Hello Everyone,

I hope you and your loved ones have been staying safe and healthy. It certainly has been a wild and unusual summer vacation so far and we still have a month to go.  I’ve run into quite a few of you while out and about and all I can say is I miss you all so much! So much, in fact, I’d like to do another book club as a way to spend some time with anyone who is feeling the same way. The One and Only Ivan has been made into a movie and will start streaming on Disney+ on Friday, August 14th. I’d like to repeat what we did for Artemis Fowl...I’ll read the book in installments on zoom. If you have a copy of the book (pretty cheap at Walmart, Target or on Amazon), you can read along, if you don’t, you can just listen in. Then, anyone with Disney+ can watch the movie and we’ll have a zoom meeting afterward to get together and talk about it.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is a beautiful story about friendship and loyalty. Ivan is a silverback gorilla who has lived at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall for 27 years. He is generally content with his situation, but when Ruby, a baby elephant, comes to live at the mall, Ivan wants to find a way to give her a better life. The book won the Newbery Medal for outstanding children’s literature in 2013. Many of my students know that Charlotte’s Web is my all-time favorite book, and Ivan reminds me of that book a lot. I’m so excited to share it.

 So here’s how we’ll proceed. I’ve made a google classroom for the book club. All grade levels are welcome. If you are interested in joining the club, send me an email at dabbott@westgenesee.org. I’ll send you the classroom and the code to join. You’ll be able to join the zoom from the classroom.  I’ll start reading on Monday, August 10th. When we have an idea of who is in the club, I’ll announce reading times. Sessions should be about 30 minutes on most days. I’m confident we can do the book in five sessions.  I’ll record the zoom every day and post it to the classroom. If you can’t make any session, you can watch it there. 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me. I hope to hear from you soon.

 READ4FUN!

Mrs. Abbott

 

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