Season’s Readings

I’m not one to start my holiday shopping until after the turkey leftovers have run out, but I know many people are already in search of the perfect gift.  My advice?  Don’t forget the books!  Books make great gifts and stocking stuffers.  My gift to you this season is a list of the most popular books in our library. Even though we have multiple copies of these titles, with over 800 students to cater to, these books are never on our shelves because they are always checked out.

All of our kids love books by Mo Willems, especially his "Pigeon" books and the "Elephant and Piggy" series.  We also love “Pete the Cat” books, both the original stories by Eric Litwin, who was our guest author this fall, and the continuing series and easy readers by Kimberly and James Dean.

 Also, book versions of Disney’s Frozen movie are all the rage.  All of these books are geared toward younger readers, but even our 5^th graders love these characters.

There are all types of handbooks for construction activities. Lego books show how to build manually with Lego blocks and Minecraft handbooks give kids ideas for building things virtually within that extremely popular computer game. These books are so hot; we never have enough copies in the library to keep everyone happy.

Older kids love the “39 Clues”, which is a great adventure/mystery series written by various popular young adult authors (make sure you read them in order, which is a tough task as there are two sequel series that carry on after the first 10 books are done). Other awesomely popular series are: “I Survived” by Lauren Tarshis, “Percy Jackson & The Olympians” and “The Heroes of Olympus” by Rick Riordan,  “Warriors”  by Erin Hunter and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”  by Jeff Kinney.  Carl Hiaasen, Dan Gutman, Kate DiCamillo, Mike Lupica and Louis Sachar are more of the most popular authors at Stonehedge.

So, to combat the jingle jangle of the holiday season, think about giving books. Books over the holiday season (and any time, for that matter) will make your homes calm and your children bright…(Read4Fun)  Mrs. Abbott

Was Thursday, October 2^nd a regular, old, normal day? Goodness No!  Eric Litwin visited Stonehedge and had us rockin’ in the Red Gym.  Thanks to our eternally awesome PTA, we were able to host the author of the first four “Pete the Cat” books. Mr. Litwin played his guitar, sang songs and led our kids through the telling of some of their favorite Pete stories as well as his new book Bedtime at the Nut House.  We even got to hear some sneak previews of some new books and a new character who is sure to be as “ga-roovy” as Pete.  Students and teachers of all ages really got into the show.  It was, as Pete would say, “All Good!”

Eric’s performance was the kick off for October as PARP (Parents as Reading Partners) month.  We had quite a few people at the first Open Library Night on October 7^th, but we’re hoping for a full house on the next one which is Thursday October 23^rd from 6:30-7:30.  The library will be open for checking out books and the fun part is that families are encouraged to check out whatever they like, without the restrictions students may have during the day. You may check out items for the whole family to share and as many items as you can keep track of.  Items that your family checks out during Open Library Night do not have to be returned at your child’s next library day. We encourage you to keep them and enjoy them together throughout October and return them when PARP is over. So, come see us on the 23^rd, and remember… “Cool Cats Read” and at Stonehedge we always “Read4Fun”!

Mrs. Abbott

Holy Hedgehog…is it September already?  Well, Mrs. Graser, Mrs. Eichhorn, Hedgie and I have been busy getting the library ready and we are so excited for this coming year.  We are set for lots of fun.

As a matter of fact, our focus in the library this year will be reading for fun. Research tells us that kids who spend time reading for fun have larger vocabularies. They are also exposed to more varied styles of writing and, because of that, tend to be better writers themselves. And when they are reading books they really like, this happens without them even realizing it. (It’s just like sneaking whole grain dough and vegetables onto a pizza!) We’ll be doing all kinds of book talks and activities to get more kids reading more books for fun. (Even Hedgie is in on the plan…)

And speaking of more fun…author Eric Litwin will be visiting our school on October 2^nd.  Mr. Litwin wrote the stories and songs for the first four Pete the Cat books. He also has a new book out called Bedtime at the Nut House. It seems the Nut family has just as much groove as Pete.  All of our students are sure to enjoy this day; many thanks to our tremendous PTA for making it possible.

So, as you can see, we have big plans for the first part of the year in the library…stay tuned to see how things are going…

Until then…”Read4Fun!!!”

Mrs. Abbott

Hello Stonehedge! Happy Spring –finally!

Thanks for taking a peek at our new blog. I am very excited to be able to push news out to you with this new format…and we’ll be saving trees too!

As always, the library has been a busy place lately…

 5^th graders are researching aspects of life in Brazil and Cuba.  They are working in groups, representing departments of history, economy, geography, culture and government. They are creating Power Points and will be teaching their classmates about their respective departments. When we are done, everyone will have a better understanding of both countries (as well as some excellent presentation skills).

4^th graders have also been working with Power Point presentations. They are making slideshows to review science vocabulary. As teams present to their classmates, everyone is creating study guides covering all of their science terms.

3^rd graders have been having fun with idioms.  They are learning the “secret language” of figurative expressions such as “in one ear and out the other” and drawing some great illustrations to boot.  They are also using presentation skills, using the document camera in the library to show off their work.

2^nd graders have been exploring fairy tales and folk tales in their classrooms, so we have been sharing different versions of stories like Paul Bunyan and The Fisherman and his Wife in library.

1^st graders have been providing the cutest moments of the month as they act out favorite tales, including The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with props and costumes.

Kindergarteners have been learning and reciting all kinds of nursery rhymes.  They know that these rhymes have been shared for generations and that their parents and grandparents have heard them too, so surprise your Kindergartener by singing along with their new favorite rhymes.

Summer reading programs are just around the corner…more about them in my next blog.

Until then…Don't forget to Read4Fun!

Mrs. Abbott