains for this virtually wordless retelling of Aesop’s classic fable. In glowing colors, Pinkney’s textured watercolor illustrations masterfully portray the relationship between two very unlikely friends."



"The 2010 Newbery Medal winner is When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, published by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. Twelve-year-old Miranda encounters shifting friendships, a sudden punch, a strange homeless man and mysterious notes that hint at knowledge of the future. These and other seemingly random events converge in a brilliantly constructed plot."

Our library already has a copy of The Lion and the Mouse which I bought because of a tip from a local bookseller. When I saw it, I really admired the way "the pictures tell the story" (ask your child!) and had a hunch it might win. I hope to share it with Grade 1 students when I figure out the best way to "read" a nearly wordless book!

The Newbery Award is given for writing and a chapter book usually wins. Many times these books are better suited for middle school students, but I decide about adding a title to our collection based on reading it. This book will be challenging to most students but I hope it finds some appreciative readers at Charlestown when it is added to our library (soon!). If you want to read our school's "personal" connection to author Rebecca Stead, make sure you read my newest entry below in the "Books I've Read Recently"section.

Congratulations to the winning illustrators and authors - we all benefit!

Everyone Comes to the Library!

Yes, that is Mrs. Fitts visiting the library in her blue-hair, silver outfit that she wore on Wednesday. As you probably know, it was part of her challenge to encourage donations to the local food bank and it was a great success.

As I said, everyone comes the library. We are so much more than just library classes. There are plenty of students, especially Grade 3 and 4, who come in independently for more books or to work on computer projects. In addition, this week saw:

• an incoming student with her mother as they toured the school with Mrs. Fitts
• two 2nd grade students from Mrs. Rhode's class who taught their classmates how to do AR tests on the computers
• classroom teachers bringing their students to use the SMART Board blocks we built into the library schedule
• Mrs. Mann, librarian from Ashaway School, who visited to discuss library programs and about developing new programs. BTW, I put her to work helping with a library lesson!
• two 4th grade Webelo boys who came to talk to me about one of their badge requirements
• a parent who dropped by to say hello
• lots of students to take AR tests, work on research projects, and more!

I've always thought a library should be the center of a school. I hope students, staff, and families see it that way - I know I do!

Welcome, Miss Bouffard!

If you are around the library and in our school, maybe you will see Miss Rachael Bouffard, a library practicum student from URI-GSLIS (URI - Graduate School of Library and Information Science). The students are getting to know her and she will be spending more and more time doing lessons with them during her 5-6 weeks in our school. Then she will be off to a practicum at the secondary level, but let's not go that far ahead right now!

Miss Bouffard began Monday and has already read to a kindergarten class, co-taught an online catalog lesson with me, and will be doing even more tomorrow. It's great to have someone with fresh ideas and a good approach to digital technology. As any teacher will tell you, being a mentoring teacher is a tremendous learning experience for both mentor and student teacher. I'm looking forward to the next several weeks.


This second photo shows Miss Bouffard sharing a book, Snow Lion, by David McPhail. Mrs. Terluk's afternoon kindergarten students are great listeners. It's obvious that everyone, teacher and students, was really enjoying the read-aloud!