Author Gennifer Choldenko, Newbery award winning author of the Al Capone Does My Shirts visited both Cove and Neil Cummins to share her new book One-Third Nerd with students.
January and February flew by as Readathon swept both schools! Author Gennifer Choldenko, Newbery award winning author of the Al Capone Does My Shirts visited both Cove and Neil Cummins to share her new book One-Third Nerd with students. Larky from the Larkspur Library paid a visit! We read some award-winning books during the past months: Caldecott Gold Medal winner, Hello Lighthouse illustrated and written by Sophie Blackall, Caldecott Honor winners: Alma and How She Got Her Name illustrated and written by Juana Martinez-Neal, and A Big Mooncake for Little Star illustrated and written by Grace Lin. We also read parts of Hidden Figures, a Coretta Scott King Honor book illustrated by Laura Free and written by Margot Lee Shetterly, and Thank You, Omu, by Oge Mora the 2019 Coretta Scott King Book Awards John Steptoe Award for New Talent Illustrator. We read Jacqueline Woodson's beautiful story, The Other Side.
0 Comments
Thank you to the families at both Cove and Neil Cummins who contributed to the Birthday Book Program! You are appreciated! Hall students create sticker art puzzle during chilly recesses! Above are a few of the books we enjoyed at the elementary sites in December.
Fourth graders are researching passion projects in the library using Encyclopedia Brittanica and WebPath Express!
Thank you to the LCMSD Libraries Fundraiser organizers, Joelle Margolin, Jason Margolin, and Cliodna O'Donnell! Saturday, October 13th was a sweet day for LCMSD Libraries at the Octoberfest 2018 Town of Corte Madera! The booth selling sweet treats created by district students, families, and friends collected $867.00 for our district libraries! The Bake Sale banner was illustrated by Ms. Shawn's 1st Grade Class at Neil Cummins. Student Volunteers at the Bake Sale booth: Liam O (Hall), Ava W (Hall), Wyatt S (Neil Cummins), Eamon O (Neil Cummins), and Hallea C (White Hill Middle). Baked goods donated by Hall Students: Jack H, Audrey M, Hannah G, Leila A, Erin T, Ryan M, Hailey C, Julia M, Adeline T, Addie W, Ava W, Lily G, Lauren H, Nicola S, Bella H, Ingrid H, Stella B, Maile G, Hallea C (White Hill Middle). Thank you so much for your time, commitment, and love for our libraries! xo October 12th! What a day! Alan Gratz, author of Refugee and Grenade visited Hall Middle School. He inspired students as he explained his writing process and the story behind his novels. What a storyteller! And, then we set up the elementary library's Book Fairs! Many of the second and third grade classes read the books We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins, Click, Clack, Quack to School by Doreen Cronin, and Give Me Back My Book! by Travis Foster and Ethan Long. Below Ms. Beery's class does a "readers' theater" of the book, Give Me Back My Book!
Welcome Back! We are looking forward to seeing everyone next week and hearing about all the books you read this summer! Looking to review how to find books in the library? Play Mrs. Lodge's Shelver Game! Summer ReadingMs. Marilyn and Ms. Sarah from the Corte Madera Library along with Ms. Capasso from the Larkspur Library presented their Summer Library Programs to students in grades K - 6 this last week. Click the links below for the 2018 Summer Reading Book Lists created by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Titles on these lists were selected by members of ALSC’s Quicklists Consulting Committee. Birth to Preschool K- Grade 2 Grade 3 - Grade 5 Grade 6 - Grade 8 We celebrated picture books by reading I Hate Picture Books! by Timothy Young which explores many of the picture books students have read over the years, especially Are you My Mother? by P. D. Eastman. The fifth graders took a field trip to hear Gennifer Choldenko, author of the Al Capone Does My Shirts series speak at Book Passage on Thursday, May 10th. Her latest book, Al Capone Throws Me a Curve has just been released.
April was a special month filled with poetry and Open Houses, and yes a restful week of Spring Break!
