Dalton First Program Library

The American Library Association (ALA) is the proud sponsor of Youth Media Awards including the prestigious Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal and Coretta Scott King Medal. In anticipation of the 2017 winner announcements on Monday January 23rd, K-2 students have been reading new recommended picture books and voting on which book they think will win the Caldecott medal. These books include The Friend Ship by Kat Yeh, Penguin Problems by Jory John, The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles by Michelle Cuevas, This is a Serious Book by Jodie Parachini, Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie, and Du Iz Tak by Carson Ellis. We will announce all winners on January 23rd. We are greatly looking forward to it!

For the past few weeks, students K-3 have been working very hard in a new unit involving the democratic process of elections, inspired by the recent presidential election. During the first week, students read Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Leuyen Pham. In the book, students are introduced to the concept of what makes a good leader, how to campaign and a simplified version of the electoral college.

After this book, students raised their hands and nominated potential candidates (“the Library Lion would be a good president, but David from No David! would be a bad president!”) and librarians Maria Paz Alegre and Lynn Frielinghaus narrowed it down to 5 potential candidates:

Piggie & Gerald, Library Lion, Amelia Bedelia, Ling & Ting, Paper Bag Princess!

Students were broken into groups and asked to campaign for different candidates by listing reasons that they would make good presidents (“Amelia Bedelia tries her best no matter what! The Library Lion loves kids! The Paper Bag Princess is very smart!”) After campaigning with their classmates, students were checked off one by one and allowed to vote! Their names were checked off of lists, votes were done in private voting booths on iPads, and each student received a “I Voted Today!” sticker!

Congratulations to all of our young voters! And the winner of the Little Dalton Library Presidential Election is…

PIGGIE & GERALD!!!

On Friday, October 21^st, the First Program Library was thrilled to host Grace Lin! Grace Lin is an award winning author and illustrator for children and has over 20 published books. Her work spans picture books, “I Can Read” books and novels. Grace grew up in upstate New York and aside from her two sisters, she was the only Asian-American student in her school for most of her elementary school years. As she grew older, Grace learned to appreciate her Chinese culture and began incorporating characteristics from Eastern art and myths into her work.

For Kindergarten and First Grade students, Grace created an interactive presentation which demonstrated “How a Book is Made,” taking students through the process from first sketches to a finished product. Students were excited to volunteer, reading lines and giving advice as her Editor, Designer and Printers. Her presentation with the 2nd and 3^rd grade students focused on the myths that inspired her Newbery Honor award-winning book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which 2^nd graders have been reading during their library classes. Student volunteers donned costumes and played roles in Chinese folklore in a reader’s theater play!

In our continuing efforts to promote equity and diversity in school and in literature, Grace’s visit marks the first time the First Program Library has hosted an Asian-American author, who almost exclusively features Asian and Asian-Americans as the main characters in all of her stories. Students K-2 have been particularly delighted with her books series featuring the Asian-American twins, Ling and Ting, which First Program Librarians Maria and Lynn have been reading with students in preparation for Grace Lin’s visit. Growing up, Grace was disheartened to find that few (if any) fictional characters in books looked like her or her family, which is why she makes a strong effort to fill her books with vibrant and colorful paintings of Asian and Asian-American children. Students who are familiar with Asian-American culture were proud to feel represented and eagerly shared language and stories with their classmates, while students unfamiliar with Asian-Americans in literature were given a wonderful window into their classmates stories and international folklore.

3^rd Grade student Sophie S. was so inspired by Grace Lin’s visit, that she eagerly wrote, “Grace didn’t just give us ‘author tips’ like many other visiting authors who come to First Program. I thought it was really unique that not only did she talk about her books, but she gave information about her family, her Asian background, and she taught us how to draw a Chinese luck dragon. Grace Lin is an amazing author and more people should check out her books!”

We could not be happier with Grace Lin’s visit. And, don’t forget, the book fair is taking place on Nov. 7th and 8th and will feature many of Grace Lin’s autographed books!

The First Program Library is thrilled to welcome back all of our wonderful students, as well welcome the newest batch of Kindergarteners. For those of you new to the school, the library is open every day after school, a librarian will be present to help you until 3:45pm. David MacEnulty was kind enough to donate a few chess boards and students have been enjoying quite games and reading after school. After the librarians leave, you are welcome to check out up to 3 books using our sign out sheet located at the circulation desk. Books are due after two weeks and can be renewed up to two times. There is no fine for late books, we just ask that they are returned as soon as possible to foster responsibility to allow access for eagerly awaiting students. We also welcome any parent volunteers who would like to help us shelve returned books. Please email malegre@dalton.org if you would like to volunteer.

