We're diving into library skills! This week I'm reading Meesha Makes Friends to all of our K-2nd grade students, while our 3-5th grade students are learning how to search for books on our library computers. Meesha is great at making things with paper and crayons, but what she really wants to do is make friends. This is hard for Meesha, who can't seem to find the right thing to say at the right time. But when she creates imaginary friends ...
Week of 8/28
We had an awesome author visit this week! W. Bruce Cameron spoke to our 3-5th grades on Wednesday about how he writes his books, his focus on animals, and his experience working in Hollywood. Maybe you've seen A Dog's Purpose, A dog's Journey or A Dog's Way Home? All three of these books have been made into movies! Bruce is launching a new series writing about working dogs. Zeus-Water Rescue comes out this week and Bruce will be at the ...
Welcome Back!
Regular Library time starts Monday, August 21! It's been great to be back in the library getting everything ready for students again. This year the library theme is "This is our Happy Place" and I truly believe that! I want each student to feel the library is a gentle, inviting space where they can come to learn, rest and read. We have so many good books, there is a truly a book for everyone! (And if I can't find that one book for a ...
Last Week of School!
Battle of The Books '23-'24 We are so excited to announce the list for next year's 4th/5th graders! At Upland Terrace, we have a committee of teachers and myself who read all year long to select books for the following year. We meet in the spring to pitch all of our favorite titles and come up with a working list. Then we spend an additional month doing more reading, rearranging and shuffling to finally come up with the 20 books we feel ...
Last Few Weeks of School
IT'S ALMOST SUMMER! We are down to just a handful of days left in this school year. What a great time we've had in the library this year- discovering new series, learning about cool subjects and finding our favorite books! I'm looking forward to a little break, but I will miss coming into the library first thing and seeing everyone's faces. It will be awesome to get back together in the Fall. No need to stop reading though! Kids can read ...
Week of 5/15
LIBRARY BOOKS DUE THIS WEEK! It's time for all students to turn in their library books! They can bring them to class library time or if they forget them on their library day, they can bring them to me any time this week. After this week, I will be running reports that show who still has books checked out. These students will then get a notice to take home with a picture of the book(s) they are missing and how much those books cost. If ...
Week of 5/8
Don't forget! All library books are due next week May 15-19! This week we are reading a new companion book to The Very Impatient Caterpillar called Make Way for Butterfly, by Ross Burach. This is a such a popular series at our school that the three books before this one are usually checked out. This time, our little butterfly is learning what it means to be a VIP - Very Important Pollinator! Did you know butterflies are pollinators? ...
Week of 5/1
This week we are reading a laugh-out-loud book by Mike Boldt called Don't Eat Bees (Life Lessons from Chip the Dog). If you want to know how smart dogs are, just ask Chip, who can give you lots of rules for living your best life all while getting the best food and avoiding the worst catastrophes. Chip tells dogs to eat socks, homework and the Thanksgiving turkey. Eating grandpa's teeth will put a smile on everyone's face. And why not eat the ...
Week of 4/24
April is National Poetry Month and this week in the library we are reading some fun poetry from a few different books. You know when you combine beautiful photos of animals from National Geographic and famous poets, you're going to get a fantastic book, which is what we have with the Book of Animal Poetry. "There was a young lady of Niger who smiled as she rode on a tiger. They returned from the ride with the lady inside-and the smile on the ...
Week of 4/17
Kindness Changes the World! This week we are focusing on how kindness can change the world. There are so many books about kindness, but these are some of my favorites. A new book that I recently added to our collection on kindness is The Notebook Keeper, by Stephen Briseno and Magdalena Mora. It's the true story of a real-life notebook keeper at the San Ysidro Border checkpoint in Tijuana, Mexico. At this checkpoint, a refugee was chosen ...
