December Holidays at Prairieview

Mrs. Walsh-Rock has pulled and displayed a great assortment of December Holiday books. She has also included books set in the winter season.

The Prairieview students are even more excited about these books than the Elizabeth Ide students. They have a real knack for finding and borrowing the very best ones.

During this last week of school before winter break, I have been sharing many of these books duing my classes. Each student has received a "Chill Out and Read" bookmark as a holiday gift. I hope they will all find a reason to use the bookmarks before we see them again.

December Holidays at Elizabeth Ide

Over the years, we have collected lots and lots of books about December holidays. Once again, Mrs. Drope has pulled them and displayed them in our library. The children are excited and almost everyone wants to borrow a holiday book.

Christmas stands out. Most of our students celebrate Christmas. Fortunately, there are many titles available for us to acquire. There are, however, a couple of other holidays to consider in December. This Friday is the beginning of Hanukkah. And then, there is Kwanzaa.

It is good for our students to know about these holidays. Many of the stories are pretty fun. I will be sharing some of them with the children during the last couple of weeks before winter break.

Thanksgiving, Food, Books, Fun

Cooking and Thanksgiving go hand in hand. Sometimes, books surprise us. For example: The Little Witch's Thanksgiving Book has several kid appropriate recipes in it, along with crafts and other information. Then, there's the classic Cranberry Thanksgiving, which concludes with a wonderful recipe for cranberry bread. The cranberry bread has played vital role in the story. We have lots of cook books in our libraries. What a nice time to try them out with your children!

I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving and a special family time during the coming week.

Classes at Prairieview

The students at Prairieview have had an opportunity to use World Book Online. This site is provided by the district for all of our students. They are invited to use it at school and at home within the district. The site offers many features including four versions of the encyclopedia. These include World Book Kids, World Book Student, World Book Advanced, and Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos (for those who can read Spanish). This is an age-appropriate, reliable resource and we are glad to have it.

Our I.M.C. subject this year is dinosaurs, in reaction to the the wonderful exhibit that was at the Brookfield zoo this year. The students have all been asked to gather a little information from World Book Online. Third graders will now type a paragraph with a fancy title and an illustration. Fourth graders will make a short slide presentation. Fifth graders will organinze their information, using Inspiration.

Math-A-Thon 2009

This week, we are launching our annual Math-A-Thon at Elizabeth Ide. This project helps our children to practice their math skills in a fun way. They recruit sponsors to support their work. Each sponsor donates money and we send all the money to St. Jude's Children Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. The daily operating cost for St. Jude is nearly $1.4 million, which is primarily covered by public contributions. Every dollar we donate makes a difference. Please consider supporting your children in this endeavor.

Illinois Grant Money

For the last several years, we have applied for and received small grants from the state of Illinois. Given the state of the economy, it is good news that the grants for 08-09 came through. The number of dollars is not huge, but it does make a difference by allowing us to buy some extra books each year.

This year at Elizabeth Ide, we have ordered replacement copies of classics and old favorites. They are popular and popular books do get worn out because they circulate a lot. The children like them and, I think, we sometimes get parents or even grandparents interested. It is always a good idea to read to your children and to encourage them to read to you. Share the books!

At Prairieview, series books are very popular. Therefore, we used the grant money to fill in some gaps in our collection. Third, fourth, and fifth graders like to latch on to things that they

read. We like them to be reading as much as possible, so we accomodate their desires as we are able. Of course, we also encourage them to branch out. They are allowed to check three items at a time and they must choose three different things. It is good for them and good for the other patrons in the school. By the way, it doesn't hurt a bit to read to these middle grade students and to listen to them as they read to you. Some very good conversations may be generated.

What are we up to in class?

Prairieview




We are well into our basic computer skill unit. Last week we concluded our introduction to keyboarding. It would be very helpful for the students if they practiced regularly. Please remind your children to use the home row position and to look at the screen as much as possible. They will need to keyboard a lot in their lives.










This week, we started on some other skills. The third and fourth graders are reviewing how to use Open Office Writer. The fifth graders started a tutorial on Inspiration.








Elizabeth Ide


Next Thursday afternoon we will have Halloween Parties and on Friday, there is a teachers' institute. I thought it would be a good idea to start sharing Halloween books with the students this week. It has not been hard to stimulate enthusiasm. So far, no one will admit to being scared. The books are just spooky enough for primary students.

