DCF Readers' Club - Dec 16th

Join us the evening of Dec 16th for an evening with author Linda Urban.  Linda's latest book, The Center of Everything, is on this year's DCF list. This event is open to all EMES DCF readers (4th through 6th grade students) who have read or are reading The Center of Everything.  Please note that in addition to hard copies of the book, we also have this title available as an audiobook (see the EMES Ipod Books link off the library website).

Where:
EMES Library

When:
Dec. 16th
5:30 to 6:30 pm

Who:
EMES DCF Readers (and their families are welcome to stay too)




Please RSVP to abruccoli@u32.org
so that we have the right amount of our special snack.

Looking forward to another night!
Arlyn Bruccoli and Jenn Fitch

DCF Readers' Club! -- Our First Night

It was great to have so many readers at the EMES library last night for first DCF Readers' Club.  Last night's book was Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace by Nan Marino.  About 20 students joined us for book discussion, pancakes and bad music.  The book's main character has many musical gifts, one of which is his ability to get a patron to leave the Pancake Palace restaurant by playing 3 songs that he knows will drive them away.  In the book this is handled much more subtly than in our library last night.  Last night our readers shared songs that would drive someone away and described the person.  We listened to clips of the songs (see photos for some of the reactions).

 

We also discussed fame and friendship and how the characters in Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace handle each.

Our next DCF Readers' Club book will be Frogged by Vivian Van Velde and we will gather in the EMES library on the evening of Nov 17th.

Thanks to all the families for getting their kids to the library and bringing items to share.
Thanks to Linda Urban and Kathy Christy for helping to facilitate the discussions.

We look forward to seeing you all in Nov (and remember you can come for any evenings/books that you want to come -- our club is open to all readers in grades 4 through 8 who have read or are reading the current book).

Thanks again

Arlyn and Mrs. Fitch

Get Squishy!

Mr. Willard's 4th grade students are using squishy circuits to explore electricity.  Squishy circuits use two types of homemade playdough:
Conductive Dough and
Insulating Dough
Many students have been asking for the dough recipes.

Please go to this link to find the recipes and to learn more about squishy circuits.

Squishy Circuits- How to

The Pancake Countdown!

We are getting close to our first evening of the DCF Readers' Club.

Each year 30 books are nominated for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award. Each VT child in grades 4 to 8 who reads 5 or more gets to cast their vote for the best DCF book of the year.

This year we are starting an evening readers' club where we will do an activity related to the selected book and have a special snack.

The first event will be on Oct 6th from 5 to 7:30 pm  (you can come late and leave early if that suits your family).  Adults are not required to stay, but we hope they will.

Students must have read or be reading the book to come and our first book is
Hiding out at the Pancake Palace by Nan Marino.

If you are planning to come, please RSVP to Arlyn via abruccoli@u32.org so that she knows how many pancakes we will need.

We are looking forward to a night with DCF readers!
Arlyn and Jenn Fitch

Link for digital citizenship

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lTKR7oAQLle1X6bHrBQW-_-IxoOLEmmx1gBDlKTYUCk/viewform?usp=send_form

Readers caught in the act

Kids relaxing and reading.  Simply the best.

New Books!

Not only do we have the most beautiful library, but we also have new books!

Here is a preview of a few of the titles



Happy Reading!

Welcome Back!

Dear EMES Students,
Welcome back to EMES.  I can't wait to see all of you in our beautiful new library.  I was able to read a few books this summer and am looking forward to sharing some book ideas with you and to hearing what you have some to share too.  Please remember to return your Summer Book Bags as soon as you.

Happy 2014-2015 School Year!
- Arlyn

Announcing the Dorothy Canfield Fisher EMES Family Readers’ Club!

Starting next fall, we will host a series of evening events for upper grade EMES students and their families around selected titles from the 2014-2015 DCF list.

 
Each year 30 books are nominated for the DCF book award.  The winner is selected by VT students in grades 4 through 8.  In order to vote, students must have read at least 5 of the 30 nominees.  Mrs. Fitch and I have selected 6 of the 30 books for our family readers club and want to share this information with you now in case you were looking for some good books to read.

Readers club requirements:

• Students must have read the book (or be most of the way through a book) 
• Family members do not have to read the book for students to be able to attend, but we hope they will 
• Readers do not need to read all 6 titles, they can choose the ones they want to read and come to just those evenings
• Students who have graduated EMES, but are reading the DCF books are welcome to attend 

Each evening will include activities related to the book and light refreshments 
Selected Titles from the 2014/2015 DCF List:

v  Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace by Nan Marino

v  The Center of Everything by Linda Urban

v  Frogged by Vivian Van Velde

v  The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson

v  The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson

v  Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein  

v  Our 7th evening will be student choice 
Please note that we have a few of these titles available in audiobook as well. 

We plan to host our first evening in either late Sept or early Oct.  The first evening's book will be Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace.  We hope many readers and their families will join us for an evening of book discussion, activities, and perhaps pancakes.  Look for more additional details in the fall.

Books for 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 5 books from our library that they want to take home for the summer. 
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

summer reading permission form is attached here

Vermont Award Winners

The Red Clover and Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award winners have been announced...The Red Clover Winner ....

is The World's Greatest Lion by Ralph Helfer!

according to The Mother Goose Program site  "189 schools and four public libraries reporting, that's this year's Red Clover Award winner The World's Greatest Lion received 7,617 votes, Brothers at Bat got 3,391 and Goldlilocks and the Three Dinosaurs received 3,185."

