Personalized Summer Reading Lists

Our student teacher, Mrs. Leonard, finished her time at Harrison School last week and we were sad to see her leave!  Before leaving, she planned a wonderful lesson with our 3rd and 4th grade students to promote summer reading.  The students created their own personalized summer reading lists!  



Mrs. Leonard began each class with a discussion about how to find new books to read.  She also showed the students how to use the "explore" feature in Destiny Discover.  Then, students were invited to preview books that were pulled that are similar to some of the more popular books in our library (Dog Man, Raina Telgemeier, Harry Potter, and state award lists).  

 

Finally, students browsed the shelves, used Destiny to locate books, and talked to their friends to get new book recommendations.  They added all of the books that looked interesting onto their list.



Most of the students left the library with long lists of books they'd be interested in reading this summer and they really seemed to enjoy the activity.  It's definitely something we will do again in the future!

Happy reading!

Battle of the Books

We recently finished our Battle of the Books season and it was bigger than ever!  This year, we had three different competitions: 3rd grade, 4th/5th grade, and 6-8th grade with a combined total of 81 students participating on 16 teams!!

Our season began in December with assemblies to share the books for each level and to kick-off the competition.  We tried something new this year during our kick-off assembly for grades 6-8.  Instead of simply book talking the books on the list, we used Kahoot and had students try to guess each of the books on the list.  It was fun!

 

Students started reading the books right away and teams were formed in January/February.  Each team was assigned one staff member as their adviser who checked in with the team periodically to make sure the team stayed on track.  Most students read 2-4 of the books on the list.

Harrison School 2018-19 Book Lists!

3rd Grade	4th & 5th Grade	6th, 7th & 8th Grade
Andy Shane and the Barn Sale by Jacobson^	Bridge to Terabithia by Paterson^	Bruiser by Shusterman*
Buddy Files: Case of the Library Monster by Butler	Fish in a Tree by Hunt^	Cinder by Meyer
Clementine by Pennypacker	Hachiko Waits by Newman	Ghost by Reynolds^
Frindle by Clements^	Mighty Jack (1) by Hatke	Jefferson’s Sons by Bradley^
Hilo (1) by Winick	Moo by Creech^	March, Book One by Lewis
Houdini Box by Selznick	Plants v Zombies: Plant your path by West	Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25 by Evans
Infamous Ratos by LaReau^	Project Mulberry by Park*^	Pull of Gravity by Polisner
Little Wolf’s Book of Badness by Whybrow^	Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Berlin	Running Dream by Van Draanen^
One and Only Ivan by Applegate^	Tuesdays at the Castle by George	Shadow by Morpurgo*
Stick Dog by Watson	What Was the Great Chicago Fire by Pascal	Temple Grandin by Montgomery*

The Battles!

We started with the preliminary rounds last week on Monday and Tuesday.  Since two of our levels had an odd number of teams, we tried something new.  For the 4th/5th grade battle and then again for the 6-8th grade battle, all of the teams competed together in the first round at the same time.  Each team worked together to answer the same 20 questions (using Google Forms).  The teams with the highest scores moved on to the semi-final round, which was a traditional bracket-style competition.  All of our questions are in the format of "In which book..." with the answer being the title and author of the book.  Because we had so many teams, this stage of the competition took two days!

 

 

Our final battles were on Friday and all of the teams did so well!  We had TWO staff teams this year and they kicked off our morning with a staff vs staff battle.  I LOVE how much these teachers are modeling a love of reading with our students by reading the books and competing in the battle!!

 

After the staff battle, the two junior high teams in the final had their competition.  It was close but "The Fantastic 4 + Camran" won!

 

Next, the winner of the junior high team competed against the winning staff team.  Last year, the junior high team beat the staff team.  The staff team was out for revenge...and they prevailed this time!



We then moved on to our 4th/5th competition.  Both teams competed hard but the fourth grade team, The BOB Squad, beat the fifth grade team!

 

Finally, our rookie 3rd grade teams were so excited to compete in their first battles in front of an audience!  It was close but The Thunderbolts won!

