End of Year Wrap-Up

Well, folks, that's about it for the 2015-2016 school year. It was my very first year here in North Andover, and I think we accomplished quite a bit. Across all five elementary schools, we:

• Reviewed what we already knew about libraries, and busted some "library myths"
• Went on a few scavenger hunts for information in our libraries
• Learned all about the parts of books (inside and out!)
• Sparked new knowledge of computers with the Hour of Code
• Discovered how to properly cite our sources and find quality information
• Explored the magical world of fairy tales
• Organized information with Google Docs & Slides
• Read and wrote amazing, incredible poetry
• Checked out Typing Club and other online resources

...and basically had the best time ever!

I'll be returning next year to North Andover (we're still looking for a few good library media specialists to join our team!) and I can't wait to expand on what we've already learned! In the meantime, I hope everyone has a safe and happy summer, and that everyone - that means you too, parents! - participates in Summer Reading! 

Summer @ The Stevens information, including information regarding
summer reading incentives, can be found here: 

Our school reading list is here: 

If you have any questions regarding summer reading, or would like personalized recommendation lists for your child, please feel free to contact me at ahearnc@northandoverpublicschools.com! 

Thank you, Library Detectives!

Summer Reading 2016!

Here's the official flyer for Summer Reading 2016 here in North Andover! A reminder - none of the titles listed are required, they're here to get kids thinking about what to choose this summer. Students can read whatever they like as long as they try to read at least 20 minutes every day. It's so important to keep those brains active over the summer! 

Click here, or on the image below, to download the list!

http://www.northandoverpublicschools.com/faculty/elementarylibrary/SummerReadingFlyer2016.pdf

Poetry Book 2016!

Check out our wonderful, amazing, incredible book of poetry - written entirely by the students at the North Andover public elementary schools! 

Download a PDF copy to save and share! 

Library Fun in the Month of MAY

WOW EVERYBODY CAN YOU BELIEVE IT IS JUNE ALREADY?! This year has flown by, in a whirlwind of stories and activities, and I can't believe we only have a month left of library fun!

Much of this month was spent catching up with classes I'd not had a chance to see for the past few months, so there were lots of scavenger hunts and some fiction vs. nonfiction discussions. With the big, shiny, new changes happening*** to the library program, we'll be able to see many more classes on a more consistent basis starting in the fall.

***Our changes are that the superintendent has added 1.5 new library positions to the schools! We'll be hiring one full-time librarian, and a "shared" librarian that will work partly at the Stevens and partly in one of the schools. Hooray for more library media specialists!

Grades K-2

In many classes, we continued to talk about Fairy Tales this month, exploring both traditional, and fractured, versions of our favorites. In one second grade class, we talked about how the "original" versions of our favorites like Snow White were unexpectedly different - there's no "true love's kiss", the prince drops Snow White's coffin and the apple pops out!

Click here to check this out in the Stevens library catalog!

...the kids also really enjoyed the fact that I gave 6 of the 7 dwarfs a grizzly, Cockney accent (and the 7th a high, squeaky voice).

In some classes we also were able to talk about our favorite Fairy Tale characters along with a reading of my favorite book from my own childhood, The Jolly Postman; Or, Other People's Letters. The kids got a kick out of the fact that the letters are INSIDE the book! 

This is tough to find in libraries, since it has so many added parts that can get lost, but
a few libraries in the MVLC have it available. 

We then wrote letters to our favorite characters (the younger grades used a template), and the characters wrote back! Writing our letters gave us some good practice on what a letter looks like, what to capitalize, what words you use in a letter, etc.

We also used stories from our library to talk about the parts of a story (beginning, middle, end). We'd read a story (any story works!), and then afterwards we'd talk about the "parts" - what was the beginning? Where did the middle start? What happened at the end? Using the SmartBoards, we'd write out each of the three parts, then swirl them around and mix them up - did the story still make sense? Why or why not? 

Grades 3-5

The older grades used a bit of technology this month, either for the first time (as in the case of 3rd Grade and using Google Slides) or as a culmination of activities. 4th and 5th grade classes were introduced to Typing Club, a wonderful bit of free technology on the web that teaches proper typing methods for kids. It works wonderfully with our students's Google accounts, but you can sign in without one and still go through all the typing levels!

We also started talking about Summer Reading (more info on that next month!) and ways to find good books to read over the summer. The big takeaway for them was that the best group of people to recommend good books is their friends! 

Finally, we tasted a bit of a new genre: Short Stories! I read a few selections from Cynthia Rylant's Every Living Thing, and we talked about what you can expect when you pick up a collection of short stories - each story will have different characters, a different plot, and most of the time you can read the whole story in one sitting.

Find it in the Steven's Library's story story collection in the Children's Room!

That's it for the month of May, Library Detectives! SEE YOU IN JUNE!

April & National Poetry Month!

Apologies for the delay in posts - it's been a busy and exciting time in the NAPS libraries! We're almost at the end of the year (yikes!) and I've been focusing quite a bit on making sure our library collections are ready for their long summer's nap between this year and next.

April was National Poetry Month and we celebrated in the schools by holding a poetry contest - students were encouraged to submit poems to the contest, on any subject and in any style, and we chose two winners from each school. Originally, the winners were going to be "selected", but there were so many wonderful entries that we decided to just choose two names randomly. Our winners received poetry books to further inspire their creativity, and everyone who submitted a poem will have their work featured in the Poetry eBook we're currently working on.

Here's a sneak-peek at the cover:

I'll be sure to let everyone know when the book is ready! 

