Free audiobooks start now!!!

Every week starting April 29, 2021 and ending the week of July 29, 2021, AudioFile is giving away FREE audio books through their Sync program.   

More info about how to get the books is here - you do need Sora to get them... this page walks you through how to set that up.  You need to sign up with an email address to get the books, and the sign up is on the linked page on he right side. 

Here are all the titles and the weeks they come out.  Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to get FREE audiobooks!!!

Poem in your pocket day!

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day.  You can read more about it through that link and how to participate.  I'm participating today by sharing one of my favorite poems... "anyone lived in a pretty how town" by E.E. Cummings.

What I love about this poem is the use of the parentheses, the way that "anyone" and "nonone" are characters, but also can represent anyone in general. The language is very clever and this poem alwqays makes me smile and also makes me a bit sad. 

anyone lived in a pretty how town
by E.E. Cummings

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did.

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

Favorite books from SHMS staff members

As we wrap up National Library Month we wanted to share with you that we are all life long readers! 

Here are some of our favorite books or the best books we read so far this year.

Ms. Mack shared 2 great books!

"One of my favorite books I've read this year is The Project. This young adult novel follows a young woman trying to get her sister out of an exclusive AND elusive group known as The Unity Project. This novel had suspense, mystery, and family drama. I'm so impressed with the quality and diversity of YA literature out there today!" 

Her second favorite book is Anxious People by Frederik Backman -- "I laughed, I cried, I love this author!"

Mr. Ropa

"My favorite book of all time is A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold. But I'm reading Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, right now."

Ms. Leuthold

"The best book I read this year was Untamed by Glennon Doyle! It was so empowering and I love reading about other people's stories."

Mr. Olson 
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Ms Tiffany

The best book Miss Tiffany read this year was Becoming by Michelle Obama. 

FYI, we just got two copies of the YA version of this amazing book!  Let Mrs. Schmitz know if you want it because it's not in the system yet!

Mr. Sean (for those of you who don't know him yet, he is our 6th grade Science/Math sub for Mr. Kruska)

Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings: "The magic system was cool."

Ms. Waite 

"I really enjoyed reading Matthew McConaughey's book GreenLights. It is about joys and challenges - it's lessons - and how to deal with challenges so that we can catch more 'green lights.'"

Mr. Debertin

"I LOVED the Scythe trilogy. Interesting characters set in an original dystopian future."

 

Mr. Bobb
He really enjoyed the book Crash and recommends it for all you 6th graders if you have not read it yet!

Ms. Barrett and Ms. Harper had the same answer

Ibram X. Kendi's How to be an Antiracist 
"The author explains both how to be an antiracist individual and how to create systemic change."

Ms. Gilmore
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski

"It was my favorite because it helped me understand how stress works and that if we don't complete the cycle then we carry that energy with us until we find a way to let it out. If we don't find a healthy way to let stress out then it can come out in unhealthy ways. Also, there are 2 parts to stress that we need to address, both the reaction we are having to stress and the stressor itself. We can't do the second until we do the first. This book taught me there are multiple ways to complete the stress cycle and it's different for every person, we all need to take the time to find out what works for us. We also might use multiple strategies at a time or different strategies for different situations."

Nurse Marie

Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

Ms. Salas shared several of her favorites!
"The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry- The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. I love how intertwined the stories are and figuring out how they connect.

*The Shades of London Series by Maureen Johnson- The Name of the Star, The Madness Underneath, The Shadow Cabinet

I love mystery books in which I have to try to figure out what is happening and who is doing it.

The Book of Ivy by Amy Engl

I like that the setting is a futuristic society. It reminds me of The Giver.

Ms. Kruger

"My current favorite book is Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson (the audiobook is particularly good because he narrates it and has the best narrating voice!!). I love it because it's written in a way to help people who are not experts on astrophysics to understand this topic, and to particularly make sense of a variety of phenomena in our universe. There's also a younger reader version of it called Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry.

Ms. Murphy

One of the last books she read and recommends is The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein.

Ms. Krahn

"Hmm I think the best book I have read so far this year would be the Lunar Chronicles series."

