Breakfast with Books was a huge success again this morning!  About 40 second and third graders came to school early to enjoy doughnuts, juice, and of course some awesome books!  Students found comfy spots around the library to read individually, with a partner, with a favorite stuffed animal, or with a group of friends.  At the end, Mr. Edwards and Ms. Fehrman entertained everyone by reading the story Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O’Malley.  What a great way to start the day!  Thanks to all of the parents who made special arrangements to drop off their children early so they could participate!  Photos coming soon.

I am very excited to announce that fourth and fifth graders are invited to start contributing to this blog!   You may leave comments about any of the Rebecca Caudill nominees by clicking on the title to the right.  You may also blog about other books you’ve read that you’d like to recommend to others.  Just click on the page called “AWESOME Books!” and leave a message about it there.  Please be sure to turn in your blogging permission slip so that I can begin publishing your comments!  Our Blogging Guidelines and Blogging Instructions can be found by clicking on the links above.  Thanks for participating.  I LOVE hearing what you have to say about books and I hope that you enjoy sharing your thoughts with each other!

The American Library Association announced their award winners today for the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, and other awards!  The Newbery Medal went to Rebecca Stead (author of this year’s Caudill nominee First Light) for her book When You Reach Me.  The Caldecott Medal went to Jerry Pinkney (illustrator of this year’s Monarch nominee The Little Red Hen) for his book The Lion and the Mouse.  For a full list of winners of all the different awards, visit the Association for Library Service to Children website.

Two groups of enthusiastic fourth and fifth grade readers joined Johnson teachers at our first two Book Clubs of the year.  The first Book Club took place on December 15th.  Before meeting, 13 students and 7 adults all read the book The Thing About Georgie by Lisa Graff.  On the evening of the 15th, the Book Club met in the LLC from 6:30-7:30 p.m.  All participants enjoyed a dinner of pizza and pasta (thanks, PTA!) while Ms. Tibble kicked off the night with a presentation about her life as a little person.  This deepened readers’ understanding of Georgie, a little person, who was the main character in the book.  Afterwards, everyone split up into small groups to discuss the book.

The second Book Club was held last night.  This time, 8 fourth and fifth grade girls met with Mrs. Heins, Mrs. Earnst, and Ms. Tibble to discuss the book Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs.  We enjoyed Mexican food for dinner since the main character in this book is from Mexico.  Then we engaged in a thoughtful and emotional discussion of the moving story of Victor Flores, who risks everything and embarks on a treacherous journey in order to save his family.

To view more photos from these two events, please visit our Flickr photostream.

Fourth and fifth graders, stay tuned for information about the next Book Club coming soon!  Next we will be reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Chrisopher Paul Curtis.  I look forward to seeing you there!

The weather outside might have been frightful last night, but 23 kindergartners and first graders put on their warmest pajamas and bundled up to make it to Bedtime with Books in the LLC.  They enjoyed milk and cookies and some delightful stories read by guest readers Mrs. Boomsma, Mrs. Lobue, Mrs. Smith, and Mrs. Marchessault (Mrs. Heins’s MOM!!).  Mr. Edwards and Mrs. Heins served milk and cookies and enjoyed the stories along with the kids.  Thank you to all who braved the elements to make our second Bedtime with Books event a great success!  To see more pictures, visit our Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsonschool_llc/

This morning was our first Breakfast with Books event of the year.  About 45 second and third graders came to school early and enjoyed a yummy breakfast of doughnuts and juice.  Then, all of the students found comfy places to read all over the LLC.  They were joined by several teachers as well as both principals!!   Thank you to everyone who helped with this event, and to all the parents who made special arrangements to drop students off early so they could attend.   It was a huge success!

Even the teachers wore their pajamas!!

Wow, our first Bedtime with Books of the year was a HUGE success!!!  Over 60 kindergartners and first graders arrived at school in their pajamas last night for a bedtime snack and story.  Everyone enjoyed milk and cookies in the LLC before heading off to different classrooms.  In Mrs. Urbanski’s room, Mrs. Urbanski and Mr. Pilkington each read a story in Spanish to our bilingual students.  Mrs. Musial and Mrs. Lobue each read a story to kindergartners in Mrs. Musial’s room.  In Mrs. Smith’s room, Mrs. Smith and special guest reader Miss Paul (the librarian at Hubble Middle School) each read a story to first graders.  It was so much fun!  I would like to personally thank all of the parents who brought their little ones to this special event and made it such a big success!  Also, thank you to all of our readers who volunteered to spend their evening with us!  We will have three more Bedtime with Books nights throughout the year: December 8th, February 11th, and April 14th.  I hope to see you then!

Mrs. Waldron, our art teacher, arranged a very exciting event for us that took place today at Johnson School. We were one of 200 schools to be chosen to participate in a live author broadcast by Mo Willems, one of our very favorite authors!! We watched on the internet while he showed us the studio where he works and how he draws his pictures. The best part of all was when he read us his two brand-new books that just came out TODAY! They are called Pigs Make Me Sneeze and Big Frog Can’t Fit In. Thanks, Mrs. Waldron, for bringing this special event to our school!!

Our library now has its very own mascot!!  If you haven’t already, be sure to come down and introduce yourself to Yertle, our library turtle.  He is living on the shelf right by Mrs. Dostal.  While you’re at it, maybe you want to check out a few books about turtles!!

This year’s summer reading theme was “Swing Into a Good Book: READ!” 16 Johnson students participated in the summer reading program this year. Those 16 students enjoyed a pizza party in the LLC on September 25th with Mrs. Dostal and me. Students who completed the bonus portion of the summer reading program by reading books from 10 different genres got to choose their very own special journal to keep. Marion was the big winner of the raffle prize – a $10 gift card to Borders! I am very proud of our 16 summer readers!! I had fun talking with you about what you read over the summer. I’m hoping to see LOTS more students at next year’s summer reading party!