In addition to poetry, in some lower elementary grade classrooms we explored series chapter books such as ABC Mysteries and Calendar Mysteries. In the upper elementary classes we discussed plagiarism - what it is and how to avoid plagiarizing by paraphrasing and citing sources. We also discussed new books such as Rebound, the prequel to Crossover by Kwame Alexander. Sunny, Jason Reynold's third book in his Track series is now in the libraries. Ms. Swisher's class held their Book Nomination Celebration on Monday, April 30th in the Neil Cummins Library. Students presented their nominations for books that they think deserve an award. We discussed fiction and nonfiction in the younger grades by examining the work of Katherine Applegate author of Newbery medal winner The One and Only Ivan and Ivan, The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla. In some classes we read and discussed the nonfiction The Noisy Paintbox and fictional A Mango Shaped Space. Third graders at The Cove worked on biographies this month. We read Emmanuel's Dream and discussed the changes he made to his community and the world. Fourth and fifth graders reviewed how to use the library catalog. They can sign in, check what books they have out or on hold, search for a book in the library, renew a book, put a book on hold, and research a topic on WebPath express. The fifth graders learned how to create a resource list and make a citation list of sources used. We also shared new books we have received in the library. Neil Cummins third graders explored Elizabeth Singer Hunt's Jack Stalwart series in anticipation of her March 29th visit. We also played a few games of BINGO using vocabulary from the series. Thank you to Ms. Hunt and to the NC Readathon committee for arranging the visit. We discussed friendships and read Samson in the Snow and No Elephants Allowed during another visit with the second graders.
Thank you to Cove and Neil Cummins PTOs for the time and energy put into the Readathons. And, thank you to the students! You raised over $70,000 at each site!
In addition to the excitement of the Readathons this month, students were excited about the announcement of the Newbery Medal winners and the Caldecott Medal winners announced on February 12th. In collaboration with the Corte Madera Public Library, students had an opportunity during their school library visits to guess the Newbery winner and enter the public library's contest. The Newbery Gold Medal winner is Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly. The Newbery Honor recipients are: Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick D. Barnes. (The illustrator of Crown, Gordon C. James, received a Caldecott Honor medal as well!) Piecing Me Together written by Renee Watson The Caldecott Gold Medal winner is Wolf in the Snow illustrated by Matthew Cordell. The Caldecott Honor recipients are: Big Cat, little cat illustrated by Elisha Cooper Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut illustrated by Gordon C. James A Different Pond illustrated by Thi Bui Grand Canyon illustrated by Jason Chin Other happenings in the libraries included an exploration of poetry in Ms. Pies' class. We read Hey Black Child and several Shel Silverstein poems. Ms. Beery's class searched for books to share with their buddy class. Ms. Mathew's class researched countries represented in the Olympics. Mrs. DeMartini and Mr. Reiter's classes found Mystery, Adventure, Fantasy, or Science Fiction books to read. Ms. Emmon's and Mr. Owen's classes focussed on historical fiction books. Happy New Year! This week the third, fourth, and fifth graders reviewed how to access their account information on the library website using their student identification number and password. Some third graders and all fourth and fifth graders also reviewed how to locate book sources and web sources through the library's WebPath Express. We discussed young civil rights activist Ron McNair by reading Ron's Big Mission by Rose Blue and Corrine Naden. Ron McNair grew up in the segregated South. Ron's Big Mission describes a time when Ron visited his town's library that only allowed books to be checked out to white people. Ron grew up to be an astronaut. He died tragically in 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger exploded upon takeoff. We discussed and predicted what books might win the Newbery award. Students made predictions, and I delivered them to the Corte Madera Public Library's to be entered in their contest.
Third graders at Neil Cummins chose biographies of American Heroes to read. Second graders explored our poetry collection. At both sites we read and discussed Love the new poem in picture book by Matt de la Pena and illustrated by Loren Long. "In this heartfelt celebration of love, Newbery Medal-winning author Matt de la Peña and bestselling illustrator Loren Long depict the many ways we experience this universal bond, which carries us from the day we are born throughout the years of our childhood and beyond." This article offers a review of the book and reminds us of the importance of picture books no matter our age. |
Joy Lynn King
|