Monday, October 20, 2014

Global Read Aloud 2014

The Global Read Aloud is a global literacy initiative for kids from kindergarten through grade 12.  Children from all over the map are connecting, through technology, to communicate about books that have been pre-selected.

Meg & Olivia's 1/2 Class and Sierra's 3/4/5's kicked off the GRA with International Dot Day.  They read Peter Reynolds' The Dot, and created projects with their own dots.  These projects are captured in movies here, which we shared with other classes in other parts of the country.  Have a look!






Olivia & Meg's class is continuing reading Peter Reynolds' books and sharing ideas with a class from the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. 






Sofia's 4/5 class has been reading Jennifer Holm's The Fourteenth Goldfish.
And if you have a student in Sofia's class, ask him/her about the book.
There are 891 classes around the world registered in The Fourteenth Goldfish book group! We have a discussion board on the Edmodo website. You can see a trailer for the book (below):


Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Kindness


After reading Jackie Woodson's Each Kindness, with second and third graders, we came up with ways that we can be kind in the library.


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Teaching with Text Sets

For families in NYC public schools, June 5 (Chancellor's Day) means a day off from school.  For teachers, it means professional development.  We are so fortunate to have Mary Ann Cappiello and Erika Dawes of Lesley University to lead us in a workshop on "Teaching with Text Sets," a way of looking at multimodal (i.e., different forms) texts (books, art, film, websites, maps, drawings, etc.) to support, drive, and energize curriculum.  Mary Ann and Erika are authors of a professional book, and Mary Ann co-authors the terrific blog for teachers called The Classroom Bookshelf, which reviews new books.  


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Summer Reading 2014!

Wherever your family is this summer, your child can be part of a summer reading community. The New York Public Library has launched its 2014 Summer Reading Challenge, a safe, online network where children can build a virtual shelf and collect badges as they complete various tasks (you get a badge just for signing up).  The Library has a recommended list of diverse books (organized by grade level).  In addition, readers can take--or create--a quiz based on a book. (There's a recommended book list and sign-up for adults, too).  Children's librarian extraordinaire Thea Taube will be visiting classes from TNS and S.T.A.R. to to get kids excited about the Library's Summer Reading Program.  

Other organizations are offering prizes for recording the books that children read this summer (It's okay to double dip! You can fill out multiple reading logs).  Here are some:

Scholastic Reading Under The Stars
Pizza Hut Book It! Read Your Heart Out
TD Bank Summer Reading Program (for account holders)
Barnes & Noble Imagination’s Destination (read 8 books and get a free book)

Do you have an electronic reading device (e.g., iPad, Kindle, Nook, iPhone, or other smartphone)?  The library also offers tons of books to be uploaded to your device for free.  I will be offering a demonstration for parents on how to upload these to your device (date to be announced).


However or wherever you read, keep on reading together!

Love, Your Librarian, Cheryl



Friday, January 3, 2014

New Books!

Take a look at all our new books (and this is just a partial list)!  Thanks to all who have donated books from our Wish List.

Follow McKinley Library's board New Books January 2014 on Pinterest.
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