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!