Caldecott and Newbery Award Winners Announced

The height of the year in the world of children's literature is the announcement of the annual winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Award.  Yesterday, the American Library Association announced this year's winners of these and other prestigious book awards.  The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate won the 2013 Newbery Medal for "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."  The book has also been nominated for New Hampshire's Great Stone Face Award.

Click here for a complete list of Newbery medal and honor books from 1922 to the present.

This is Not My Hat, written and illustrated by Jon Klassen, won the Caldecott Award for "the most distinguished American picture book for children."  It turned out to be a great year for Jon Klassen.  His illustrations for Extra Yarn earned him a Caldecott Honor award as well.

Click here for a complete list of Caldecott medal and honor books from 1938 to the present.

Click here for a complete list of all the 2013 youth media award winners that were announced at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in Seattle.

Musical Chairs in the Library?

The frigid weather meant many indoor recesses for our students this week.  Instead of having Mrs. Forgiel's and Mrs. Pepper's classes sit for a story on Friday afternoon, I thought it might be a good idea to get them moving around by playing a library variation of Musical Chairs.  

This is a fun way to introduce first grade students to our Blastoff! Readers, a series of beginning to read nonfiction books published by Bellweather Media.

After reading one of the books to students and pointing out some of the nonfiction text features (table of contents, bold print, glossary, photos), we had students line up around the chairs and started the music.  When the music stopped, they had to pick up the book and sit down and start reading.

There were enough books and chairs to go around the first time.  When the music started up again, we started taking books and chairs away.  If the student couldn't find a chair with a book, they had to squish in with someone else and do some "buddy" reading.

We finished up by asking students to tell one fact that they learned from a book they read.  We showed them where to find these books in the library, and sent them back to class with a box of books to enjoy reading next week.  You can always tell they had fun when they ask if we can do it again!

For Parents:  Getting the Most Out of Nonfiction Reading Time

Need Country information? Try this resource!

During the months of January and February, we have a free trial for a database to aid our sixth grade students in their research of countries.  The database is A - Z World Culture.  In addition to extensive statistics and facts that can also be found at the CIA World Fact book, this site includes information about the society and culture of 175 countries (greetings and courtesies, food and recipes, gift giving, holidays and festivals, etc.).  It also gives helpful information for business and tourist travel (attire, health notes/medical care, currency, essential terms in the language of the country, emergency phone numbers, etc.).  It is an interesting and impressive collection of information.  

Sixth graders were given the username and password in class.  If you would like to take a look (particularly if you a planning a trip to another country), email me at nalibrandi@hopkintonschools.org  -please include the name of your Maple Street student in the email.

Statewide Ladybug Award Winner Announced

Apparently the rest of the preschool through grade three students in New Hampshire agreed with our students at Harold Martin.  Pete the Cat:  I Love My White Shoes written by Eric Litwin was chosen as the winner for the 2012 Ladybug Picture Book Award.  The video below is a live telling by the author.

Over 22, 000 students across the state took part in the voting.  The voting results are available from The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library.

Back to Blogging

I took a hiatus from blogging during the months of November and December while I was working on some technical issues with the blog.  To mirror the district's website, I had been using an older version of WordPress.  I spent a lot of time trying to make it work, but in the end, I found that the older version was limiting some of the things I wanted to do.  I have switched back to Blogger, and hope this will make posting easier and the blog more pleasing to the eye.  Look for more posts after vacation.  

HMS Chooses Favorite Ladybug Book

Harold Martin students anxiously awaited the results of the voting, as Mrs. Alibrandi and Mrs. Bohlman visited classes to pick up Ladybug Award ballots, and to drop off ladybug cookies. 

The results....Calvin Can't Fly came in third, 

Three Hens and a Peacock was the second place winner, 

and in first place was Pete the Cat.

We'd like to give special thanks to:

• The PTA for their generous donation for extra copies of the books
• Bill Carozza for reading/singing Pete the Cat at lunch time
• Bonnie Harlow and Pat Raymond for making special ladybug cupcakes for those lunches
• Carl Wood and Ed Girzone for set up/clean up and extra patience that day
• Our ladybug cookie decorators:  Ed Girzone, Liz Cannon and Bella, and Lori Aubertin
• Dot Blanchard and Betsy Wilder for reminding people to wear red the day of the voting
• Lois Scammon for holding down the fort while Michele and I made our Ladybug visits

Good News! HMS Students have BrainPop Jr.!

Our school was awarded a free 12 month subscription to BrainPop Jr. for school and home through the New Hampshire Digital Resources Consortium.

"BrainPOP Jr. provides educational movies for K-3 learners and addresses a wide range of grade-appropriate topics. Each animated topic has a movie, leveled quizzes, games, activities, and lesson ideas that develop critical thinking and inquiry skills. All content is read aloud so young students can browse the site on their own.

Because BrainPOP Jr. is delivered entirely online, there’s nothing to install or download. You can use BrainPOP resources with PCs, Macs, projectors, and interactive whiteboards. Getting started is easy by using the step-by-step Getting Started Guide."  The subscription does require a password, which will be sent home soon in Bill Carozza's newsletter or you can email me at nalibrandi@hopkintonschools.org (please include your child's name in the email).