Technology Media Fair

This year we had three entries submitted for the Irving ISD Technology Media Fair.

Mrs. Lari submitted a video showing her class study of the voting process. Each of her classes even elected their very own Class President and Vice President. The lessons helped the children to understand the election process including campaign promises, posters, and voting. You can view her video by clicking here and then scrolling down to the submission at the bottom.

Mrs. Betts, our librarian (the author of this blog), submitted two entries to the Media Fair. The first was a Desktop Publishing Multi-page submission with information about Family Night @ the Library. If you would like to see the final presentation you can click here. It will be the first entry on the page. This entry won 2nd Place in the District competition.

Mrs. Betts also submitted a Web 2.0 entry. In fact, you are reading it right now, our school library blog "From the Library Shelves". This submission won 1st Place in the District competition.

Amelia Bedelia Turns 50

During Family Night @ the Library we celebrated Amelia Bedelia's 50th Birthday. It was a small celebration because I (Mrs. Betts) was not able to be at the library during the evening. I was helping to host the Open House for the Technology Media Fair at Singley Academy. The first 25 children who came into the library received a free Amelia Bedelia activity book. All of the activities can be found online, so if did not get a copy, please visit the HarperCollins Children's website for some fun and games.

ALA Youth Media Awards Announced

Today was a great day in the world of libraries. The day the American Library Association Youth Media Awards are announced! Since I was not able to attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting, I listened to the announcements live via the webcast. 

Here are a few of the winners (the ones the students of Kinkeade ECS will be able to check out as soon as they arrive).

                                        

Randolph Caldecott Medal

Celebrating the 75th anniversary

The Randolph Caldecott Medal is for the most distinguished American picture book for children.

The 2013 winner is This is Not My Hat illustrated and written by Jon Klassen.

Caldecott Honor Books include the following:

Creepy Carrots! illustrated by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds

Extra Yarn illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett

Green illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

One Cool Friend illustrated by David Small, written by Toni Buzzeo

Sleep Like a Tiger illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Mary Logue

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award

The Coretta Scott King Awards recognize African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults. The 2013 winner of the King Illustrator Book Award is Bryan Collier for I, Too, Am America.

Schneider Family Book Award

The Schneider Family Book Award is for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience. The 2013 winner is Back to Front and Upside Down! written and illustrated by Claire Alexander.

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is for the most distinguished beginning reader book. The 2013 winner is Up, Tall and High written and illustrated by Ethan Long.

The Geisel Honor Books include the following:

Let's Go for a Drive written and illustrated by Mo Willems

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons written by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover written and illustrated by Cece Bell

I have placed an order for all of these books and hope they arrive soon. Click here for a complete list of all of the American Library Association Youth Media Award winners and honor books.

Happy Reading!

2013 Texas 2x2 Reading List

The day has finally arrived!! The announcement of the NEW Texas 2x2 Reading List! Can you tell I'm excited? 

I am very passionate about the Texas 2x2 Reading List. It holds a very special place in my heart. I was a member of the Texas 2x2 Reading List Selection Committee for four years, serving as the chair for two years.

Here are the books named to the 2013 Texas 2x2 Reading List. I have already placed an order for all of these titles. I will make an announcement as soon as they arrive and ready for check out.

