Wanamaker Library Newsletter

We celebrated Picture Book Month with a challenge to the students to read as many picture books as possible! Many students took us up on the challenge and earned rewards for reaching individual reading milestones. Rewards included unique and interesting bookmarks, Chick Fil A coupons for a cookie or brownie, and chances to put their names in for a drawing for five $10 gift cards to Barnes and Noble. Congratulations to the winners of the gift cards: Levi A., Teagan C., Aubree W., Phenix T., and Maggie B.

We also reached our school-wide goal of reading 4,000 picture books! Our mystery picture came alive as students put stickers on the poster for each book they read (see above photo). It was fun to hear the students and staff speculating on what they thought the picture was going to be! The guess heard most often was turkey and flowers. The most unusual guess was "a picture of Mr. Sonderegger!"

Students enjoyed checking out the staff's favorite picture books as well as discovering some of their own new favorites. When asked what she liked best about the picture book challenge, Bella S., answered, "I have loved reading picture books to my little sister. I like doing all the voices!"

Way to go, WE students! Thank you to Chick Fil A and Reinert Wealth Management for partnering with us and providing rewards for the students who reached the individual milestones.

Once again, the Wanamaker library and the art department collaborated on a student bookmark design contest. The theme this year was for students to design a colorful bookmark that promoted reading and to hide their initials somewhere in the design.

Students designed their bookmarks during art class, then the voting began! The winning bookmarks were chosen by students, faculty, and staff members. Each student received a copy of the winning bookmark in their grade level.

The voting was very close in many instances. There were some fantastic designs!

The three 2nd grade classes participated in the Global Read Aloud Picture Book Author Study this fall, along with millions of other students from around the world. Pernille Ripp created the Global Read Aloud in 2010 with one goal in mind: One book to Connect the World.

We connected in several ways with our buddy classes from Illinois and New York. The classes kicked off the Global Read Aloud with a Mystery Skype, an engaging way for classrooms to introduce themselves to each other. Students used their map/geography/communication skills to guess the mystery location of the other classroom.

Other ways that we connected included Google Meet sessions to share read alouds and discussions related to those stories, Padlet (an online bulletin board) where we shared our ideas, and Snail Mail by writing and exchanging postcards with our new friends. We also have a couple of new books to add to our library because we exchanged books about our respective states with our buddy classes.

We spent 6 weeks studying award-winning author-illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh and his works. The students loved learning about Duncan's unique art style and his Mexican-American heritage. We compared our students' favorite books of Duncan's with the favorites of our buddy classes.

When asked what they liked best about the Global Read Aloud, 2nd grader, Jake, responded, "I liked having a buddy class and exchanging letters and postcards with them." His classmate, Maggie, followed with, "I liked learning about Duncan Tanatiuh and his artwork." Makenzie summed it up by saying, "I liked all of it!"

Mrs. Molina, 2nd grade teacher, had this to say about the Global Read Aloud, "Academically the students were able to work on their letter writing skills, public speaking skills, and comprehension skills. I was really thrilled to see that they could take the books that were read over the time period, and apply what they remembered into the conversation. It was fun to see them get excited about the books and discuss them with 2nd graders from another state."

Thank you to the 2nd grade teachers for collaborating with me to bring this awesome experience to our students!

Winter break is the perfect time to snuggle up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate! Feel free to print off this Winter Break Reading Bingo page from Capstone Publishing to keep your kiddos reading over break! It's a great way to keep reading fun and entertaining when the kids are out of school. Consider participating along with your student(s) for an extra special bonding experience!

# of Book Checkouts = 7,619

# of PebbleGo article views = 4,024

# of PebbleGo Next article views = 1,278

# of Lessons Taught = 243

Dec. 13-17-- Student Council sells Holiday Grams in the library. Forms will be sent home with students. Proceeds from this fundraiser are used for community service projects.

Dec. 17-- Student Council and the different grade levels present their holiday donations to pre-determined organizations of their choice. Student Council's donations (purchased with the proceeds from the sales of Boo Grams) will go to The Villages.

Dec. 18-- Winter Break begins!

Week of Jan. 3-- Assist with introducing Famous Kansans research project to 4th graders

Jan. 7 & 21-- Student Council Meetings in the library at 8:00 AM

Week of Jan. 10-- Introduce Battle of the Books to Grades 4-6

Feb. 7-10-- Scholastic Book Fair (watch for information to come home with your student and for book fair volunteer opportunities).