The Best Gift

Well, it looks like my "Weekly" blog has turned into a MONTHLY blog. Why? Because we are SO BUSY here at Memorial! As you can see from the picture here, we have been doing lots of research, producing Power Point presentations and podcasts at every grade level. The first half of the school year has been very productive and we have a lot more planned here in the library for the second half of the year. We'll be researching Explorers in 5th grade, Rain Forests in 2nd grade, Animals in Kindergarten just to name a few things! I also hope to get us all reading non-stop for an entire school day at the Second Annual Read-a-thon here at Memorial. And we've had a nice steady flow of new books added to our collection so I am sure there are plenty of good books to keep our students reading at home on their own time too!

Speaking of reading, let's talk about our much deserved vacation break that begins on Friday! As far as I'm concerned, one of the best gifts of all is a good book. My family celebrates Christmas and I always hope that Santa has picked out a nice new book for me to cozy up with after all the festivities have died down.

But my favorite gift of all is the gift of sharing. Our Kindergarteners came to the library today and we talked about Hannukah and the gift of charity - a very important component of the Jewish festival of lights. The children made tzedakah boxes. The tradition of giving tzedakah is a basic part of Jewish living. The children will collect pennies in their tzedakah boxes and donate their collection to other less fortunate. The ability to give to others and the joy it brings is probably the very best gift of all!

Finally, I have to give thanks to those committed parents who give to others each week right here in the school library. THANK YOU to my fabulous library volunteers!

I wish you a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah and peace to you and yours! See you in 2009!

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Ms. Pastore's fifth grade students just finished reading the classic C.S.Lewis tale The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I think this story has endured over the years because it is so rich in themes and has an exciting plot. I love books that get you thinking and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe does just that! One of the interesting dynamics in the story is the relationship between Edmund and his siblings.

If Edmund were your brother would you be able to forgive him for trusting the White Witch? Even after Aslan is killed? Click on "Comments" below to share your thoughts and read what others think....

Happy Reading!

ELECTION DAY AT LAST!

Well, Election Day is here and it's not clear as I write this, who our country's new president will be but our students here at Memorial had their say last week. We help a Mock Election on Thursday, October 30th and the votes were counted and winner announced...it will be interesting to see if our students were consistent with the rest of the country. McCain received 131 votes and Obama received 295. Students participated in passionate debates over the pros and cons of each candidates for days leading up the Mock Election. The 6th graders held a formal debate and you can hear some of it by clicking on our Podcasts By The Sea section of the school website:
http://www.memorialel.mersd.org/Pages/meme_tech/podcasts
The first graders have done some really interesting research on presidents fro the past . You can check out Miss Fenton's class project's by clicking on:
http://www.memorialel.mersd.org/Pages/meme_tech/podcasts
Our students have been so engaged in the electoral process, its been a joy to watch and a learning experience for me too!

Happy Reading!

Orange You Glad It's October?!

Ok - bad play on words! But we have so many great things going on here at Memorial this month! This week is the PTO's Annual Fall Book Fair. While this closes down the library for a week, all of the students enjoy coming in to purchase books they can take home forever - and the teachers love this opportunity to load up on new titles for the classroom bookshelves. This Thursday night the Book Fair will be open for Special Hours during the Annual Spaghetti Supper Fundraiser so stop by and check out all the great books provided by The Book Shop in Beverly Farms that are available for puchase!

Many of our students have "gotten their feet wet" in the fun world of podcasting. Mrs. Heslop's first grade class has completed podcasts of Eric Carle Book Reviews. Mrs. Fleming's third graders have podcasted their Author Studies of classic authors. Take a listen via Mrs. Seymour's Technology Web page at http://www.memorialel.mersd.org/Pages/meme_tech/podcasts

Next week, all Memorial students will have the opportunity to cast their vote for the U.S. Presidency in our school's Mock Election. Look for more information in your backmail or via email.

Happy reading!

Welcome Parents & Students K-3!

Welcome to the Memorial School Library! This post will be up on our Smart Board tonight to introduce the School Library Blog By-The-Sea. Each week I will post a message indicating activities and events that have taken place in the library or are planned for the future. I hope you will check in on this blog regularly to see what we have going on here and I hope you'll make comments on the blog. (see Comments button below.)

Information literacy (our goal here at the library) comes in many forms. Blogging is just one of the tools many of our students will be introduced to this school year. It's a great communication tool between the school and home. It also provides a great way for students to practice their writing and comprehension skills. We hope your whole family will become bloggers and add the School Library Blog By-The-Sea to your list of "Favorites" on your computer!

Enjoy the Open House and as always...Happy Reading!

Can You Say BUSY?!

