:Mrs. Kozaka’s Library Blog

    During the months of November and December, all schools in South Portland are participating in a community read of Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea. This inspiring story is available in three versions: adult, young reader’s edition, and the picture book Listen to the Wind.

Three Cups of Tea tells how Greg Mortenson went to central Asia in 1993 to climb a mountain, and dedicated the next 16 years to building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Library, in collaboration with teachers and school staff, has designed meaningful programming around this story for K-5 students.

 Throughout the grades and classrooms, students and teachers are curious to explore the many themes of Greg’s story.  Please share your questions and comments about what you are learning.

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Summer is certainly a time to relax and enjoy the great outdoors, but it is also a great time to read.  In fact, students who read during their summer vacation are much less likely to experience the dreaded “summer slide.”  This happens when students, who have worked hard all school year to develop their reading skills, forget to practice and lose some of what they have learned.

During library classes throughout the school year students have also practiced some helpful strategies for choosing “just right” books.  These strategies include: pursuing personal interests, following favorite authors, exploring literary genres, and getting hooked on series.  In addition, students have learned how to browse bookshelves and carefully examine books to decide if they are interesting to them.  A student may recognize the author, make predictions based on the title, do a picture walk, find a summary, or read a page using the five finger rule.   These are sure-fire methods for finding great books to read.

As you can see, the students in the South Portland elementary schools are ready and able to make personal decisions of what to read this summer.  To guide their choices, the library department has also created some summer reading lists.  Please feel free to download or print these lists and use them to Super Charge Your Summer with Books!

Have a safe and happy summer,

Mrs. Kozaka

2009 5th Grade Summer Reading List

2009 K-4 Summer Reading List (page 1)

2009 K-4 Summer Reading List (page 2)

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  The final Mainely Girls book club meeting of this school year is being held on Tuesday, June 9th.  At this time we will discuss the book “The Sisters Club” by Megan McDonald.  In this story, sisters Alex, Stevie, and Joey are spunky members of a family who is heavily involved in local acting groups.  According to Kirkus Reviews, “Using a combination of personal journals, family-life scripts, and first-person narratives from each sister’s point of view, McDonald paints the picture of an entirely normal family in a somewhat unusual line of work” (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2003).  Sounds like a fun read, huh?

Girls, please share some remarks about this book. 

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On Tuesday, January 27th, thirteen 5th grade girls met with me in the Small school library to kick off the start of our Girls’ Point of View book club.  This club, sponsored by the the nonprofit group Mainely Girls, encourages girls of all ages and abilities to read and discuss contemporary fiction that addresses the challenges and opportunities that they face. 

Our first book is Dillon, Dillon by Kate Banks.  The following is a summary:

During the summer that he turns ten years old, Dillon Dillon learns the surprising story behind his name and develops a relationship with three loons, living on the lake near his family’s New Hampshire cabin, that help him make sense of his life.

The Common Loons that are depicted in the story are fascinating birds, whose vocalizations haunt Dillon during his time at the lake.  Below are some links to audio recordings of Loon calls from the Science Behind Algonquin’s Animals website.

Yodel

Hoots

Wail

Tremolo

If you would like to learn more about the author, Kate Banks, please visit the MacMillan website.

Happy reading girls!  See you at our next meeting on Tuesday, February 24th.

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Books are excellent gifts, but are often difficult to select.  To make this process a little easier, here is a list of online resources to help you find the perfect books for young family members and friends.

The ALA’s 2008 Notable Children’s Books on Booklist Online

The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2008

Amazon’s Best Books of 2008: Editors’ Top 10: Picture Books

Amazon’s Best Books of 2008: Editors’ Top 10: Middle Reader

The Association for Library Service to Children’s Great Elementary Reads

The American Library Association’s 2008 Notable Children’s Videos

The American Library Association’s 2008 Notable Children’s Recordings

Happy reading, listening and viewing!  I hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday season.

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  While we are still on the topic of voting, let me introduce the Maine Student Book Award!  Each year Maine students in 4th – 8th grade have the opportunity to participate in a state-wide vote for their favorite book published in the previous year.  A list of 41 popular titles is compiled by the MSBA committee in the spring, and participants are encouraged to read and review as many as possible until the ballots are collected the following year.  Dyer, Kaler and Small schools each own about 15 of the titles, but the books are rarely on the shelves!  So in order to properly introduce them, I have created PowerPoint slideshows of the books at each school.  The slides include summaries that have been copied from the MSBA 2008-2009 Reading List, as well as cover art images from the Follett Library Resources website.

Click on the appropriate file below to see the Maine Student Book Award titles available at your school.

Dyer-MSBA-Titles   

Kaler-MSBA-Titles                                              

Small-MSBA-Titles

 If you would like to know more about any of the titles on the 2008-2009 MSBA Reading List, including genres, summaries, and student reviews, visit the Maine Student Book Award website.  Happy reading!

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Thank you to everyone who participated in our Vote for Books election. The votes are in, and to all of our amazement, The Giant of Seville by Dan Andreasen won in all three schools!  At Dyer 82 of the 231 votes collected were for The Giant of Seville; at Kaler, 84 of the 222 votes; and at Small 93 of the 284 votes.

According to some of the students, this biography was popular because “the guy was so tall” and the townspeople were so kind to him.  Students who enjoy learning fun facts were fascinated by the photograph of the real-life giant, Martin Van Buren Bates, and his wife, both standing at nearly 8 feet tall.  Other students thought the exaggerated descriptions were funny, and the events were exciting.  While we enjoyed each book candidate, this book was definitely our favorite!

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Which of the four book candidates are you likely to vote for on election day?
( surveys)

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For the month of October the elementary school students in South Portland are learning about elections.  Many schools are holding student council elections and many classrooms are discussing the process of campaigning and voting.  In the library we are voting for books!  Each week the students listen to a “book candidate” being read aloud.  The texts are discussed, the illustrations studied, and the students are encouraged to make thoughtful comments about the stories.  At Dyer, Kaler and Small schools our book candidates are: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Gentle Giant Octopus by Karen Wallace, The Giant of Seville by Dan Andreasen, and Toad by the Road by Joanne Ryder.  These books represent several different genres, namely fiction, nonfiction, biography and poetry.  While we are participating in the important processes of thinking critically, sharing opinions, and making personal choices, we are also learning our way around the library.  What an exciting learning adventure!

Next week many  of the students will have an opportunity to take part in an online poll about which of the candidates they favor.  Stay tuned for the results!

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During our first library class last week I read “Blueberries for Sal” by Robert McCloskey to the third graders.  I described it as a classic story because it was written sixty years ago and is still fun to read.  “Blueberries for Sal” also represents a great Maine tradition – picking blueberries on a beautiful August morning.  Like Sal, some of us like to eat the berries right off the bushes to savor the sweet blueberry flavor.  Even though we eat them every summer, it is such a treat when we have that first taste.  Every time we read this classic story we can enjoy the experience as if for the first time.

Have you read “Blueberries for Sal”?  Did you like it?

Have you ever been blueberry picking?  Tell us about your experience.

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