Wonderful things happening in the library!

It has been a busy few weeks in the library. We had our annual book character parade with the 4th through 6th grade students. We had another successful Scholastic Book Fair. Several classes are working on a new online program to create movies called MediaChalk. The second graders are creating movies about their animals they researched. The third grade students are creating movies about their saints. It is fun seeing their creativity. The PreK 4 year olds visited the library this week to participate in Kansas Reads to Preschoolers. This year's title was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. This is an old favorite of mine! We have six students who have read over a million words and two third graders who have read over five hundred thousand. Check out our new catalog system, Destiny, at our school website. The online system allows the students to browse for books at school or home. Check out the new titles found on the Destiny Quest tab. The second quarter is moving along quickly and successfully!

Book Characters

Halloween Book Characters on PhotoPeach

Talents on Parade

Painting like Michelangelo on PhotoPeach

KASL Conference

The KASL Conference was held Oct. 13-14 in Salina. I always have a great time catching up with fellow librarians, learning great ideas and meeting authors. The authors this year were Clare Vanderpool and Ben Mikaelsen. We were very fortunate to have an author visit with Clare last spring. I also visited with her at the ALA Conference this summer in New Orleans. It is awesome to know a Newbery Award winning author! I laughed and cried as Mr. Mikaelsen described his childhood and his adult adventures which make up so much of his stories. If you get a chance visit his website at http://www.benmikaelsen.com/ and better yet read one of his books!

Guest Reader

Today the first grade students had a surprise guest reader. Mr. Close, one of our lunchroom workers, read Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney in conjunction with the Jumpstart's Read for the Record campaign.
Thanks Mr. Close!

Destiny Library Manager

Today Follett downloaded our new automated library system. It was a little hectic for several hours during the transition. I had to revert back to using pencil and paper as I checked out one class of Kindergarten students, both second grades and the twenty some students who come to check out books at the end of the day. I just hope there won't be too many titles misplaced in the shuffle. Friday I will spend the day learning more about the software through a couple of webinars. This update will allow 24/7 access to all of our patrons.

September

The school year is off to a fantastic start! Can you believe we have three students who have already read a million words and one has read two million!
The students have been learning about book care, routines and procedures during our weekly library classes. The library and computer lab have been closed to regular classes so students can take the MAPs tests in Reading and Math. This does not interfere with students checking out books. Our students love to read!

School Year 2011-2012

It is hard to believe we have started another school year! The summer went by quickly. In June, I had the privilege of attending my first American Library Association Annual Conference. It was held in New Orleans. I had an awesome time meeting authors, attending meetings, and of course touring the city! I also brought back a suitcase full of new books for our library.

Million Word Readers

These students have read a million words or more this school year. We had several firsts this year: a sixth grade student read 5,000,000 words, a sixth grade student read 4,000,000, a third grade student read 3,000,000, three sixth grade students read 2,000,000, and a second grade student read 1,000,000 words. Congratulations to all the readers!

Author Visit

What an exciting day! It is not everyday that we are blessed to have an award winning author speak to our students. Newbery Award winning author Clare Vanderpool spoke to our fifth through eight grade students. Clare Vanderpool told the students about her book "Moon over Manifest". Be sure to put this on your list of books to read!
Thank you Clare Vanderpool!

Seuss Cafe

Read Across America

The Commons Area at St. Mary's Elementary was transformed into the Seuss Cafe in celebration of Read Across America. The Library Media Squad created menus, posters, and placemats. The sixth grade students were the waiters and waitresses. The students from Kindergarten, First, Second and Third grades were seated and their orders were placed. The waiters and waitress returned to the tables with snacks and books. The children ate snacks while listening to their favorite Seuss story. The Seuss Cafe was a success!

February Titles

February

I had great intentions to add monthly comments on the happenings in our library. Wow time flies! Last week we had a record breaking snowfall of 19 inches. We had 4 days off. So I am posting what we have been doing up to our time off. The first grade have been listening to stories by Laura Numeroff and learning about circular stories. We even wrote one together. The second grade has been researching one of the 17 types of penguins. The third grade is learning about OPAC. The fourth grade is creating photostories about the wonder of their family. The fifth grade is researching one of the 13 colonies and using their information to create a glogster. The sixth grade is creating a story pyramid after listening to the story The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo. That brings us up to date. Happy Valentine's Day:)