School is well underway and everyone is settling into schedules. We've been really busy ramping up for Podcast projects...Mrs. Heslop's class is getting ready to make podcasts of Eric Carle Book Reviews. Mrs. Fleming's third grade is busy researching famous authors and will be presenting bibliographies of the authors via podcasts too! Mrs. Fenton's class just began to research different Presidents of the United States. They'll be working in small groups the next few weeks leading up to the presidential election. And, next week the fourth graders will begin researching U.S. landmarks for Power Point Presentations they will be making to teach their fellow classmates.

The weather has turned and it's the perfect time to curl up with a good book on these chilly days. Enjoy and happy reading....

Time Flies...

When you're having fun and this week went at rocket speed! Students have been coming in for book exchange and enjoying all the new books that the library has to offer. The good news is, there are many more new books to come. Most popular picks have been the graphic novels and books on Barack Obama(!). There are so many new, interesting projects that are getting started and I've been busy preparing for them. In the coming weeks, Mrs. Fleming's class will kick off a pilot program where they conduct Author Studies and then share their learning via podcasts! Mrs. Heslop's class will try out the hip, happening podcast technology when they produce Book Reviews of Eric Carle titles. Mrs. Seymour has been busy introducing students to blogs including this one and the votes are coming in on whether or not we should re-name Reading Central (the school library)- it looks like the majority of voters think we should rename it! Now we'll have to get to work to think up a new name.
I'm looking forward to Monday morning's Volunteer Orientation (at 9am in the Library - ALL ARE WELCOME). I am hopeful that we'll have lots of new volunteers to help get our work done in the library. Well that's it for now! Until next week which I'm guessing will fly by even faster...happy reading!

Library Rules...By Our Kindergartners

Today I was happy to welcome in Mrs. Manninen and Mrs. Grella's Kindergarten classes. I introduced myself and got to put names and faces together...and what bright, sweet faces they are! I showed the children my "To Do" list. It's SUPER long - so they took pity on me and agreed to help me out with one of my most pressing tasks, the rules for the Library.

We talked about all kinds of different things to remember when visitng the library and when taking a library book home. Here's the final list these brilliant students came up with:

MEMORIAL SCHOOL LIBRARY RULES

1. No running in the library.

2. Use inside voices only.

3. Return books on time.

4. Respect teachers and other students and

users of the library.

5. Keep books clean, dry, and safe from pets, food

and little brothers & sisters.

Now I can cross that off my list! Getting my work done with all those helpers was easy and fun! If only they'd work for me full time...that reminds me, I am still hoping more parents or grandparents will sign up to volunteer at the library. A Volunteer Meeting is scheduled for 9am, Monday, September 15th. Hope to see you there!

Week One...And Still Standing!

It's been great to welcome all of the children back and see the excited new faces of the Kindergarteners! The week flew by - as it always seems to - and we've finished it off with a BANG here at the Library...
Jean Marzollo, author of the popular "I Spy " and "Shanna" series as well as dozens of other children's books, visited with grades K through 2. Mrs. Marzollo is the great aunt of Peter (K) and Allen (Gr 2) Martin and was kind enough to donate her time to speak about creating "I Spy" books and introduce us to her new E-picture books. You can access these (free) interactive "story game books" on her website http://www.jeanmarzollo.com/. The site has books that can be read to the viewer or that the viewers can read themselves and it has lots of fun (learning)games. This visit was a huge treat and enjoyed by all! Special thanks go to Drayton Martin for helping to arrange the visit. Next week, we'll have a slide show of the visit featured on the front page of the Memorial School website so come back then and check it out.
In the meantime, have a great weekend and HAPPY READING!

It's Almost Over!

...The summer that is! Just a few more days before we return to school. I've been busy cleaning up the library, putting all our new books out on display, prepping lessons and working on getting my new web page and this blog up and running with lots of helpful information! I've also been working on welcoming new families and recruiting new volunteers for the library. Volunteers keep the library chugging along day-to-day!
Check out the Library Web Page and come back and visit my blog each week to see what's going on the Memorial Library!

Just Round The Corner

Welcome to my new (first ever actually) blog for Reading Central, the school library at Manchester Memorial School! On this blog, I will provide Memorial students, parents and faculty the opportunity to learn what's new at the library and what Memorial students are busy reading and researching about. I will also be posting my own current reads (see My Favorite Summer Reads below) and sharing activities that take place in our library.

Each grade level will be conducting research in the library this year. There will also be some new things going on - for example, I've added an entire section of graphic novels to the collection for the first time ever here at Memorial, I'll also be working with our new Technology Teacher, Mrs. Seymour, to bring technology and information literacy together. We'll be trying out podcasting, blogging and may be including wikis to some of our curriculum-focused projects!

Your comments and suggestions are very welcome here so please feel free to post to this blog (that's when you click on "Add Post" and type in your own thoughts so anyone who views this blog can read them.) And be sure to check back regularly so you know what's going on here at Reading Central!

Enjoy the rest your summer...and Happy Reading!

- Ms. S

PS: Don't forget to Cast Your Vote on whether we should rename Reading Central! Thanks!