Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Massachusetts Childrens Book Award 2013-14

Salem State University has just announced the nominees for the 2013 - 2014 Massachusetts Children's Book Award

Click on the link below to view the list.

2013-2014 MCBA Master List and Grade Level Guide


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Monday, March 4, 2013

We Celebrate Dr. Seuss Day

March 1, 2013 Dr. Seuss Day
Our 1st Graders were excited to meet Police Chief Michael Kent and hear him read his favorite Dr. Seuss story, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut"


Thursday, January 3, 2013

New Books for a New Year

Start the New Year with a New Book
These have just arrived at the Francis Wyman Library:

New Fiction:  


 I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 by Lauren Tarshis
Chet Roscow is finally feeling at home in Elm Hills, New Jersey.  He has a job with his uncle Jerry at the local diner, three great friends, and a perfect summertime getaway destination: cool, refreshing Matawan Creek.
But Chet's summer is interrupted by shocking news - a great white shark has been attacking swimmers along the shore, not far from Elm Hills.  Everyone in town is talking about it, so when Chet sees something in the creek, he's sure it's his imagination... until he comes face-to-face with a bloodthirsty shark!







 Chickadee : Book four of the Birchbark House Series  by Louise Erdrich

Twin brothers Chickadee and Makoons have spent every day side by side and have done everything together since they were born--until the day the unthinkable happens and the brothers are separated.

Desperate to reunite, Chickadee and his family must travel across new territories, forge unlikely friendships, and experience both unexpected moments of unbearable heartache as well as pure happiness. And through it all, Chickadee has the strength of his namesake, the chickadee, to carry him on.


Lulu and the Duck in the Park  by Hilary McKay

Lulu can't understand people who don't like animals - people like her teacher Mrs. Holiday.  When Lulu tries to help Mrs. Holiday find the perfect pet, she is banned from bringing an animal to school ever again!  Then Lulu rescues an abandoned duck egg.  She needs to take it to school to keep it safe - an egg isn't an animal...at least not yet, anyway ....






Stolen! a Pony Called Pebbles by Wendy Orr       

Amy lives and breathes horses, but all her horses are in books or in her imagination.  So when she goes on a picnic with her friend Hannah's family, Hannah thinks that Amy is imagining things when she says she heard a horse neigh nearby.  But when they both hear a neigh! What's a horse doing in the park?  
With a little help from Mona at the Rainbow  Street Shelter, Amy makes sure the horse is safe and sound.  She almost hopes the owner never bturns up, so that she can keep visiting the horse.  This is Book 5 in the series Rainbow Street Shelter.



New Picture & Easy Chapter Fiction

   Abe Lincoln's Dream by Lane Smith

When a schoolgirl gets separated from her tour of the White House and finds herself in the Lincoln bedroom, she also discovers the ghost of the great man himself. Together they embark on a journey across the country to answer Lincoln's questions and quiet his concerns about the nation for which he gave his life. 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbjgcRR-lVM


Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover  by Cece Bell





Rabbit's best friend is Robot, and whenever they get together, they have lots of fun. One night, the two pals decide to have a sleepover at Rabbit's house. Rabbit wants to make sure that everything goes perfectly at the sleepover. He makes a list of everything that he and Robot can do together, from making pizza to watching TV to playing Go Fish. And when Robot arrives, the two pals start checking things off of Rabbit's list. But what happens when the spontaneous Robot has a brilliant brainstorm and suggests fun activities that AREN'T on Rabbit's list? Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover is a funny story that comes complete with cheerful, goofy cartoons.




Thursday, December 13, 2012

Do the Dewey Rap

The Dewey Decimal system-  like never before!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHiUQb5xg7A

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Massachusetts Children's Book Awards - 2012-2013

Massachusetts Children's Book Award program began in 1975 and is designed for Massachusetts school children in grades 4-6. Students in grades 4, 5, and 6 are eligible to vote for their favorite book if they have read, or have heard read aloud, at least five of the books from the 2012-2013 Master List

Master List for 2012-2013

Bauer, Marion Dane, The Golden Ghost

On a bike outing to the abandoned houses by the old cement mill, Delsie and her friend Todd discover one of the houses is not empty--and a ghost dog haunts the area.



Buyea, Rob, Because of Mr. Terupt

Seven fifth-graders at Snow Hill School in Connecticut relate how their lives are changed for the better by "rookie teacher" Mr. Terupt.



Dowell, Frances O'Roark, Falling In

Middle-schooler Isabelle Bean follows a mouse's squeak into a closet and falls into a parallel universe where the children believe she is the witch they have feared for years, finally come to devour them.


