APRIL AUTHORS

SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:

Hans Christian Andersen - April 2
Richard Peck - April 5
Beverly Cleary - April 12
Robert Lopshire - April 14
Barbara Park - April 21
Paula Fox - April 22
Patricia Reilly Giff - April 26
Lois Duncan - April 28


Students in Grades 3-6 voted for their favorite Sunshine State Book from this year's list. Voting took place in the media center from April 12-14. All students who had read 3 or more books were eligible to participate in this state reading contest. There were 124 voters and they received a pencil, sticker, and two bookmarks for participating. A big Thank You goes to all the teachers and students who helped make this state wide reading contest so successful.

Celebrate National Library Week - April 11-17 -This year's theme, Communities Thrive @ your library, reminds patrons that the library is the place where people of all backgrounds grow together.

Have you ever heard the story of The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop, or Six Chinese Brothers by Cheng Hou-tien, or The Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy? Well, this week during their library lesson all the second graders read these famous folktales and were surprised to learn of the incredible powers they possessed. After reading the stories children also discussed the differences and similarities. They are very excited about acting out these stories during the next lesson, since they are currently studying Asia in their classrooms.

Sea turtles were the subject in the media center for students in Grade 1 since they will soon be studying a unit on the Ocean. Students listened to the musical telling of Follow the Moon by Sarah Weeks and read the International Reading Association Teachers' Choice Award Winner One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies. We also discussed the Caldecott Medal books and walked to the shelf in the media center where all the winning books are shelved. Students were very excited to see many of the titles they are already familiar with and hopefully they will venture on to read more of these beautifully illustrated children's stories.

In Alpha class students enjoyed listening to the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book entitled One Boy by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. With this innovative counting book about a lonely boy that also introduces the concept words within words, an award-winning author once again breaks new ground. Other books by Laura Vaccaro Seeger include The Hidden Alphabet, Lemons Are Not Red, Walter Was Worried, and Black? White! Day? Night! All were Child Magazine Best Books of the Year and ALA Notable Books. Her most recent books are Dog and Bear, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and First the Egg, a Caldecott Honor Book, a Geisel Honor book and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book. All of these titles can be found in our Media Center...why not check one out?

In K students learned all about the book character Epossumondas, a type of tale called a noodlehead story. Mishaps occur but are not caused deliberately. The humor is gentle and silly. The plot may be highly improbable, but not impossible-it COULD happen. Students heard Epossumondas Plays Possum by Coleen Salley, in which Mama warns her little "patootie" to stay away from the swamp. Other books about this endearing, diaper-clad, lovable possum include Epossumondas, and Epossumondas Saves the Day. Award-winning Janet Stevens does a remarkable job with the illustrations.

Jr. K students are still trying to figure out the mystery question "what is it", after hearing and seeing the New York Times bestseller story entitled Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld. They will need to decide for themselves in this playful take on a classic visual puzzle, which proves that when it comes to ducks and rabbits and a few other things, it all depends on how you look at it.












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MARCH BIOGRAPHIES


March 2 - Sam Houston - One of the leaders of the fight for Texas independence.
March 3 - Alexander Graham Bell - Inventor of the telephone
March 6 - Michelangelo - Renaissance artist, perhaps most famous for his painting
of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
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March 14 - Albert Einstein - Theoretical physicist who developed the theory of
relativity
March 16 - James Madison - 4th President of the U.S.
March 18 - Bonnie Blair - Olympic gold medalist in speed skating
March 19 - Wyatt Earp - Western lawman famous for his role in the gunfight at
the OK Corral
March 24 - Harry Houdini - Magician and escape artist, famous for his ability to
escape from locked restraints.
March 31 - Cesar Chavez - Labor leader of migrant farm workers.

Dear Parents,

The Lower School administration uses Online Community to communicate with our families. Dr. Bianco and Mrs. Weinman's letters and Lower Division reminders are posted on a Lower Division blog. This is the school administration's main form of communication, so EVERYONE should subscribe. In order to have access, you will need to subscribe to the Lower Division blog.

Directions:
First log into the Online Community. After logging into the Online Community, go to Community > Groups > Lower Division Group from the green menu bar. First, click on the icon "Join Group." Next, scroll down the page and click on the Subscribe button. This will send you e-mail alerts whenever I write a new blog post.

Celebrate National Library Week - April 11-17 -This year's theme, Communities Thrive @ your library, reminds patrons that the library is the place where people of all backgrounds grow together.

