Wescott LMC

Congrats to the winners of the Choose Kind bookmark contest! Copies of the winning bookmark were given to everyone in the winners’ classes, and the bookmarks are being featured in the library this month.

The bookmarks were all so good, we had a hard time deciding the winners! So, we have a few runners-up as well. Those bookmarks will be featured in the library too.

The winners are …

• 1st-grade winner: Oliver 1H
• 2nd-grade winner: Adriana 2W
• 3rd-grade winner: Oliver 3A
• 4th-grade winner: Audrey 4E
• 5th-grade winner: Laura 5N

Thank you to The Book Stall for sending us author Andrea Beaty! This past Wednesday 1st and 2nd-grade students enjoyed hearing about her new book, Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters: The Questioneers, Book 1.

Beaty fans, check out these FREE downloadable READ, QUESTION, THINK posters from Andrea’s website!

Don’t forget, we have ANOTHER author coming to Wescott in October!  Chris Grabenstein will visit with 3rd-5th graders on October 19!

New Maker Space starting Monday, October 1: Build with Straws

Students will become engineers as the build with Strawbees – REUSABLE straws and connectors!  Watch our Twitter account for pictures of their creations!  @WescottLMC

Have you ever read Harry Potter? Captain Underpants? Because of Winn Dixie? Charlotte’s Web? June B. Jones? Hop on Pop? Then guess what – you have read a book that has been banned or challenged because of its content!

In recognition of Banned Books Week next week, 5th grade students will discuss what it means to have the Freedom to Read. Students will take “shelfies” with a favorite book to show their gratitude for their freedom to read and for the wonderful library we have at Wescott. Check out their pictures on the bulletin board outside the library.

Want to learn more about Banned Books Week? Check out this list of frequently challenged children’s books and ALA’s Banned Books site.

 Andrea Beaty will be visiting Wescott 1st and 2nd graders on Wednesday, October 3. The visit will take place in the MPR starting at 9:30 am.

Andrea Beaty is the bestselling author of Rosie Revere, Engineer, which spent more than 62 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. Her new book, Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters, is the start of a new chapter series based on her beloved characters. Learn more about Ms. Beaty and her work at www.andreabeaty.com.   Book order forms are due with payment by Thursday, September 27th!

Chris Grabenstein will be visiting Wescott 3rd-5th graders on Friday, October 19. The visit will take place in the MPR starting at 9:30 am. PLEASE DON’T TELL THE KIDS YET – I WILL ANNOUNCE IT NEXT WEEK DURING LIBRARY!

Chris Grabenstein is the bestselling author of the Mr. Lemocello’s Library series which is very popular with Wescott students. Learn more about him and his work at http://chrisgrabenstein.com/.  Book order forms are due by 9/18.

The Library Maker Space opened for business this week! Here are the details:

• Two students may come down from each class during extension time to work on the maker space project.
• If students go to appointments during extension, we can work out another time for them to come.

I reviewed maker space rules and book care with all grade levels this week. One of our book care rules is to use a bookmark instead of folding the page. To incorporate book care with #ChooseKind, we will have a Choose Kind bookmark contest! The winning bookmark from each grade level will be printed and distributed in the library.

This week in library students in 1st grade will start to prepare for International Dot Day by reading The Dot by Peter Reynolds.  1st graders will complete a Dot Day art project next week in the library.

2nd graders will learn about using the 5-Finger Rule to find a just right book in the library.

3rd, 4th and 5th graders will demonstrate their knowledge of the library, iPad, and Maker Space expectations by playing Library Jeopardy (3rd), making a Word Cloud (4th), and making a digital poster using PicCollage or ThingLink (5th).

The first week of school was great!  Students learned all about the library expectations and procedures.

This week students in grade 1 will learn about how we take care of our library books and they will check out for the 1st time!  Students in grade 2 will do a fun little project on personification.  Last week we read the book School’s First Day of School.  This week 2nd grade students will imagine what Wescott was thinking on the 1st day of school.  Students in grades 3-5 will learn about the maker space and iPad expectations this week.

Welcome back to school!

I am so happy to be back as the librarian at Wescott for my 4th year.  Last year was so much fun, and I have even more fun planned for 2018-2019!

Wish Tree in the library:

As part of our Choose Kind theme this school year we are doing an all-school-read! Classrooms are reading Wish Tree by Katherine Applegate (chapter book) and/or The Wish Tree by Kyo Maclear (picture book).  Mrs. Marsh has made us a GORGEOUS wish tree for the library, where staff and students can make Kind wishes for the world!

Library lessons:

All grades will visit the library for a regular 30 min period during the first week of school.  We will review the behavior expectations for the library.  We are discussing what the Wescott Way looks like in the library, and giving examples of how to Be Safe, Be Caring, Be Here & Ready.

Curriculum Night:

I am very happy to announce that Sarah Rustman, the School Outreach Librarian at the Northbrook Public Library, will be joining me at Curriculum Night again this year. We will set up a table at the front of the school at the beginning of curriculum night so parents can pick up information on the exciting programs happening at NPL this fall.

Are you looking for books for you or your students to read over the summer? Publications are starting to come out with recommended reads. Check out the lists below:

• Here is a lovely PDF of 2018 Summer Reading Recommendations from the Horn Book. Click these links for individual lists for picture books, early readers, intermediate, middle school, and high school.
• Summer Reading fun from Scholastic
• Summer Reading Fun from Bookopolis

Another great suggestion for summer is to encourage students to read books off of the 2019 Illinois Readers’ Choice Awards:

• Monarch Award for grades K-3 (I do this program with 1st & 2nd at Wescott)
• Bluestem Award for grades 3rd-5th (I do this program with 3rd & 4th at Wescott)
• Rebecca Caudill Award for grades 4th-8th (I do this program with 5th at Wescott)