Scholastic Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair will be at Sunshine Cottage from Monday, November 14 - Thursday, November 17!  You don't want to miss out on some of the great books that will be available for you to purchase.  Each class will visit the library two times during our book fair.  The first visit will be for previewing (and purchasing if kids bring money), and the second visit will be for purchasing.  We will also have a family night on Tuesday, November 15 from 5:00pm-7:30pm (before and after the PTG meeting).  You can even shop early if you want to browse or purchase from our online store.  Here's the link:

http://onlinebookfairs.scholastic.com/default.aspx?f=3601745

Please note:  If you purchase from the online book fair, items will be shipped to Sunshine Cottage after the online fair has ended.

Contact Lori Leal in the library if you have any questions or if you would like to volunteer to help out.  We hope to see you here!  

Bats at the Library

We are all really excited to be back in the swing of things in the library!

This week, our second graders read a book called Bats at the Library by Brian Lies.  The students enjoyed seeing all the things the bats got to do during the night in the library when someone left a window ajar.  After hearing the book, the second graders were able to make their own bats and help them fly around the library.  Check out our pictures and the short video of our bats!

Spiders in Kindergarten

Students in Kindergarten are learning all about spiders this week! Ms. Alex and Ms. Le Anne's class visited the library this morning and got to hear a book called Be Nice to Spiders by Margaret Bloy Graham about a spider named Helen that goes to live in the zoo.  The zookeepers quickly learn that the zoo is a better place with spiders around.  We find out that the animals are happier, and the book even has a surprise in the end!

After reading Be Nice to Spiders, students enjoyed looking at the cool pictures and reading about some interesting spiders in some of our new non-fiction spider books.  Here are some pics of them reading these great books.

Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge

It's that time of year again...Time for the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge!  All kids in Pre-K through 5th grade will participate in this program.  Teachers have created accounts for the kids, and this week they will be logging into their accounts for the first time and logging their first minutes for the challenge.  We will have a huge celebration at the beginning of next school year.  Students can earn awards, free books, and even gift certificates for the Scholastic book fair in November.  The past couple of years, the top readers even got to throw a pie in Mr. Bryan's face!  What is in store for our next celebration?  Only time will tell!  Don't forget to log your minutes every day when you read.  Happy Reading!

Click on the link below to learn more about the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge.

http://www.scholastic.com/ups/campaigns/src-2016/parent

Fiesta San Antonio!

As you may already know, Fiesta is one very important tradition celebrated at Sunshine Cottage.  The students learn a lot about Fiesta and take part in many activities during our 3 day celebration.  This week, the upper elementary students are learning about the history of Fiesta in San Antonio.  They will be doing some basic research to answer some questions about this local event.  If you want to learn more about the history of Fiesta in San Antonio, click on the link below:

http://www.fiesta-sa.org/p/About/147

Fun with Flipgrid

Check out the videos that our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders have recorded over the last couple of weeks!   We're using a website/app called Flipgrid.  I post a video question and then the kids respond to my question with their own video.  They have had a lot of fun recording their videos, and it's great for them to be able to listen to themselves and their friends as they talk.  They also had to work together with their partners for one of the activities.  Cooperative learning is happening in the Sunshine Cottage library! :)

*Click on the off buttom next to Fullscreen in the bottom, left corner to increase the size of the Flipgrid.  You can hit the Escape key to return to the library page.
*Click on my picture to hear the question.
*Click on the small picture of the kids under my picture to take you to their video responses.

We "MOOSETACHE" You to Read This Book!

Second grade had fun today with a book called Moosetache written by Margie Palatini and illustrated by Henry Cole.  I'm not sure if they had more fun giggling at the moose in the book or giggling at themselves as they tried on the moose antlers and their own custom "moosetaches".  Take a look at our fabulous portraits, and if you haven't already read it, we "moosetache" you to please read this book!

Aarrrgghhh...Pirates!

Pre-K is very excited to be studying pirates this week.  During library time, students will discuss pirates, pirate clothing, maps, and treasure.  They will hear a story called The Lost Treasure of Skull Island by Martin Taylor.  Ms. Melanie and Miss Noel's class had a great time guessing what would be popping up out of the book as we read today.  They got to see pop-ups like snakes, sharks, monkeys, and even a skeleton pirate who was guarding the gold treasure!  After hearing the story, the kids enjoyed reading the library books that they checked out while sitting in the library lounge.

