Sibley The Shortest Day Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Wendy Pfeffer

     Winter begins on or about December 21.This book explains what the winter solstice is and how it has been celebrated by various cultures throughout history.  Some celebrate by exchanging gifts and decorating  their houses with evergreens. People believed  that the evergreens would bring strength to their families. Also, people have welcomed the winter solstice because it's a new beginning.~ Mary Jo Fox

SWCC is reading: The Polar Express

The Polar Express is always  a winner, as Christmas days get closer the students are always excited to read this book. 

This enchanting book tells the story of a little boy who believes in Santa Claus, although his friends say that he does not exist.Because of his faith, he is taken on a magical journey to the North Pole aboard the Polar Express, where he is given a very special gift: a beautiful bell that only rings for those who still believe.

 Father Fox's Christmas Rhymes by Clyde Watson is a marvelous collection of rhymes describing different events leading up to Christmas. From:
Here am I, old Father Fox
With sweets in my pocket & holes in my socks
Bringing a basket brimful of cheer
A toy for each day until Christmas is here
to:
Christmas is all but over now
There's nothing left under the tree
Except wait! Over here there's one more present,
& the tags says ...... it's for me!

Merry Christmas!!!!


~ Deb
Stocking School

Jack and the Baked Beanstalk by Colin Stimpson Sibley

 Jack and his mother run a little burger cafe; but business is slow and they are nearly broke.When Jack spends the last pennies on a can of baked beans, his mother is angry and throws them out the window. A gigantic beanstalk with cans of baked beans  dangling from the shoots, grows up to the sky. Jack and his dog Bella,climbs the stalk, which takes them to a castle of a giant; who spends  time counting his fortune. Jack helps the giant to find something more fun and saves the cafe in the process.  The giant becomes a very  famous cook!!~Mary Jo Fox

Burton Elementary: 50 Below Zero by Robert Munsch / 50 Grados Bajo Cero por Robert Munsch

This week in library at Burton Elementary, we were reading "50 Below Zero" by Robert Munsch. With the cold weather outside, I thought it would be a fun winter story to read. Like many of Robert Munsch's stories, it's got a pretty silly and humorous premise, and features a lot of repetition. Jason's father is a sleepwalker who keeps wandering the house at night in his sleep, and ends up wandering out into the woods and getting frozen like an ice cube, requiring Jason to save the day (or night, rather). You can find a recording of the author (Robert Munsch) reading the story out loud on YouTube, to hear how he inflects his voice & the frenetic energy he puts into the story. You don't have to read it exactly like he does, but it's neat to get a look inside the author's head to hear how they read & think about the story. You can ask students after the story if they've ever sleepwalked or know anyone who has sleepwalked, and you will probably end up hearing some pretty funny stories.

Esta semana en la biblioteca de Burton, leímos "50 Grados Bajo Cero" por Robert Munsch. No tenemos la edición en español, y entonces necesité traducirlo. Espero que hice un buen trabajo. En este cuento chistoso, el niño Jason se necesita rescatar su papá sonámbulo, que deambula fuera en la noche más frío del invierno. ¿Qué va a hacer Jason cuando su papi está congelado como un cubito de hielo? ¡Leamos hasta el fin para descubrir! Se puede preguntar a los estudiantes si conocen unos sonámbulos, y es probable que usted escuche algunos cuentos divertidos.

¡Feliz lectura! / Happy Reading!

- Dennis De Boer

The Christmas Blizzard by Helen Ketteman is a fun fictional story that finds little Sissy McNab getting a mini history lesson on her town from Maynard Jenkins. It focuses on the winter of '22, the ensuing blizzard and the effect it has on the small Indiana town.

~Deb
Stocking Elementary

From 1906 to 1975, this is the story of dancer Josephine Baker. The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker was written by Patricia Hruby Powell with illustrations by Christian Robinson.  

Josephine Baker was raised in the slums of St. Louis, Missouri who dreamed of dancing ragtime and honky-tonk music. Between discrimination and race riots, Josephine elevated her talents to perform in a small vaudeville troupe and then her world began to change. From New York City to Paris she started stepping into the global spotlight. 

This story found on GRPS Overdrive was read online on our library screen by our 1-6 grade students at GR Montessori. Students found the story intriguing and historically interesting. 

Paul Dear

The Michigan Reader for Boys and Girls by Kathy-jo Wargin has provided great reading enjoyment and sharing by the students at Stocking School. It is a fun book of riddles, poems, and stories about different facets of Michigan life.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION at SHAWMUT HILLS

Students voted in the library today! 

After I read these books, we had a compare/ contrast discussion of the "candidates",talked about how to "cast your vote" with a "secret ballot", and that voting rules had to be followed so there wouldn't be "invalid votes". 

After all the discussion, the "informed voters" waited in line at the "election poll", and took turns in the "voting booth". Once they were done, they got an "I voted" sticker!

We all had a lot of fun with it,even though one class did "demand a recount"). 

At the end of the day, the results were announced... 

Duck: 37

Grace: 51

The voters have spoken! Grace for President!

The WIdow's Broom by Chris VanAllburg

A witch's worn- out broom serves a widow, Minna Shaw, well. Her neighbors think differently and think the broom is wicked and dangerous.
  I read this to 4th and 5th graders and they enjoy this story.~ Mary Jo Fox

Halloween A B C by Eve Mirriam is a collection of Halloween themed poems from A - Z. From Apple to Mask to Zero and every letter in between, there's a poem for everyone. Our first graders are really enjoying them this Halloween season.

Burton Elementary: "Here Comes the Rain!" by Renée Simons Berry

This week at Burton we read a book that is new to our library, called "Here Comes the Rain!", written by author Renée Simons Berry and illustrated by artist Lusine Khandilyan. This is a short rhyming text, and with many classes we ended up spending more time talking about the story than it took for me to read the story! That is because, despite being a short book, there is a lot to unpack in this sweet story.

