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!