Library News from Ms. Kugel: November 2019

Library News from Ms. Kugel: November 2019
Posted on 11/22/2019

MeganIt has been busy in the Baldwin Library the past two months! We are so lucky to have a student librarian, Marina Sweeney with us in the library a few days a week until the last week of November. Ms. Sweeney has been enjoying getting to know Baldwin kids on Monday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

On Monday, October 21, we welcomed author Megan McDonald to visit with students in grades one through five. It was a funny, exciting and RARE (Judy Moody word!) experience, and students are excitedly reading through the Judy Moody and Stink series books. Friends of Baldwin generously purchased signed books for students with financial challenges and Porter Square Books coordinated the visit and book sale.

We have also been busy voting on our favorite pumpkins from the Pumpkin Decorating Contest. I hope you have a chance to see our student’s incredible entries.The winners of the Pumpkin Contest:

  • First Place: Benny E., Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon 
  • Second Place: Liliana and Lydia, Nory Horace from Upside Down Magic
  • Third Place: Marina, Bird, and Squirrel

TonyWe welcomed students and families for a night of storytelling on Wednesday, October 23rd with our favorite storyteller, Tony Toledo.

We’ve been hard at work learning library procedures and checking out lots of new books, including books on the Baldwin Book Award List and the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award List.

Kindergarten
students have been learning about the parts of a book and working on the difference between fiction and nonfiction. We’ve been defining fiction as made up stories that you read for entertainment while nonfiction books have information you read to learn. You can help this learning by asking your students to label the books you read at home. We took an informal survey and more kindergarteners are checking out fiction than nonfiction.

First Graders learned all about book care and made plans for taking care of their library books. They were so excited to take home their school library books for the first time this month. We’ve also been reading Judy Moody Was in A Mood in preparation for Megan McDonald’s visit.

Second Graders
have spent a lot of time working on choosing just right books for them. We’ve been reading Judy Moody Book Quiz Whiz in preparation for Megan McDonald’s visit. We are starting to log onto chromebooks and learning about the library resources available to us. We are starting this off with Tumblebooks, an ebook, and read along database that students can access through the CPS website. We will be exploring the resources available here to students at school and at home.

Third Graders
are busy learning about different fiction genres. Our library fiction section is organized by genre so this will help students more easily find the kinds of books they like. Students are learning how to use the library catalog. They are working in groups to make slideshows about one of the genres in the library that they will present to their class.

Fourth Graders learned about the library catalog and Massachusetts Children’s Book Award Program. They are now working on researching, planning and 3D designing a space station that they will locate somewhere in our solar system. They are research potential energy and water sources for their colony.

Fifth Graders learned about the library catalog and also were able to learn about the resources available through the public library when Julie Roach from Cambridge Public Library came to visit. We were able to get lots of students new or replacement public library cards. Kids were especially excited to check out OverDrive and Hoopla. Fifth Graders learned about the Massachusetts Children’s Book Awards program and many students are excitedly reading through the list. Fifth graders have been planning a pretend trip to another country. They used a database to learn about the culture, picked a flight on Google Flights and use Google Maps to explore. They have written a postcard about their experience and are designing keychains with our 3D printer which they will use to remember their experience.

I look forward to another exciting year with your children in the Baldwin Library!
Karin Kugel
[email protected]

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