 

The Battle of the Books competition is always a highlight of our school year.  With so many students and staff members participating, it truly brings our school together.  It promotes a love of reading and it's so great to see students succeeding who sometimes struggle in other areas of school.  One of my favorite parts is seeing the teams working together, collaborating, to answer the questions.

I'd like to give a special shout-out to my library student teacher, Emily, who helped write questions, organize the questions, and was a time keeper during the battles!

I can't wait until Battle of the Books next year!

Poetry

April is National Poetry Month and we celebrated in many ways in the library!

  

Kindergarten

After reading Once I Ate a Pie, kindergarten students wrote their own sweet puppy poems!  

We also read various nursery rhymes, which are fun a type of poetry.


First Grade

We read Dogku and students chose to write their own puppy poem or "I like" poem.  We also wrote Earth Day acrostic poems!

Second Grade

Students wrote rainbow sensory poems and cinquain Earth Day poems!

Third Grade

After reading Guess Who, Haiku students wrote their own animal haiku riddle poems.  They are typing their poems onto a Google Slide and adding images.  I can't wait to see them all!

Fourth Grade

Students have been researching people they view as heroes.  Students in Mrs. Ellis's class are now writing poems about their heroes.  

Poetry is so much fun to read and write!

First Grade Retelling Activities

This past week, we finished up a retelling unit with first grade and they loved it!!  Each week, I read a different book out loud to the students. 

    

After reading the book, students were given a "prop" to use to help retell the story such as a picture of a cat (Lost Cat), a spoon (Spoon), and a pair of chopsticks (Chopsticks).  Then, the students used Flipgrid to record a video retelling the story.  We worked on sequencing and adding in different story elements such as characters, setting, problem, and message.  

This was such a fun activity and a great way to combine books, technology, and ELA standards.  Flipgrid was the perfect tool for this!


Student Teacher

Our new library student teacher started this week!  Her name is Mrs. Emily Leonard and she will be with us at Harrison for six weeks.  The students were very excited to meet her!

Happy Reading!

Bluestem Award Voting

This week, we wrapped up voting season with our Bluestem Award voting party!  The Bluestem Award is Illinois' reader's choice award for students in grades 3-5.  Each year, there are 20 books on the list and students must read/hear at least 4 of the books in order to qualify to vote.  The books on this list include chapter books, graphic novels, and nonfiction picture books.  I love how this award promotes reading in general, as well as reading books that students might not otherwise read. 

   

One of the books on this year's list, Ada's Violin, I read aloud to all of the students in grades 3 and 4.  This is the amazing true story of the recycled orchestra from Paraguay. After reading the book, we watched a short video clip about the story on 60 Minutes and had great discussions about how fortunate we are where we live.  We also read Game Changer: John Mclendon and the Secret Game and learned a true story about a couple of basketball coaches who worked to end segregation long before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was famous.  Both books were great for discussions about empathy and taking action when there is injustice.

Bluestem Voting Party



This year, we had 24 students eligible to vote at our voting party!  During the party, students voted, had snacks, and then we played a Kahoot game with trivia questions from the books. 

 

The winning book for Harrison School is Moo by Sharon Creech and the runner-up is The Story of Diva and Flea by Mo Willems.  

  

We had so much fun and we can't wait to find out the winners for the whole state!

Monarch Award Voting

Every year, one of the highlights in our library is voting for the state book awards.  The Monarch Award is a list of 20 books that are chosen by teachers and librarians in the state of Illinois.  Children in grades K-3 are eligible to vote for this award, provided that they've read/heard at least 5 of the books.

During the fall/winter, I read many of the books on the list out loud to our students and then ALL of the students in these grades are eligible to vote.  There were so many amazing books on the list this year!  The books this year include picture books, nonfiction books, short chapter books, and a poetry book.

This week, after a brief overview/reminder of all of the books on the list, students voted for their favorite one.  Each student was given a Monarch "ticket" that they placed in the box for the book they wanted to win.  They were so excited to cast their votes!!

When students visit the library next week, we will share this graph with all of the votes.

The 2019 winning book at Harrison School is...

The 2019 runner-up is...

We can't wait to find out which book is the winner for the entire state!

Happy Reading!