I love books!

Check out this cool Shape Collage I created using http://www.shapecollage.com/online/!
Try it out...it's fun!

Seasons Readings in the library!!

YIKES!!! I did it again and forgot to update my blog! We've been having so much fun in the library re-organizing and learning new library and information literacy skills this month that my blog slipped my mind once again.

So what can I share that is new and exciting?

We have a lot of new books getting catalogued each day so stay tuned to the NEW RELEASE section of our library shelving to catch the newest books hitting the shelves.

Christmas is coming and with that comes some of our Christmas classics at storytime...as well as some new ones!

As promised, here are some fun links I've discovered this past week:

Win a visit from Robert Munsch contest

Xtranormal - a neat site that puts images with text to create video!

Mugurdy - a visual search engine (you can see the front page of the website before you visit it...kind of cool!)

Sumo Paint - kind of like KidsPics but more exciting!

Big Huge Thesaurus - need a rhyme,antonym or synonym...here's the site!

Let's hope that keeps you busy for awhile...I'll try to hunt down some fun interactive Christmas sites soon! Stay tuned!
Mrs. Eby

More than just storytime...

Ok, Ok...I need to apologize for being so neglectful of my new library blog!! I am going to try much harder to keep this more current and I think I want to make it more of a learning space rather than just a "newsletter" of library events.

In order to get students checking this blog, I need to make it more active and worthwhile for everybody. So I'm going to try and share some fun websites and interesting learning opportunities as I explore and learn of new educational digital experiences!!

Just to recap though, we had a lot of fun over Halloween sharing the story of "Scaredy Squirrel at Night" sitting in the dark and playing with our new Scaredy Squirrel puppet as well as exploring the amazing resource for research topics using "World Book Online" with our older students.

To honour Remembrance Day this month, the students have experienced various picture books during their library classes to better understand this important day (A Time for Toys, Proud as a Peacock Brave as a Lion, The Poppy is to Remember...).

November is also CANADIAN CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK!! For the rest of the month, the students of LM will be introduced to various Canadian authors of picture books and chapters books and encouraging them to "check them out". For every book written by a Canadian author that a student reads, they will be able to fill in a maple leaf to add to our library bulletin board! GO CANADA!

Mrs. Eby's fun links...

The Twilight Saga official website..."New Moon" premiers on Friday, November 20th!!

Be funky...turn your photos into works of art at this free fun site!

Fresh Brain... a technology learning site for teens!!

Edheads...lots of virtual fun science games to explore.

Until next time! Happy reading and digitally learning!

Mrs. Eby

It's an Extreme Library Makeover...come and "check us out"!

It's been a busy place in the library over the past couple of weeks! We've truly undergone an EXTREME MAKEOVER in the library this year. Just before the Book Fair began, our new shelves finally arrived. With the help of the division`s library consultants, we were able to get all the books properly shelved and in circulation almost instantly! Our Fiction section has also been revamped to make it easier for the students to find their favorite books at their reading level.

Of course the big news in the library this month are the brand new colorful mitt chairs...a popular spot for reading or hanging out in the library working on our latest puzzle!!


A big THANK YOU to all our parents and students for your support of the Book Fair this past week. We sold over $5000.00 worth of Scholastic books and products to earn us a profit of nearly $3000 in books and cash toward our own school library!!! Way to go, LM community!

With the Book Fair packed up, it was back to business as usual in the library. We continue to celebrate LIBRARY MONTH at LM with our Name the Library Kitty contest and learning about how to choose a PURR-fect book with the early years students. Our Middle Years students have been introduced to our library website http://www.protopage.com/lmlibrary and discovering the wealth of resources and research tools right at their fingertips.


Next week, we will have some fun with Halloween websites and stories as well as taking a closer look at the book "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak that has been turned into a movie!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Mrs. Eby

Giving thanks for libraries!!!

September has been a whirlwind month of firsts and new beginnings as we begin to establish routines and schedules in the library! The students had a lot of fun learning about the works of Roald Dahl and now we are into October and celebrating National Library month.

To begin the celebrations and make our library even more cozy, we have adopted a new friend to our library...a fuzzy orange stuffed kitty. He has found a comfy spot on our library futon but is desperate need of a NAME!! The early years students will be listening to several stories about cats, in particular the tale of Dewey, the library cat...to help inspire them as they enter various ideas for names in our contest to "Name the library kitty".





With our first round of Tri-conferences coming up after Thanksgiving comes our annual Scholastic Book Fair! It's a huge event in our school library and an amazing fundraiser as we receive 60% of the total sales in money to spend on new books and resources for the library.
Watch for the flyers coming this week...
Book Fair begins Tuesday, October 13th and runs until Friday morning, October 16th! Volunteers to help with running the cash desk are welcome. Please e-mail Mrs. Eby if you are interested in helping out.

Along with all the fun in the library, we are also working as a school to create our social contract for how we want the LM library to "look, sound and feel". It's been refreshing to see the enthusiasm and creative ideas the various classes have contributed to our contract. The tricky part will be to sum up our ideas into a school library motto that expresses our combined thoughts and sets the stage for a fabulous year.

HAPPY LIBRARY MONTH!

Scrumdidlyumptious September with Roald Dahl!

We've been having a lot of fun this month learning about the wonderful books of Roald Dahl! September 13th is Roald Dahl's birthday and widely celebrated around the children's literary world. Here at Linden Meadows the students have been learning about this famous British author and the connection he makes with children through his humour and fantastical imagination. From "Oompa Loompas" and talking animals to magic fingers, Roald Dahl has captured a wide audience of readers. His books have derived a lot of their popularity from the many movies they have been turned into...

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory


• Matilda


• The Witches
  
• James and the Giant Peach
  

and now...coming to theaters in November...FANTASTIC MR. FOX!!! Right now, the grade 3 and 4 classes are having the novel read aloud to them during library class. Click HERE to see a preview/trailer of the new movie!
The grade 2 class is "taking a big bite" out of Roald Dahl's book, The Enormous Crocodile! Watch out for this guy...he likes to eat children!

Check out a Roald Dahl book from our library this month and find out what all the fuss is about!

A new beginning in the LM library!

Welcome to a new year at LM!! I am so excited to be a teacher-librarian and start off this new adventure in my career at this school. We've been very busy getting the library ready for the students. In some ways, I like to call it our "EXTREME LIBRARY MAKEOVER". I plan to post pictures as soon as our last few pieces of funky furniture arrive...(if I can wait that long!).
We are hoping to make a library more of a learning commons rather than just the place to find books and talk quietly! In fact my slogan for our library is LOL @LindenMeadowsLibrary, where the LOL means Learn(and even Laugh) out loud!
Our new comfy reading space is also home to a fun puzzle that we'd love for you to visit and help put together! We want to make our library both welcoming and fun for all.
We will be starting our regular schedule of LIBRARY CLASSES on Wednesday of this week (Sept.16th) and students should be able to begin taking out library books as well as spending time with me. As you enter the library for class, the K-4 students will move to the cozy meeting space I've created at the back of the library, while the 5-8 students can have a seat at the tables in the library (4 students per table PLEASE!).

We had a wonderful assembly on Friday to welcome all the students back to LM! Unfortunately we had some technical difficulties for the grade 5-8 assembly and they were unable to view the movie of our Flag Raising ceremony. I have embedded the video into this blog so you can view it at your pleasure.




See you in the library!
Mrs. Eby