JK Rowling story outline

This is the actual spreadsheet that JK Rowling used to plot Order of the Phoenix. Pretty cool to see her low tech way of outlining one of the greatest stories ever told! To see a bigger picture, click here . Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link.

Unpublished handwritten manuscript from Dr. Seuss

This is pretty cool. Click here to see a newly discovered manuscript written, in part, by Dr. Seuss. Its a pretty cool look at his creative process. The blog, Booktryst, gives some great insight into exactly what you're seeing.

Welcome Back!!

We had a busy couple of weeks in the library before fall break but now we're back and ready to go and I found some time to update our blog.



We had a great time the week before book fair learning about a genre called metafiction. Ask your child about metafiction and why those books can be so much fun. We read a book called Chester by Melanie Watt (and Chester). The kids loved this book and are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the sequel. The Kinders also heard Mr. Pusskins by Sam Lloyd. This was a book the school fell in love with last year so I wanted them to get a chance to hear it.



The following week was the book fair which many of you came and participated in. Instead of our normal routine during library time, we took each class through the book fair to allow them time to check out the selection. All the classes did a great job adjusting to our space constraints and helped to have another successful book fair. A special thanks to all the moms and dads who came and lent a hand during the book fair. And thanks to the Brightenfields, Browns and Lewis' for their generous donation of new books for the library!



Hope everyone is rested up and ready to go this week!

International Peace and Dancing - all in one week!

It was a very interesting week in the library. The other kids had an opportunity to do some reflection and the younger kids got to let loose and DANCE!

The Kinders and 1st graders all heard Giraffes Can't Dance by Gils Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees. Then we danced to Jim Gill's List of Dances. We got to do the tall and the small and the hide and a bunch of other fun dances. We had such a good time, we did it twice in some classes. The kiddos did a great job of letting loose and having a little fun and then getting down to business when it was time for checking out books and quiet reading. Look for more dancing in the future!

The 2nd and 3rd graders read and discussed Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth. This story includes three shorter stories that teach different lessons about happiness. The kids had to do some thinking and deciphering to figure out what the author was telling us and they did an amazing job with some challenging material. Ask your child what lessons we learned from Mr. Muth's book!

In celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace, the 4th and 5th graders heard Feathers and Fools by Mem Fox. This is an amazing book with a powerful message and we read through it very slowly and discussed it all the way through. We had a lot of thoughtful conversation after the book in which we pondered questions like, "Is it possible to work for peace and prepare for war at the same time?" We also questioned what world peace would look like and if it brought it's own dangers. I'm always amazed at the depth of the kids' thoughts and I really enjoyed these discussions.

Next week we'll be talking about metafiction and the book fair which is coming up the first week in October.

Library Skills, Rattlesnakes & Floating Princesses

For the last few weeks the Kinders have been learning about shelf markers, manners and book care and they finally were able to check out books and take them home. We read What Happened to Marion's Book by Brooke Berg and talked about how we would take care of our books once we got them home. Ask your child about my "No, No, Never" bag and remind them where the best place to keep their book is (their backpack). Please find out what day your child has library and make sure their book comes to school on that day so they can get a new book each week. Kinders also heard Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library by Vicki Myron and helped me read a fun story called The Prince Won't Go to Bed by Dayle Ann Dodds. Ask your child what the Prince said over and over.

The other grades all learned some library skills this month. 1st and 2nd graders had a lesson on ways that fiction and non-fiction books differ. To illustrate this point, we read The Gum Chewing Rattler by Joe Hayes and a non-fiction book about rattlesnakes. 3rd graders had a lesson on searching for books in the library using OPAC, our cataloging system, while 4th and 5th graders got their first look at our library wiki.

Kinder through 3rd grade heard Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated by Florence Parry Heide. We had a lot of fun with this story and many of the kids shared where they would like to go if they could float (Vegas was a common answer?!). 1st -3rd graders also got to listen to Judy Schachner, the creator of Skippyjon Jones, read her latest book Lost in Spice. It was a nice break from me reading all the time and the kids seemed to enjoy the accents and the music that went along with the story.

Finally, the 4th and 5th graders practiced and performed in the second annual Library Fiction Relay race. It was noisy and busy and we had a great time with it! Results will be posted in this space soon.

And we're off...

The library has been open for two weeks and I'm stunned at how quickly it has gone by. I'm very pleased with the classes this year and it's nice to be a returning librarian instead of the new kid on the block. It was a lot of fun seeing all the familiar faces this year and getting to know the new ones.

We spent last week getting reoriented in the library and going over the nuts and bolts and rules and regulations. The 1st graders got to hear The Shelf Elf by Jackie Mims Hopkins to remind them of library procedures while 2nd -5th had a shortened orientation before checking out books. The Kinders heard Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton, Manners at the Library by Carrie Finn and The New Bear at School by Carrie Weston. We also talked about the way to have good manners in the library and we sang a song called The People in the School. Ask your child if they can sing it for you (hint: it's the same tune as The Wheels on the Bus).

This week I introduced 3rd-5th graders to our "More Perfect Union" Bookshelf and we read Tico and the Golden Wings by Leo Lionni. The 4th and 5th graders had some time to discuss what a "perfect union" might look like and some of the 5th graders wrote down their thoughts so we could record them on the library Wiki.

The 2nd graders heard The Shelf Elf Helps Out by Jackie Mims Hopkins to familiarize themselves with all the different areas of the library. Ask your child what their favorite "neighborhood" is in the library. The 1st graders heard The New Bear at School and Goldisocks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins. We talked about selecting books that are "just right" for them. Hopefully your kiddos can explain the Five Finger Rule to you!

Kinders got their first lesson in using shelf markers in preparation for checking out books. I was amazed at how well they caught on and how quickly they learned the different parts of a book. We sang the shelf marker song over and over again so ask them to teach it to you!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back, Walker Wolves! School started yesterday and it is so nice to have the school full of kids again. I officially start seeing classes in the library on Monday the 16th and I am putting the finishing touches on the library.

We have a lot of fun things planned for this year so watch this space to find out what's happening in the library. I can't wait!