Willard Central’s Library Blog

Now that the third and fourth graders have conquered the MAP test, I can tell you that the BOOK FAIR is coming to Willard Central very soon! Beginning Monday, April 28th and running through Friday, May 2nd, you will be able to visit the Book Fair during your regular library time. If you would like to bring your family to shop at the fair, have them come on Tuesday evening, April 29th, from 5 -7:30 during Fine Arts Night. There’s a lot to do on Fine Arts Night: check out all the cool art produced by WC students, watch the fourth grade talent show, and shop at the Book Fair! It should be a blast!

Here are a few things to remember when shopping the Book Fair:

• There will be tax added onto the final sale amount, so remember to bring enough money!
• The Book Fair opens for the first library class of the day at 8:50 and will stay open after school until 4 PM. If you are a Tiger Tale Student, check in with them before visiting after school!
• If you forget to bring money on your library visit day, you can still come to shop during Open Library Times (M-Th, 12:00-1:10 PM or Friday morning 8:50-11:20 AM) if your teacher will allow you to come.
• You’ll be able to see a few of the items that will be at the fair when we see the Book Fair video next week in library and when you get the Book Fair flyer to show your family. Otherwise, the items on the fair are a surprise for everyone…including me!
• While shopping, please remember to use store manners and be responsible for putting things back the way you found them. Just like library, we all work together to keep the Book Fair looking nice. And taking something from the fair without paying is STEALING…but we don’t need to talk about that, do we?

Looking forward to seeing you at the Fair!!!

Hey WC Family! I was stunned today when I looked at our Library Blog and found a comment from a REAL LIFE author! Kerry Madden, author of Gentle’s Holler, wrote a nice comment under my November 26th post. I had written a review of her book on this blog and she wrote a nice thank you. Please take a look by clicking on the comments link you see under the November 26th post (several down from this one). WOW!!! WC students, this proves people are reading what you write here!!!

Two more WOW moments I want to share: The 1st-3rd Graders have finished reading this year’s Show Me Award Nominees and they voted for their favorites this month. It was a very close race, with only 1 vote difference between the top 3 favorites! Third place was The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens and it received 39 votes. Second place was Police Cat by Enid Hinkes with 40 votes. And our WC 1st place winner was Magnus at the Fire by Jennifer Armstrong. Now we will just need to wait a few more weeks to see how those books do in the state-wide vote count. Come on Magnus!

And last, but not least, I want to give a big hug out to Hannah P., a WC fourth grader, who has made it her goal to read all 20 Mark Twain Award Nominees this year before our reader celebration in May. She’s made it all the way through 19 of the books and I have no doubt that I’ll be seeing Hannah soon with her opinions about the book Each Little Bird That Sings! GO HANNAH!

It’s time for the fourth graders who have read at least FOUR Mark Twain Nominees to vote for their favorite!  The nominee with the most votes from across the state of Missouri will win the prized Mark Twain Award for 2007-2008.  The winner is announced in April and I’ll let you know as soon as I hear the results.

I’d like to congratulate the following fourth graders for reading MORE than enough books to vote for WC this year:  Dalton M., Brooke M., Hannah P., Kealey F., Hunter W., Molly G., Kelsey J., Sammie S., Emily H., Jettlyn H., Kyle W., Jessica F., Willow M., and Katelyn W.  And remember, we’ll be having a Mark Twain Party here at WC in May for anyone who’s read at least 10 of the books.  It looks like we’ll be having a small group, but I’d love to have more!  So keep reading!

If you did not get to cast an OFFICIAL VOTE because you didn’t quite make it to four books this month, I would still love to hear what you thought of this year’s nominees.  Click on the comment link above and tell me about your favorites….or least favorites!  I love to hear your opinions about the books because it helps me to make good recommendations to others!

Wow! I just realized how much time has passed since I last checked the blog. I’ve had some wonderful posts from students about good books that they’ve been reading. But they were just waiting for me to approve their recommendations. Thanks to any writers out there who have had to have LOTS of patience waiting for me to approve those posts. I would love to see some more book reviews and comments about books, so if you have them, send them in. I make a promise to be faster from now on!

