Bears Tales to Tackle Winner Announced

Evelyn M. was chosen as Station’s winner and has been invited to the Bears Training Facility in Lake Forest on Saturday, March 28^th. Twenty three students completed the Bears Challenge and attended a pizza party in the library today. We played games, ate pizza and talked about the books they read for the challenge. The Bears provided a certificate and gift for each child. Thanks to the PTO who gave each student a gift certificate for a free book at this week’s book fair. I hope more students take the challenge next year!

Our Rebecca Caudill Winner

Well, the votes are in at Station Campus and the big winner is Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. 174 students voted for their favorite Rebecca Caudill book for 2009. Lightning Thief is the story of Percy Jackson who finds out that his father isn’t mortal and it goes a long way to explain why Percy gets into trouble when he is around water. Percy goes to Camp Half-blood with others who have immortal parents and the adventure begins. Talk to your children about Percy and his friends (and enemies) and find out why Lightning Thief is such a big hit.

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer came in a close second. Miranda and her family’s life is changed forever when an asteroid hits the moon and pushes the moon closer to the Earth, causing shifts in the tides, earthquakes and volcanos. This book will make you feel cold, hungry and very alone. The students have enjoyed sharing this book. Ask and they will share it with you.

This year's list contained some very entertaining and powerful books. Go to the library, ask for the list, and share some wonderful stories. I'm looking forward to next year's list.

44 Presidents in 4 minutes

The sun is shining despite the cold. I am really excited about the Inauguration coming up this Tuesday. It is truly an historical event. Here is an interesting video on YouTube showing all the Presidents' portraits.

Tales to Tackle Update

I went into Ms. Musschoot's room to connect with the kids and find out how they are doing in their goal to read three books each month for three months. The kids were all excited about the books they had been reading. I spent an entertaining hour talking books with the kids. I heard about their take on True Talents, The Outsiders, Kid who ran for President, Bud, not Buddy, and many others. I told them to give me their opinion, good or bad, about their reading. Life is too short to keep reading a book that doesn't fit with you. Pick one that really talks to you. Climb inside the book and let it take you places you have never been before.

I'm so proud of them. They had made some great connections and conclusions about their reading. One boy told me that he had never read a whole book before he had Ms. Musschoot for a teacher. I could see her puff up a little bit (and maybe a tear in her eye).

I'm so lucky to working with such a wonderful staff who give the gift of reading to our students.

Thanks to the Chicago Bears for having this promotion and encouraging our kids to read great books. Go Bears!

Playing with words

Do you like to play with words? Use pictures to invoke writing? I found a great website to do just that! Piclits lets you look at pictures in a gallery and then attach words or a poem to them. What a wonderful way to invoke creativity.

When David Lubar was at our school this fall, he spoke about firing random words to spark the writing process. One word generates another and stories develop. Adding the visual to it can create a whole new dimension to the thought process.

Here's one I developed with the "drag and drop" option on the page.

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

Have fun with words!