The DCF Award Winner is Wonder by R.J. Palacio 

The Top Ten vote getters for this year's DCF List are:1. Wonder — 7332. The One and Only Ivan — 3463. I Funny — 3134. The False Prince — 3015. See You at Harry’s — 2956. Chomp — 2007. One for the Murphys — 1978. The Expeditioners — 1599. Ungifted — 12910. Little Dog, Lost – 125

Robots, Levers, and Soccer in 4th Grade!

On April 14, 2014 the 4th graders in Mr. Willard's room held the first robot soccer competition at EMES.  4th graders have been using the WeDo Lego robots to explore levers and pulleys as part of their investigation of simple machines. 

4 teams built and programmed a goal keeper and 4 teams built and programmed kicking legs.
Kickers competed against each other to determine the best kicker by distance.
The winning kicker was created and programmed by Elizabeth and Ivy with a distance of 69 CM.

Goal keepers competed against each other to determine the best keeper by blocks.
The winning keeper was created and programmed by Jacob, Jayden, and Tyler with 2 blocks and 1 score in its first round and 3 blocks in its final round.

Throughout this project students have looked at how changes in the program effect the way the lever in the robot behaves.

The final competition of kicker versus keeper went to the keeper!

EMES DCF AWARD UPDATE

EMES students in 4th through 6th grade have voted for the DCF Award for the 2013-2014 school year!

and our winner is:

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

It was a close race at EMES this year:

See You at Harry's and Dogs of Winter tied for 2nd place

The False Prince, I Funny, The One and Only Ivan, and Shadow on the Mountain tied for 3rd

Wonder and The Whole Story of Half a Girl tied for fourth place

In addition to voting, EMES students who read 5 or more books from this year's list played the great quote challenge game and had a special BLT cake to celebrate their participation in reading the DCF list.

The winners of the quote game were:

Mia, Claire, Sophia, and Averie!  Congratulations to our winners who received a book or a gift card to Bear Pond Books.

The new list is out and many of these titles are available in the library.

Click here to see the new list

- Arlyn

Red Clover Winner for EMES!!!

We don't know the statewide winner yet, but we have the EMES Red Clover voting results and the Winner is.....The World' Greatest Lion!

Students loved listening to this book.  No matter what class I read it to, I looked out at enthralled faces.  I will share the breakdown of results soon.

The nominees for next year have also been announced and that list appears below.

Happy Reading
Arlyn

2014-2015 RED CLOVER AWARD NOMINEES

VERMONT’S PICTURE BOOK AWARD

FOR CHILDREN IN GRADES K-4

Brown, Peter. Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. Illustrated by David Small. Little, Brown, 2013.

Bryant, Jen. A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Knopf, 2013.

Daywalt, Drew. The Day the Crayons Quit. Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. Philomel, 2013.

Fleischman, Paul. Matchbox Diary. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. Candlewick, 2013.

Fleming, Candace. Papa’s Mechanical Fish. Illustrated by Boris Kulikov. FSG, 2013

Gerstein, Mordicai. The First Drawing. Little, Brown, 2013.

Olshan, Matthew. The Mighty Lalouche. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Schwartz & Wade, 2013.

Sayre, April Pulley. Eat Like a Bear. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. Holt, 2013.

Shea, Bob. Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great. Hyperion, 2013.

Stone, Tanya Lee. Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell. Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman. Holt, 2013.

Searching and Sources of Information Part 2

So which one of these is the fastest car?

Koenigsegg
or
Hennessey Venom GT
or
Bugatti Veyron

NEW DCF LIST ANNOUNCED!

While we still haven't finished with our current list...still a few more weeks to read before we vote at EMES...the NEW DCF List has been announced.

Click here to see the 30 books nominated for 2014-2015 School Year

The new list is exciting! Let me also give add a shout out to East Montpelier resident Linda Urban whose book The Center of Everything is included on the new list. Happy Reading everyone!

Animoto Ads -- 6th Grade Projects

Animoto Ads Site

Sixth graders have worked on skills to support them in becoming competent creators and consumers of information technology, books, and media.   Students applied their understanding of advertising techniques to visual presentations they created about a range of topics from best family vacation spots to book advertisements.  An understanding of advertising techniques and their uses as persuasive tools helps students not only apply those techniques to their own persuasive arguments, but also helps students be more media savvy.  

Award Season!

It's award season again. Big nights and big gowns and....no not those awards! This week the American Library Assoc announced the winners of the Newbery Medal, the Caldecott Medal, the Coretta Scott King award, and more.

Many of these books are already in our library's collection, so come on in and check them out!

 Here are few of the books honored this year:
The John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature:
Winner: Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures written by Kate DiCamillo

Four Newbery Honor books were also named:Doll Bones written by Holly Black  The Year of Billy Miller written by Kevin Henkes One Came Home written by Amy Timberlake Paperboy written by Vince Vawter 

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:

Winner:

Locomotive illustrated by Brian Floca,

Three Caldecott Honor Books also were named: 

Journey written and illustrated by Aaron Becker
Flora and the Flamingo written and illustrated by Molly Idle
Mr. Wuffles written and illustrated by David Wiesner 

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

winner:

P.S. Be Eleven written by Rita Williams-Garcia

Three King Author Honor Books were selected: “
March: Book One, written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell
Darius & Twig written by Walter Dean Myers
Words with Wings written by Nikki Grimes

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau

One of this year's Red Clover books is The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau. This book focuses on how this famous self-taught French artist persevered and kept painting despite being repeatedly told his work was bad. As part of our exploration of this book, students have used the National Gallery of Art's Kids page to create collages using clips from Rousseau's paintings. To try this at home go to NGA Jungle Interactive