Random Acts of Kindness

As part of our reading and Edmodo collaboration around the book Wonder, EMES 5th graders created visual presentations promoting random acts of kindness. Students created these presentations using either Animoto (an animated slideshow tool) or Pixlr (a photo collage tool). Click here to view their projects

Balloons over Broadway!

This time of year, I am often asked what is a great Thanksgiving book.  I think my favorite might be
Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet.  It is a picture book biography about Tony Sarg, the puppeteer behind the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Here are two youtube clips that kids enjoy along with the book.

Free Rice

Can you really play a game and feed hungry people at the same time? Yes! Free Rice

Storyline Online

Ever wonder what it would be like for Al Gore to read Bad Irene by William Steig? How do you think Betty White sounds when reading Harry the Dirty Dog?  I learned about Storyline Online at a conference last week.  The site features free videos of books read by actors and other famous speakers.  Each video includes close-up shots of the illustrations of the book as it is read aloud.

http://www.storylineonline.net/

The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont

Have you ever heard of the Wright Brothers? How about Alberto Santos-Dumont? I had never heard of this amazing aviator pioneer until a new book came into our library. One of the many new incredible books we have at EMES is The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont. I highly recommend this book not only because of the words and images, not only because of the interesting person at the center of this biography, but also because of all the things it can make you wonder about.
Click here to see a video clip of Alberto Santos-Dumont in Flight

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Dorothy's List on VPR

From Vermont Public Radio:

You may have heard that Vermont Public Radio has launched a new monthly series for young readers called Dorothy’s List. The series, which highlights children’s books nominated for the annual Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, will air throughout the 2013-2014 school year.

Reporter Amy Noyes is traveling the state, talking with middle school students about the books nominated for the award. In each installment, the author will answer questions posed by students. Listeners will also hear what students have to say about the issues and themes in the books.

Dorothy's List airs the first Monday of each month during Vermont Edition at noon and 7 p.m. On Monday, November 4, Dorothy’s List explores Steve Sheinkin's Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon. The full series is available at VPR.net: http://bit.ly/1aPigls

New Books: Monster Jokes!

Why did the ghost go to the Doctor?
....find out in

New Books!

From Weasels to Fake Mustaches! From picture books to non-fiction!

News books are flying off the shelves at EMES.

One book that I was able to quickly read before a reader whisked it away, is Africa is My Home: A Child of the Amistad written by Monica Edinger and illustrated by Robert Byrd. Africa is My Home is a fictionalized first-person account of a real person known.. The book recounts the experiences of a girl who was captured by slavers in Africa in 1839 and after a harrowing journey across the ocean sold in Cuba where she boarded the ship Amistad. The Africans on the Amistad revolted and took command of the ship, but the men and 4 children who survived the revolt were captured and tried in America. Africa is My Home tells the story of the Africans aboard the Amistad and their experiences in a foreign land, their trials in the United States, their education, and their never ceasing quest to return to their home from the point of view of the child who became known as Sarah Magru Kinson. In addition to the beautiful illustrations by Robert Byrd, the book includes some archival images and quotes from newspapers about the Amistad and the trials that followed.

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Library Discoveries: A New Favorite Author!

It has happened again, I have fallen in love in the library. Browsing the library shelves, I realized that Daredevil the Daring Life of Betty Skelton -- a new picture book biography -- is written and illustrated by the same author/illustrator who created Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum. When shelving picture books, I found another Megan McCarthy in the stacks. Show Dog is fiction and a hilarious tale of a disheveled family with a regular dog that they want to enter into a show dog competition. The details in the illustrations will crack you up. Even though it is fiction, Show Dog does include good uses of labels on illustrations, an important informational text feature. I hope you come into the library and check out the books of Megan McCarthy and maybe fall in love with them too!

 

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Interview with Mo Willems

One of the Red Clover nominees this year is Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems. 

Here is an interview with Mo Willems

Destiny at EMES -- Our new Library Catalog

In addition to all the exciting building changes at EMES over the summer, we have another exciting change in the library -- a NEW ONLINE LIBRARY CATALOG!!! Destiny is a library management system that includes an online public access catalog. The classic catalog view of Destiny has a variety of search features including spelling suggestions and visual searching. Students can also select the Destiny Quest feature that pushes out information about the top ten books, new arrivals, and resource lists. Students will also be able to use our library catalog to search for material in the library and from a variety of electronic resources all from the same search request. Destiny -- our new online public access catalog is linked on the right of this site and here
EMES Library Catalog

The Allies in My Summer Reading

Yesterday when at Bear Pond Books, I was talking to Jane Knight about some of my summer reads, I just finished reading Shadow on the Mountain a DCF nominee written by Margi Preus. Shadow on the Mountain takes place in Norway during World War II and is a fictionalized account of a real teenage spy. While I have read many books about or set during WW II (including Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon -- another of this year's DCF nominees), I have not read much about the experience of the Norwegians under Nazi rule. I felt the book was a little slow to start, but I am glad I stuck with it. The combination of the risks taken by the characters, the importance of friendships, the consequences of the choices different people make under the occupation, and the excitement of the work being done by the characters made it a pleasure to read. The strength of the main character who is based on a real person is inspiring. The book also includes some additional material, like how to make invisible ink and information action about codes and ciphers. When talking to Jane about this book, she told me of another story of a spy during WW II that she really enjoyed. Thanks to Jane, I am about to crack open Code Name Verity.