The matter of hairstyles, and associated questions of beauty and societal standards, bring up a lot of feelings for many people. Girls (and boys) with afro-textured hair are often made to feel self-conscious about their natural curls from a young age. Don't be timid about giving students a chance to voice any feelings they have after reading this story (but also take care not to make any student feel singled out or like they have to have something to say about the story). Very young students (particularly those without curly hair) might not understand the message of the story unless you talk them through it, but make sure all students understand that the story is telling us that all kinds of hairstyles (and people) are beautiful. The lovely illustrations portray this in a wonderful way.

One of the many pleasures of being a librarian is adding books to your collection that are not the mainstream well-known titles from very famous authors. A book that is not found in many bookstores (or any bookstores) can make for a uniquely special collection. In a school library with these kinds of books, children can be exposed not only to the 'classics' and the popular books of our times, but to unique voices, perspectives, and sources of literary culture. I am so grateful that a friend of the author donated this special book to our school library! Thank you! Hopefully many students will find and enjoy this book in our library for years to come.

- Dennis de Boer

Burton Elementary: The Surprising Brilliance of "Niño Wrestles the World"

Today I want to review a great children's book that we are reading in library at Burton Elementary this week: "Niño Wrestles the World", by Yuyi Morales.

In this story, a young boy named Niño (or more likely this is his wrestling nickname) imagines himself as a masked luchador in the grand Lucha Libre tradition, overcoming all kinds of fantastical creatures from Mexican culture, as well as an inexplicable space alien who is defeated by marbles.

In the grand finale, Niño finds himself facing off against his most terrifying opponent yet: his two baby sisters, who have just awoken from their nap and are ready to tussle! There are many references to the culture and terminology of Lucha Libre throughout the book, such as the eternal struggle between 'técnicos' (those who wrestle honorably using signature moves) and 'rudos' (those who are willing to use any kind of dirty tricks and traps to overcome their opponents), and the ultimate disgrace of having one's mask removed by an opponent. But despite the Spanish-language terms that appear throughout the text, both Spanish-speaking and non-Spanish-speaking children will enjoy the antics and surprises of the story.

I like to read to our native Spanish language classes in Spanish, so I am trying this year to make notes to translate the stories I read that are in English so that all students can fully enjoy the story. I already knew that this book was brilliant and clever, and full of interesting references that students can make connections to. But it wasn't until I started translating this story's text into Spanish that I realized another instance of the humor and brilliance of this story. In his second bout, Niño faces off against "Cabeza Olmeca", a creature made of stone with an enormous cranium that resembles the real-life giant Olmec heads from Mexico's ancient past.

Previously, I hadn't really understood why Niño's signature move against this opponent was called the "Puzzle Muzzle". I assumed it was just something silly and inexplicable, representing a child's flights of imagination. But while translating the story I had to look up the Spanish word for "puzzle", and got a surprise that made me grin from ear to ear: the word for "puzzle" in Spanish is rompecabezas, which literally means something like "it breaks heads", or "head-breaker", similar to English terms like 'brain-teaser', 'mind-blowing', etc. And what else should the puzzle-muzzle technique do, but literally break Cabeza Olmeca's head? I love that there is a joke in this story (which is mostly in English) that only our Spanish-speaking students will understand. With my older classes, I have asked the students who speak Spanish if they understand the joke, and then I ask them to help me explain the joke to the students who don't know Spanish.

So this week I learned something new about a book I already loved that makes me love it even more. If you have this book in your library, it's a lot of fun to read, and students of all backgrounds will love the action, humor, and heart of the story. It's a book that celebrates culture, history, family, and a young child's fearless imagination, with a healthy dose of silliness and funny sound effects. Check it out!

- Dennis De Boer

Rude Mule 
by Pamela Duncan Edwards

Rude Mule by Pamela Duncan Edwards is a great story about using your manners. 
The story reminds us to say please and thank you!

Honey...Honey...Lion! a story from Africa written by Jan Brett

Honey ...Honey...Lion! a story from Africa written by Jan Brett

Jan Brett and her husband have visited Botswana many times. Their guide told them a true story of the honeyguide and then the legend - if you don't share the honey, the next time the honeyguide will lead you to a lion! You see, in Africa the honeyguide and the honey badger are partners when it come to honey.

Read this exciting story to your students or listen to it and see the pictures online and hear the lovely African music in the background.

I have read it to our students and showed them the story online. It is a wonderful story and great to see it on line.

Paul Dear
GR Montessori

 Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems is a great story for beginning readers. The message about  making the best of a situation is invaluable. The friendship between Elephant and Piggie shows that differences don't need to adversely effect friends.

The Legend of Sleeping Bear by Kathy-jo Wargin was enjoyed by our upper elementary students this week. Our students were better able to understand what a legend is through this tragic, yet mesmerizing story.

~Deb

Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland

This book is a wonderful book for March is Reading Month!
I wish I had a magical book like Miss Smith!

Zach is an uninterested reader in Miss Smith's class.
Miss Smith reads a story everyday from her special big book.
The storybook characters come to life as she reads the stories!
See what happens one day when the principal reads from her book
when Miss Smith gets stuck in traffic.
"Who would ever have guessed that reading could be so much fun?"

I love this book!
Ms  Dawn
:-)

Written & illustrated by Mari Takabayashi and published in 2004. 'I live in Brooklyn' explores the life of six year old Michelle with her family, friends, and schoolmates. How wonderful to be living inside an international city and Michelle surely enjoys it. Students at GR Montessori have been enjoying this story during our first week of March is Reading Month!

Paul Dear
GR Montessori