Parents and Students Happy Valentine Season

I have had a wonderful time this year working on our Freedom Academy Library Blog.  I am hoping you will send me some feedback.  What would you like to see more of, or what do you think is missing? You can send me an e-mail at   srobertson@pfa.cc 

Exciting things are coming this Spring!

THIS WEEK IN THE LIBRARY

An American Legend, the story of the Pony Express

Click on the link at the top of the page.

The Post Office in the Library is open!

and

Monday is the 100th Day of School

The first 100 students who check out a book today will

receive a "sparkle pencil"

You may mail a letter to anyone in our school for the next two weeks. There is stationary in the library and some sample stationary I have given to your teachers.  You may even make your own if you like.  There are just a few simple rules. 

1. Your letters must be addressed correctly and have a return address. (Anything not addressed correctly will become "dead mail")  

2. They need a stamp in the top right corner which you teacher will provide.  

3. And finally, drop them in the mail box in the library.

The second week you may send Valentines and yes you may even put candy inside.  The mail will be delivered to your classrooms Friday February 4th and Friday February 11th in time for your parties.

HAVE FUN!

NOTE: Your parents can even come and mail a letter or card to you.



UNCLE DEBO, ALIENS, AND JELLO BALLOONS

This week in the library we will listen to the rest of the story.

 

JANUARY!

Getting through January is always a milestone.  We have been busy in the library with dozens of new books coming in, a great spelling bee and decorating for the upcoming Valentine holiday.  Our mailbox has arrived and the POST OFFICE will open on the 31st.  Hope you will all mail lots of letters and Valentines. It's going to be fun.

Have a nice weekend. 

Curl up with a good book!

HE'S BACK!

I just received Bil Lepp's newest CD.   This week in the library we will listen to the hilarious stories of "Uncle Deebo", Strike anywhere matches, and Jell-O Balloons. It was recorded at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival last Fall. 

This is funny!

PS  Please check out our new link "BOOK TALK"  With the wonders of YOU TUBE you can see a visual introduction to many great titles.

KEVIN HAWKES
talks about his book Library Lion, and how he feels about libraries.

Some great advise about reading from...

RICHARD PECK

author of...
A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO
A YEAR DOWN YONDER
A SEASON OF GIFTS

Looking for a good book to read?  Check out our newest link...

"BOOK TALK"

Thanks to You Tube this link can visually introduce you to some great books, starting with the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Follow the link to BOOK TALK... 

 http://libraryfa.blogspot.com/p/book-talk.html

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Newbery Award for the best chapter book

MOON OVER MANIFEST

by Claire Vanderpool

After a life of riding the rails with her father, 12-year-old Abilene can’t understand why he has sent her away to stay with Pastor Shady Howard in Manifest, Missouri, a town he left years earlier. Over the summer she pieces together his story. In 1936, Manifest is a town worn down by sadness, drought, and the Depression.  Abilene quickly finds friends and uncovers a local mystery. Their summerlong “spy hunt” reveals deep-seated secrets and helps restore residents’ faith in the bright future once promised on the town’s sign.

Caldecott Award for the best picture book

A SICK DAY FOR AMOS MCGEE

 illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead.

Zookeeper Amos McGee always makes time to visit his good friends at work: he plays chess with the elephant, runs races with the tortoise (who always wins), sits quietly with the penguin, lends a handkerchief to the rhinoceros (who has a runny nose), and reads stories to the owl (who is afraid of the dark). Then, after Amos gets a cold, his friends miss him, and they leave the zoo and ride the bus to his place to care for him and cheer him up. Like the story, the quiet pictures, rendered in pencil and woodblock color prints, are both tender and hilarious. Each scene captures the drama of Amos and the creatures caring for each other, whether the elephant is contemplating his chess moves, his huge behind perched on a stool; or the rhinoceros is lending Amos a handkerchief; or the owl is reading them all a bedtime story.

CHICKA  CHICKA BOOM BOOM

by Bill Martin Jr.

Unless my computer catches another "virus" I will be posting new stories online this weekend.  I hope you enjoy them.

COMING NEXT WEEK IN THE LIBRARY

A GREAT WINTER COAT!

A FOX JUMPS OVER THE PARSON'S GATE

by

Randolph Caldecott

This is one of Randolph Caldecott's early picture books set to music (circa 1883)  The verse is simple and old fashioned. The drawing are charming and the colors gorgeous. CLICK on the arrow to listen to the story.

THE RANDOLPH CALDECOTT and JOHN NEWBERY

AWARDS

The winners for the 2010 best picture book (Caldecott) and  best chapter book (Newbery) will be announced next Monday morning. This is a year long selection process and is very exciting to watch.  The Provo City Library is having a Mock Caldecott this Thursday night.  I will be there and will bring back the titles of  the best picture books for 2010.

1713-67, English publisher and bookseller. He established juvenile literature as an important branch of the publishing business. Included among his publications is Little Goody Two Shoes (1766). Although he published his books anonymously, it is assumed that he planned and wrote a number of them himself. In 1921 the Newbery medal was established by Frederic Melcher to be awarded by the American Library Association to the most distinguished children's book of the year written by an American.

The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott.(1846-1886) who transformed the world of children's books in the Victorian era. Children eagerly awaited the two books illustrated by him, priced at a shilling each, which came out each Christmas for eight years.

Randolph's output, however, ranged wider than this: he illustrated novels and accounts of foreign travel; he made humorous drawings depicting hunting and fashionable life.  In his early childhood Randolph drew and modelled, mostly animals, and he continued drawing for the rest of his life.

IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!

TIPS FOR 2011

Mrs. Labrum, our art teacher, sent these pictures with advice for the New Year. 

STAY OUT OF TROUBLE

AIM HIGH

STAY FOCUSED ON YOUR JOB

GET SOME EXERCISE

PRACTICE TEAM WORK

RELY ON A FRIEND TO WATCH YOUR BACK

SAVE FOR A RAINY DAY

TAKE TIME TO RELAX

KEEP SMILING

NEVER GIVE UP

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

You have probably noticed that nothing has changed on the library blog over the holiday.  Well... that's because the laptop that I took home got a "virus"  At first it just disabled Internet Explorer but in the end it ate my hard drive and completely killed my computer.  Living in a "techie" world is fun and it is hard to go backwards.  I will be updating things as fast as I can so I hope you will keep watching and reading. 

I'm excited to see you all!