1-Thing Wednesday: Pinterest Book Recommendation Board

Occasionally during the year we take the time to highlight new books or recommend old favorites using Pinterest. Both book trailers and cover images of K - 5 books are there if you're looking for something to read! Want to take a look? You can access the board by clicking in the caption below.

CLICK HERE to access the Pinterest board.

Want to see something added that you think others would like to read onto the board? Let Mrs. Ellis know, and maybe you'll see it there!

1-Thing Wednesday: Using our AEA Databases

We are so fortunate to have access to a wide variety of databases from our area AEA, Heartland. Throughout the year, teachers and students alike use them for everything from pleasure reading to research to project creation support. Often, these databases become part of our library lessons, too.

Of course, BookFLIX and PebbleGO are wonderful listen-to-reading tools for our younger students, but both are quick research resources for all of our students. Throughout the year, the nonfiction materials in BookFLIX and the many available titles in PebbleGO support a number of students' projects. 

Also supporting students' research needs were Britannica Online, MackinVia, and TrueFLIX. You can read about fourth and fifth grade students' projects and their use of databases HERE. 

3rd graders use Britannica Online to gather information for a project.

A specific resource that we rely on for supporting videos is Learn360. We've watched everything from Franklin Loses a Book during our look at library expectations and book care with our K-2 students to The Curse of the Hope Diamond as fifth graders gained some background knowledge before the Iowa Children's Choice read aloud of Loot by Jude Watson. (You can read about the pre-reading activity HERE.)

4th graders gain background knowledge on Dash, an Iowa Children's Choice Award from 2016-2017.

As databases are updated and revised, we look forward to their continued use! Many projects await!

1-Thing Wednesday: Destiny Quest

Using Destiny Quest is a big part of our library time with students. During check out at each session in the library, students can access Destiny Quest, log in, and do any number of things there.

Most often, students respond to friend requests and send other request themselves, sometimes making book recommendations when they do so. Students also add books to their virtual bookshelves, adding not only books they've read themselves, but also books they've enjoyed as read alouds. 

Part of our library curriculum includes writing book reviews, and Destiny Quest--along with our online catalog--offer students an authentic audience for their writing. We take several library sessions to draft and revise our reviews, and slowly our online catalog has become a place where students can read peers' reviews and thoughts about books in the collection.

1-Thing Wednesday: Featuring New Books!

Many new books will greet students when they return in August. Want a sneek peek at a few of our favorites?

Popular author Gordon Korman's new book is realistic fiction and features Chase, who remembers nothing after falling from his roof. As he begins his school year, Chase comes to understand that the person he was before the fall isn't anything like the person he is now. Will the influence of his friends sway him to return to his juvenile delinquent/bullying ways? Or will he take the opportunity to restart and become a different person?

For fans of author Sharon Creech, she has a new realistic fiction book titled Moo that follows Reena and Luke as they try to settle into a new life in Maine.

You can see the trailer below:

The last featured title is also realistic fiction. The Courage Test by James Preller tells the story of Will and his father as they set out to follow parts of the historic Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Like Lewis and Clark, Will and his father meet a native American (who just happens to be his father's friend from college) and a girl who's been away from her family and is trying to reunite with them (like Sacagawea). Along the way readers see a new relationship develop between Will and his dad--a dad who has begun a new life after divorcing from Will's mom. As the two make their way to the Pacific Ocean, Will discovers he has his own challenges to face, just like Lewis and Clark.

Do one of these realistic fiction titles seem like a book you'd like to read this fall? Be sure to ask about them when school starts!