This Week in the Library...

This week we're participating in some holiday-themed centers.  Here are some of our fabulous students taking part in the activities!

Milo and Alejandro listening to Maynard Moose Tales on the iPad at the listening center.

Endia and Page making light bulbs for our "Books Light Up Our Lives" bulletin board.  After they trace a light bulb onto colored paper and cut it out, students write the title and author of a favorite book.  Each bulb is then placed on the bulletin board!

Aizik coloring a tree ornament.  Students chose a favorite quote from a holiday story or song and wrote it on their ornaments before cutting them out and decorating them.

Alexa, Rileigh, and Craig coloring Gingerbread Glyphs to represent their reading preferences.  (For example, color the gingerbread man's hat red if you prefer fiction books, green if you prefer nonfiction.)

Alizay, Kelly, and Kodi writing some of their favorite holiday traditions on our chalk wall.

Mason, Moksh, Colton, and Blain discuss an interesting book.

This Week in the Library...

This week we're reading about some of the history surrounding our Thanksgiving Day traditions.

Third and fourth grades are listening to Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet, which tells the story of Tony Sarg, the creator of the larger-than-life balloons that have come to represent the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Here's a glimpse into the book:

You can download a fun activity guide to accompany the book by clicking here.

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Fifth grade is reading Laurie Halse Anderson's Thank You, Sarah, which explains how Sarah Hale, in superhero fashion, made sure that Thanksgiving was a nationally celebrated holiday.  You can learn more about Sarah Hale by clicking here.

You can learn more about author Laurie Halse Anderson in the video below:

Enjoy next week's holiday!

This Week in the Library...

This week, all grade levels are reading Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins.  It's the story of a curious little girl who happens upon a deserted library one day and begins her quest to find a book that's "just right."

As we read Goldie Socks, we'll be discussing some strategies for finding a "just right" book in the library.  One strategy is to use the Five Finger Rule.  Here's a quick explanation from Read * Write * Share:

Here are some other ways of knowing that a book is "just right" for you (from Mrs. McDavid's 3rd Grade):

(Click the poster for a PDF version.)

We've been practicing these strategies in the library this week, and, just like Goldie Socks, we've found some books that are the perfect fit!

This Week in the Library...

This week, we're celebrating fall by reading some spooky stories, as well as some books about the changing of the seasons.

Third Grade is listening to The Monsters' Monster by Patrick McDonnell.  Grouch, Grump, and Gloom 'n Doom decide to create the ultimate monster, but instead of terrorizing the nearby town, their creation has some other ideas in mind.

Fourth Grade is listening to some mysterious tales by Chris VanAllsburg.  In The Stranger, the Bailey family encounters a strange visitor who can't remember who he is.  In The Widow's Broom, a witch leaves behind her old broom that hasn't quite spent all of its magic.

Fifth Grade is listening to a book talk about Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn.  Molly can't seem to make a connection with her new stepsister, Heather.  Things get even stranger when Heather makes a discovery in the cemetery near their new home.

Lately in the Library...

There's been a lot of activity in our library lately!  October has been a busy month so far!

Classes have been rotating through some library centers when they visit the library during their specials rotation.  Here are Landon and Adrian co-writing a story at the writing center.

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As part of our school-wide Read-a-Thon, we held a celebrity reader day, where visitors to our campus shared some of their favorite stories with our students.  Here are Shiloh and Carlee with their favorite celebrities, their dads!

And here are Bradley and Shelby with our superintendent, Dr. McNulty, who read several of his favorite stories to their class.

Mrs. Hannusch's class was thrilled to have some of our Tiger football players read to their class!

Perhaps the most popular celebrity to visit our campus was Sami (who also brought Ms. Murray along to read with her)!

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The library is a great place to display student work and projects, so I was thrilled to get to display Brooklyn's beautiful painting in a special spot on the library wall.

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And, finally, as the days get shorter and the weather cooler, SES students have been reflecting on their favorite things about fall and sharing those ideas on the library's chalk wall!