Erskine, Kathryn, Mockingbird: (Mok'ing-burd)

Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.



French, Vivian, The Robe of Skulls: The First Tale from the Five Kingdoms

The sorceress Lady Lamorna has her heart set on a very expensive new robe, and she will stop at nothing--including kidnapping and black magic--to get the money to pay for it.



Gifford, Peggy, Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano

On the day of her recital, ten-year-old Moxy prepares in her usual flamboyant way, which creates chaos at home.



Grimes, Nikki, Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel

Spunky third-grader Dyamonde Daniel misses her old neighborhood, but when she befriends a boy named Free, another new student at school, she finally starts to feel at home.


Gutman, Dan, Roberto & Me

Stosh travels back to 1969 to try to prevent the untimely death of Roberto Clemente, a legendary baseball player and humanitarian, but upon his return to the present, he meets his own great-grandson who takes him into the future, and what he finds there is more shocking than anything he has encountered in his travels to the past.


Holm, Jennifer L., Turtle in Paradise

In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.



Jennings, Patrick, Guinea Dog

When his mother brings home a guinea pig instead of the dog he has always wanted, fifth-grader Rufus is not happy--until the rodent starts acting exactly like a dog.




Law, Ingrid, Scumble

Mibs's cousin Ledge is disappointed to discover that his "savvy"--the magical power unique to each member of their family--is to make things fall apart, which endangers his uncle Autry's ranch and reveals the family secret to future reporter Sarah.



Lord, Cynthia, Touch Blue

When the state of Maine threatens to shut down their island's one-room schoolhouse because of dwindling enrollment, eleven-year-old Tess, a strong believer in luck, and her family take in a trumpet-playing foster child, to increase the school's population.



Lupica, Mike, Shoot-Out

Twelve-year-old Jake must leave his championship soccer team to play on a team with a losing record when his family moves to a neighboring town.




Malone, Marianne, The Sixty-Eight Rooms

An adventure about the Thorne Rooms, sixty-eight miniature rooms made by Mrs. James Ward Thorne in the 1930s, and a magic key that allows a person to shrink down small enough to explore the rooms' secrets.



Martin, Ann M., Everything for a Dog

In parallel stories, Bone, an orphaned dog, finds and loses a series of homes, Molly, a family pet, helps Charlie through the grief and other after-effects of his brother's death, and lonely Henry pleads for a dog of his own.



Mass, Wendy, The Candymakers

Four gifted twelve-year-olds, including Logan, the candymaker's son, are set to be contestants in the Confectionary Association's national competition to determine the nation's tastiest sweet, but nobody anticipates that a friendship will form between them.



Preus, Margi, Heart of a Samurai

In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.



Prineas, Sarah, The Magic Thief

Conn's life is forever changed when he tries to pick the pocket of the wizard Nevery and instead gets a strong jolt of magic, but, instead of punishing the boy, Nevery takes Conn under his wing, teaches him magic, and enlists his help in finding the person responsible for stealing the city's dwindling magic supply.



Scaletta, Kurtis, Mamba Point

After moving with his family to Liberia, twelve-year-old Linus discovers that he has a mystical connection with the black mamba, one of the deadliest snakes in Africa, which he is told will give him some of the snake's characteristics.



Schlitz, Laura Amy, The Night Fairy

When Flory the night fairy's wings are accidentally broken and she cannot fly, she has to learn to do everything differently.




Senzai, N.H., Shooting Kabul

Escaping from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in the summer of 2001, eleven-year-old Fadi and his family immigrate to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Fadi schemes to return to the Pakistani refugee camp where his little sister was accidentally left behind.



Stephens, John, The Emerald Atlas

Kate,Michael, and Emma have passed from one orphanage to another in the ten years since their parents disappeared to protect them, but now they learn that they have special powers--and a fearsome enemy--and embark on a prophesied quest to find a magical book.



Tashjian, Janet, My Life as a Book

Dubbed a "reluctant reader" by his teacher, twelve-year-old Derek spends summer vacation learning important lessons even though he does not complete his summer reading list.



Vanderpool, Care, Moon Over Manifest

Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.



Williams-Garcia, Rita, One Crazy Summer

In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California tospend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.


MCBA Information:

The 2013 online deadline to vote is March 15, 2013.
The 2013 MCBA winners will be announced on the website on April 1, 2013.
2012-2013 Master List
2012-2013 Requirements and Participation

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

"Maurice Sendak Scared Children Because He Loved Them"

Celebrate Maurice Sendak and his books!

