MARVELOUS MAY

HAPPY MAY DAY!

The votes have been counted and the winners of this year's FRA (Florida Reading Association) Children's Book Award for 2010-2011 have been announced:
**WINNER -
Dewey: There's A Cat in the Library - by Vicki Myron

*HONOR TITLES -
Three Little Gators - by Helen Ketteman
Trouble Gum - by Matthew Cordell

An interesting fact is the students at Shorecrest who voted in Grades Alpha-grade 2 also picked the same winning book and one of the honor books was their second winner. Congratulations to all of our voters!

SUNSHINE STATE YOUNG READER'S AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
In a very close contest, the grades 3-5 winner is M. C. Delaney for Obi, Gerbil on the Loose.
The grades 6-8 winner is Roland Smith for I.Q.: Independence Hall. This is Mr. Smith's 3rd time as a SSYRA winner. He has previously won for Jaguar (grades 6-8 in 1999-2000) and Cryptid Hunters (grades 3-5 and 6-8 in 2006-2007).

Students in grade 1 are studying life in the oceans so they enjoyed learning facts about Manatees in the National Geographic book entitled Face to Face with Manatees by Brian Skerry. Do you know what a group of manatees are called? What are the males called? How about the females and babies? If you want to know, just ask any first grader.
In honor of Earth Day, students also read the book entitled Michael Recycle Meets Litterbug Doug by Ellie Bethel. Not only did they enjoy the story, they learned some valuable lessons about going green and trash. Next time you buy a six-pack of any beverage, snip the rings of the plastic holder before you throw it away. Uncut rings often strangle seabirds and other animals. Another interesting fact, did you know that twenty years ago there were almost 8.000 landfills in the United States? As of 2007, there were more than 1,700. Recycling saves room in landfills. So be cool....recycle!

Students in grade 2 continued to take turns reading Africa Is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight by reading about all the countries in the continent of Africa. This vast continent is made up of 53 nations. If you took the land of the United States and added it to the lands of China, Japan, and Europe, Africa would still be bigger.Unlike any other continent, it is divided into two almost equal lengths by the equator, and it is nearly as wide as it is long.

Before they begin planting new trees, Mr. Tate tells his students to listen closely as the lone tree behind their school counts out ten ways it serves the needs of different animals. Students in Jr. K listened to Alison Formento's gentle story, entitled This Tree Counts, illustrated with Sarah Snow's beautiful papercuts, whispering important ideas to young tree lovers.

Opposites was the main theme for students in Alpha as they read Black White Day Night by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. In this book there are a series of colorful die-cut pages that introduce a number of things that are opposites including black and white, big and little, and day and night. The children learned and reviewed opposites and fun, too!

In grade 3, students discussed their favorite type of bubble gum.Gum has been around for centuries. The ancient Greeks chewed say from mastic trees. The American Indians chewed spruce resin. Men in top hats and women in puffy dresses chewed gum to cure things like stomachaches. Gum wasn't that exciting. But what if gum chewers could blow bubbles while chewing it? In the late 1920's a factory in Philadelphia was working on a top secret project. Month after month the workers experimented with different ingredients and formulas. And month after month all they had to show for their hard work was a big sticky mess. Would there be no bubble gum? Sometimes the best inventions come from the most unexpected places...Full of fun historical facts, Pop! : the Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy is the true story of how bubble gum was invented.
They also took turns telling the story of The Silver Pony: a story in pictures by Lynd Ward. They needed to pay attention to what the names of the characters were and what the previous readers said since this was a book without any words. It was amazing that every class told a different story, too!

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.

AWESOME APRIL

Mo Willems is the New York Times best-selling author and illustrator of picture books and early readers that have changed the face of children's literature. He has been awarded a Caldecott Honor on three occasions, and two of his Elephant and Piggie early readers received Theodor Seuss Geisel Medals. Therefore, many of the students in grade 1 knew the author of the book they read this week in their library class entitled, City Dog, Country Frog. In this story, written with poignant text and expressive watercolors, there is a reflection on the natural course of friendship and life that will resonate with readers of all ages. The second book they read was entitled Chalk by Bill Thomson which takes place on a rainy day with three children in a park with a dinosaur spring ride and a bag of chalk. The children begin to draw and then...magic.

Students in grade 2 took turns reading Africa Is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight by reading about all the countries in the continent of Africa. This vast continent is made up of 53 nations. If you took the land of the United States and added it to the lands of China, Japan, and Europe, Africa would still be bigger.Unlike any other continent, it is divided into two almost equal lengths by the equator, and it is nearly as wide as it is long.

To celebrate the Arts in our library classes, K students heard the story entitled Louie by Will Hillenbrand. Louie, the pig, loves to draw, but it gets him thrown out of every school he attends. So he goes to live with his aunt and uncle who help him realize he has a wonderful talent.

Students in Jr K heard the newest Knuffle Bunny entitled Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems. In this third book in the series Trixie and her famiy are off on a fantastic trip to visit her grandparents-all the way in Holland. But does Knuffle Bunny have different travel plans? The first book is entitled Knuffle Bunny: a cautionary tale and won a Caldecott Honor. The sequel is Knuffle Bunny Too: a case of mistaken identity.

Alpha students enjoyed listening to Little Mouse Gets Ready by Jeff Smith. There is a lot to do before Little Mouse is reay to go visit the barn. Will he master all te intricacies of getting dressed, from snaps and buttons to Velcro and tail holes? This Theodor Seuss Geisel honor book by Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Jeff Smith is filled with humor and excitement. Another story they heard was entitled I'm the Best by Lucy Cousins. Valuable lessons were learned and discussed with the students after listening to this colorful work.

Students in grade 3 had to solve 13 riddles in Spot the Plot by J. Patrick Lewis. Each riddle described a book the students may have read and some of the titles included The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Madeline, Cinderella, The Story of Ferdinand, Goodnight Moon, The Adventure of Pinocchio, The Polar Express, Rapunzel, Charlotte's Web, Tacky the Penquin, Click, Clack, Moo, and the Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Fifth grade students learned about all the many award-winning books for young readers by author Avi. His extraordinary range of books include fantasies, sports stories, tales of suspense and terror, historical adventures, and a graphic novel. He has written over 70 books and is the creator of the Breakfast Serials stories by well-known writers, which appear, chapter by chaper, in hundreds of newspapers across America, and now have more than forty million devoted weekely readers. He and his family live in Denver, Colorado.

Voting took place in the media center last week and over 70 voters from grades 3-5, who read at least 3 books, cast their ballots for their favorite book from this year's Sunshine State Young Reader's Award contest. The results were sent to the DOE in Tallahassee and we will know the winner by the middle of May. Thank you to all the teachers and students who participated in this state reading program.

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.