Students in Grade 2 are now studying Asia so they read Explore Asia by Bobbie Kalman & Rebecca Sjonger. They saw pictures of Maldives (the smallest county in Asia), stupas in Myanmar, which are special Buddhist buildings, China's Yangtze River( one of the longest rivers in the world), the Taj Mahal (the tomb of Mumatz Mahal built in the mid 1600s by Emperor Shah Jahan), the Great Wall of China (1,500 miles long with some walls over 2,00 years old), Mount Fuji (one of the most famous volcanoes on Earth located in Japan), and Tokyo where over 12 million people live.
They also saw a display of library books about Asia and several series were introduced. They included "Look What Cam From..", "Children of the World", "Count Your Way",
and "A Ticket to". They have lots of great book choices to learn about this huge continent.


Students in Grade 1 told the story of a wordless book using their own words. The book's title was Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman and they were very creative and used their imaginations to retell an adventurous story by seeing this wordless picture book.


Students in Grades 3-6 will be voting for their favorite Sunshine State Book from this year's list in April. Voting will take place in the media center from April 12-14. All students who have read 3 or more books are eligible to participate in this state reading contest.

In Alpha the children enjoyed Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa. The author and illustrator used their imaginations to show how a cake was made using earth moving machinery for a little boy's birthday.

CALDECOTT MEDAL BOOKS were the theme for K classes this week. Children were shown the chart of the gold medal winners and walked to the bookshelf in the media center where all those gold medal and silver medal honor books are shelved. We then read this year's winner The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney and enjoyed the illustrations as well as the story. Size does not matter and no matter how small one is they are important and can be helful to others. Others books read during the class were Red Sings from Treetops-a year in colors by Joyce Sidman and All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon.

Jr. K students laughed as they enjoyed Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama Mad at Mama. They also saw pictures of real llamas so they could relate more to the story as well as two other books entitled Llama Llama Red Pajama, and Llama Llama Misses Mama by the same author.

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!!!

MARCH BIRTHDAYS

March 2 - Theodore Geisel, Dr. Seuss
March 5 - Mem Fox
March 8 - Robert Sabuda
March 10 - Jack Kent
March 11 - Ezra Jack Keats
Wanda Gag
March 12 - Virginia Hamilton
March 14 - Marguerite de Angeli
March 16 - Sid Fleischman
March 20 - Lois Lowry
March 22 - Randolph Caldecott
March 25 - Linda Sue Park
Kate DiCamillo
March 26 - Jerry Pallota
Robert Frost
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Students in Grade 2 study the continents of the world so in our library lesson we traveled to Australia and New Zealand. Using a map to locate the southern island of New Zealand they read the true story of Shrek:the Famous Hermit Sheep of Tarras written by the Tarros School Students. While visiting there this winter break I found out about this famous hermit merino sheep who ran away from Bendigo Station in Tarras, Central Otago, New Zealand and was not found until April 15, 2004 6 years later. During that time he was blinded by his great woolen coat and his heavy coat was preventing him from moving. There were times he could not even get up without a struggle. Shrek was carrying 25kg of fine merino wool and gave up 22kg for a charity to help Cure Kids. He was blade shorn in front of a world TV audience by Peter Casserly on April 28, 2004.

Students in Grade 1 learned about American symbols and their meanings of our nation through a series of books in our library. The set includes the following topics:
The Alamo, The American Flag, The Bald Eagle ,The Confederate Flag,The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, Ellis Island, Independence Hall ,The Jefferson Memorial, The Liberty Bell, The Lincoln Memorial, Mount Rushmore, The National Anthem, The Pledge of Allegiance, The Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Washington Monument, and The White House

While studying the Statue of Liberty students also learned about Roman Numerals. Stop by our media center to check out one or more books in this series.

How do you read a book without words? Just ask any student in Grade 3. This week they told their class the story of The Silver Pony by Lynd Ward - a wordless book. It was so interesting to see how each class told this beautiful tale. They sure had a chance to not only use their imaginations, but also to practice their oral presentation skills.

Leprechauns were the big discussion in Alpha and in one Jr. K class this week. Using props we discussed what the they looked like, four leaf clovers, pots of gold and St. Patrick's Day. They also listened to the story entitled Lucky O'Leprechaun written and illustrated by Jana Dillon. In fact after hearing this story some of the children told me they were going to look for leprechauns over their spring break. I wish them lots of Irish luck, too.

Students in K and in one Jr. K heard the story Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortenson so they could vote in the Florida Reading Association Children's Book Award program. It is a picture book based on the adult New York Times Bestseller, Three Cups of Tea and one of the 8 books in this year's contest.