 

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Summer Reading Trading Card

This summer the EMES bookbags will feature blank trading cards that kids can use to describe their favorite summer reads. Cards will be shared and traded in the fall when we return to EMES. My son Jake helped me make an example tonight. We recently read The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Our card (front and back) are below.

 

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EMES Summer Reading

Dear EMES Families,
 Summer is right around the corner! We are pleased to announce the return of the summer reading program for EMES students. EMES students (who will be entering K through 6th grade next year) will be allowed and encouraged to check out up to five books from the EMES library for summer reading.

 Here’s the plan:

 1. All library materials borrowed during the school year need to be back in the library before anything is checked out for the summer.
 2. Students will pick out three books from our library that they want to take home for the summer. Mrs. Fitch and Arlyn will help add two surprise books for each student. This year surprise books will also be drawn from recommendations that EMES students make for younger student readers.
3. Prior to checking out summer reading, students will need a parent/guardian signature on the summer reading form agreeing to pay the replacement cost of lost or damaged materials.
 4. Books and bookbags need to be returned on the first day of school.
 5. Bookbags will include a summer reading log, information about reading incentive programs from other organizations in VT, and additional information about library and reading resources for your family.
 6. Please send in photos of your EMES readers in action this summer.

 We hope you have a summer full of fun, sunshine, and good books!

 Arlyn Bruccoli & Jennifer Fitch

  Click here for the EMES Summer Reading Form

DCF Winner for 2012/2013 is...

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen is this year's Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award winner!

Red Clover Winner Announced

Congratulations to The Princess and the Pig
author: Jonathan Emmett illustrator: Polly Bernatene
winner of this year's Red Clover Award!

Data in the Library: Red Clover Results!

EMES K-3rd Grade Students have cast their votes for the 2012-2013 Red Clover Nominees.  The below presentation includes graphs of the voting results for all students K through 3 and broken out by grade.  The Red Clover winner will be announced after all VT schools have finished voting (votes are due April 11).

DCF Celebration

EMES students who had read 5 or more of this year's Dorothy Canfield Fisher nominees attended the DCF Celebration in the library. For the second year in a row, students played the DCF quote game where they tried to match quotes the correct book. Four students received gift cards to Bear Pond books. Students also voted for their favorite book from this year's list. And oh yes...there were cupcakes! Special thanks to Mrs. Fitch and Linda Urban for helping out.

 

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Wonders of the World: From Google

Google has created a Wonders of the World website that allows people to visually explore featured places around the world.  Featured places include: The Grand Canyon, Kew Gardens, Scott's Hunt in Antarctica, Ancient Kyoto Nijo Castle and more.  In addition to the visual piece, each featured location has text information about the location and its significance.
Google Wonders of the World

Famous People in the Library

Jane Goodall, Marie Curie, and Clark Kent in the EMES Library!

EMES Spirit Week in Action

Ebooks at EMES

Our library has recently purchased some electronic books or ebooks. These books can be read online or through an ebook app. Electronic books include note-taking, highlighting, and word reference features. Our first ebook purchases support the 5th and 6th grade social studies curriculum. Students need their EMES library ID number to access these books and check them out from home or school. The Follett Electronic books system also has apps for kindle, android, and ipad tablets. For information on using the tablet versions, click the link below.
Follett eBooks Mobile Apps

New Display Shelf and New Books!

Our library has a beautiful new book display shelf thanks to David Oliver (who built it), Linda Urban (who thought of it), and Flor Diaz Smith (who designed it). Thank you parents for seeing a need and getting it done! The timing for said shelf could not be better as we also got a delivery of new books. Please stop by the library and see the display. In addition to our wonderful shelf and print collection, we are also stepping into the world of electronic books (or ebooks). Our library has a few titles available now and will be adding more. To browse or check out our electronic books, please see the ebook link of our library webpage. Looking for a good book? Check out the http://www.emesreads.blogspot.com/ Blog for student and staff recommendations

Graphic Novels: Day One

Welcome to Graphic Novels!
Please take a moment to respond to the questionnaire linked here
Graphic Novels: Baseline Questions