Tis the Season...for Books!
Hey, NES Hawks!
Only three more weeks until winter break--woo hoo!
First off, I'd like to give a huge thanks to everyone for supporting our Book Fair! We were able to sponsor 60 students (nearly 10% of our student population!) who would not have been able to visit the book fair otherwise, all while getting the kids excited about reading and earning funds to purchase more library books and materials. I appreciate your support!
Just a reminder--our students have access to tons of eBooks and audiobooks through the Carteret County Public Library by using Hoopla. This is a great resource for Battle of the Books kids who are slow readers, or for your developing readers in class who are more auditory than visual. It also gives us another way to put books in kids' hands when the titles are checked out of our library. Hoopla can be accessed via their app on phones or iPads, or via their website, and they simply log in by using their student email and password to set up the accounts. If you have a student who is having trouble with this, feel free to send them my way, and I am happy to help them get started!
December 4th-10th, 2023 is the annual Hour of Code from Code.org and Computer Science Education Week, so this newsletter has lots of resources for you to use in your classrooms to help your kids get coding! Here is an article about the benefits of coding for kids...powerful stuff, so check it out! I will be incorporating some coding activities with students in the library, but I encourage you to check out the resources in this newsletter to also add coding to your in-class lessons over the course of the week.
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If you have students in 2nd-5th grades, please make sure to send them with their Chromebooks EVERY time they have library class. We will be doing more online activities in the coming weeks with Hour of Code and some Internet Safety lessons soon, and I want to make sure everyone can participate.
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Library Schedule:
December 4-8: Library Week B--Library OPEN (but still no shelves on K-2 side)
December 11-15: Library Week A
December 11: Shelf Installation on K-2 Side
December 13: Golightly and Daniels off campus for DTL Meeting
December 14: Golightly Off Campus for Doctors' Appointments (classes to be rescheduled)
December 18-22: Library Week B (Thurs. PM/Fri. folks--we will work to reschedule you Monday-Wednesday.)
January 8-12: Library Week A (rescheduling Mon./Tues. folks for later in the week)
One School, One Book: Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
I will be distributing our books to classrooms when we return from winter break. I will distribute teacher copies this week. I need some volunteers to record themselves reading a chapter, so families who aren't able to read aloud at home--due to language barriers, schedules, or otherwise--still have a way for students to access the reading easily. Please let me know if you're willing and able to record a chapter, and I'll get with you about which chapter and how to record. Thank you!
We also have posters for teachers and bookmarks for everyone. Here is a brief synopsis of the book for those who are unfamiliar with the story (a Newbery honor book from 1938--oldie but goodie!):
"Mr. Popper is a house painter in his hometown of Stillwater, but he dreams of Polar expeditions. As part of his interest in all things Antarctic, he attempts to raise a troop of penguins – in his “neat little bungalow at 432 Proudfoot Avenue.” Fantastical, yes. And yet it has been engaging and beguiling generations of children who have marveled at the silly antics of the penguins. Who wouldn’t love to have giant snowdrifts in your house and learn to slide down them on your belly from actual penguins?
When feeding and housing the penguins gets to be a strain on the family budget, the Popper family trains the penguins to perform and takes them on the road. In the end, though, penguins belong in cold climes, and Mr. Popper finally gets his chance to join a Polar crew with his beloved penguins. No special effects and pyrotechnics needed, just a sweet story, well told, from yesteryear.
This simplicity allows readers and listeners of this novel to re-acquaint themselves with the value and beauty of lovely English prose – meant to amuse and entertain. It also gives students and families a chance to discuss how society has changed in the intervening decades. So, while the antics of the penguins will delight your students, there is a little more to consider as you read together.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins tells the story of aspirations and adventures in 150 pages, with delightful illustrations to support younger listeners. It is a great first step into family read-alouds, and will lead your families to eagerly look for their next book."
We will be following the 15-day reading schedule, which gives folks who may fall behind a day here or there a *small* buffer in which to catch up if needed so everyone can be done with the book prior to our Family Night on February 8th.
