All library books due on...

That's right - it's that time of year! In only a few short weeks we will begin to collect all student library books. Since we check out about 40,000 books a year this can be quite a task.

All student library books are due on or by Friday June 9th.

2017-2018 Battle of the Books Titles

We are so proud of the sixty-six students who participated in Battle of the Books this year! Now it's time to start reading for next year. The first five titles have been released!

Grade 4-6

• Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova (Yen Press, 2015)
• Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman (Square Fish, 2016)
• Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar (Delacorte, 2015)
• Masterminds by Gordon Korman (Balzer and Bray, 2015)
• A Poem for Peter by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Viking, 2016)

                                         Grade 7-8

• Flying Lessons and Other Stories by Ellen Oh (Crown Books, 2017)
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin YR, 2016)
• One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes (Bloomsbury 2017)
• The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz (Simon and Schuster, 2016)
• We Will Not Be Silent by Russell Freedman (Clarion, 2016)

Reading Without Walls Challenge

Students (and teachers! and parents!)  are being encouraged to participate in the Reading Without Walls Challenge.

To participate you can:

1) Read a book about a character who doesn't look like you or live like you

2) Read a book about a topic you don't know much about

3) Read a book in a format that you don't normally read for fun (a chapter book, a graphic novel, a book in verse, or an audio book)


What book are you going to read?

Congratulations Disney Battle of the Books Teams!!

Both the 4-6 and 7-8 grade teams qualified for the City Finals! 217 teams competed and only the top 15 team in each age group advance to the City Finals. Congratulations!

What I'm Reading Now

Zero Day - Addie Webster disappeared from the governor's mansion 8 years ago. At the beginning of this book, she's escaped from her kidnappers and found her way home - but home is quite different as in her absence her father has become president of the United States. Everything is not quite as it seems... Although it got a bit predictable by the end, I really enjoyed the fast pace of the book.
To Catch a Cheat - To be honest, I didn't finish this one. This is the second in the series and I definitely think I should have started with the first one - The Great Greene Heist. Fun, fast paced, realistic characters - there's a lot here to like. If you like the Randi Rhodes Detective novels I think you might like these as well. There's a lot here that's very realistic to middle school kids, but plenty of movie-type action as well.

Illinois 2017 Monarch Winner!

The official 2017 Monarch winner has been announced...

Congratulations to Gaston!

Interested in seeing the full list of votes? Follow this link.

Illinois 2017 Bluestem Winner!

The official 2017 Bluestem winner has been announced...

Congratulations to El Deafo!

Interested in seeing the full list of votes? Follow this link.

Breatkout EDU: Attack of the Locks

As I'm getting geared up for our next round of Breakout Box lessons, I realized I hadn't shared the pictures of my sixth, seventh and eighth graders first try at breaking into the box!  

 

Some of the groups that successfully solved the puzzles and "broke in" to the box:

Only ONE group out of the many that participated got in without a single hint from me:

#theypersisted

2017 Rebecca Caudill Award Winner!

Our winner of the Rebecca Caudill Award has been chosen. Fourth through eighth graders who read at least three of the nominated titles were able to vote.

And the Disney winner is...

And the official state winner was just announced. The Illinois 2017 Rebecca Caudill Award Winner is...

(For anyone who's interested, The War that Saved My Life  came in second for the state.)

Thank you to all who voted!

Disney 2017 Bluestem Winner!

The votes are in! Fourth and fifth graders have voted for their absolute favorite Bluestem nominees.

In third place tied with 25 votes each...

In second place with 30 votes...

And the winner with 35 votes is...

If your favorite title didn't win, don't despair. All votes were tallied and sent in to the state library association. Stay tuned for the official winner!

Disney 2017 Monarch Winner!

The votes are in! Second and third graders have voted for their absolute favorite Monarch nominees.

In third place with 39 votes...

In second place, tied with 45 votes each...

 

And in first place, eking out the win with 46 votes...

Drum roll please....

If your favorite title didn't win, don't despair. All votes were tallied and sent in to the state library association. Stay tuned for the official winner!

