Tuesday, December 23, 2014

HAPPY VACATION!!!

The Library wishes everyone a wonderful, safe, reading full vacation!!!!

Peacemakers from Johnson School singing to our Presehoolers in the library!!

Speech Assembly: Junior Connor Shea performing for peers in the library!!

Friday, December 19, 2014

The Library is Alive with the Thrill of Children's Books!




The library teamed up with Ms. Plachy's Early Childhood class to work on a data collecting project. The students, along with guidance from Ms. Plachy and myself created a survey for teachers regarding their favorite children's book. It asked for responders to identify their favorite book as a child and their favorite children's book as an adult. They also asked logistical questions such as department and age range so they could break down the data. The participation from teachers was huge, and armed with their information the class came to the library and took over. They pulled books from the preschool collection and created bulletin boards and displays. Their bulletin board is going to be interactive and they will be asking students to fill out a book mark to put on the "book shelf" indicating their favorite book! It was great to see the students so engaged in this project and excited to create a visual display of their work!!

Friday, December 12, 2014

 This is a great article about how to break down the whole research process. Often times it can be an overwhelming endeavor. Using one of the strategies librarians often employ will help students be successful and not feel as if the project has a life of it's own!! What is important to note is the author does not stress the library databases but acknowledges in the comment section how important they are to producing a high quality product!

http://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/11/18/research-using-big6-skills-better-grades

Book Blog of the Week:
The Boys in the Boat: nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at 
 the 1936 Berlin Olympics / Daniel James Brown

You know a non-fiction book is great when it reads like compelling fiction! For me The Boys in the Boat is similar in read to the crazy successful and amazing Unbroken / Laura Hillebrand where you become so invested in the main character you feel as if you know them and want them to survive and succeed. Not only am I getting to know Joe Rantz, the young man at the heart of the story, but the author makes the sport of rowing come alive all the while setting the stage of what life was like in the 1930's. I love this book and would highly recommend to anyone who loves a great story of determination, hard work and overcoming amazing odds!!!

Booklist Review: *Starred Review* If Jesse Owens is rightfully the most famous American athlete of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, repudiating Adolf Hitler's notion of white supremacy by winning gold in four events, the gold-medal-winning effort by the eight-man rowing team from the University of Washington remains a remarkable story. It encompasses the convergence of transcendent British boatmaker George Pocock; the quiet yet deadly effective UW men's varsity coach, Al Ulbrickson; and an unlikely gaggle of young rowers who would shine as freshmen, then grow up together, a rough-and-tumble bunch, writes Brown, not very worldly, but earnest and used to hard work. Brown (Under a Flaming Sky, 2006) takes enough time to profile the principals in this story while using the 1936 games and Hitler's heavy financial and political investment in them to pull the narrative along. In doing so, he offers a vivid picture of the socioeconomic landscape of 1930s America (brutal), the relentlessly demanding effort required of an Olympic-level rower, the exquisite brainpower and materials that go into making a first-rate boat, and the wiles of a coach who somehow found a way to, first, beat archrival University of California, then conquer a national field of qualifiers, and finally, defeat the best rowing teams in the world. A book that informs as it inspires

Friday, December 5, 2014

Read, Write, Create, Imagine.....

At this busy time of the year, it is always important to take a minute to relax and take in your surroundings. The perfect way to do this is to choose a good book, curl up and shut out all the hustle and bustle around you. As I look out over the library this morning I see some students quietly working individually, others in a study group for an upcoming test while others are sitting in comfy chairs reading. The morning is my favorite time of the day, students in the library are calm, engaged and working hard.  At this time of the year I feel it is important to stress what we appreciate, and I appreciate the opportunity to work with students, to get to know them both academically and personally, to run a library where students are happy, engaged and feel comfortable. I an happy to be part of such an amazing staff and work with teachers who appreciate and understand the value of a school library and library teacher!


Book of the Week:
The Diviners / Libba Bray

Libba Bray is one of my favorite authors. She can not be pigeon holed into a certain genre or style as I feel all her books are unique in their own right. This is one of the best books I have read in years. It is full of mystery, magic, thrill and intrigue. It scared me, made me think and kept me on my toes. The best part is, the sequel is scheduled to be released in April!!

Booklist:
*Starred Review* Here's your headline, boss: Small-Town Dame Lands in Big Apple, Goes Wild, Tries to Stop Resurrection of Antichrist. It'll sell bundles! Indeed it will, as Bray continues her winning streak with this heedlessly sprawling series starter set in Prohibition-era New York. Slang-slinging flapper Evie, 17, is pos-i-tute-ly thrilled to be under the wing of her uncle, who runs the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult. Business is slow (i.e., plenty of time for Evie to swill gin at speakeasies!) until the grisly arrival of what the papers dub the Pentacle Killer, who might be the reincarnation of a religious zealot named Naughty John. Even Evie's new pals hoofers, numbers runners, and activists, but all swell kids are drawn into the investigation. It's Marjorie Morningstar meets Silence of the Lambs, and Bray dives into it with the brio of the era, alternating rat-a-rat flirting with cold-blooded killings. Seemingly each teen has a secret ability (one can read an object's history; another can heal), and yet the narrative maintains the flavor of historical fiction rather than fantasy. The rest of the plot well, how much time do you have? The book is big and wants to be the kind of thing you can lose yourself in. Does it succeed? It's jake, baby.