Searching for Spring

The library is trying to get back to full speed ahead after the breaks, but it’s been tough with the snow days and cold delays.  It seems everyone is searching for any harbinger of spring. Fortunately, our library calendar gives us some signs of hope.  Our K-2 students have finished their big research projects and Winter “Wonder”land is over for another year.  Kindergartners are now learning about the Caldecott medal that is given out annually for the best picture book of the past year. 1^st graders have been spending a lot of time with Dr. Seuss in preparation for his birthday on March 2^nd. Ask your 1^st grader about our new library goldfish, inspired by our reading of  Gustav the Goldfish and A Fish out of Water…by the end of the week, they will have voted on a name for him. 

2^nd graders are moving on to library skills. 3^rd graders are finishing up a long unit on Folktales, Fables and Myths. 4^th graders will be following the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska for the next few weeks and learning how to evaluate websites and use them to find reliable information. 5th graders are starting their biography research project and that always means that spring is just around the corner.

To get us through the long month of March, we've decided to have two bonus open library nights. The first one will be on Wednesday, March 11^th and will be a “Bring your whole family to the library night”. The second will be Tuesday, March 24^th and will be a beach party theme. The library will open from 6:30-7:30 both nights. Please bring your families to browse the shelves, share books in the library and check some out to take home.

Keep looking for the sun and don’t forget to Read4Fun!

Mrs. Abbott

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