The Library Catalog

We have been using a program called L4U for the last several years for our circulation and our catalog. It has many handy features and we continue to learn new tricks that enable us to assist our patrons better.

This year we have embarked on a huge undertaking. We are labeling our collection in a more specific manner than we have

used in the past. This will be a great help in evaluating what is popular and useful in our collections. It will help us to recognize weaknesses.

The software enabled us to easily identify our non-fiction collection. The fiction collection is not so easy. We have to go through the collection item by item and update the loan type. This will take many hours, but it is not all bad. As I go through the titles, I become reacquainted with many items.

At the end of each month, we will evaluate the circulation statistics. As I make the adjustment for each item, each month's data will be more meaningful.

New Display at Prairieview

We have been catching a lot of attention at Prairieview because of a new display. One of our students was kind enough to share his Eiffel Tower, made of Legos. Mrs. Walsh-Rock, the new assistant, seized the opportunity to display lots of books about the Eiffel Tower, Paris, and other remarkable buildings around the world.

If you are curious, come and see all of this. The tower is visible from the hallway. The BACC students, who spend time in the I.M.C. each day after school, have been asking me if I have seen the tower.

October at Elizabeth Ide

As is her custom, Mrs. Drope has displayed the many books we have about Autumn and Halloween. She set them up on top of our bookcases on the first of October and they have been wildly popular.

The children are excited about pumpkins. I keep hearing stories about trips to pumpkin patches and growing things at home. It seems like a good idea to take advantage of their curiosity. So, I have included non-fiction books on pumpkins in my story times for both kindergarten and first grade this week. Do you know all the stages between seeds and full grown pumpkins?

Dinosaurs!

The Dinosaurs Alive exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo is pretty astonishing. It inspired me to decorate both the Prairieview and Elizabeth Ide libraries with dinosuars to begin the school year. Dinosaurs have been popular with our students throughout my career. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to take your children over to the zoo for a visit. The special exhibit will be there through October. We have lots of books about dinosaurs.

Moving Along

We will begin sharing some of our new titles and some old favorites with our kindergarten and first grade classes this week. This is an important, core activity at the Elizabeth Ide I.M.C. We do our best to encourage reading and it is fun for all of us. The second graders will join in when they have finished learning the basics for searching our catalog (another important skill).







At Prairieview, we have started our basic computer skills unit with the third, fourth, and fifth graders. In order to do almost anything on the computer, they will need to be able to keyboard. All three grades start out with keyboarding. It is important that they have good posture and use the home row position. Our software is designed for them to proceed at their own pace.

New Searchers and Award Introduction

In the next few weeks, the second graders will be introduced to the procedure of searching at our computers to find out what we have available in our collection. This is a skill they will take with them throughout their lives as they use many, many different libraries.





The state of Illinois has awards for authors which are chosen by our school age children. Our third graders have been introduced to the nominees for the Monarch Award. This award is elected by kindergarteners through 3rd graders. The Elizabeth Ide children will hear about it later in the school year, closer to the election time.





The Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award is elected by fourth through eighth graders. The fourth and fifth graders have been introduced to the nominees. The voting for both awards will take place in February.



We ask the children to check these books out at the public library if possible. We do not have the budget to provide more than a few copies of each book.

Welcome

It is good to be back. The children are excited. We have some new books to share.

End of the Year

As we finish up the 08-09 school year, I want to thank the many volunteers who have helped out at both the Elizabeth Ide and Prairieview libraries. You make our jobs easier.

We were lucky enough to have visitors from the Indian Prairie and Woodridge Public Libraries come and tell us about their summer reading programs. Please help your children participate in one of these programs. Go to the library where you have a card and join the fun. They have lots of fun and interesting books, programs, and PRIZES! If you are not in a specific library district, your children will be welcome to participate at Indian Prairie because they go to school in district 66.

Internet Safety

It is Internet Safety Season in the I.M.C. Your children have had or will soon have some lessons on one or more of the following topics. The Cyber Community, Cyber Security, Personal Safety, Intellectual Property, and Predator Identification. All of the topics are covered at least once in grades kindergarten through fifth, when it is age appropriate.