Maurice Sendak received the Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are. Best known for his children's classics, including In the Night Kitchen, Chicken Soup with Rice, Alligators All Around, and the Little Bear books. He has received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the National Medal of Arts, and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.









In Grandpa's House by Philip Sendak illustrated by Maurice Sendak

The only collaboration where Maurice Sendak illustrates his father's words.

“A message from an enchanted past. When you read father’s and son’s work together, you feel privileged to watch two very special men who have transcended the abyss of geography and time to engage in an intimate, loving dialogue with one another—and with us.”

— The New York Times




Friday, April 6, 2012

BrainPop New Content and Curricular Tie-Ins

The Latest on BrainPOP:

Curriculum Connections
Keep this list of BrainPOP movies handy, and check the BrainPOP Educators online Curriculum Calendar for additional tie-ins.
♦ April 6: The first modern Olympic Games began today in 1896.
♦ April 7: On World Health Day, explore the Human Body.
♦ April 9: The U.S. Civil War ended on this date in 1865. K-3 teachers, use BrainPOP Jr.'s Abraham Lincoln movie to discuss the conflict. Also on this date? The Works Progress Administration was founded in 1935. Work our New Deal topic into your day.
♦ April 10: Mark the 1866 founding of the ASPCA with BrainPOP's Dogs and Cats topics, and for K-3, Caring for Pets.
♦ April 12: On the anniversary of its first shots, in 1861, show our Civil War movie. Today also marks the anniversary of the first human space flight (1961) and the first Space Shuttle flight (1981) - our Apollo Project and Space Flight movies are out of this world!
♦ April 13: Happy birthday, Thomas Jefferson!
♦ April 14: With Tax Day 24 hours away, explain the significance of April 15th with BrainPOP's Taxes topic and, for K-3, Local and State Governments.
♦ April 15: Iceberg! Remember the 100th anniversary of the unsinkable ship's demise with our new Titanic topic.
♦ April 16: Up in the air! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ... Wilbur Wright's birthday. Talk about the pioneering aviator with our Flight movie.
♦ April 18: On the anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, shake things up. Show our Earthquakes movie or, for K-3, Fast Land Changes.
♦ April 19: The shot heard 'round the world was fired today in 1775, kicking off the American Revolution. On BrainPOP Jr., there's George Washington.
♦ April 20: Here's a valuable strand of information: it's National DNA Day.
♦ April 21: Remember the Battle of San Jacinto with our Mexican-American War topic. Then, wish Queen Elizabeth II a royally good birthday.
♦ April 22: Save the planet! Make a difference this Earth Day with Humans and the Environment, and, for K-3, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
♦ April 23: How poetic! William Shakespeare is believed to have been born on April 23 in 1564.
♦ April 25: Jazz things up on Ella Fitzgerald's birthday. It's also World Malaria Day; show our Protozoa topic and explain the widespread disease. Or, celebrate nature's best-dressed creatures on World Penguin Day.
♦ April 26: Explain the impact of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster with our Nuclear Energy movie.
♦ April 27: Go green on Arbor Day! Show our Seed Plants and Plant Growth movies. K-3 teachers, BrainPOP Jr. has Forests.
♦ April 28: On Astronomy Day, see stars! Galaxies and Solar System (K-3) are just two of our related topics; GameUp offers Fly to Mars and Build a Solar System.
♦ April 29: Duke Ellington was born on this date in 1899. Talk about his legacy with our Harlem Renaissance and Great Depression movies.
♦ May 1: It's not a tall tale - the Empire State Building really did open today in 1931. BrainPOP's Skyscrapers topic tells you more about this landmark.
♦ May 3: Play some 60s Folk on Pete Seeger's 93rd birthday.
♦ May 4: Chirp chirp - it's Bird Day. Talk to the class abour our fine feathered friends with BrainPOP's Birds movie.
♦ May 5: Double the celebration! On Cinco de Mayo, our Latin Music and Mexico (K-3) movies make things even more festive. Watching the Kentucky Derby? Show the kids our Horses movie.
♦ May 6: Subconsciously, you know it's Sigmund Freud's birthday and the perfect occasion for our Dreams topic.
♦ May 7: The RMS Lusitania sank today in 1915 - put that in context with our World War I topic.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

And the Winner of the 2012 MCBA is......