What I'm Reading Now

Absolutely Truly I must admit I've never read any of the Mother-Daughter book club series but they are very popular in our library. Written by the same author, this first book in the Pumpkin Falls Mystery series was very enjoyable. Truly Lovejoy has moved with her family to the tiny town of Pumpkin Falls, New Hampshire where she tries to build a new life for herself among a charmingly eccentric group of characters. K - I think you might like this one.
Flunked I love a fairy tale retelling so I was immediately drawn to this first book in the series Fairy Tale Reform School. Main character Gilly is caught stealing one too many times and is sent to reform school where she's taught by the evil queen from Snow White, the wolf who terrorized Little Red, and other "bad guys" from favorite tales. Could it be true that they have all reformed? Or is someone at the school up to no good? Fans of the Whatever After series who are looking for something else to read might enjoy this one. D?
Randi Rhodes Ninja Detective The fact that Octavia Spencer is the author has been a big draw for this series. Middle school detective Randi Rhodes and her friends DC and Pudge solve mysteries they find in the world around them (much to the chagrin of her famous author father.) Good if you're looking for a realistic fiction mystery - I? Z?
Saint Anything I love anything Sarah Dessen and this one did not disappoint. Sydney and her family deal with the aftermath of her brother's reckless behavior.

Monarch Award: Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas

This retelling of the Goldilocks story finds Goldy Luck visiting her next door neighbors, the pandas, on Chinese New Year. The pandas are not at home and trouble ensues.

Monarch Award: Families, Families, Families

Students loved this fun book about all different types of families represented by different animals. We talked and wrote about our own families. Then students decided what type of animal their family would be and drew family portraits.

Monarch Award: Gaston

Gaston is a bulldog raised in a family of poodles - who is about to meet a poodle raised in a family of bulldogs.

Breakout EDU: Getting Started

For the past year or so I've been hearing a lot about Breakout EDU from other librarians. Breakout EDU calls itself an "immersive learning games platform." The idea is that students work together to solve puzzles using critical thinking skills. The puzzles help them open a locked box called a Breakout box. Teachers around the country design Breakout activities that are tied to curriculum.

I kept hearing from other librarians and our wonderful school social worker how amazing Breakout boxes are for student engagement and for working on all of those collaborative skills that are integral to our library standards.  I was thrilled to find out that my Donors Choose grant for Breakout boxes had been funded and that we were receiving the supplies needed for three Breakout boxes.

In the past couple of weeks all of my sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classes have had the chance to participate in their first Breakout. Students discovered it can be quite challenging to solve all of the puzzles and "break into" the box. In fact, only one group of seventh grade girls successfully got into the Breakout box without a single hint! In the next few weeks, fourth and fifth grade students will begin their first Breakout on this year's Global Read Aloud book The BFG.

Monarch Award: Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas

This true story of Elizabeth the elephant seal was the inspiration for a research project. Second graders learned used our online database Pebble Go to learn more about seals.

Monarch Award: Ballet Cat

Second and third graders enjoyed this funny look at the friendship of Ballet Cat and Sparkle Pony.

What I'm Reading Now

  So many students are reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I enjoyed it too!

Battle of the Books Teams

This morning Ms. Herceg and I had the opportunity to announce the students that will be representing Disney for Battle of the Books.

Our 4-6 grade team:
Brazil
Izabella
Kaitlyn
Renee
Rijad
Tarun
Tyler

Our 7-8 grade team:
Asia
Caleb
Melanie
Nicole
Stephanie
Teste
Violet

Congratulations to those students and THANK YOU to everyone who came out and participated. We hope to see you again next year!

Battle of the Books Update

This week we had our final "battle" that will determine our school teams. The top seven students in 4-6 and 7-8 will represent Disney against the other Battle of the Books teams in Chicago.

Teams will be announced tomorrow!  Thank you so much to all of the students who participated this year and made Battle of the Books so much fun. Even if you do not make the 2017 final team, we hope to see you all again next year!