Disney has a good site for families to share. Take a look at: http://home.disney.go.com/guestservices/safety

Statewide Results

We now know the results across the state of Illinois for the Monarch Book Award and the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award. The students at both Elizabeth Ide and Prairieview are in sync with students across the state. Please check earlier blogs for our local results.

Statewide results are as follows. The first place winner of the 2009 Monarch Award is Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley. The first place winner of the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award is The Lightning Thief Rick Riordan.

Library Skills

A very important part of my mission is to make my students independent users of libraries. To that end, we do lessons about the types of materials available and where to find them, the layout of the library, and how to use the online catalog. For kindergarteners, it may just be getting comfortable with the process of browsing, choosing, and checking out books. First graders can locate easy readers, fiction, and non-fiction. All second graders get individual lessons on the online catalog.


We also practice using particular reference materials once they have been located. Third graders are currently practicing the use of guide words. Fourth graders have answered questions about an encyclopedia article on hippos. Please ask them how big these creatures can get and what they eat. Fifth graders are learning to use the three indices in the World Almanac. They have a tendency to get distracted by the wide variety of information available. There is something for everyone and I enjoy watching them find something they are really interested in. Ultimately, I really hope they will find both what they need to know and what they want to know. It is also great when they wander into unknown material and end up really liking it.

Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Results

This award is determined by Illinois students in fourth grade through eighth grade. After having read at least three of the twenty nominees, each student votes for his or her one favorite. We have occasionally had one or two students who have read the entire list. We often have students who have read at least half of them. This year we had 136 students in fourth and fifth grades who were qualified to vote.

The first place winner at Prairieview was The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. In second place, we had Heat by Mike Lupica. Wolf Brother, by Michelle Paver, took third place. For the first time this year, our students used the computers to vote. We are able to set this up using our library automation software, L4U.

The third graders at Prairieview joined the Elizabeth Ide students, participating in the Monarch Book Award. Like the fourth and fifth graders, the third graders had the privilege of voting via computer. One hundred thirteen third graders were qualified to vote. The results for third grade reflect their slightly more sophisticated taste. In first place, we had Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid by Megan McDonald. Superhero ABC by Bob McLeod came in second and Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley was third.

Elizabeth Ide-Monarch Award Results

The students at Elizabeth Ide voted for their favorite books on the 2009 Illinois Monarch Award list last week. Each student had to select one favorite from among the nominees which I had read to them.

The runaway winner was Once Upon a Cool Motorcyle Dude by Kevin O'Malley. A glimpse at the cover will help you to understand the wide appeal of this book.

We had a tie for second place between The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School by Judy Sierra and Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner.

Our children enjoyed this opportunity. It will be interesting to see if the Kindergarten through 3rd grade students across the state of Illinois agree with them.

Happy February Holidays!

If the books displayed in our I.M.C. are any indication, February is a big holiday month. We have quite a variety of reading materials. Let's see--first comes Groundhog Day. The younger children are pretty interested in that. Unfortunately, the staff agrees that we will have six more weeks of winter, regardless.

In the middle of the month, we will celebrate Valentine's Day. Students of all ages seem to enjoy that.

Finally, the two famous presidents' birthdays come along. We will honor George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and all the other presidents with a school holiday on the 16th. There is plenty to read on this topic.

Math-a-Thon

I am very pleased to report that, despite the shaky economy, the children at Elizabeth Ide School raised almost three thousand dollars to help the sick children at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Our children got sponsors, did the math problems, and collected the pledged money from their sponsors.

This week, I have been distributing the prizes the children earned for participating in Math-A-Thon.

Illinois Book Awards

At Elizabeth Ide, we are reading nominees for the 2009 Illinois Monarch Award during the month of January. These books are nominated by a panel of teachers and librarians, but the winner is determined by Illinois students in kindergarten through 3rd grade. We will hold our election in early February.

The fourth and fifth grade students at Prairieview have been encouraged to participate in determining the winner of the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award since the beginning of the school year. The voting for this award is open to Illinois students in fourth grade through eighth grade. The twenty nominees are determined each year by a panel of teachers and librarians. Voting for this award will also be held in February. To be eligible to vote, a student must have read at least three of the nominees.