On the 1st day of vacation, my kids and I went out to breakfast and then, of course, we were on our way to the 2 wonderful public libraries nearby. They had a couple of programs they wanted to sign up for, but mostly, we just needed books. I love looking at the new books and deciding which ones to get for my school libraries. My 9 year old son just piled on 6 or 7 Big Nate books, The Candymakers, plus a few others that he just couldn't live without. My 7 year old daughter looks for her favorite Ivy and Bean and then the Candy Fairies. When we got home, we spent at least 5 hours throughout the rest of the day reading. My son kept piling up books as he finished them. They read in the car too. It makes a librarian mother proud. 

I am going to participate in the #bookaday challenge with many other educators (check out that hashtag on Twitter). Some days I read a whole pile of books, some days only one. You'll see children's books, adult books, and professional books. But I'll be reading. And I can't wait to share with you some fabulous finds. Happy reading this summer!

Connecting 1st graders with a shark scientist was one of the most amazing skypes in which I have participated! Jillian Morris, founder of Sharks4Kids, met with Mrs. Burns' class on Friday, June 6. They were so excited to be talking to a real shark scientist. This spring, the students had been learning about oceans and all of the different living creatures that live there. When I saw Jillian's offer to skype with students, I jumped at the opportunity! What better way to learn?

Jillian is a marine biologist and videographer located in Bimini in the Bahamas and is passionate about shark education. Sharks4kids began because she wanted to help create "the next generation of shark advocates through education, outreach and adventure." This came through clearly throughout our skype!

As soon as we connected, Jillian's passion for sharks came through! She shared all kinds of facts and information with the kids, asking them questions and showing them amazing photographs! You couldn't help but get excited! Students were fascinated by all the different kinds of sharks she showed them and the equipment that she uses. They took to heart her message about protecting sharks and many times explained how these creatures are not looking to eat people. Patience is essential when speaking with 6 and 7 year olds. I think the jumping sharks were a favorite!

At the end of the skype, Jillian asked students to work hard to take care of sharks. She challenged them to create posters to share things that they had learned. We got started during library that day. You can see some of the completed ones in the photo gallery below.

Connecting with a scientist inspired my students to take action! Jillian and the other folks at Sharks4kids have a wealth of knowledge, resources and passion for educators to take advantage of. I hope you take some time and take a look. 

Sharks4Kids website

When I asked students what they liked most about author Barbara Mariconda's visit, 2 answers came to them immediately. Her journals and the family mysteries. Students and staff at Korn School had the wonderful opportunity to visit with Ms. Mariconda in June. Like many authors, Barbara began by telling them a little about herself and how she began writing. It is always fun to see pictures of an author when they are a child and it is really true that they began writing when they were little! It means a lot to the students when they can see that this published author started out just like them.

Barbara talked about all the things that she uses as an author to get ideas and to do her writing, including her little dog! A big point to students: write EVERY DAY! 

A unique part of Barbara is her traveling and her journals. What works of art! One that I walked around with was from a trip to Egypt. The journal was filled with pictures, tickets, writing, colorful sketches, cut-out sections to highlight a particular item and more. Many of us (myself included) were inspired to create a journal of our own about our summer adventures.  

Throughout her presentation, Barbara spoke about questions she has asked, family mysteries, and interesting stories that she learned about during her travels. Students were fascinated by these stories and loved seeing how she made them come alive in her books. Barbara shared an old family photo album which provided writing ideas. As she spoke about the Lucy P. Simmons trilogy, students could see how her trip to Ireland led her to include the legend of the Grey Man. 

At the end of her presentation, in addition to some questions from students, Barbara also did some writing with them (once a teacher, always a teacher). The focus was on helping to create an image through writing. I love how Barbara explained that when you write, you want everyone to get the same picture in their head - so if you are writing about a pirate, describe the pirate you are seeing. What kind of hat, hair, expression on the face, clothing, etc will your pirate have? Students excitedly offered ideas to include in this shared writing experience. Teachers came away wishing we could have Ms. Mariconda visit for a whole day!

For the rest of the day students were clamoring to see if we had copies of the Lucy P. Simmons books and one of the teachers came down and took the copy Barbara left us for her last read aloud of the year. What a wonderful way to end a year of celebrating reading at Korn School!

If you would like to contact Barbara Mariconda or learn more, visit her website:
 http://www.barbaramariconda.com/

Living right between New York and Boston, baseball is a big deal here in central Connecticut. When I saw on Twitter that Ballpark Mystery author David Kelly was doing skypes this May, I emailed him right away and was thrilled when he was able to connect with us! Miss Montepara's 3rd graders at Korn School were a perfect fit since they love reading AND baseball! They read one of his books together in class and came ready to learn and ask questions.

David got started by telling a little about himself and how he got into writing books for kids. My students are always curious about the author's life - how many kids they have, pets, etc. He talked about his first books and shared about Miracle Mud, a really neat book about the mud that is used to make baseballs not so "new" before they are used. We loved how Mr. Kelly shared about how he got his ideas and how he did his research. I love the picture of the mud below! He shared next about his series, the Ballpark Mysteries. These books take place in various baseball stadiums around the United States and star cousins Kate and Mike. There is always some kind of mystery that goes on that they have to solve. Once again, David shared his writing process and how he researches the facts and information that he adds to the story. We had time for lots of questions at the end. 

