Welcome to the 2021/22 school year!

 Hi all - welcome back to the 2021/22 school year! It's not actually hear *yet* as we have a few more weeks of vacation, but I wanted to post a quick hello and share some information. 

This year there will be classes in the library again. Yay! Students will learn about book care, library usage, digital literacy, online safety, robotics, and other fun stuff. We will also read the book award books together and have some fun with related activities. If you're interested in the book award books, here are the lists:

• Red Clover Book Award (grades K-4)
• Golden Dome Book Award (grades 4-8) (I forgot to post here that the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award program was renamed to the Golden Dome Book Award program, a name submitted by our very own DBS 4th graders and voted on my students around the state!)

I hope you have been reading this summer and enjoying the sunshine (when it isn't raining!). I can't wait to see everyone back in the library again soon! The fish are excited to see you too! They get lonely over the summer.

Book Awards and Celebrations

The Red Clover and Dorothy Canfield Fisher book awards have been decided for the 2018/19 school year.

Students at DBS were on the mark with both awards!  For the Red Clover book award, The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, by Drew Daywalt, won the vote at DBS and went on to win the state-wide vote as well.

This funny book explains the back story of these three great warriors and without fail every child starts playing the game as soon as the book is over.

The older kids were busy reading Dorothy Canfield Fisher book award nominees all year and when they got the chance to vote the results were a tie: Refugee and Ban This Book, both written by Alan Gratz!  When the votes were tallied across the state, Refugee took the win.

Refugee is a powerful story of three separate children, in three separate periods of time, escaping their dangerous homelands and seeking refuge in a safer place.

Sadly we can't go to the award ceremony this year, but I hosted a little celebration in the library for those who read and voted in the Dorothy Canfield Fisher award.  We had brownies, ice cream, and a fun Skype session with Terry Lynn Johnson, author of Falcon Wild!  She talked about falconing, mushing (dog sleds!), and her new book.  The kids had lots of great questions for her.

The 2019/20 list is out for both awards and the books are in.  I'm looking forward to sharing them with students next fall.

Library / Spanish Collaboration

One of the Red Clover books this year has several Spanish words, so the Spanish teacher and I are taking advantage of that for a few collaborative lessons!  With second grade several weeks ago, and again this week with third (3U) we were able to co-teach the class. We met in the library with the kids in their spots. We started with the regular Spanish greeting, then I read The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet! while she wrote down the Spanish words on the board as we read.  We took breaks to discuss the words and add additional words based on the illustrations.  The kids pointed out things they already knew, in Spanish, from the book's illustrations.  It was a really engaging class.  I'm looking forward to finding more opportunities for collaboration.

Red Clover winner

The Red Clover Award is a Vermont state book award for the best new picture book of the year. The committee chooses ten books and children in grades K-4 read them and vote.

My method of voting worked well last year, so we did the same thing again this year. After I read all ten books to the kids (over the span of several weeks), each kid gets a sticker dot to place on their book page of choice.

This year Whoosh, by Chris Barton, was the clear winner. It is a good book, but I'm a little skeptical of how many kids truly loved it and how many were voting for the book with the most stickers. :) I may try something a little more confidential next year!

Whoosh tells the true story of Lonnie Johnson, the inventor of the Super Soaker.  Mr. Johnson grew up in the 1950/60s, competed in science fairs at colleges that had just barely desegregated, worked at NASA on the Galileo mission, and went on to invent many things, including the Super Soaker.  The book is the story of diversity and overcoming adversity. A story of grit and perseverance.

I'll send the votes to the state to be compiled with votes from all of the other elementary schools.  We'll see if the rest of the state agrees with DBS's choice.

(My husband, reading over my shoulder while I wrote this, just went on a long tangent about thermal coupling, thermal piles, and the importance of the work Lonnie Johnson did for NASA and our space program.  So, I guess this guy is well known in the engineering field!)  

Winning Books

Spring is here and we are all hoping these April showers bring May flowers!

