In honor of Earth Day, all students at First Program have been reading books focused around environmentalism. In Kindergarden, students have been riveted by the true story of William Kamkwamba – a 14 year old boy from Malawi who built his own windmill and powered his village.
In first grade students learn about Mama Mati, the Johnny Appleseed of Kenya who is responsible for thousands of new trees. They also explore a future world which has been victimized by pollution and are introduced into how the smallest changes can make the biggest differences in Chris Van Allsberg’s Just A Dream.
The second and third graders learned of Rachel Carson in Rachel: the Story of Rachel Carson. Rachel was a marine biologist and conservationist who challenged large corporations with her books about the harmful effects of pesticides on wildlife. She is revered by scientists and environmentalist and even has a woodland preserve named in her honor.
Happy Earth Day everyone!
April is a BIG month for writers, readers and librarians! This month we celebrate National Poetry month and National Library Week. In honor of poetry we have been reading the following poetry books to our classes:
While many families may be familiar with the rhyming styles and whimsical drawings of Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky, they may not have heard of Alan Katz. Alan Katz is a poet who pens wacky silly poetry with traditional children’s songs. One of the students favorites is “I’ve been cleaning up my bedroom” to the tune of “I’ve been working on the railroad.”
The youngest students have also been celebrating National Library Week with Library Lil, a picture book by Suzanne Williams about a very unconventional (and very strong) librarian who brings books back to a town that can’t pry their eyes off of screens. During a terrible storm when the power goes out, Lil saves the day with her bookmobile and the town of Chesterville remembers their love of reading.
For older students, Edgar Allen Poe is a favorite. A collection of his poems and verses has been a popular item for those who like things that go bump in the night.
Other books available at the Dalton library to consider for library week include:
Librarian on the Roof! A True Story by MG King, That Book Woman by Heather Henson, Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, and What Marion taught Willis by Brook Berg.
Happy reading!
March is Women’s History Month and in celebration we have been reading biographies about strong women in history. Favorite read aloud books include Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull and America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle by David A. Adler
In celebration of St. Patrick’s day, children have been delighted with tales of ‘the fair folk’ from Ireland. Favorite read-alouds include the following:
Fiona’s Luck by Teresa Bateman, The Faerie’s Gift by Tonya Robyn Batt and Traveling Tom and the Leprechaun also by Teresa Bateman.
This cold winter is finally coming to an end. Here’s looking at you, spring!
The American Library Association (ALA) has announced this years honors and winners for the prestigious Youth Media Awards including the Newbery Medal (Best Book for Children), the Caldecott Medal (Best Illustrated Book) and the Coretta Scott King Award (Best Representation of African-American’s in Literature).
And the winners for excellence in Children’s Literature are…
The Newbery Medal Winner for 2015:
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
The Newbery Medal Honor for 2015:
El Deafo by Cece Bell | Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
The Caldecott Medal Winner for 2015:
The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend
written and illustrated by Dan Santat
The Caldecott Medal Honor for 2015:
The Coretta Scott King Winner for 2015:
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
The Coretta Scott King Honor Books of 2015:
The Coretta Scott King Illustrated Book Award Winner in 2015:
The Firebird by Misty Copeland, illustrated by Christopher Myers
The Coretta Scott King Illustrated Book Honors in 2015:
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award Winner for
Lifetime Contribution to Children’s Literature:
Donald Crews
The Theodor Seuss Giesel Award for Young Readers:
You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang, illustrated by Christopher Weyant
The Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Books:
Many of these books are in the First Program Library, books for older students are located in the Middle School Library. For a complete list of the ALA Book Award winners and honors, please feel free to visit their website. Happy Reading!
On Wednesday, January 14th – the First Program library was happy to host the author Peter Ackerman for the second grade. The visit was organized by Joanna Hepworth (H 23) as the second grade prepares their study of New York city architecture and history.
Students were delighted to hear the story of The Lonely Phonebooth, a picture book about the last (and very beloved) phone booth in New York City on the Upper West Side. They also listened to The Lonely Typewriter, a story about an old and forgotten typewriter that saves the day when the computer stops working.
Ackerman also asked their opinion about suggestions for future subject in the Lonely series, and our second graders were happy to oblige with suggestions like The Lonely Camera and The Lonely Old Television.
Before his visit ended, he thrilled the students by reading an excerpt from his next story idea: The Lonely Record Player.
Happy Holidays from the Dalton Librarians. This month we wish all Dalton families a very happy Chanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa! In Kindergarten and First Grade we are reading holiday and winter themed books. Here are some of our favorite read alouds:
Second and Third Graders have been learning all about Newbery and Caldecott Winning books. The awards are given by the American Library Association to the best children’s book and best illustrated book of the year. The new winners will be announced in late January. Favorite books include:
Happy Thanksgiving to all of the wonderful families at Dalton!
We librarians are so thankful for all the new books that have arrived this month.
Click these links to see what new books have arrived on the library shelves!
November kicked off to a great start this month with the Dalton Book Fair! The book fair was a great success and hundreds of new books were donated to the library. To see pictures from the book fair, please login to the Dalton portal and click on this article.
Some of our favorite new books include:
Our October was a WONDERFUL month! We celebrated by reading some terrific Halloween books, as well as books by the Newbery Award winning author Jack Gantos, who visited Dalton on October 30th.
Here are some of our favorite books for October:
The Costume Copycat by Maryann MacDonald is about a younger sister who always copies her older sister’s Halloween costume, although it never works out well. Students related to being copied, copying others, and then finding what was just right for them.
Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kohara is short whimsical picture-book about a young witch who happily captures the ghosts in her house to serve useful purposes.
Many adults will fondly remember this classic series: Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard and James Marshall. While not a conventional Halloween story, it is read in the spirit of Halloween as there is a character who dresses in a costume to trick some naughty children..!
Finally, students were blown away by an incredible presentation by Jack Gantos, who not only read aloud a picture book, but showed the picturebook writing process. He even encouraged them with ingenious projects like creating their neighborhood map of secrets spots, and a journal to write their best ideas.
Jack Gantos is the author of Dead End in Norvelt (2011 Newbery Award Winner) and the beloved Rotten Ralph Series.
Rotten Ralph is Sarah’s rotten cat. He’s very selfish and naughty, often making Sarah very upset. Despite all of this, he always manages to save the day in his own rotten way, and the kind Sarah always forgives him. Students adored this rascally cat and it has been one of the highest requested series in our library and students greatly enjoyed listening to these books read aloud.
Please click this link to see the official Dalton news article with more images and video.
Our 2014 Summer Reading lists are now available on the main page of this blog.
Enjoy lots of great books, and have fun in the sun!
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