MARCH MEMORIES

In first grade students heard the story behind the voice of the Statue of Liberty entitled Emma's Poem by Linda Glaser with paintings by Claire A. Nivola. Emma Lazarus was a writer at heart. She was born in 1849 into a wealthy Jewish family in New York City, and wrote many poems, stories, and articles during her short life. She was already a highly respected writer at thirty-eight years old when she died of Hodgkin's disease.
Emma Lazarus wrote "The New Colossus," poem about the Statue of Liberty, in 1883 when she was thirty-four years old. Thanks to Emma's friend Georgina Schuyler, the poem was engraved on a bronze plaque and placed inside an entryway to the statue's pedestal-thus saving it for posterity. The bold words that Emma gave the statue to speak are the most famous of all her poetry-and are permanently linked with the statue and known throughout the world. Now on display in the Statue of Liberty Museum, the poem is viewed by millions of visitors each year and continues to stir the hearts of people in the United States and give hope to all those around the world who "yearn to breathe free."

Students in grade 2 were comparing the Asian stories of The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop, Six Chinese Brothers: an ancient tale by Cheng Hou-tien, and The Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy in their library classes this week. After listening to all three stories they did a comparison and contrast exercise.

Who says encyclopedias are not being used anymore...well if you stopped in the media center this week when third graders were finding their answers to research questions using them, you would definitely change your mind. Students work cooperatively in teams of four and each one had a specific job to perform. One was the reader (who choose the question and read it to the group), the runner ( who actually went to the shelves to choose the correct encyclopedia volume to use to do the research), the researcher (who read the article for the answers) and the scribe (who wrote the answer down after the group discussed it). The students had so much fun when they finished one question they ASKED if they could do another one...and they learned how to use the index of the set of encyclopedias! Their rewards including sharing the questions and answers with the entire class and choosing a scratch and sniff book mark. Next lesson we will investigate almanacs and atlases!

Fifth graders were introduced to the famous British author Brian Jacques, renowned for his bestselling "Redwall" children's fantasy series who recently died on February 5, 2011. He came to write "Redwall" for the children at a blind school in Liverpool where he delivered milk. The tale centers around a young mouse Matthias who summons the courage to protect Redwall Abbey when it is threatened by a rat culled Cluny. Jacques made his writing as descriptive as possiblewith his blind audience in mind, and, when his childhood English teacher Alan Durband took the story to a publisher, it offered the author a five-book deal. Twenty-one Redwall books followed, starting with Redwall in 1986 and ending with "The Sable Queen" published in 2010. The 22nd novel, "The Rogue Crew," is due to appear later this year.

K students are planning a field trip to the zoo this month so in their library lesson they enjoyed the story of Felicity Floo Visits the Zoo by E. S. Redmond. In this story Felicity Floo takes a trip to the zoo despite being sick and as she pets all of the animals she leaves behind handprints of green slim which causes everything from emus to llamas and elephants to become ill. Proper hand washing was discussed and the students voted not to invite Felicity on their upcoming trip.

In preparation for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day holiday students in Jr K listened to the story Lucky O'Leprechaun written and illustrated by Jana Dillon which takes place on St. Patrick's Day eve, Meghan and Sean get help from their three grandaunties and manage to capture a sly leprechaun. Don't be surprised if some of the Jr K students go on a leprechaun search next Thursday, which is the holiday.

A BIG THANK YOU again to all of our library volunteers. I am so grateful to Jodi Gayoso for making sure every week the library schedule is posted and coverage is available for all the classes. All of you are so appreciated and your efforts are making the students happy to visit the media center.