Ms. Schmitz

There are two books that really stick with me that I have read this year.  One is King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender.  The story is just beautiful and has really stayed with me. It is about hurt and friendship and loss and knowing and speaking your truth... all I could think after I read it was what a beautiful book it was.

The other book is When They Call You a Terrorist: A story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World (adapted for Young People) by Patrisse Kahn-Cullors. This is a memoir from one of the women who started the Black Lives Matter movement.

National Tell a Story Day

Today is National Tell a Story Day and so I wanted to challenge you all to tell a story... 

Last year during our initial shut down, Jason Reynolds, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature from the Library of Congress, started something he called Write.Right.Rite.  He posted video challenges each week, calling on young people to use their imagination and writing skills to do something creative.  

Here is one of his challenges, to write a newspaper headline. Watch the quick video, or watch some of the other videos from this series if you scroll down the page linked above, and try another of his Write.Right.Rite challenges.

Library memories

As a kid I used to love going to the public library.  I grew up in Stockton, California, and my local library was the Margaret Troke library, pictured above. I had forgotten the name of it, but a quick Google search for libraries in Stockton, CA quickly reminded me of it!  My mom would take my siblings and I to the library on a regular basis and sometimes I would beg and my mom would take me and my friends there. I remember getting my library card made me feel so special! When I went there I would always go to the same section in the children's book area - Beverly Cleary books and Lloyd Alexander.  In my memory of this time I always checked out a Lloyd Alexander book from The Chronicles of Prydain.  We have these books in our library, and I highly encourage them if you like fantasy stories! Going to the Troke library was always a treat and is something I remember very fondly from my childhood

My school library I remember as being very small and not going there often with my classes.  I went to Elkhorn Elementary School that in this most recent picture from their website (shown below) looks very similar to when I went there over 30+ years ago. 

I don't remember the library there being like the libraries in schools I know today.  And, as I have said before, there are so many more books out for kids today that I imagine the Elkhorn School library is much better stocked then when I was there. I recall checking out Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities many times and never reading more than a page... because that book was not written for elementary students! So, now you know why I loved the public library... they probably had more funding than the school library to buy new books for kids.  

Your school libraries today in MMSD are hopefully getting your more relevant books and books you want to read and that reflect who you are as well.  I'm always open for suggestions of books you want to read, so send them my way!  

One student, 8th grader Devon Wells, shared his favorite library memory... it was when he scared me half to death in the library!  One day when it was really quiet in the library and no one but me was in there, Devon came in without me seeing him.  I was engrossed in something and focused on my computer when out of nowhere he shot up and scared the bejesus out of me!  That is his favorite library memory... but not really mine, as he really scared me 😂.

Books with LGBTQIA+ characters, themes, true stories and/or histories

To celebrate National Day of Silence today, April 23rd I want to highlight some of the amazing books out there that celebrate, highlight, and tell the stories of the LGBTQIA+ community.  

If you have a book you like to recommend, please let me know!  

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

I am J by Cris Beam

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

Rick by Alex Gino

George by Alex Gino

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Pride: Celebrating Diversity and Community

The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper

A Queer History of the United States for Young People 

Every year there are the Stonewall Book Awards, including the Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children's & Young Adult Literature Award that goes to books that have exceptional merit relating to the LGBTQIA+ experience. You can find this year's awards here, and find past years awards linked on that page as well. 

We have many more titles that celebrate the LGBTQIA+ experience, lives, and history in our library so don't hesitate to ask for more and I can get you a list!

It's Earth Day!!!

Here is a great poem from the lovely Amanda Gorman to celebrate Earth Day!

I love being at Spring Harbor because of its focus on environmental studies and embedding environmental issues into all areas of our curriculum.  We all should be concerned about the health of our planet and work to keep her healthy so she can provide us a place to live!

As we celebrate Earth Day today, I wanted to share a few events and resources you might want to check out.  

There is a virtual Earth Day scavenger hunt you can participate in.  More info is here and there is a free option and a paid option. 

Earth Day Live is another big event happening.  You can check out that live event here, it starts at 11am our time, but will also be available to view after it is over too. 

Through the link above you can also check out other events that happened in the days leading up to Earth Day including the Global Youth Summit.

