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!

Monarch Award: The Adventures of Beekle

Every year we make sure all second and third graders have read enough Monarch nominees (at least 5) to vote for their favorite in March.  Usually we read more than five because the books are so fabulous and give us the opportunity to learn about so many new things!  This year we started with the Caldecott winning book The Adventures of Beekle.  Students designed their own imaginary friends that reflect their personalities.

Illinois Student Choice Book Awards

Every year we are thrilled to participate in Illinois's Student Choice Book Awards.  In order to participate, students have to read a certain number of nominated titles in order to vote in February (the Rebecca Caudill) or March (the Bluestem or Monarch.)

All second and third grade classes at Disney are reading books from the Monarch nominee list.  There are some fabulous books this year!  As we read the books we also have lessons related to the books including research and writing responses.  We are keeping track of what we've read using a poster for each class.

Find this year's list of titles here.

The Bluestem Award is for 3rd-5th graders and opens up a world of chapter books.

Find this year's list of titles here.

The Rebecca Caudill is for 4th-8th graders and includes longer and more in-depth works.

Find this year's list of titles here.

Students have been hearing book talks about the nominated titles and have been practicing their note-taking skills as they write down what each book is about.  Students can check these books out from our library, the public library, or can even find them as e-books in both collections.  As they read these books, students can sign their names to the Bluestem and Caudill Hall of Fames in our library.

  

GRA: Making Connections

One of the most exciting parts of the Global Read Aloud is the opportunity to make connections with students in other places. We've been fortunate to get to communicate with classes in different locations.  One of those is Ms. Pogue's class in Dunsford, Ontario, Canada.  We've had the chance to learn more about them (and about Canada).  Even though the Global Read Aloud is over, third graders are still writing to our new friends!