More details coming soon...time to get excited! 🐧🤩🐧
Book Distribution: January 10-12th
Start Date: January 16th
Finish Date: February 5th
Family Night: February 8th
15-Day Reading Schedule for
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
by Richard and Florence Atwater
Day One: pp. 1-12
Chapter 1 – Stillwater
Chapter 2 – The Voice in the Air
Day Two: pp. 13-20
Chapter 3 – Out of the Antarctic
Day Three: pp. 21-28
Chapter 4 – Captain Cook
Day Four: pp. 29-36
Chapter 5 – Troubles with a Penguin
Day Five: pp. 37-48
Chapter 6 – More Troubles
Chapter 7 – Captain Cook Builds a Nest
Day Six: pp. 49-56
Chapter 8 – Penguin’s Promenade
Day Seven: pp. 57-68
Chapter 9 – In the Barber Shop
Chapter 10 – Shadows
Day Eight: pp. 69-82
Chapter 11 – Greta
Chapter 12 – More Mouths to Feed
Day Nine: pp. 83-96
Chapter 13 – Money Worries
Chapter 14 – Mr. Greenbaum
Day Ten: pp. 97-106
Chapter 15 – Popper’s Performing Penguins
Day Eleven: pp. 107-114
Chapter 16 – On the Road
Day Twelve: pp. 115-122
Chapter 17 – Fame
Day Thirteen: pp. 123-130
Chapter 18 – April Winds
Day Fourteen: pp. 131-140
Chapter 19 – Admiral Drake
Day Fifteen: pp. 141-148
Chapter 20 – Farewell, Mr. Popper
Battle of the Books Update
Our Battle of the Books team is working hard to read and learn all about the books on our list for this year! In the pic above, you can see teammates playing "Trashketball" to review info from the books. They LOVE this game, and "Grudgeball", and let me tell you--they are competitive! 😄
Remember--we can only take 12 students to competition, so these students should be diligently reading the Battle of the Books titles each week and attending as many practices as possible. Please remind your students to stay after on Thursdays. I try to send weekly reminders as well, but several kids have forgotten. We only have two more practices in December! (December 7th and 14th)
Here is the book list. It is recommended that they read each book at least once, preferably more than once, to ensure the information "sticks", so getting an early start is a HUGE benefit! You can also send them down to me if they have questions. We will have an interest meeting this month to begin our team, just like we did last year, and I'll share that info via ClassDojo and social media when the time comes. Thanks!
School News Team
Our news team is up and running! Please help your students remember to arrive on time. Latecomers do not get their preferred jobs, and it delays production, so we appreciate everyone on news team getting to the newsroom at 7:30.
Be sure to follow our NES News Team channel for the latest news episodes. We also post the most recent episodes on our school website.
The News Team Schedule for December is below:
Dec. 4-8: Team 5
Dec. 11-15: Team 6
Dec. 18-21: Team 7
Young Authors Winner!!
Tech Tidbits...
AI in Education:
By now, everyone has heard of ChatGPT, and some of you may be playing around with all of the free, awesome, teacher-friendly features in MagicSchool.ai, Canva's "Magic Studio", or Curipod, which can modify your own pre-existing resources OR help you create teaching materials from scratch! However, I know some people are still wondering how artificial intelligence is going to impact our students, both now and in the future, so here's an interesting article from Matt Miller from "Ditch that Textbook" about the future of AI. The images above are also linked to some of the best AI resources for teachers, so check it out!
Missing Devices:
Just a friendly reminder--if a student loses their device, please let Mr. Daniels know ASAP. There have been several instances where he was not notified for quite some time, and that leaves the student without a device, and it prolongs the process of us finding it or securing a replacement. Thanks for your help with this!
Staff Survey:
Mr. Daniels and I are working to create some great tech PD opportunities for our staff, but we want to make sure what we are offering is what you actually WANT, so please fill out this short survey so we know what you want and need for this year! CLICK HERE
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What is the Crystal Coast Reading Council?
Do you need CEUs? Are you trying to move from "proficient" on your teacher evaluation tool to "accomplished" or "distinguished" and looking for ways to do that? Join the Crystal Coast Reading Council! The Crystal Coast Reading Council (CCRC) is the local level of the International (ILA) and NC Reading Association (NCRA). As president of the NC Reading Association and Director of Programming for the Crystal Coast Reading Council, I am happy to answer any questions you may have. We would love to have you join us! Check out the NCRA "Reflections on Literacy" newsletter for more details.
Mission Statement: To foster lifelong literacy for all citizens by partnering with educators, parents, and community members through programs, meetings, and scholarships.
We provide monthly PD (both virtual and face-to-face opportunities), and we also sponsor a statewide Young Authors and Illustrators Contest. Check out the meetings we have scheduled so far for this year below:
December 14: Holiday Social/Book Exchange (5-8:00 p.m.--note time change)
January 18: Allan Wolf Meet the Author Event (Newport Elementary School)
February 15: Sheila Turnage Meet the Author Event (Beaufort Elementary School)
March 17-19: NC Reading Association's Annual Literacy Conference, Winston-Salem
April 18: Conference Sharing Meeting
May 8: Planning Meeting
Contact Me!
Email: emily.golightly@carteretk12.org
Website: bit.ly/golightlyreads
Location: 219 Chatham Street, Newport, NC, USA
Phone: 252.223.4201 x324426
Facebook: facebook.com/nesmediacenter
Twitter/X: @EmilyGolightly3
Contact Me!
Email: john.daniels@carteretk12.org
Location: 219 Chatham Street, Newport, NC, USA
Phone: 252.223.4201 x324501