K-2 

In the younger grades, we've been having a lot of fun exploring poetry. In a few kindergarten classes, we brainstormed our own haikus - kids really enjoyed being able to pick out the subject, and sound out the syllables in each line. Here's an example of our work:

We read poems by Jack Prelutsky, Shel Silverstein, and more! We also made sure to make note of where the poetry books are in our libraries (they're in the nonfiction section under 811) to tie-in the lesson to the library space.

Here's a video from the Shel Silverstein official Youtube channel that we were able to watch: 

The 1st and 2nd graders got a chance to write their own haikus, and many of them submitted them to the poetry contest, so be on the lookout for some wonderful haikus! 

3-5

The older grades also had a wonderful time exploring poetry, with works like Hoops by Robert Burleigh and Follow, Follow by Margaret Singer. We talked about how poetry does not have to be about mushy-gushy stuff, and that as long as its about something you feel strongly about, it works! 

Check this out in the MVLC catalog!

Check this out in the MVLC catalog!

In many classes, we also had time to play one of my favorite games - "Exquisite Corpse"! It sounds a lot more gruesome than it is, I promise! The way you play is: 

• Everyone breaks up into groups of 3 or more.
• One person in the group writes a few lines of a poem on a piece of paper.
• After they are done, they fold the paper over so that only the last line that they wrote is visible.
• Then, they pass it along to the next person in the group, who looks at the one line of the poem and writes their own few lines.
• The second person folds the paper over again so only the last line of what they wrote is visible, and then they pass it along. 
• This goes on until the poem is finished and everyone has had a few turns. 

This was a really fun activity that the kids loved, and it definitely got the creative juices flowing! 

That's all for April, Library Detectives! Stay tuned for information about library MAYhem happening this month!

March Madness!

March was another banner month for our libraries here in North Andover! I can't believe the month went by so fast! We're fast approaching our last few months of school, and we're still rolling out super fun and exciting library lessons for all grades!

Kindergarten - 1st Grade

Since many of the classes and schools have been focusing on Fairy Tales and retellings, we've continued our work with fairy tale books in the younger grades. We've focused a lot of our discussions on what the essential components or ingredients of each fairy tale are (for example, the essential components of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" are that someone sneaks into someone else's house and tries all their stuff!). Then, we've started talking about ways that some authors change some of the ingredients to make a new, fractured fairy tale! A new favorite story we've read has been The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka.

Click here to find this title in the Stevens Library collection! 

We talk about all the fairy tales that are mentioned in this book, and characters we recognize. It's been a big hit with kids and teachers!

With the 1st Graders, we've talked about those ingredients and used a graphic organizer to try and start using fairy tale ingredients to write their own fairytales - so far, it's going really well!

In some classes, we've also talked about Story Elements - what makes up the parts of a story? We read a story and map out the setting, characters, problem and solution. Understanding the components of a story is the first step towards being able to construct a new story!

2nd Grade

Our second graders have been working on finding Nonfiction Books in the Library using a fun scavenger hunt designed to help familiarize them with the information presented in our Online Catalog. Occasionally, we've been able to tie-in the books they're looking for with the subjects they're working on in class; other times, it's a general scavenger hunt for books about every second graders favorite thing: ANIMALS!

We've also begun using the chromebooks a bit more in the last half of the year with the second grade classes, with many teachers requesting either practice logging in or coding, or researching using the databases.

3rd Grade

Third graders got a taste of what April will be all about: poetry! We've been reading Hoops by Robert Burleigh, Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer, and a few selections from the Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry. After we talk about how poetry can be about anything that makes you feel, we got a chance to write a few of my personal favorite kind of poems - HAIKU! Some of the poems have been really wonderful - and hopefully will inspire some future poets to enter into our Poetry Contest happening this April!

4th-5th Grade

Our older grades have continued to use our online resources to help discover new information to help with research projects. Many classes are working on persuasive writing, so we talked about how using Kids InfoBits and the magazine and newspaper results will help them find opinion pieces to help them persuade one way or the other about a particular topic.

We've also continued exploring our Google software programs, with many classes either creating brochures using Google Docs or creating presentations using Google Slides.

Not to get too tech-heavy, we've also tried to incorporate a few read-alouds in there, and will be focusing a lot of our work on poetry in April to tie-in to National Poetry Month.

That's all for now, Library Detectives! See you soon!

February Library Fun

February was a whirlwind of library excitement, guys! Because it's a short month made even shorter by our February break, I'll be brief with our library re-cap.

K-2nd Grade

Our younger grades starting talking about fairy tales and folk tales in their classes, so we decided to carry on that discussion in the library. We read a lot of wonderful books, and talked about where to find fairy tales and folk tales in our library. The magic number or secret code is 398.2 - any library that uses the Dewey Decimal System will have their books in that section.

Now, a lot of kids asked, "Why are the fairy tales in with the information books? Aren't they made up?" The answer to that is - because fairy tales are so culturally significant, and because they are found across cultures and continents, they impact people in the same way history or geography might. That's why they get their own special section! 

Here are some of the titles we read:

Traditional Fairy/Folk Tales

Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault

Cinderella trans. by Marcia Brown

Why the Crab Has No Head by Barbara Knutson

Nontraditional Fairy/Folk Tales 

The Rough Face Girl by Rafe Martin

Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson

3rd-5th Grade

The older grades and I have been supporting our work using Google Docs and Google Slides to organize our research. We've been using our Online Databases to discover new information, and we're starting to realize that Google might not be all it's cracked up to be! We've also re-opened our Code Studio work to continue learning about computer science and coding.

That's all for now, Library Detectives! Boy, this year is flying by!