Last Stop on Market Street

This week, the students in grades 1-5 will be hearing the award winning book Last Stop on Market Street written by Matt De La Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson.  This book is the Winner of the 2016 Newbery Award, a 2016 Caldecott Honor Book, a 2016 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book, and a #1 New York Times Bestseller.  Students will be responding to the book in several different ways. Some of the students will be able to use a technology tool called Flipgrid to do this. Flipgrid is new to all of us, and I'm looking forward to using it with the kids.  Check out our Flipgrid by clicking on the link below.

Flipgrid ~ Last Stop on Market Street

Texas Bluebonnet Award 2017 Resources

Here is the link for the Texas Bluebonnet Award 2017 resources:

https://texasbluebonnetaward2017.wordpress.com/

On this page, you will find Readers Theaters, Book Trailers, Author Interviews, Book Reviews, Discussion Questions, and other fun activities for the newly nominated books.  Here is a picture of all 20 nominated books:

Happy Reading!

What Does the Tooth Fairy Do With Our Teeth?

Third grade and I had the best time reading the book What Does the Tooth Fairy Do With Our Teeth? by Denise Barry!  The book suggests different ideas on what the tooth fairy possibly does with our teeth once they are collected.  Many of the ideas were really gross to us.  You should have heard all the "Eeeewwwww!" and "Groooosssss!" comments after each idea was presented.  We sure got some good giggles out of this creative book.  I'm not sure if any of us will ever want to play in the snow again!  We also might not want to wear pearls for a while.  Just ask two of the girls who were wearing a pearl bracelet and pearl earrings. :)  We also had a good laugh over the very last page which threw out an idea that we hadn't considered!  If this sounds like a book that you'd like, come to the library to check it out.  Here are the third graders posing with their most disgusted look:

2nd Grade Explores the Library Webpage

After learning how to access the new library webpage last week and seeing all the links and things they can do on there, the second graders were very excited to come to library today.  They each got to bring their school iPads and explore on their own or with their friends.  Some of them chose a quiet place so they could hear an author read to them while others sat with friends and played games such as hangman using library words.  Many of them decided to login to their own individual Destiny Quest account to set up their background, look up books, and see what books they had already checked out.  (Destiny Quest is our online library catalog.)  They did a fantastic job of maneuvering around the webpage and were even able to troubleshoot some small issues on their own or for another classmate.  I'm really proud of our little techie kids!  Check out how involved they were in their learning today! 

And the Winner of the 2016 Texas Bluebonnet Award Is...

When the Beat was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop written by Laban Carrick Hill and illustrated by Theodore Taylor III!  Congratulations to the winning author and illustrator!  Watch the video announcement to hear from the winners and to find out which books came close to winning.



If you'd like to be part of the voting for next year's winner, stay tuned for more information coming soon! (Remember, voting is for kids in grades 3-6.)

Book Character New Year's Resolutions

When we returned to school in January, students in grades 3-5 learned a little bit more about New Year's traditions throughout the world and came up with New Year's resolutions during their library time.  They then worked on a project for a couple of weeks.  The students were paired up and had to choose a picture book with a really strong main character.  After reading the book together, they had to fill out a Book Character Map and come up with some New Year's resolutions that their character might need to work on.  Then, they used the ChatterKids iPad app to record a video of their book character telling about their New Year's resolutions.  They came out really cute!  Take a look.

Texas Bluebonnet Awards

Each year, the Texas Library Association nominates 20 books to be considered for the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Kids (no adults!) in grades 3-6 are allowed the opportunity to vote for the winner. In order to be eligible to vote, students must read (or have read to them) at least 5 of the nominated books. I have the kids fill out a short review sheet to prove that they read the books. This year, we had 7 girls earn the right to vote: one 4th grader and six 5th graders. On Wednesday, January 27, we enjoyed Jimmy John’s for lunch, talked about the books, and then voted online. We will be anxiously awaiting the winner for this year and will find out on Friday, February 12! The Bluebonnet Award is a huge deal in the Texas reading/library world, and it is such an honor for the author and illustrator to be chosen as the winner. Here are some pictures from our Bluebonnet voting party.

Jimmy John's for Lunch

We had to take a silly picture!