Click here to view the 2012 MCBA Winners

When You Reach Me
by Rebecca Stead



2012 MCBA Honor Books

Scat by Carl Hiaasen



The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman



Dying to Meet You (43 Old Cemetery Road by Kate Klise)



Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam
by Cynthia Kadohata

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Free Presentations in PowerPoint format & Free Interactive Activities

Here is a sample of the free holiday powerpoints and activities available:

Black History Month

Chinese New Year

Groundhog Day

Presidents Day

Valentine's Day

For additional powerpoints and interactive activities and more information visit Holidays

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Explain Everything - Getting Started

Explain Everything iPad app by Morris Cooke











Explain Everything iPad app is an easy-to-use design tool which allows you to annotate, animate objects and use your own voice to explain what is going on.

Cost: $2.99

iTunes Preview

Monday, January 9, 2012

January's Junior Library Guild Books

Saving Animals from Hurricanes by Stephen Person

After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, people traveled from far and wide to rescue and care for thousands of animals, including dogs, horses, and dolphins. Glossary. Bibliography. Further reading. Index. Full-color photographs.

From JLG - Reading Level - Independent Readers (Grades 2-4)


See Me Run by Paul Meisel

“See me run. I run and I run.” A dog soon attracts more dogs, and they begin to chase him. They’re having fun until something else chases them! Full-color illustrations created with pen and ink, acrylic ink, and colored pencil.

From JLG - Reading Level : Primary (Grades K-2)



Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea: A Fairly Fabricated Story of a Pair of Pants
by Tony Johnston illustrations by Stacy Innerst

“Gold!” Miners rush to find it, but their flimsy pants fall apart. Luckily, Levi Strauss has an idea for pants as “tough as buffalo hides!” Author’s note. Full-color illustrations in acrylic on blue jeans.

From JLG - Reading Level : Easy (Grades 1-3)



Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

On a trip to a museum, the Breakfast Bunch notices some that some of the artwork looks fake. When the forgers catch the kids snooping, it’s Lunch Lady to the rescue. Two-color graphic novel created using ink on paper and digital coloring.

From JLG - Reading Level : Independent Readers (Grades 2-4)




Wilma Tenderfoot : The Case of the Frozen Hearts

by Emma Kennedy illustrations by Sylvain Marc

Wilma has just moved in next door to her hero, Detective Theodore P. Goodman. With all the recent murders in town, surely he’ll want an apprentice.

From JLG - Reading Level : Mystery/Adventure Elementary (Grades 2-6)



If You Lived Here : Houses of the World by Giles Laroche

Imagine living in a house on stilts, where you could catch fish from your bedroom window! Explore fifteen kinds of homes found around the world through history. Map of the world showing locations of different dwellings. Full-color bas-relief cut-paper collage illustrations.

From JLG - Reading Level : Nonfiction Elementary (Grades 2-6)


Aftershock by Bernard Ashley

After an earthquake kills his father and forces him and his mother to relocate from Greece to London, Makis finds comfort and acceptance through soccer.

From JLG - Reading Level : Sports Elementary (Grades 2-6)


Never Forgotten by Patricia C. McKissack illustrations by Leo Dillon

Dinga’s son is taken from West Africa and sold into slavery. Dinga asks the Mother Elements to find him, but even Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind can’t bring him back. Full-color illustrations rendered in acrylic and watercolor.

From JLG - Reading Level : Intermediate Readers (Grades 3-5)


Wild Women of the Wild West by Jonah Winter illustrations
by Susan Guevar
a

Many extraordinary women lived in the Wild West. Mary Pleasant fought against slavery. Esther Morris argued for suffrage. And Calamity Jane was a bull whacker. Wild West time line. 1850 map of the United States. Bibliography. Full-color illustrations in watercolor, crow quill pen, and permanent ink.

From JLG - Reading Level : Biography Elementary (Grades 2-6)

Friday, January 6, 2012

Accelerated Reader iPad App



Now students can access Accelerated Reader on the iPad.

Cost: Free

iTunes Preview

FEATURES:
• Advanced book search using title, author, or quiz number.

• Access to all your school's quizzes on your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

• Support for Recorded Voice Quizzes.

• TOPS Report viewing and printing. An iOS supported printer is required for printing.

• View scores for quizzes taken by students. Subject to restrictions set by the school.
• Track student reading progress and goals. Subject to restrictions set by the school.
• A "Try Demo" feature for users without an Accelerated Reader with Renaissance Place™ Real-Time subscription.


INTENDED AUDIENCE:

• This app is for SCHOOLS with a licensed Accelerated Reader subscription.
• This app is primarily for students to take Accelerated Reader Quizzes at school.
• This app is not intended for students to quiz at home.
• Students and their parents can view student quiz history, reading progress, and goals.
• This app does not yet provide features for teachers.