Be active and do something to help support our Earth and it's health.  You can find lots of actions, small and large, that you can do to help the Earth here. 

If you like listening to podcasts, here is a list of some environmentally focused ones to check out.

I hope you all have a great Earth Day!

Mrs. Schmitz as a kid... and her favorite books

Here I am in first or second grade... I don't know which because I wore the same shirt for both years' school pictures...

At this age I loved reading the Sweet Pickles books.  My family had the whole set and I just loved reading them myself and reading them to my younger brother and sister too.  These books aren't published anymore and I recently asked my parents if they still had them. My dad did some digging and found them!  I'm looking forward to reading them with my 4 year old niece someday soon!  Although we have to be at my parents house because my dad won't give them up 😁.

This is me in 3rd grade... I know that because of the totally awesome perm I got (sarcasm there..) and because in this family photo I had to have my right arm behind my brother (I cropped my siblings out, but you can see his really cool brown felt suit coat) because it was in a cast.  This was the 2nd broken arm I had in 3rd grade... it was a rough year... I also had stitches in my head from falling in an infamous game of hide and seek when I tripped while running to base. 

At this age, my favorite book was A Wrinkle in Time. My Aunt Judy and Uncle Mike who live in New Zealand had come to visit and got me that book for Christmas.  I read it over and over and treasured it because it was a gift from my aunt and uncle who I didn't get to see much of, but always loved spending time with them and so the book was extra special because of that.  Plus it is such an amazing story that really held my attention and imagination!

This is me in 6th grade when we went to Science Camp for a week in Santa Cruz, CA.  I grew up in California.  

At this time in my life I was really into the Lloyd Alexander's fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain. I read these books over and over and always went to it's section in the library.

This is me in high school... (yes I played basketball). 

My English teacher in high school, who I had as a freshman and junior, was my favorite teacher and is why I became an English teacher myself (before I became a librarian).  She introduced me to Willa Cather and the book My Antonia and it is one of my all time favorite books to this day.  I taught it to my high school students, who didn't always love it like I did... but I stick by it!

These books gave me all the feels!

Here is a booktok of some the books in our library that gave me all the feels!  

Some made cry, some had me on the edge of my seat, some made me just really think, and some had me in awe!  I highly recommend all of these books!

Booktok and favorite books!

Thanks so much for sharing on this form to help celebrate National Library Month!  You all rock!  Please keep sharing!

Here is a book video a student shared... originally I was rick rolled but then I got the student to send me a real video 😁.  

Here are some of your classmates favorite books:

One of 6th grader Jasmine Daniels' favorite books is The Witches by Roald Dahl.

"The Nightingale, most definitely. It's by Kristin Hannah, and it's hard to explain. This book is super important to me." - an 8th grader

"The Comeback by E.L Shen. A sixth grader, Maxine Chen, dreams of becoming a famous figure skater. She practices before and after school. Her bravery may inspire you to fight for your dreams." - 6th grader Alaina Broman
 

New books and favorite books!

We just got in a shipment of books and I thought I'd do a TikTok Booktok unboxing video!  

(I should have figured TikTok was blocked... so I spent longer than it should have taken, and figured out how to put a TikTok on YouTube!  So hopefully you can now enjoy my attempts at TikToks 😄)

As you can see... I still have not mastered TikTok... please share your BookToks and/orc, if you are TikTok proficient, help Mrs. Schmitz out by sending me some tips on how to make better videos 📱.  

Today in closing out the second full week of School Library Month, I wanted to share some more of your favorite books!  If you want to share a book, something about the library (any library), a booktok video, your favorite poem, etc. please fill out this form! 

"My favorite book would be Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I would recommend this book because the characters and story to be very captivating." - from an 8th grader

"Sisters by Raina Telgemeier" - from 6th grader Kamille Murdock

"I really enjoyed Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt because it gives a unique insight to what it's like to have a learning disorder like dyslexia and to feel like you are doing everything right but not getting anywhere." - from an 8th grader

Favorite Tech tool! TabCloud

6th graders who have seen my screen on Zoom have witnessed that I have wayyyy too many tabs open!  Plus, I have multiple windows with lots of tabs.  There are reasons for this... I'm doing research on something, creating a newsletter with a bunch of things to share, cataloging and processing books on another, etc... I know that my computer might not run as efficiently when I have all of these open.  I know I need to close them out to make my "workspace" cleaner, but then I'll lose all of my tabs and information I need!!! What am I supposed to do?!?!  

