Alisal Library Fundraiser

Starting 9/24 and ending on October 23rd, we're having an online Titlewish library fundraiser. 100% of the money we raise will go directly to purchasing new materials for our Alisal school library!

We're asking you to participate and help us raise $1,000. We're going to use this money to purchase NONFICTION SPORTS BOOKS for our school. The few sports books we have in the library are old and outdated.  Students come in every week and ask for books about martial arts, dance, hockey, baseball, swimming, gymnastics, horseback riding, football, BMX biking, basketball, etc, etc. We need new, up to date, exciting books about the sports that students are playing and watching! These new books will help build excitement about reading. Your donation goes directly to buying new library books for Alisal.

To help us meet our goal, please visit   http://www.titlewish.com/107887  and click the Donate button.

As of today, we are already at 69% of our goal!!!  Amazing!  Thank you, generous Alisal families!  I'd love to raise more than $1,000 for sports books - it would mean more books for the kids!

Thank you for helping us provide Alisal students with the best education possible!

Battle of the Books

It's finally here!!!!  Alisal's Battle of the Books is underway!  The 4th and 5th graders are now assigned to teams and beginning to read their books.   The next meeting is Tuesday, October 27th at noon.  Please make sure your child has finished the book and attends the meeting with their book so they can exchange it with teammates.

The 4th graders are reading these 5 books:
Liberty Porter, First Daughter
Dragonrider 
No Talking
The Year of Miss Agnes
The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity 

The 5th graders are reading these 5 books:
Swindle
Regarding the Fountain
Silverwing
Among the Hidden
Inside Out and Back Again

The teams are as follows:

4th Grade:

Red Sasha Diana Kira Victor Alan D Abigal D	Orange Daniel C Joshua D Brian G Nick G Jenna Devlyn
Green Arash Olivia A Kyle Amy Sriveda Dana	Blue Ein Neale Lisa Erin Olivia M Sophie P
Yellow Elijah AJ S. Tony Raymond Danielle Marycarmen	Black Hayley Ellie Jevonne Adrian Nicolas Jayden
Purple Jalen Darcy Cameron Arthur Nitya Ria	Pink Molly Emma W Alyssa A Jia V Lynn

5th Grade:

Red Wu Andrew X Sophia M Emma F Tanvi Aditi K	Orange Amina Sarah Aaron Liam Brian Andrew
Green Joey Ryan S Jackson Tavleen Nandini Sahana	Blue Michael H Tony W Richard Esha Avi Taylor
Yellow Dylan Issac C Celeste Maggie Emma B	Black Eva Anish Harshu Alina F Lilli
Purple Evan D Gael Isaac L Melissa April	Pink Alena Zoey Isabelle Stella Sydney S
Silver Harshu Anish Alina Lilli Eva

Screen-Free Week is May 4th-11th, 2015

Hello Alisal Bears!  Next week, May 4th-11th, is National Screen-Free Week across the US.  I love this week because there are so many wonderful things to do in the world when you're not sitting behind a screen.  (A-HEM.... like READING!)  Here is a short video that shows just how much we Americans watch screens:

This video is probably best for 4th and 5th graders...younger kids may have a hard time digesting the information as it is given pretty quickly.

But here's another video that everyone should enjoy:

This video features several children's book authors discussing what their childhoods were like and how they spent the majority of their time "unplugged".... shows kids some great things they can do if they are not watching screens.

Teachers and parents, I will be reading different picture books to the kids that have to do with the idea of taking a break from electronics.  If you have time to show these videos to your classes tomorrow (before Screen-Free Week starts), that would be a great beginning for ME...when I see them in the library next week, when I ask them if they know what week it is, someone might say, "Yes!  It's Screen-Free Week!"

I know the idea of keeping kids off all screens for a whole week seems daunting.  You could always start out small.  That's what we're going to do!  :)

READ!  PRETEND!  DRAW!  BUILD!  CLIMB A TREE!  FLY A KITE!

It's POEM IN YOUR POCKET DAY!!!

Watch this video on Thursday, April 30th for a special message from Mrs. Shackelford!

Author and Illustrator videos

Hello out there!  I've been discovering a lot of cool author interviews online lately.  I'm going to "store" them here so I can show them classes without having to search for them!  Feel free to watch them!

Erin Steadtalking about how she illustrates A Sick Day for Amos McGee

Ivy and Bean trailer

How Beekle got his name

Jennifer and Matthew Holm talk about Babymouse

Mo Willems and Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs

California Young Reader Medal...The Votes Are In!

Happy Spring Break!  School's out, and the relaxing begins!  However, before I can relax, I have an important job to do: tallying the 1st and 2nd graders' California Young Reader Medal votes.  Then I have to submit our votes online to the CYRM website.  We'll find out which book wins the award in May.  Here is how Alisal voted.  A pretty big landslide, I'd say.  Now we just have to see how the rest of the kids across California felt about the books!

Who Loves Mac Barnett (the author)??!!

Hello all you Alisal Bears!  Last Thursday was such an exciting day for the library.  Mr. Mario arrived with a dolly full of books -- brand new books for the students to read.  I can't wait to get these awesome books checked out to kids in the next few days!  I took a few home to try out with my own kids over the weekend.  We all loved Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett.  Watch the trailer for book here:

Obviously, the first reason to love it is how funny it is!  Lots of giggles from both kids and myself as we read through it.  But lots of books are funny, right?  What I also enjoyed was the fact that it highlighted the importance of the illustrator in making a picture book what it becomes.  Reading this book makes me think of many questions about authors and illustrators and how they work together… Like, do they get to pick each other? What if they don't like the other's work?

This is the third book by Mac Barnett that I have read in the Alisal Library that I have loved. The other two are Count the Monkeys (recommended to me by Franke in Room14) and Guess Again, which was loved by all the first grade classes back in January.

And we also received President Taft is Stuck in the Bath and Sam and Dave Dig a Big Hole.  I haven't read them yet but I'm sure I'll be cracking up yet again!  We'll be having some fun reading Mac Barnett's books after Spring Break!