Dear Stonehedge Families,

I can’t believe the time has come again to wish everyone a wonderful summer! It sure has been a long and strange late winter and spring. We’ve made a lot of changes in how we’ve interacted, taught, and learned, but we’ve made it through and I do hope you all can enjoy the official summer break to the utmost.

New York State's summer reading theme is "Imagine your Story"

But since it is nearly summer, I can’t sign off without talking a bit about summer reading. Next week’s library lesson on the WG learning portal…the last for a while…is all about summer reading; you’ll find details from all of our local public library branches, including videos explaining their summer reading programs. Most public branches are doing curbside pickup now and the library links will give you the best information on how to take advantage of their services. The library lesson also has a handy list of Little Free Libraries in the greater Camillus area. These are informal collections of books that you are free to keep (or better yet, read something and return it and take something new!) Little Frees are also a great place to rehome books you might want to give away. The library lesson also includes book suggestions, including the 5^th going into 6^th grade recommended reads…including audio files of each book’s first chapter read to you by my student teacher Elizabeth Lutz. There are also welcoming videos from both middle school librarians, Mrs. Bush from CMS and Mrs. Chemotti from WGMS. 

I can’t stress enough how important it is to read over the summer!!! No matter what the format, any reading you do is beneficial to you.

I’m sharing with you my book stacks…the one on the left is the stack I’ve read since we’ve been paused (by all rights, it would be bigger but I think I read Artemis Fowl and The Arctic Incident six times apiece prepping for the AF book club!) The one on the right is made up of the books I hope to read over the summer. Will I make it through the stack? I’m not sure, but I know I’ll have fun trying. Have fun with your own stacks and have a wonderful summer!

Until we meet again,

Don’t forget to

READ4FUN

Mrs. Abbott

Happy Spring?

Hello Stonehedge Families

Last time I wrote, it was snowing. This week we hit 90° and I have been swimming. So goes springtime in CNY!

I am so proud of my “Artemis Fowl” book club members. We’ve had a core group of about 7 or 8 kids who have tuned in daily to listen to me read and follow along if they have the book. I have to give them credit, it’s not been an easy read, but it sure has been suspenseful. We made it through the first book in 11 days and have started the second adventure in the series The Arctic Incident. We’re hoping to finish in time for the movie premier on Disney+ on June 12^th.  We can’t wait to see what the folks at Disney do with Eoin Colfer’s criminal mastermind and his fairy foes. 

And as if we need another excuse to read, J.K. Rowling has done it again. The wizard behind the Harry Potter series has dusted off an idea she originally created as a bedtime story for her kids and is sharing it online for free. The story is called The Ickabog and takes place in the kingdom of Cornucopia. Rowling is releasing a few chapters at a time and the whole story will be published in the fall with all proceeds going to charity. In the meantime, she is encouraging all budding artists to submit illustrations for the story. The publishers in each country will be selecting artwork from fans for publication. Click here to read the story and get details about the illustration contest.

I hope that everyone is still having fun with the library lessons on the Learning Portal. This week we reminded you that Reader’s Theater is a really fun way to share a story with someone while you also work on your reading skills. In the coming weeks, we share some webcams and sites so you animal lovers can get your science on. We also have a hysterical lesson on making up your own jokes. (I can’t wait to see the flip grid for that one!) We’ll also be reminding you about the importance of reading over summer break and giving you tons of resources to make that fun and easy.

Keep having fun…stay cool and

Don’t forget to Read4Fun!!

Mrs. Abbott

Fowl...Artemis Fowl

Hi Stonehedge families,

First of all, thank you so much to all of the students and staff that helped out with the virtual "Poem in Your Home" celebration/library lesson last week. It's hard to reimagine some of our favorite school traditions in this new, strange time, but the resulting Flipgrid outdid my wildest expectations. Thank You.

As my fourth-grade book club members may recall, I had plans of having a special book club this spring to read Artemis Fowl by Eion Colfer in anticipation of the release of the Disney movie in theaters in June. 

It has just been announced that the movie will now premiere on June 12^th on Disney+. I think we may still have time to read the first two books before the movie comes out. I’ll be reading (hopefully) a chapter a day on a zoom meeting that interested students can join live. The readings will be recorded and saved on a special Google Classroom for kids who can’t make the zoom. As we get closer to June, we may plan a watch party or at least have a zoom meeting to discuss the books and the movie.

Artemis Fowl is a series by Eion Colfer about a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind who encounters dwarves, fairies and other magical creatures on a quest to find his missing father. The movie is reported to be based on the first two books in the series.

The books are recommended for grades 4 and up, but all grade levels are welcome to participate, subject to parental approval. The movie is PG.

If you would like to be part of this virtual book club, look for the access code in your teacher's Google Classroom.

I’ll start reading via daily zoom meetings at 1pm starting Monday, May 11. You’ll be able to access the zoom link from the Artemis Fowl Google Classroom. If you have the book, feel free to follow along. All are welcome.

Hope to “see” you on Monday!

Don't Forget to READ4FUN!

Mrs. Abbott