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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Raising Young Readers
Last night at our PTA meeting, Georgia Collier gave a wonderful presentation on supporting readers from birth to into their independent years. One of the most amazing pieces of information that she shared was about the Wee Read program. This program is made possible through the Ferst Foundation, United Way Success by 6, and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Any child in Clarke County below the age of 5 can register. Registered children receive one book per month that is age appropriate. These books build a wonderful home library before children even begin school. In the media center, we have a table setup with information and forms to fill out if you want to register your child. I hope you will all take advantage of this great program. I know I’m signing up my child as soon as she arrives in December!
Wild Things
This Friday marks the release of the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are. This week is a great time to revisit this book with your family and enjoy the magic of Maurice Sendak’s tale. I always share with students that movies and books are two different genres and we should treat them as that. We can appreciate the magic and beauty of both without claiming one or the other as “better”. This week I plan to re-read this book, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting 4:10 on Friday when I get to see the film. Enjoy!
What’s the Source?
I hope you are all continuing to have a great summer. Today, one of our favorite authors, Deborah Wiles, wrote on her blog about the difficulty of finding the sources for photographs. She also wrote about how it can be difficult to wait until the end of a piece of work to start tracking down all of the sources.
As we start to think about a new school year beginning, let’s explore ways of keeping track of the sources that we use for our research projects. If you already have a favorite way, post a comment and share what it is. I’m sure we’ll come up with some creative ways to create bibliographies throughout the year.
Be sure to check out Deborah Wiles’s blog post, too.
5th Grade Poem in Your Pocket
As promised, here is a clip from the 5th grade’s poetry reading during Poem In Your Pocket Day. These students wrote some amazing poems and got up in front of the entire 5th grade to read them. Bravo!
Immigration Projects
This week 5th grade has been coming to the media center to learn about software called Photo Story. This program lets students create a video that contains photos, text, music, and speech to tell a story. Fifth grade is currently learning about immigration. Each student has developed a story about an immigrant. They are telling the immigrant’s story using Photo Story. On Friday, students will participate in an immigration simulation. The Photo Story projects will also be shared. The Barrow Media Center has been excited to be a part of this great learning opportunity.
A New Blog
The third grade at Barrow is learning about blogging and how to use blogs to promote and review books. Today, I did my first lesson with a third grade class and we wrote a book review together about Sweet Tooth, one of the GA Book Award nominees. We posted this review in our circulation system and it’s not posted on third grade’s book review blog. I invite all of you to check out and subscribe to the new third grade book blog. It will have lots of activity in the coming days and weeks.
Awards! Awards! Awards!
Today was a day full of awards in the world childre’s literature. Take a look at some of the award winners below. We have a few of the titles in our media center and I’m putting others from this list on our next book order.
Newbery Medal
“The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins Children’s Books
Newbery Honor Books
“The Underneath” by Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
“The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom” by Margarita Engle, Henry Holt and Company, LLC
“Savvy” by Ingrid Law, Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group in partnership with Walden Media, LLC
“After Tupac and D Foster” by Jacqueline Woodson, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Books for Young Readers
Caldecott Medal
“The House in the Night,” illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Marie Swanson, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Caldecott Honor Books
“A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever” by Marla Frazee, Harcourt, Inc.
“How I Learned Geography” by Uri Shulevitz, Farrar Straus Giroux
“A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams,” illustrated by Melissa Sweet and written by Jen Bryant, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co
Belpré Author Award
“The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom” by Margarita Engle, published by Henry Holt
Belpré Author Honor Books
“Just in Case” by Yuyi Morales, a Neal Porter Book published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership
“Reaching Out” by Francisco Jiménez, Houghton Mifflin Co.
“The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos” by Lucia Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Delacre, Children’s Book Press
Belpré Illustrator Award
“Just in Case” by Yuyi Morales, a Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership Press
Belpré Illustrator Honor Books
“Papa and Me” illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez, written by Arthur Dorros, Rayo, and imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
“The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos” illustrated by Lulu Delacre, written by Lucia Gonzalez, Children’s Book Press
Geisel Award
“Are You Ready to Play Outside?” written and illustrated by Mo Willems, Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group
Geisel Honor Books
“Chicken Said, ‘Cluck!’” written by Judyann Ackerman Grant, illustrated by Sue Truesdell, HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers
“One Boy” written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, a Neal Porter Book published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership
“Stinky” written and illustrated by Eleanor Davis, The Little Lit Library, a division of RAW Junior, LLC
“Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator” written by Sarah C. Campbell, photographs by Sarah C. Campbell and Richard P. Campbell, Boyds Mills Press
2009 Coretta Scott King (CSK) Illustrator Book winner: “The Blacker the Berry,” illustrated by Floyd Cooper, written by Joyce Carol Thomas. The book is published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Three 2009 CSK Illustrator Honors:
“We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball” written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, published by Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group.
“Before John Was a Jazz Giant” by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Sean Qualls, published by Henry Holt and Company.
“The Moon Over Star” by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, published by Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group.
2009 CSK Author Book winner: “We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball,” written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, published by Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group.
Three 2009 CSK Author Book honors:
“The Blacker the Berry” by Joyce Carol Thomas, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“Keeping the Night Watch” by Hope Anita Smith, illustrated by E.B. Lewis, published by Henry Holt and Company.
“Becoming Billie Holiday” by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, published by Wordsong, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, Inc.
2009 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award: Shadra Strickland, illustrator of “Bird,” written by Zetta Elliott, published by Lee & Low Books.
New Poll
Storyteller Visits Barrow
Jackie Elsener, librarian from Athens Regional Library, visited our school on Monday November 17 to tell stories to 4th and 5th grade. The students enjoyed listening to the Tinder Box and a civil war ghost story. She showed students the books where she learned the stories that she told. Storytelling is a wonderful activity. Try telling a story of your own to someone you know. Also, don’t forget that Athens Regional library is a wealth of information and a wonderful place to find some new stories.
Expect the Miraculous 