OCTOBER HAPPENINGS!!

" A fallen leaf is nothing more than a summer's wave good bye"
- Anonymous

OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS and BIOGRAPHIES

Oct. 2- Mahatma Gandhi- Political and spiritual leader of India, known for his advocacy of nonviolent resistance.

Oct. 5 - Robert H. Goddard - Called "The Father of Modern Rocketry", who launched the first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Maine in 1926.

Oct. 9 - John Lennon - Musician, member of the popular and influential British singing group The Beatles.
Oct. 11 - Eleanor Roosevelt - wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who set many precedents as a First Lady. She fought for the rights of the underprivileged and racial minorities.

Oct. 14 - Dwight D. Eisenhower - 34th U.S. President; Supreme Allied Commander for the invation of Europe during WWII.

Oct. 17 - Mae Jemison - Scientist and astronaut.

Oct. 20 - Mickey Mantle - Baseball Hall of Famer.

Oct. 27 - James Cook - Explorer of the South Pacific.

Want to know more about any of these famous people? Stop by the media center and check out one or more of their biographies!

Students in Grade 4 and Grade 5 saw a slide show and book trailers about the Sunshine State Young Reader's Award contest. Each one also received lists of previous winners as well as copies of this year's books. Hopefully, many will decide to participate in this state reading contest. Anyone interested just needs to read 3 books by April and they would be eligible to vote!


In Grade 2 , the students had a very varied, fun, and educational lesson. First, they listened to the "Davy Crockett Song" and saw a real "coon skin hat"; next they laughed as they watched a version (video streaming) of the tall tale Pecos Bill spoken by Robin Williams; then they read a peace book entitled, Can You Say Peace ? by Karen Katz; and finally, they read parts of Shel Silverstein's book entitled Runny Babbit, to honor his September 25th birthday. Some of the students shared the tall tales that they had written and they all received special "peace" bookmarks.

In Grade 1, students discussed the life of Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) whose birthday we remember on September 26. They compared facts and fiction as they listened to the book Who Was John Chapman? by Patsy Becvar. We discussed how "tall tales" evolved and then saw a video streaming of this famous person and heard the famous song about his life. Since Shel Silverstein's birthday is September 25th students enjoyed listening to some of his poems, told by him on CD, from Where the Sidewalk Ends.

In Jr. K students have been learning nursery rhymes and some of them decided to check out books about them from the library. We also discussed the four seasons and listened to the story entitled How Do You Know It's Fall? by Allan Fowler.

Third graders are learning the ten catagories of the Dewey Decimal System and will be working with partners to fill in titles in every section of the non-fiction area. They will be writing down the call numbers, authors, and subjects for each book they choose. By the end of the lesson they will hopefully understand the arrangement of this famous system as well as how to work cooperatively with their partners.

Alpha students celebrated the birthday of Stan Berenstain (September 29) by listening to The Bike Lesson, which made the children laugh as they followed along with Papa Bear giving Small Bear advice. They saw puppets of Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Grizzly Gramps, Brother Bear and Baby Bear. After meeting all the characters and listening to one of the stories, many students checked out a Berenstain bear book to read with their families. Enjoy!

In K, students discussed fiction and non-fiction books. Since they have recently planted a garden, we read the non-fiction book entitled Plant Secrets by Emily Goodman, which explains each stage of plants-seed, plant, flower, fruit. In honor of David Shannon's birthday (October 5) we also read the famous fiction story entitled A Bad Case of Stripes.


A big thank you goes out to Andi Mullins for chairing the library volunteers this year. Her hard work and precious time has paid off for all of us. She has been giving hands on training sessions since school started. We have many parents who are helping us in the media center this month and they are so appreciated. They are checking out books, helping students locate books and explore the many treasures found in our beautiful media center. Some are also helping with the book displays and decorations. Thank you so much to all of our wonderful parent volunteers who are helping the students "Go Wild for Books" this year. We love you!!!