Whatever you do and however you spend it....have a wonderful, safe, and enjoyable spring break!

FAMOUS FEBRUARY PEOPLE

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Feb. 1 - Langston Huges - U.S. author and poet of the Harlem Renaissance
Feb. 3 - Elizabeth Blackwell - First U.S. female to receive a medical degree.
Feb. 4 - Rosa Parks - Civil rights leader
Feb. 4 - Charles Lindbergh - First aviator to fly solo non-stop over the Atlantic from New York to Paris in 1927.
Feb. 6 - Bob Marley - Influential reggae musician.
Feb. 6 - Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth) - Baseball Hall of Famer
Feb. 11 - Thomas A. Edison - Prolific inventor of the electric light bulb, phonograph, and
much more.
Feb. 12 - Abraham Lincoln - 16th U.S. President, who led the Union during the Civil War and
issued the Emancipation Proclamation
Feb. 15 - Galileo Galilei - Physicist and astronomer
Feb. 27 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- American poet; author of "The Song of Hiawatha"
and "Paul Revere's Ride"

Students in grade 1 practiced their speaking and presentation skills this week by reading and acting out the book Pink! by Lynne Rickards. The story is based on the life of a penguin when he suddenly turns the color pink. When he is teased in school he decides to leave the South Pole to live with the flamingos in Africa. The theme of the story is about dealing with being differenent i and being accepted by others. After hearing the book read and seeing the illustrations on the board using Elmo, students picked out their parts for the reader's theater from the Mr. Potato Head container. Students were encouraged to "act" out their script and they did an excellent job, too!

Guess Who Is Knocking At the Door?
That was the theme for the library lessons with the students in third grade. They read small biography books and wrote 3 clues for their person. Students had to guess the person based on these clues. They all learned about people they did not know in a fun way.

Students in Alpha are learning all about dinosaurs so in their library lesson they heard the book entitled World of Dinosaurs. They learned about Diplodocus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Maiasaura, Velociraptor, and Triceratops.

In Jr.K the students were fascinated with all the valuable information they learned about animals from a new book entitled Never Smile at a Monkey: and 17 Other Important things toRemember by Steve Jenkins. It was filled with facts about dangerous animals that are not commonly thought to be harmful to humans. Just ask some of the students to tell you one thing they learned and I think you will be impressed.

Now Available in Our Media Center

New 2010 Caldecott Medal books (* winner )

*The Lion and the Mouse - Jerry Pinkney
Red Sing frm Treetops : a year in colors - Joyce Sidman
All the World - Liz Garton Scanlon

New 2010 John Newbery Medal books (*winner)

* When you Reach Me - Rebecca Stead
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate - Jacqueline Kelly
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Grace Lin
Claudette Colvin : Twice Toward Justice - Phillip M. Hoose

FEBRUARY'S FAVORITE AUTHORS

Jerry Spinelli - February 1st
Joan Lowery Nixon - " 3
David Wiesner - " 5
Laura Ingalls Wilder - " 7
Charles Dickens - " 7
Jules Verne - " 8
Jane Yolen - " 11
Judy Blume - " 12
Louis Slobodkin - " 19
C. S. Adler - " 23
Wilhelm Carl Grimm - " 23
Cynthia Voigt _ " 25

Lemony Snicket - " 28


There are book displays in the media center on these author's works so please stop by.

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Michael Patrick O'Neill

We all enjoyed the author's visit on Monday, February 1st and are looking forward to his new book this spring entitled Wild Waters. He spoke with grades Alpha through Grade 5 and several 8th Grade students interviewed him after his presentations. He stressed how important it is to stay focused in school and try your best in all subject areas. He explained how important math and science is every time he dives and language arts helps him to write books. Every student was amazed at his photographs and he explained how important it is to have patience and perserverance since it may take several years to photograph some of the species found in his books.

Guess Who Is Knocking At the Door?

That was the theme for the library lessons with the students in third grade. They read small biography books and wrote 3 clues for their person. Students had to guess the person based on these clues. They all learned about people they did not know in a fun way.

Second graders heard the story Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortenson so they could vote in the Florida Reading Association Children's Book Award program. It is a picture book based on the adult New York Times Bestseller, Three Cups of Tea and one of the 8 books in this year's contest.
In First grade students heard Valentine books in preparation for the holiday. One was entitled Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat, and the other was Fluffy's Valentine's Day by Kate McMullan.

