GRA: Nana in the City

During the first week of the Global Read Aloud, first-third graders read Lauren Castillo's Nana in the City.  The boy in this book is feeling nervous as he visits his Nana in the big scary city.  She makes him a red superhero cape to help him faces his fears.  Students came up with ideas of what their own superhero cape could help them do.

Book Based Costumes

I'm a big fan of book based costumes.  This year I dressed up as the book The Paperbag Princess for Halloween.  If you haven't read it, this is a wonderful story that turns the standard princess tale on its head.  Mrs. Ginn dressed up as a Book Witch.  See if you can find some favorite titles on her costume!

Go Cubs Go!

What an exciting week we've had in Chicago!

Students if you still need a baseball fix now that the World Series is over come check out some of the wonderful baseball books we have in the library.

Global Read Aloud 2016

This year all of my 1st-5th grade classes are participating in the Global Read Aloud.  The idea of the Global Read Aloud is that kids all over the world are reading the same books during the same six week period.  Then their teachers and librarians are sharing what they are doing with the books using online connections.

This year's chosen picture book author/illustrator is Lauren Castillo.
Fourth and fifth graders are reading Roald Dahl's classic The BFG.  Great timing as in September we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Dahl's birth!


Follow the link to find out more:

The Global Read Aloud

Check back for more about what we've been learning and how we've been collaborating with other classes who are also participating in the Global Read Aloud.

What I'm Reading Now: Catching up on Bluestem/Caudill

I've been trying to finish up all of the books for this year's children's choice awards as well as a couple of Battle of the Books Titles.  Jonathan Stroud's The Whispering Skull is just because I'm absolutely loving this series.  I think we're going to need more copies of Kwame Alexander's Booked.  The Crossover is so widely read here and I have no doubt that Booked will be just as adored!

What I Read This Summer

One of my favorite things about the summer is having more time to read.  Although I didn't read everything that I took home this summer (it was a huge stack of books!) I did read several books that I absolutely LOVED.  I couldn't put down Jonathan Stroud's The Screaming Staircase. How often do you find a book that's truly unique and unlike anything you've read before? The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim by E. K. Johnston was so different and absolutely blew me away.  With one exception I really enjoyed everything I took home this summer.  (Even librarians have books that just aren't for them and one I took home just wasn't!)  Take a look below.

Happy fall!

The school year is well underway and the library has been so very busy!

We have finished orientation for the library and the library computer lab.

We're launching some new projects in the coming week - stay tuned.