I discovered TabCloud years ago when this started to be a problem for me 😂.  TabCloud is a life saver for those of you like me, who like to collect information on tabs and don't want to lose them, but don't always need them open all of the time.  

You can use TabCloud and have a TabCloud window for each class if you want. So when you open that window in TabCloud you have all the tabs you need for that clas open.  It is especially useful if you are working on a project and have lots of tabs open for it.  

If it sounds like something you need give it a try!

Here is a video that does a great job showing you how to use TabCloud:

April is also Arab American Heritage Month!

I told you, April is full of a lot of celebrations!  Here is some information about Arab American Heritage Month from PBS. Here is an article about Arab Americans who have made a difference.

And to learn more visit this site with information and links about Arab Americans, The Arab World, Arabic Language and Literature, Arab Art and Literature, Arab Food, Arab Music and Dance, Arab Contributions, and Arab American Identity. 

April is also National Poetry Month!

April is a month full of celebrations!  Not only do we celebrate School Library Month, but we also celebrate National Poetry Month in April (and a few more things I'll share later). This year marks the 25th anniversary of National Poetry Month and you can celebrate it in so many ways!

One way you can participate is by sharing your favorite poem on this form and I'll include it in a future blog post!

One of my all time favorite poems is by American poet E.E. Cummings "I carry your heart with me" (printed below).  I love the use of spacing and punctuation as it adds so much meaning to the words in the poem.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

 

Today is: Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R.) Day

D.E.A.R... which you might have also heard as SSR (silent sustained reading) is something I always loved when I was in school.  I remember it fondly and  I have seen it used less and less in schools unfortunately.  The idea is that everyone in the whole school is reading at one time... teachers, staff, and students.  It is a time that gives everyone a break to just sit and read and enjoy that time. You might see this idea appear in you ELA/Humanities classrooms as a time to silently read.  

The term D.E.A.R. actually comes from the book Romana Quimby Age 8 by Beverly Cleary.  It is celebrated each April 12th in celebration of Beverly Cleary's birthday.  You may have heard that Ms.Cleary passed away a few weeks ago, on March 25th, at the age of 104. So this D.E.A.R. day is especially significant due to her passing.  If you are not familiar with the Romana Quimby books you might know some of her other books. She was a very popular author when I was young, and her books are still published, meaning that they are fairly timeless in their themes. 

More information about D.E.A.R. day can be found here.

I think you all should celebrate this day by dropping everything and reading for at least 30 minutes today!

Some of your favorite books!

 

Thanks so much to those of you sharing on this form!  Keep things coming!

Here are some of your classmates favorite books:

"I love the book Aru Shah and the Song of Death. I love the whole Aru Shah series but The Song of Death is probably my favorite. I like this book, because it is about Hindu mythology and there is a lot of stuff I can relate too. I recommend it for people that love Rick Riordan books." - Swathi Kumar (6th grade)

"One of my favorite books, or series I should say, is the Defy series. A little while ago my mom took me to a bookstore and I got a book, I didn't notice it was the second in a series until about halfway through. So things were a bit spoiled for me but it is such a great book and series I highly recommend it. The first book is called Defy, the second is called Ignite, and the third is called Endure, they are written by Sara B. Larson. I hope you enjoy the book if you read it!" - from an 8th grader

"Keeper Of The Lost Cities by, Shannon Messenger. I love this series so far! (I'm on the 6th book) These books are for people who love Harry Potter because they are completely fantasy. Some of the characters names are Sophie, Fitz, etc. (I don't want to give away too much). But summing it up, this is an amazing series that I would recommend to read! :)" - Heera Karwal (7th grade)

I will share more of your favorites during the month... so if you don't see your recommendation on this blog entry, it will be shared in an upcoming post. Thank you so much for your contributions and recoomendations!