December update

MA Children's Book Award:

Our fifth and sixth graders will be participating in the Massachusetts Children's Book Award program. The fifth graders are already off and running, I will be presenting this program to the sixth grade ELA classes after the December break.

MCBA is run by a committee at Salem State University and provides a unique opportunity for our students: each year they get to select the book they would choose as the best of a group of 25 books. Fifth and sixth graders at Lawrence participated last year for the first time and selected The War That Saved My Life as their favorite. This was also chosen by kids across the state as their favorite!

This year, students are reading from a group of 25 books (found here: http://massachusettschildrensbookaward.blogspot.com/). They must read at least 5 books in order to be eligible to vote this spring. The state winner will be announced in April 2019. This should give everyone plenty of time to read, read, read!

Rescue and Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship

On Tuesday, December 11, our students had an opportunity to view a virtual author visit. Jessica Kensky, who was wounded during the Marathon bombing, has written a beautiful picture book about her recovery and her relationship with her service dog, Rescue. Here's the link if you'd like to see the presentation yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGfebEYz4ng 

Pourquoi Tales for 2nd grade:

I have been reading pourquoi tales to 2nd graders lately. We've read How Guinea Fowl Got Her Spots and will be reading at least two additional tales that tell how or why something is the way it is in nature. Why does giraffe have a long neck? Why the sun lives in the sky? There are lots of tales like this from all different cultures. 

Kindergarten read-alouds:

So far this year kindergarten classes have been introduced to some classic picture book characters. We have read all of the Harry the Dirty Dog series by Gene Zion. We have also read all of the McDuff stories by Rosemary Wells. But we don't just read about dogs in the library! We read a tale of generosity called Rabbit's Gift retold by George Shannon. Next up are the books about bear and mouse by Bonny Becker which starts with A Visitor for Bear.

Please remember to visit our local bookstores -- The Children's Bookshop and Brookline Booksmith as you do your holiday shopping or stock up on titles for the winter break! Coolidge Corner library has now reopened, too!