Harry Potter Book Club!

This week, we were so excited to begin our after school Harry Potter book club!  Our book club is for students in grades 3-5 and we meet every Tuesday and Thursday.  During the meetings, we will listen to the first Harry Potter book read aloud and do different Harry Potter activities.  

After listening to chapters one and two this week, students had fun inventing their own magical spells.  Can't wait to share this fun book with our students during the next couple of months!!

Happy Reading!

Author Mentor!

Over the summer, I applied for our school to be a part of the new #KidsNeedMentors program and we were so lucky to be paired with author Hillary Homzie!  With this year-long program, the author and the school will work together to inspire students to be readers and writers. 

Mrs. Andersen, Mrs. Wright, and I have teamed up to bring this amazing experience to our fifth grade students.  We kicked off the program with a virtual author visit this week.  During the visit, Ms. Homzie talked about her past, how she gets her writing ideas, and shared some of her books with us.  Then, students had an opportunity to ask questions.

Overall, it was an amazing experience!  We are looking forward to with Ms. Homzie throughout the school year!

Also this week, some of our students visited our makerspace for the first time this school year!  Our third grade students enjoyed building with Legos, coding with Osmo, storytelling with puppets, and creating with paper crafts.  

Such a fun week!!

Ellie May on President's Day Book Talk

Ellie May on President’s Day by Hillary Homzie is a delightful story about a spirited girl who tries really hard to do the right things and impress her teacher in hopes that she will be chosen to be the flag holder.  Unfortunately, her misunderstood actions often get her into trouble and she becomes sure that she won’t be picked. In the end, she learns the importance of honesty, but will it be too late? Ellie May is a likable character that children will relate to.  The short chapters and frequent illustrations combine to make this an easy chapter book for younger readers. Diverse characters, facts about presidents, humor, and lots of teachable lessons make Ellie May on President’s Day a perfect read aloud for younger grades. This book would tie in nicely with units about presidents or when discussing character traits such as honesty, patience, kindness, or friendship. I’m looking forward to reading more Ellie May books in the series and sharing them with my students! (This book is expected to be released in December, 2018).

Dot Day 2018!

Every year, around September 15th, teachers and students across the world celebrate Dot Day!  This special day, based on the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds, is all about celebrating creativity and making a difference in the world.  In the book, Vashti has a hard time thinking about what to draw.  His teacher suggests to "make a mark and see where it takes you".  This encouragement leads Vashti to discover that she has a talent for creating dots.  In the end, Vashti makes a difference through her kind words and actions towards another little boy struggling with self esteem.

This year, after reading and discussing the book, students explored the augmented reality app from QuiverVision.  QuiverVision created a special coloring paper designed just for Dot Day.  After students create their dot on the special paper, they open the Quiver app and scan it in to see their dot come to life.  

Students were AMAZED to see their dots floating, spinning, multiplying, and bouncing!  This was such a fun way to connect books with technology and creating.

I love how so many of our students wrote positive messages on their dot and there were many very creative designs.

Happy Dot Day everyone!

Harrison School Digital Reading Options

It is so important for students to read at home every night!! Harrison students have a variety of options for accessing digital books to read on their Chromebooks or home devices.

Destiny Discover



Destiny is our school's library catalog and we have many ebooks and audio books that students can check out and read.  Click on the picture above or HERE to access our catalog.  Once there, users must log in before accessing the ebooks:

username: first initial + last name (example: danderson)
password: hsd + student I.D. # (example: hsd12345

Note: If multiple siblings have the same first initial, there might be a 1 at the end of the username.

Once logged in, scroll down to ebooks or audio books and click on "select all".  These books are checked out for two weeks and are automatically returned at the end of the two week period.  


Capstone Interactive Books (grades 5 & up)



Our Capstone Interactive ebooks can be accessed through Destiny Discover or by logging in to mycapstonelibrary.com.  Email Mrs. Anderson (danderson@hsd36.org) for the password or access the site through your Classlink account.


TumbleBooks (grades PK-3)



TumbleBooks is the perfect site for our younger readers.  Email Mrs. Anderson (danderson@hsd36.org) for the password or access the site through your Classlink account.


Epic Books (grades K-5)



Many of our teachers use Epic! books in their classrooms.  Epic! has a great selection of ebooks audio books that students love.  In order for students to use this resource at home, parents must create an account.  There is a small monthly fee but it is worth the cost.


McHenry Public Library

The McHenry Public Library has a wonderful selection of ebooks and audio books for people of all ages.  ALL of our students are eligible for a free public library card.  Please email Mrs. Anderson (danderson@hsd36.org) or contact the public library for more information.

Happy Reading!

Fliphunt Library Orientation

4th Grade Library Orientation #Fliphunt

By 4th grade, our students know the library routines so I'm always looking for new, engaging ways to kick off the year but still reinforce library expectations with these older students.  Flipgrid is an easy-to-use tool where students can record short videos to demonstrate learning.  Last year, we used Flipgrid to record book talks, book trailers, reading responses, and more. This summer, I was so excited to learn about Fliphunts and decided to give it a try for library orientation.  It was a hit!

A Fliphunt is similar to a scavenger hunt and there are many ways that it can be used in the classroom.  Here is a great blog post about how Fliphunts can be used.  For our library orientation Fliphunt, I "hid" three Fliphunt stations around the library. The stations that I chose were: book care, shelf marker use, and our new genrefied fiction section.  At each station, students read the sign and then recorded a video demonstrating their knowledge of the topic. 

Students had about 25 minutes to complete the tasks.  Not every group finished, but most came close. The students enjoyed working in groups, moving around the library, using the iPads, and recording videos.  It was such an engaging activity and it gave me a chance to see what they know and which skills could use more practice.

I will definitely be looking for more opportunities to use Fliphunts in the library.  What ideas do you have?  Send them my way!

Happy reading!

We Don't Eat Our Classmates

This week, most of our students heard the funny book We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins!

In this book, Penelope, the dinosaur, is headed to school for the very first time and she has a difficult time adjusting.  She discovers that eating her classmates is not the best way to make friends and she is lonely.  Through a surprising twist, Penelope learns what it feels like to be eaten and she finally changes her ways!

The students loved the book and after reading the story, we had some great discussions about what it means to be a good friend and that we should treat others the way we want to be treated.

Exciting News!
We have partnered with the McHenry Public Library to make it easier for students to get library cards!  Forms went home this week.  Once the forms are returned, it will take a few weeks for us to get the library cards to send home.  Students can use their library card number at school to access the public library's amazing selection of online resources.  Also, the Harrison school library is now a drop-off location for public library books (checked out by our families).  Please contact me with any questions!

Happy Reading!