Alpha students heard Little Mouse's Big Valentine by Thacher Hurd. The theme of he book was about sharing, caring and making new friends.

Students in K heard one of the stories from the Spider series entitled How Spider Saved Valentine's Day by Robert Kraus.

JANUARY JOYS!

JANUARY 'S FAMOUS PEOPLE

Betsy Ross - Jan. 1, 1752 - According to legend, creator of the first American flag under instructions from George Washington
Sir Isaac Newton - Jan. 4, 1643 - Discoverer of the law of universal gravitation and co-founder of calculus
Elvis Presley - Jan. 8, 1935 - American rock singer
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Jan. 15, 1929 -Civil rights leader; winner of 1964 Nobel Peace Prize
Benjamin Franklin - Jan. 17, 1706 - American statesman, inventor, diplomat, publisher, author, and scientist
Bessie Coleman - Jan. 26, 1893 -Black female aviator
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Jan. 27, 1756 -Composer of over 600 musical compositions
Franklin D. Roosevelt - Jan. 30, 1882 -32nd U. S. President, elected four times
Jackie Robinson - Jan. 31, 1919 - First black baseball player to enter the professional major leagues




AUTHOR VISIT

Award-winning author, Michael Patrick O'Neill will be visiting our school on Monday, February 1, 2010. His books are on display in the media center for you to view. The topics are all related to ocean life and since he takes his own photographs while diving, the illustrations are just remarkable. Please feel free to stop by and look at his work. We are all looking forward to his visit.

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Students in Grades Jr. K, K, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd spent their class lesson in the library reading the author's books and admiring the illustrations. They worked in teams to read all 6 titles and prepared some interesting questions for our guest on Monday.

In the Alpha class, the students heard the book The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli which was filled with imagination. Ask your child what you can do with a box?

Students are in for a wonderful week ahead as we celebrate reading. Our theme is Shorecrest Gets A "Charge" out of Reading. I am looking forward to Tuesday when your children dress up in their favorite book character outfits. Make sure they carry the book that they have picked to do this activity, so we all can learn about new book characters and the titles of those books. On Thursday I will be doing a Reader's Theater with an opossum themed book and can't wait to see the children in action.

HAPPY NEW YEAR in the media center!

January's Birthdays

January 2 - Isaac Asimov
3 - J.R.R. Tolkien
4 - Phyllis Reynold Naylor
6 - Carl Sandburg
9 - Clyde Robet Bulla
13 - Michael Bond
18 - A.A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh)
27 - Lewis Carroll
29 - Bill Peet (author & illustrator)
Rosemary Wells



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AUTHOR VISIT

Award-winning author, Michael Patrick O'Neill will be visiting our school on Monday, February 1, 2010. His books are on display in the media center for you to view. The topics are all related to ocean life and since he takes his own photographs while diving, the illustrations are just remarkable. Please feel free to stop by and look at his work. Order forms have been sent home and can be returned to your child's classroom teacher or to Mrs. Smay in the media center. We are all looking forward to his visit.

First graders started the year off with the story Listen to the Wind:the story of Dr. Greg & Three Cups of Tea.* This is the story of Greg Mortenson's first buiding project in Pakistan. It is one of the eight books students will read for this year's Florida Reading Association Children's Book Contest. After the students listen to all the titles, they vote for their favorite and receive several prizes. All the votes from the students in grades Alpha-Grade 2 will be sent to the Department of Education and we will find out in the spring what book is the winner. The author will receive an award based on the votes from the students who participated. This is the only contest which allows children to vote and their vote does count. I am so proud of our voters.
*The chronicle of his entire incredible experience, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time, has been a consistent New York Times bestseller and has sold over 1.2 million copies.

Third graders worked in teams and read the books by upcoming author Michael Patrick O'Neill. They each did an oral presentation to the rest of the class and stated a fact or two that they learned from their book. In this way the entire class learned valuable information from all the titles. They are now thinking about some interesting questions to ask the author when he visits our school on Feb. 1.

In the Alpha class students listened to the book Snow Friends by M. Christina Butler and Tina Macnaughton. It was about a bear, an otter, a rabbit, snowmen and the theme was friendship.

Kindergarteners also explored the books by Michael Patrick O'Neill by working in groups after listening to one of the titles. They are excited about meeting the person who actually took
all those beautiful, underwater photos.

In Jr. K. the students listened to the book Snow by Cynthia Rylant, which celebrates the beauty of a snowfall and its happy effects on children.