This Week in the Library...

This week, Smithville Elementary students have been learning about call numbers and about how fiction books are organized in our library.  They've been participating in several library centers, including a few that reinforce the ideas we've been exploring!

Mihyia writes a favorite sentence from her book on the chalk wall.

Kodi enjoys a sneak peek of some new library books at the silent reading center.

Angel uses the iPad to search our library catalog at the Wish List center.

LaDarian enjoys his new library books on a reading spot at the Silent Reading center.

Cole and Colton work together to match book covers to their correct spine labels at the Spine Match center.  They especially enjoyed using the iPod to check their answers when they were finished!

Hailee makes a book spine bookmark at the Book Spine center.

Amber plays an online game of Shelve It from Mrs. Lodge's Library to practice putting books in order on the shelf.

What great examples of kids hard at work and engaged in learning!

Don't Let the Pigeon Use the Library!

Welcome back!  School is back in full swing now, and for the next two weeks, classes will be coming to the library for a quick orientation to learn about how to find, care for, and check out books!

This year, Mo Willems' Pigeon, from Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and several other books, is helping to explain library procedures.  Watch the slideshow below to learn more!

Sarah Reading in bed

Reading to a real animal

Melvin Evans (3rd grade) reading to Holly and Trixie :).

The Gutierrez Family Reads in Colorado

Last week, my family took a trip to Estes Park, Colorado.  And of course, when you have a librarian in the family, a vacation is going to include lots of reading!

Here's my husband, Mr. Gutierrez, taking a break in a cool Colorado stream to read one of his favorite Elephant and Piggie books.

And my oldest daughter, Arabella, got SO excited when she spotted this sign as we pulled into town!

We also took time to visit MacDonald Book Shop, which had a great children's area!  Here are Arabella and Emeline enjoying some books.

Reading makes a fun family vacation even better!

Mrs. Mathis learns about San Antonio!

It looks like Mrs. Mathis look a trip to San Antonio.  What a great opportunity to read!  Here she is reading about bears at the San Antonio Zoo.

And here she is reading about Texas History on the San Antonio River Walk!

It looks like it was a great trip!

Reading is...Delicious!

Here are Bradley and Amanda reading all of the ice cream cartons on their tour of the Blue Bell factory in Brenham.

Are you guys trying to choose which flavor to try?  Or are you trying to figure out what ingredients they put in Blue Bell ice cream to make it SO delicious?

What's Mrs. Bull up to this summer?

Here's Mrs. Bull reading The Shack at home.  It looks like that copy may have been read before.  Summer is one of my favorite times to re-read some of my most favorite books!

Hope you're having a great summer Mrs. Bull!

Mrs. Kolinek and Bella

Here's a picture Mrs. Kolinek sent of herself reading with her dog, Bella. It may be hot outside, but Mrs. K says she's bundled up because her husband has all of the fans on!

Can you tell what Mrs. Kolinek is reading? She's catching up on Massage Today. Mrs. Kolinek was a massage therapist in college! (I hope the teachers don't find out about that, Mrs. K, or you might have the whole staff lined up outside your office!)

Where are YOU reading?

This summer, I hope every one of our SES students and teachers are having a wonderful summer, and I hope you're all remembering to read!  Don't forget to send me a picture of yourself reading!  And be sure to check out all of our reading pictures by clicking on the button below!

Mrs. Vinklarek and Lyla

It looks like Lyla is enjoying having her mommy home this summer!

 

Here are Mrs. Vinklarek and her daughter reading Dinosaur Babies.

 

How sweet!

Wow! Check out this library!

Ms. Sargent emailed me this picture, with the following note:

"I'm reading a Seattle guidebook in the reading room on the top floor of the Seattle Public Library in (surprise!) Seattle, Washington."



I think Ms. Sargent gets the prize for reading at the location farthest from Smithville (so far...)!

Hope you're enjoying your time there, Ms. Sargent!