Panther Paw Kick Off

The Panther Paw Book Contest is a fun, fun, fun reading program for Parish students in kindergarten through second grade. The goal is to encourage everyone to read and explore a variety of recently published books and to choose favorites. Many teachers will read ten or more Panther Paw books in the classroom, but parents will also want to join in the excitement and read some or all of these books together with their children at home.

There are 20 fantastic titles on the 2010 Panther Paw Booklist. Any child, parent or teacher who reads or listens to at least ten books can vote for his/her favorite. Anyone who reads or listens to all twenty books will be eligible to enter a drawing for a chance to win a complete set of the Panther Paw books for his/her classroom. Parents may check out one Panther Paw book at a time for overnight or a weekend. We'll vote in March, and we'll find out which book will be the winner. Until then...happy reading!

Happy Holidays!`

Holiday books are so much fun! Kindergarten and second grades looked closely at the story and illustrations in Jan Brett's Wild Christmas Reindeer. Then, we watched the video on her website as she described what inspired her to write the book. The first graders considered the importance and impact of a book's illustrator as we compared five versions of Clement Moore's The Night Before Christmas. They voted on the illustrator that most closely matched their mental images of the story. Jan Brett, who is very popular here at Parish, was the hands down winner!

The library rocked when the Pre-K classes danced the Santa Pokey decked out in jingling antlers.

Holiday Card Project

Mrs. Barrett and the Broncos joined me in our first online project. This Holiday Card Project was organized by Jennifer Wagner. The students created 22 holiday cards with greetings and information about our school. We sent them to other schools in our group around the world. We have started receiving cards from those schools. Our group includes one school in Scotland, several in different parts of Canada, one in Hawaii, and others in various states in the US. It has been so much fun reading the cards and using online tools like Google maps to explore the areas around the other schools. We are hoping to find a class in our group to visit via Skype. This has been a fantastic way to learn about other people and places, and it may provide the beginning of a global conversation!

Holiday Card Project

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Just Grace Book Club

Thirty four second grade girls signed up for our very first Book Club Lunch in the library. Just Grace was a huge hit with this group! Super powers were discovered, big questions were discussed, and laughter was sprinkled throughout the meeting. Readers are clamoring for the other books in the series. Second grade boys are next...

Jessica Harper Visits on Skype!

The first grade just had a great Skype an Author visit with Jessica Harper . She is the author of some fantastic books that we have in our library. We read several of them during story time. The first graders were very excited and prepared with questions for our visitor. Ms. Harper told us that her Cleo books are real stories about her own childhood. We loved Uh-Oh, Cleo and reading about "Stitches Saturday" when Cleo had to go to the hospital and get nine stitches. There will be a waiting list to check out Underpants on My Head which is about a family camping trip. We'll be watching for new Cleo books in the near future!
We send a big thank-you to Jessica Harper for donating her time to visit with us and fuel excitement for reading and writing!

A Place for Wonder

When I heard Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough talk about their soon to be published book, A Place for Wonder, at the NCTE Annual Convention last November, I knew that it would be a fantastic reference book that the teachers would love. It is really inspiring me to try to find new ways to make our library a place that encourages curiosity, creativity, and exploration. First to make the "wondering" scene was a HUGE green caterpillar that spun a cocoon within an hour of rescue from the sidewalk and coming into our library. As the children ask questions, make observations, and look for answers about him, they will learn more about nonfiction reading and writing. Nic Bishop's new book, Butterflies and Moths, will be getting a lot of attention!
If you find items that you think your friends would like to wonder about, please bring them in.

Just Grace Book Club

All second grade girls are invited to join the Just Grace Book Club. It's easy to join...just check out the book (we have 16 copies,) read it, and be ready for a fun lunch in the library one day in December to talk about it. I'll bring dessert! This is one of my favorite book series for girls. I just love Grace with her super power of empathy! Sign up at the check out desk, and be ready for a great read!