Massachusetts Children's Book Award

Our fifth graders have been busy reading books nominated for a Massachusetts Children's Book Award (MCBA).  The cool thing about this award is that it's not decided by teachers, librarians or any grown ups -- students around Massachusetts vote on the award winner.  The only stipulation is that voters have read at least five titles.  Upham fifth graders are required to read at least five (and one student has already read all 25 titles)!  There's plenty of time-- voting isn't until March.

For more information and to see which titles are nominated, check the MCBA blog.

Book covers are on display around the library.  After reading a title, students fill out a review form that we hang under each book cover.  Any student can flip through reviews to help decide what to read next.

Students in 5D and 5E are also having a friendly competition to see which class can read the most titles!  The winning class will receive a "free library" class with games and time to independently read.

How we celebrated Dot Day

Do you remember Dot Day from last year and what it means?  All library classes on Tuesday, September 18th, read the book and celebrated in different ways.

photo credit: http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/

2C- again this year second grade students designed their own dots and we used a little iPad augmented reality (Quiver app) to view them:

Students enjoyed watching their creations pop up in 3D and start spinning!

4G- The Dot is a book about trying something new and not getting discouraged when it doesn't go as planned at first.  Fourth grade students wrote out suggestions for classmates to try something new-- on the reverse side of the index card, students designed their own dot.  We put them in a basket and pulled them out.  Would we try the new thing our classmate had suggested?  Why or why not?

A sampling of suggestions from 4G:

• get a dog
• eat a red hot chili pepper
• swim with dolphins
• get a dirt bike
• trying going snorkeling
• read Harry Potter
• eat 15 hamburgers in an hour
• try loving school

3W: Students again this year designed a dot inspired by a book that made a "mark" on them or had some kind of an impact:

When does your child have library?!

Curious when your child has library?  Our schedule is now posted to our library website: https://sites.google.com/a/wellesleyps.org/upham-library/about

Time to get caught reading!

Have you emailed me your "caught reading" photo yet?

Please email Ms. Cote a photo of yourself reading in a unique or unusual spot!  We will post your photo on our back to school bulletin board (NOT on the blog or social media).  Email photos to cotek@wellesleyps.org  I can't wait to see all your unusual reading spots!

Here's mine-- again this year, I took mine on Little Sebago Lake in Maine (with my daughter, Hannah):

Hannah wanted me to include hers too (reading, upside down, while swinging indoors):

Boston Monument Project in third grade.....

For weeks.... (8 weeks for 3GH and 9 weeks for 3W) third grade has been working on their Boston Monument Projects.  It is an ambitious research project that requires a lot of focus from our third graders.

What does it involve?  Every third grader is assigned a Boston monument or landmark.  Students research his or her monument and take notes.  Students are then assigned a partner who has a different monument.  They write a script in which they teach their partner all about their monument. After rehearsing, I film them in front of the green screen (their monument is plopped behind the student).  It is A LOT of work and this past week, right down to the wire, third graders finished up.  We celebrated in class with our "World Premier Boston Monument Film Festival".  Students snacked on popcorn and watched everyone's videos.

It's the end of the road for Axis 360....

This mostly affects students in grades 3-5.  I wanted to let you know the state has decided to end its pilot with Axis 360 for e-books and e-audiobooks.  Access will stop as of June 30. Wellesley Free Library does have Axis 360, so if your child wants to continue using it at home you can use your public library card.

We are hoping to have another option for e-book reading in the fall-- stay tuned!

Summer Reading Suggestions!

I am so excited about summer reading!  The Wellesley elementary librarians all worked together to come  up with some really great suggestions.  Our online version is here.  Students will also go home with hardcopy packets.

If you lose any of the summer reading paperwork, fear not-- you can reprint everything on the library website.

What's in the packet?  All kinds of great stuff in very bright colors (!!!)!

• Upham reading log
• For students entering grades 1-3, a reading Bingo sheet opposite the log
• For students entering grades 4-5, a reading "Mission" sheet opposite the log
• New this year- the optional "Book Buzz" sheet- if your student would prefer to write about favorite books instead of keeping a log, he or she can give this a try
• All students receive a bookmark with summer reading links

Summer reading is meant to be fun and enjoyable- nothing is required.  I hope your student is excited to read this summer (I am!  I am!) and these are just suggestions.

And lastly, don't forget to help your student "get caught" reading.  Take a photo of your student reading somewhere unusual and fun-- I can't wait to see what Upham students come up with!  We'll hang these photos on our September back to school bulletin board.  I'll post my own photo later in the summer (here's mine from last year!).