Library Classes in the library in the past few weeks have focused on Realistic fiction. (Stories that take place in modern times with characters and events that could happen.) We have had several book talks and discussions on several realistic fictions selections. They have included Picture Books: Barfburger Baby, I Was here First by Paula Danzinger, The Baby Sister by Tomie dePaola, I Speak English for my Mom by Muriel Stranek, and Everybody Cooks Rice by Norah Dooley
Chapter books: Waiting For Normal by Leslie Connor, Leggies House by Judy Blume, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Rodrick Rules, Batter Up by Jake Maddox, Hank Zipper The Day of the Iguana by Henry Winkler, The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements , Return of the Home Run Kid by Matt Christopher, Super Fudge by Judy Blume, The School Story by Andrew Clements, and Batter Up by Jake Maddox.

Library Display:
Miss Tracey created an informative Unit of Inquiry Bulletin board with selections of books that support the units of every year level. Stop by the library and check it out!

New Unit Resources

Dear Teachers Parents and Students,

Posted below are some web-links for all your new Units of Inquiry. There are games, activities and lots of information, so have a browse!

Next week I will post a new blog book shelf with non-fiction books related to your Unit as well as Novels and Picture books.

Happy Reading!
Tracey

New Unit Resource Web Links

Nursery - Colour My World

http://www.nickjr.com/games/all-shows/art/3-4-years/index.jhtml

http://www.puzzlepixies.com/easy/easy/colours.html

http://www.puzzlepixies.com/easy/easy/shape-sorter.html

http://www.abc.net.au/children/colour.htm

Kindergarten - Picture This!

http://www.aplaceofourown.org/activity.php?id=544

http://www.crayola.com/crafts/

http://accessarts.org/ArtKids/Painting/paint-online/

http://www.pitara.com/activities/art.asp

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/creativearts.html#art

Year 1 - On The Go

http://stepbystepcc.com/transportation.html

http://www.dltk-kids.com/Crafts/transportation/index.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/transportation.shtml

http://www.first-school.ws/theme/transportation.htm

Year 2 - Field To Table

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/science/food_stories_closed/index.htm

http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/section.aspx?siteId=13§ionId=54

http://www.farmsfoodfun.com/Fun/Games

http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/kidsapp?area=home&subject=landing&topic=landing

Year 3 - A Sense Of Place

http://www.edu.pe.ca/southernkings/landforms.htm

http://www.earthfeature.com/

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/puzzlemaker/wordlists/sciencetopics/naturallandfeaturesoftheearth.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/geography/landforms/glossary.shtml

Year 4 - Water For Life

http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=8&secNum=2

http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Themes/Environ/Water.html

http://conserveh2o.org/kids

http://groundwater.org/kc/kc.html

http://www.viking.stark.k12.oh.us/~greentown/waterscience.htm

Year 5 - On The Move

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home

www.refugees.org/

http://www.refugeestories.org/

http://www.angelisland.org/immigr02.html

http://www.theimmigrantsproject.org/

Year 6 - The Solar System

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/index.cfm

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS88G5WBcfQ

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/

http://www.space.com/solarsystem/

http://exoplanets.org/

http://www.psi.edu/projects/planets/planets.html

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/homepage.htm

Junior Library

We are off to a great start in the library. Classes have all had library orientation and an introduction to a variety of literature.

This year we have a new librarian on Staff.

Cher England-Czyzewski comes to St Dominic’s from the United States. She has over 25 years of teaching experience in Colorado including 12 years as an elementary school librarian (Junior School). She is excited about her new position at St Dominic´s and living in Portugal. In addition to managing the library, she sees most students weekly where she reads a variety of literature to students, and implements lessons on information literacy skills. In addition , she collaborates with the classroom teachers on integrating technology and library skills into the units of inquiry, as well as teaching 2 classes of technology.
Tracey and Paula are continuing in their positions in the library and have been essential in getting the library off to a smooth start.

Tracey comes from South Africa originally. This is her fourth year at St Dominic's, and her third year in the Junior Library. She assists with the classes, makes sure all new books / equipment is catalogued and accessioned. She also maintains all unit based resources and ensures they get to the classrooms and makes sure all materials ordered gets to the proper place. She is essential in keeping the library program consistent and running smoothly.

Paula has been at St Dominic´s for 8 years. This is her second year in the Junior library. In addition to assisting children with checkout, she returns books to the shelves, keeps the shelves in proper order and helps place classroom readers on the system quickly so they can be used in classrooms.

Just a Reminder: All students in year nursery until year 4 must bring their book bag to the library in order to check out new books. Year 5 and 6 are also asked to use a book bag in order to protect their library books. Books are due back in the library every 2 weeks but students are encouraged to return their books every week if they are finished with them and ready to check out a new one. If a student has an overdue book they will not be able to check out a new book until the overdue one has been returned.

Free Books: We are continuing to update our book collection (always an ongoing process). In addition to adding new books, every library must delete titles that are no longer appropriate for the collection. Often these books have some life left so we would like to make these books available to our students at St. Dominic’s. They will be placed in the free book box outside of the library for students to select a book from. If your child brings a book home with no school barcode or one that is covered with a sticker, it is appropriate for them to keep. Please encourage your child to select only 1 or 2 books from time to time so all students have a choice of a books to keep.

The Book Club is up and running. There are 6 students enrolled and I would love to welcome more students that are excited about reading. We will be reading and discussing a variety of books this year. Our first one is Matilda by Roald Dahl.