Saturday, January 30, 2016

Books You Won't Be Able to Keep on Your Shelf



Good afternoon all!  I'm hoping you had a pleasant week in your classroom.  If not - rejoice!  It's the weekend!  To start off your weekend, I thought I would bring you a list of great books to add to your collection if you do not already own them.  These are titles that seem to fly off my shelves as soon as I get them in.  The kids can't get enough!  So sit back, relax, and open that Amazon Wish List up.
The Mal and Chad Series
These books are always unavailable because they get picked up as soon as I check them in.  Like, they don't even make it off my sorting carts and onto the shelves.  I actually know Stephen McCranie from college and his hilarious personality definitely comes through in his work!  The kids love reading the adventures of this boy genius and his talking dog and have been begging me to order more copies.  New ones are on their way soon, but I know those will be gone just as fast!  This is a great series for reluctant readers and lovers of comic books.  Recommended for grades 3-7.

The Dork Diaries Series
These books are very popular with my students that love Diary of a Wimpy Kid (aka all of them).  The girls especially love that it is a similar style with a female main character.  Another great choice for reluctant readers to get them into a series.  Recommended for grades 4-8.

The Draw 50 Series

I constantly have my little artists asking me for drawing books and they LOVE these!  They are very worn from years of love and inspiration.  They have different categories and it gives students step by step directions to guide them in creating the drawings.  This is great for those kids looking to improve their art abilities, and would even make a good addition to your students' Fun Friday activities!

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
This book is one of our Battle of the Books selections this year.  As a result, it is not currently circulating to all of the school but my Battle students love it!  This Finnish book follows a family of Moomins that have a tendency to take in strays and get into mischief and adventures.  When Moomintroll and his friend find the Hobgloblin's hat, they begin a silly and unexpected adventure.  There are multiple Moomin books, so students that love the original will be able to continue enjoying the adventures of the characters.  Recommended for grades 4-7.


The 39 Clues Series
The death of a family member sends two orphans on a hunt for clues to a family fortune - and the truth about their parents' death.  This book is great for students that like adventure and suspense.  There is even a website and collectible cards for students to join in the story!  Recommended for grades 3-7.


A Practical Guide to Dragons by Lisa Trumbauer
This companion book to the Dragonlace series is a hit with my students.  It has detailed illustrations and gives information on different dragons in the Dragonlace world.  Many of my students have not read the book series and simply read this book because they love dragons.  Recommended for grades 1-4.

The Sisters Grimm Series
In this fairytale adventure, two orphaned sisters are sent to live with their grandmother and soon learn a family secret.  They are descendants of the Brothers Grimm and come from a line of family members that keep the Everafters (fairytale characters living in the real world) in line.  Students love the adventure and ties to familiar fairytale stories.  Recommended for grades 4-6.


Smile by Raina Telgemeier
In this graphic novel memoir, Telgemeier documents her struggles of growing up with a long string of orthodontia work after a fall results in losing two teeth.  Not only does she deal with painful dental work, but social struggles, boy issues, and awkwardness all come into play throughout her middle and high school experience.  This is an engaging story for those students that feel out of place and unsure, as the author shows how she overcame these struggles and grew her love of drawing and animation in this period of her life.  The students also love her other graphic novels, Sisters and Drama.  Recommended for grades 5 and up.



The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
This Newbery Medal winner is based on a true story.  Ivan, a gorilla held in captivity in a mall, is used to entertain mall patrons and drum up business.  As a new baby elephant is brought in, Ivan befriends her and helps her adjust to life in captivity.  But a promise to a friend means that Ivan and his companions must work together to free the animals.  A heartwarming story that animal lovers will enjoy.  Recommended for grades 3-7.



The Skippyjon Jones Series by Judy Schachner
I was first introduced to these books by my mom, who is also a teacher.  Whenever I read these stories aloud to my students they are laughing hysterically!  Skippyjon Jones is a Siamese cat that thinks he is a Chihuahua.  Constantly in trouble for his mischief, he escapes away to a land where he helps the Chimichangoes (a group of Chihuahuas) save the day.  There are several books in the collection and you will love every one of them!  With rhyming and various Spanish phrases, this is a great book for younger children and your Spanish-speaking students.  Just make sure to use an accent if you read it aloud!  Recommended for grades K-3.


Hopefully these titles have given you some inspiration for your classroom library!  My students have enjoyed each and every one of them and I know yours will as well.  Take a look below for a peek at some of the upcoming posts I will be creating!  Until next time, happy reading.


Comparing and Contrasting with Kevin Henkes
Genius Hour: Inspiring Passion in Your Students
We Scream for Ice Cream Cupcakes!
Book Reviews

Friday, January 29, 2016

A New Beginning



May I just begin this post by saying how much I love being a librarian?  I began my teaching career almost three years ago and started out teaching second grade.  This year I switched to the library and have enjoyed it so much.  I like seeing different grade levels, teaching one subject, and having different groups of students come through my door every 50 minutes. 

I feel like I keep learning constantly throughout this year.  Since there is no library curriculum, I have had to create my own and it is one of the hardest things about my new job.  As a result of my short time frame with the students I end up teaching a lot of mini-lessons.  As I keep creating more and more I realized my time could help benefit others.  So I decided to create this blog to help out all my fellow librarians and teachers!  I'll be posting lesson ideas and book reviews to help you out with all those tricky concepts and give you great mentor texts to fill your library.

To start out I thought I'd review a book that I've read within the past semester.  So here we go!

Enemy Pie
by Derek Munson
illustrated by Tara Calahan King


A young boy begins to have trouble when a new neighbor, Jeremy, makes it onto his enemy list.  Luckily his dad has the solution - spend the whole day with Jeremy (being nice to him) while dad makes an enemy pie.  By the end of the day, the protagonist learns that maybe his enemy is not an enemy after all.  But will he let his enemy-turned-friend eat the Enemy Pie at the end of the day?

This book is so cute!  Anyone that teaches knows how hard it is for little humans to deal with relationships.  We've all had those kids that can't be together in the classroom or playground because they just can't seem to get along.  Young students can definitely relate to the feelings of our young protagonist as he describes his desire to put disgusting items such as worms and weeds in the Enemy Pie.  Your students will love this story!

Another great thing about this book?  It is on Storyline Online!  If you haven't discovered this website you are missing out!  The Screen Actor's Guild has created this site where famous actors and actresses read aloud stories.  There is fun music in the background and some stories even have the illustrations animated.  It is a great option for when you need to fill in a few minutes between lunch and recess, when your voice is hoarse from yelling all day, or when you want to mix it up and use your SmartBoard instead of getting an ab workout by showing the book to the whole class on every single page.  They have tons of titles, so check it out when you get a chance!  (To get to the video for Enemy Pie, click here.)

Now I know we're all about practicing skills while reading aloud, so let's break it down here.  This is a great book to practice predictions since there are some surprises and your kids' imaginations will fly.  You can also use it to teach students to find the moral or theme of a story.  And let's be honest, it's a great one to read aloud to that class that just can't seem to get along most of the time.  We've all had them.  And they need this book.

If you use the book make sure to comment below and let us know how you used it!  Until next time, happy reading.