In the library we finished reading the Red Clover books and voted for our favorite.  Here at DBS The Blue Whale was the winner.  Voting closed around the state today, so we should know pretty soon which book won for the whole state.

The older kids completed their Dorothy Canfield Fisher books and voted as well.  At DBS we had a tie between The Terrible Two and The Seventh Most Important Thing!  State-wide voting for this also closed today and we are eagerly awaiting those results!

The lists for next year have been announced.  These would be a great start for your summer reading!  Next year's fourth and fifth graders can count the Dorothy Canfield Fisher books they read over the summer as part of their voting goal for next school year!

• Dorothy Canfield Fisher list for 2017/18
• Red Clover list for 2017/18

In other award news, our very own Harper Robinson won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher 60th anniversary poster contest!

Harper's artwork will appear on Dorothy Canfield Fisher media and publications celebrating their 60th anniversary.  Harper will receive autographed copies of the 2016/17 winning book and special recognition at the award ceremony.  Congratulations Harper!

Voting

Voting has begun for the Red Clover books.  So far The Blue Whale and Glamourpuss are in the lead!

Meet the Dullards - the extra boring edition

Meet the Dullards, by Sara Pennypacker, just might win our Red Clover Book Award voting next month.  This books appeals to elementary kids of all ages right from the cover.  Thanks to oddly drawn characters, a dog on a ball, and a call-out claiming the book to be an "Extra Boring Edition!!", kids are hooked and want to read more!

Mr. and Mrs. Dullard are quite dull, but the kids... well, you need to keep a close eye on them!  The Dullards take books away from their children in favor of plain paper, have their children watch a powered-off television, and even request vanilla ice cream with no vanilla.  The students think this is all pretty hysterical.  One little preschooler even went home and tried to tell her mom all about the book, leaving her mother quite confused!  :)

The text tells us that in the end the Dullards go to bed quite content in the knowledge that their children are perfect bores... but the illustrations show something a little different.  Read it and find out!

We Forgot Brock!

We Forgot Brock!, by Carter Goodrich, is another one of this year's Red Clover Book Award nominees and the children are loving it!  Phillip and Brock are best friends, but we quickly learn that not everyone can see Brock.  The whole family goes to the fair one day and while Phillip gets sleepy and his parents bring him home, Brock is not tired at all and ready to ride "the Brain Shaker!" When Phillip arrives at home and realizes that Brock is not there, he is devastated.  He spends the next few days looking everywhere for Brock.  Meanwhile, Brock meets a little girl named Anne who takes him home and tries to make him happy.

 

Anne, of course, has her own imaginary friend named Princess Sparkle Dust.  I love this image the most because EVERY SINGLE CLASS commented that the two imaginary friends were in love.  Without any prompting on my part, at least one kid in each class pointed out that the red cheeks means he loves her and her eyes and purple circles means she loves him.  I love it!

I don't want to spoil the story for you, but it does turn out ok and everyone ends up happy in the end!  Including all the kids who have read it.  :)

Blue Whales

In first grade today we read The Blue Whale, by Jenni Desmond.  This non-fiction book is full of interesting facts about blue whales that the first graders loved! 

Did you know that a baby blue whale drinks 55 gallons of milk each day?!  That's a lot of milk! 

What makes this postmodern book a classic is the visual secondary story being told along the way using only images. We learn that the little boy loves blue whales and has books about them and whale decorations everywhere.

Did you know that you can fit 50 people inside a whale's mouth?  Good thing blue whales don't eat people!

The first graders were engaged from start to..well, until we ran out of time!  It's a long book.  We will save the rest for next week. I want wait to see how it ends!

Red Clover Book Awards

This spring we will be reading the ten Red Clover Book Award nominees and voting on our favorite one. According to the Vermont Department of Libraries' website:

The Red Clover Book Award is designed for children in kindergarten through fourth grade. Each year thousands of Vermont school children read the 10 nominated picture books and vote for their favorite in the spring. The award has been handed out annually since 1997.

We will be voting with the very hi-tech "stickers on posters" method. :)

You can see the list of books nominated on the Red Clover website.