There’s a lot coming up in the library world very soon. March 2nd is Dr. Seuss’ birthday and we’ll celebrate Read Across America that same week. Look for information about WC Dress Up Days….Yay…coming soon! Also, the Show Me Readers Award and the Mark Twain Readers Award will be voted on in mid-March. First through Fourth grades have been busy reading the nominees so WC can take part in the state-wide vote. GO READERS!

And one last piece of news from the Roth house: My five-year-old son has begun listening to chapter books at our house! Before, he liked picture books like I Stink or Superhero ABC. He also LOVES to read nonfiction, especially space books and anything to do with the desert. But over the ice storm days we began reading the Bunnicula books and the Stink Moody books. I’m sure he would recommend them to you, too!

January flew by so fast! Today is the 100th day of school and I saw lots of classes celebrating in a variety of ways! There were 100 Day hats and necklaces, tally marks, and lots of ways to count to 100. I can’t believe that on Friday we’ll already be in February!

Here’s a review of a hilarious book I read over the weekend:

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Clementine is a third grader who has the best of intentions. She really is only trying to help when she cuts her friendMargaret’s hair off, answers the principal’s telephone while waiting in her office, and sprays everything under her bed with cleaning fluid until it’s soaked. Will Clementine’s parents decide to get rid of the “hard” child or will everyone discover that Clementine’s heart is in the right place?

I loved reading about the crazy things Clementine decides to do in this book. It made me laugh so hard I almost cried. Try this book if you like reading chapter books of the humor genre.

I hope everyone enjoyed the story of Welcome Comfort by Patricia Polacco at Community Time this morning. Thanks go out to Mr. Denny Gold for coming to read to the whole WC family. What a treat!

See you back here in 2008. Have a great break! (And remember to read, read, read when you have a chance….)

Wow! Our winter break is almost here. The halls of WC are buzzing with excitement. Instead of doing full book reviews this week, I thought it might be fun to tell others what your favorite Holiday story or song is. Click on comment and tell everyone in a quick sentence or two! Then go enjoy the festivities, food and fun that the holidays bring.

I was hoping for a snow day from school today, so I could snuggle up under a blanket with a good book! Since the weather can be bad during these winter months, I would love to read more of your book recommendations! With your help, I can stock up on some good books to have on hand for those cold, blowy days.

Here’s a good picture book biography you might try:

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Have you ever stood outside on a cold winter day and looked at all the different kinds of snowflakes? What a miracle to think that no two are exactly alike!

In this beautiful biography (which won the Caldecott Medal for its great pictures), we meet scientist Wilson Bentley. As a kid, he found his love for snowflakes. As he grew, he used his camera and microscope to try to take pictures of them. But that job is much harder than it sounds! It took him many years, but Mr. Bentley finally perfected a way to take the pictures and they are still used by scientists who study snowflakes today. You’ll learn a lot about the man and the snowflakes if you read this book!

This week Willard Central will be having it’s first ever Family Book Club Night!  On Tuesday, Dec. 4th, families will have a chance to come together from 6-7:30 PM to do activities related to the book The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.  Every family at WC was given the book during our Student-Led Conferences, so I hope you’ve had a chance to read the lovely story DiCamillo weaves for her readers.  If you haven’t yet found the time, come on Tuesday anyway.  You can still participate in the activities and maybe it will spark your interest in finding out more about the little mouse, his Princess Pea, and why everyone is in such an uproar over soup!

With all the Thanksgiving visiting that went on this past week, I did not get a chance to read as much as I wanted to! Did you?

Here’s one book I snuck in while everyone else took a Thanksgiving nap:

Gentle’s Holler by Kerry Madden

Livy Two is the narrator of this sad story set in the North Carolina mountains during the 1960s. Livy’s family is enormous. She has two brothers, six sisters, a grouchy grandma, a devoted weiner-dog named Uncle Hazard, a tired mother, and a father who dreams of making it big by selling a hit banjo tune in Nashville. Because her father does not work regularly, the family is very poor money-wise. But they are rich in other ways. Many things happen to the family that test their spirits, but they always rely on each other to get through the tough times.

I cried a lot while I read Gentle’s Holler. Many sad events happen to Livy Two and her family during the story. For instance, her sister Gentle has something wrong with her beautiful lavendar colored eyes, so the family must see an eye specialist they can’t afford to pay. I would recommend this book because it shows just how important it is to have a strong family supporting you. But read it with some tissues beside your chair!