Over the summer the library was renovated to great success! The space is much more open, pictures to follow soon! After two wonderful curriculum nights, we are beginning our preparation for Ally Week! Please stop by and feel free to borrow a book from the display.

It has been a VERY exciting month in the library. During April and into May, library classes were regaled with children’s poetry from around the world. Favorite poets included Neruda, Prelutsky, Katz and everyone’s favorite children’s poet, Shel Silverstein! In celebration of this delightful month, we created our first “Poet-Tree” filled with poem leaves created by students. It was such a success that librarians continued to add student work to the poet-tree during international lessons with kindergarten students including piñata leaves and butterfly wishes. These two elements correspond to two of the books read during their book plane journey around the world, Pancho’s Piñata (Mexico) and The Faerie’s Wish (Ireland) as they continue their journey across the continents for new and fascinating folk tales.

Many of our youngest students have questions about the election and in keeping with their interests, we devised a “Battle of the Books” election for K-1. Each week, the students would vote on their favorite book choices until each “primary” was narrowed down to two champions in the big “general election.” The winner of BOTH grades for the best beloved library book of the year is:

This means that Finding Winnie has the enviable position of brandishing not 1, but 3 gold medals! The 2016 Caldecott Medal, and the Dalton FP Library Kindergarten and First Grade 2016 Medals.

In classes, grades 1-3 are continuing their study of the dewey decimal system, examining books from every non-fiction subject including animals, technology, true-life adventures and history. Our goal is for our students to discover how to organize information into different subjects and use a cataloging system to locate them in a library. Up next, we will be sharing and celebrating stories for Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage month. Stay tuned!

April is a big month in the library! During the month of April, classes are delighted with read-alouds from favorite children’s poets including Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, Alan Katz, Doug Florian and Robert Frost. We also celebrate National Library Week which takes place during April 10-16.

In honor of this week, K-1 students have begun a “book bracket challenge” with Ms. Maria Alegre! Similar to the sports brackets during March Madness, children are asked to close their eyes and vote on their favorite books in the library. The winner of the favorite Kindergarten book and the favorite First Grade book will be announced in May.

Second and Third grade students celebrated the 100th (!) birthday of beloved children’s book author, Beverly Cleary. Ms. Cleary is the author of famed novels including Ramona, Mouse and the Motorcycle, Henry Huggins and many more. She is also the creator of DEAR time, a time used in schools across the world where students (D)rop (E)verything (A)nd (R)ead! Students in grades 2-3 are also learning about the origins and history of libraries including how membership was limited to elite citizens only. Students are also learning information about illuminated texts created by the clergy, complimenting a project the third students will be working on in the following weeks.

While first graders learn to identify different call numbers (Picture Books, Biography, Non-Fiction), the third graders are using their iPads to explore the online library catalog with searches for specific authors, titles and keywords.

Spring is in the air in Dalton School! Students began the month with a celebration of beloved Children’s book author, Dr. Seuss, whose birthday is on March 2nd. Students played young publishers as they decided whether or not they would have published Seuss’ first novel: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street!

To the delight of their librarians, students overwhelmingly adored the book and gave their stamp of approval. Excerpts of other books were read aloud including Wacky Wednesday and Happy Birthday to You!

We continued the month by celebrating Women’s History, introducing the youngest students to the concept of Biographies and introducing older student lesser known figures in Women’s History. The famed astronaut and doctor, Mae Jemsion, was introduced to the youngest students with the Coretta Scott King medal book Moon Over Star by Dianna Hutts Aston and  illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, as well as a photograph filled biography by Thomas Streissguth. Also studied this month was the story of Millo Castro Zaldarriga, the 10 year old girl who broke Cuba’s taboo against female drummers. Her biography, Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Rafael Lopez, is the winner of the prestigious Pura Belpre award which honors outstanding literature for children by a Latin American author. Students were also riveted by the story of Olympic gold-medalist Wilma Rudolph in Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull, whose story from crippling childhood polio to international victory is truly inspiring. Older students garnered knowledge from biographies including Remember the Ladies: 100 Great American Women by Cheryl Harness.

It has been a wonderful book filled month! We wish all Dalton families a happy spring and an enjoyable spring break, see you in April!