The students were very excited and left the visit wanting to read ALL of these mysteries. I ordered Miracle Mud for them to read as well. 

I was so pleased to connect with David Kelly and bring his passion for reading, writing, and baseball to the students of our school! I can't wait to share his books with more readers this fall!

A GIANT thank you to the Coginchaug Valley Education Foundation! I applied for a grant this spring and tonight was thrilled to be one of ten amazing grant recipients. My grant was titled Follow Your Passion and Make It! Through this grant, elementary students will be learning, growing, and creating in a Makerspace. We will be making cardboard come alive with Makedo and littleBits. MakeyMakey and Throwies allow students to tinker with circuits. All of these resources give students the ability to design, create, tinker, fail, and try again. In addition, we will be adding books that involve making or crafting to inspire kids! For a great example of a library Makerspace, take a look at the Westport Public Library. 

Come back to read more about what we are doing in the Makerspace next school year. We also will be having a mini-Makerfaire to show all the amazing things!

I love to see what books kids recommend to other! Today the grade 4 classes brainstormed ideas using Padlet. I loved seeing all the great titles they have gobbled up this year. Really good titles. These kids are readers.

Inspiring students and teachers all day long, Jarrett J. Krosoczka spent Monday, April 28 with us at Korn and Brewster Elementary Schools. The students were psyched! I haven't seen a Lunch Lady book in either school in months. The waiting lists are long. We couldn't wait!

Jarrett arrived early and was ready to meet our kindergarteners! I loved how he played music as the students were coming in and they settled right down. He shared with them about becoming a writer - how he had been writing since he was a little boy. They loved learning about his newly released Peanut Butter and Jellyfish and were thrilled when he read it to them. They also LOVED when Jarrett did some drawing with them! It was so much fun to have sea creatures have different emotions!

From Brewster, we traveled over to Korn School where Jarrett shared about his author journey with the 3rd and 4th graders. They were very attentive as he talked with them about becoming a published author (it took a while!) and the inspiration for the Lunch Lady series. They asked question after question of him too! They were very disappointed to find out that the Lunch Lady series is finished for the time being. Excitement grew when he talked about the upcoming book, Comics Squad Recess! written with some of the best graphic novelists in the business and showed them the book trailer! We can't wait til July!

Back to Brewster for lunch and then presentations to the 1st and 2nd graders. They loved seeing how Baghead came to be too! It was wonderful to hear from teachers about how much they really enjoyed his presentations and thought that he did an excellent job talking to the students. Jarrett's message about writing and drawing every day was perfect for our Young Author's Day!

After each presentation, Jarrett was able to sign books for students who had purchased them, providing them with a special momento from a very special day.  

Visit Jarrett J. Krosoczka at: studiojjk.com

Want a great way to catch 3rd graders attention in May? Start with a picture and a mystery. Get a suitcase and take out one item at a time and have them try to figure out what Jim Arnosky does for an occupation. A photograph, a date, a notebook, paint and paintbrush, a videotape of an animal safari, an award and finally a book. Amazingly enough, every year it takes them until the very end to figure it out, even though we are in the library! From the book Nonfiction Author Studies in the Elementary Classroom by Jenkins and White, this begins a series of lessons that incorporate exploration of this amazing author/illustrator with a myriad of language arts standards. Inferencing, skimming, noticing, looking for patterns are just a few of the things students will be doing. 

Arnosky is a prolific writer with topics like fish, lions, frogs, birds of prey, dolphins and more. These topics are intriguing to kids and over and over I heard, "Cool!" and "Awesome!" and "Look at this!" Students went through a book speed-dating process, looking at books from their pile for 1 minute and then choosing another one. It is chaotic and so much fun! While looking through these books, students have been asked, "What do they notice?" and "What patterns do you see?" They take 3 minutes or so at the end to record their thoughts. 

At this point, they are so curious about Jim Arnosky's life and have lots of questions. We will be using our next library class to learn more about his life and connect it to his writing. 

My favorite part? "Mrs. Lussier, can I take this book home?" I love when they are hooked!

Last week we kicked off celebrating the Charter Oak Children's Book Award, a children's book award for students in grades K-3. We read two books last week, Cows to the Rescue by local author John Himmelman and Randy Riley's Really Big Hit by Chris Van Dusen. What fun! 

Students on Friday began creating robots out of paper, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and anything else they could come up with. I had been playing around with Chatterpix for Kids for the iPad (FREE!) and all of a sudden I thought, "How fun would that be?!" Chatterpix allows you to take a picture of a person or drawing and then draw a line where the mouth would be and record. When you play it, it looks like the mouth is really moving! So much fun! There is more to it of course, but that gets you started. 

I asked the kids to record something about Randy Riley's Really Big Hit. Maybe it was their favorite part, maybe it is what they thought about the book. Below are a few that were finished today.