2013 Texas 2 x 2 Reading List

• Allen, Kathryn Madeline.  A Kiss Means I Love You. Photographs by Eric Futran. Albert Whitman. ISBN 978-0807541869. $15.99. Ages 2-5.  Children use body language to communicate - “A kiss means I love you, a wave means hello; a smile means I’m happy, a tug means let’s go!”
• Bingham, Kelly. Z is for Moose. Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. Greenwillow. ISBN 978-0060799847. $16.99. Ages 4-7. A is for apple. B is for ball. C is for cat…ABC’s are supposed to be easy, but Zebra finds out the alphabet can be quite confusing when Moose shows up.
• Cecil, Randy. Horsefly and Honeybee. Henry Holt. ISBN 978-0805093001. $16.99. Ages 4-8. Honeybee and Horsefly do not like to share, but realize that in order to survive Bullfrog’s threat, they must join together.
• DePalma, Mary Newell. Bow-Wow Wiggle-Waggle. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802854087. $14. Ages 3-7. Fetching a ball turns into an adventure when an energetic puppy decides to chase a mischievous cat, engaging other animals along the way.
• Elya, Susan Middleton. Fire! ¡Fuego! Brave Bomberos. Illustrated by Dan Santat. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1599904610. $16.99. Ages 3-6. An exciting, rollicking race to save a burning house gives a glimpse of the firefighters’ bravery in this bilingual story.
• Frost, Helen. Step Gently Out. Photographs by Rick Lieder. Candlewick. ISBN 978-0763656010. $15.99. Ages 2-5. Look closely at the world around you and enjoy the amazing insects that share your space. 
• Gershator, Phillis & Green, Mim. Time for a Hug. Illustrated by David Walker. Sterling. ISBN 978-1402778629. $9.95. Ages 3-5. Big Bunny and Little Bunny enjoy their busy day from sun-up to sun-down, but find the time to hug every hour of the day.
• Jenkins, Emily. Lemonade in Winter. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Schwartz/Wade. ISBN 978-0375858833. $16.99. Ages 3-7. Pauline and her brother John-John learn to market and sell lemonade, limeade, and lemon-limeade on a wintry day.
• Klassen, Jon. This Is Not My Hat. Candlewick. ISBN 978-0763655990. $15.99. Ages 4-8. Little fish confidently boasts of his theft, but learns quickly that crime doesn’t pay, or does it?
• LaRochelle, David.  It’s a Tiger! Illustrated by Jeremy Tankard. Chronicle. ISBN 978-80811869256. $16.99. Ages 2-5. A boy is eager to begin his adventure in the jungle, only to be confronted by a dangerous tiger- over and over again!
• Mack, Jeff.  Frog and Fly. Philomel. ISBN 978-0399256172. $12.99. Ages 3-6. Six slurpy stories, two comical characters, and a battle of wits assures only one will enjoy that last slurp!
• Mack, Jeff.  Good News, Bad News. Chronicle. ISBN 978-1452101101. $16.99. Ages 3-6.  An engaging interactive story finds two friends who go on a picnic together and discover that they view life very differently.
• Mortensen, Lori. Cindy Moo. Illustrated by Jeff Mack. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0062043931. $16.99. Ages 3-6. One brave cow sets out to prove that cows really can leap over the moon and learns that persistence pays off.
• Norman, Kim. I Know a Wee Piggy. Illustrated by Henry Cole. Dial. ISBN 978-0803737358. $16.99. Ages 3-5.  Piggy’s fun day at the county fair becomes chaos in this cumulative tale, as he wallows through layers of colors.
• Reagan, Jean. How to Babysit a Grandpa. Illustrated by Lee Wildish. Knopf. ISBN 978-0375867132. $16.99. Ages 5-8. This humorously informative guide explains what to expect when babysitting grandpa, and includes useful tips for young readers.
• Reynolds, Aaron. Creepy Carrots. Illustrated by Peter Brown. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1442402973. $16.99. Ages 4-8. Jasper Rabbit loves carrots, especially the crispiest, most delicious ones he takes from Crackenhopper Field, until he begins to see carrots creeping all around him.
• Schwartz, Cory Rosen. The Three Ninja Pigs. Illustrated by Dan Santat. G. P. Putnam. ISBN 978-0399255144. $16.99. Ages 5-8. Why do wolves think they can come to town and blow all the houses down?  Not this time, as these three little pigs show they just aren’t going to take it.   
• Sutton, Sally. Demolition. Illustrated by Brian Lovelock. Candlewick. ISBN 978-0763658304. $15.99. Ages 3-7. The big machines and evocative sounds are sure to encourage repeated readings of this animated story.
• Thomas, Jan.  Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy. Beach Lane. ISBN 978-1442442764. $12.99. Ages 3-5. Cows help the brave cowboy find his courage in the face of adversity.
• Whamond, Dave. Oddrey. Owlkids. ISBN 978-1926973456. $16.95. Ages 4-7. A girl who is considered the quirky kid in class and the recipient of much teasing saves the day…er, show when her classmates need a helping hand.

TumbleBooks

During Family Night @ the Library on Thursday, January 17th, families were given the opportunity to see the great resource we now have available to all Kinkeade students, TumbleBooks. This is a fun online site for children to listen to books read aloud, read books, watch videos of books, play language learning games and puzzles. Books are available in fiction (everybody books) and non-fiction, as well as in English and Spanish. If you were not able to attend and would like to have access to the website from home, please contact your child's classroom teacher or Mrs. Betts for login information.  Please let us know what you and your child think about TumbleBooks.

ICE Awards

I am so very excited to announce, Family Night @ the Library has been named a finalist for a Parent Involvement ICE (Irving's Celebration of Excellence) Award! The awards will be presented at 7:00 Thursday, February 21st at Irving High School.

I hope you are able to come to Irving High School that evening to celebrate our success. This program and this award would not be possible without the support of our great Kinkeade students, parents, administrators, faculty, and staff.

Snowflakes for Students

During Family Night @ the Library on Thursday, January 10th our students and their families created and decorated snowflakes to send to the students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

The Connecticut PTSA (similar to our PTA - Parent Teacher Association) sent a letter asking for assistance in creating a winter wonderland for the students of Sandy Hook Elementary School. As you can see from the news story from Sunday, January 13, 2013 on CBS Evening News, snowflakes are being sent from all around the world.

Being so young, our students were not informed of the tragic events, but merely told we were making snowflakes to send to students in another school. Parents became very involved, creating, coloring, and decorating snowflakes once they learned the purpose behind the snowflake project. Mrs. Dunn helped students learn how to create their very own unique snowflakes by folding and cutting paper to create beautiful designs. No two snowflakes are ever alike and this was evident with the beautiful snowflakes our families created during the evening.

Partner in Education Signing & Storytime

During Family Night @ the Library on December 20th, we had a very special event take place. Half Price Books signed to be a Partner in Education for Kinkeade Early Childhood School.  Becky Dennis, the manager of the Irving store, located on Beltline Road brought the Half Price Books mascot, BW (Book Worm) along for this exciting event.

Six boxes of books (approximately 300 books) were delivered to the school prior to the event. The books were sorted and placed out on display from which the children could choose.  While going through the books and placing them on the tables for the teachers and children, I found one of my very favorite books from my childhood. I discovered Favorite Poems and Old and New selected by Helen Ferris, when I was ten years old while visiting my church library. I was shocked when I found the property stamp from First Baptist Church on the end pages of the book. I was even more surprised when I looked through the book and found the library card in the back of the book with my ten-year-old signature on the card in the library pocket. This was the actual book I had fallen in love with over thirty years ago. [Since these books were donated by Half Price Books for the children and teachers, I decided to keep this book for myself since it has such a very special meaning to me.]

It is ironic to find this book in the boxes brought to Kinkeade on this day for another interesting reason. Dr. Henry H. Kinkeade, the person for whom our school is named, was the pastor of First Baptist Church for over thirty years. He was my pastor and was a very dear person in my life. I loved that this very special book was found right before signing with our very first Partner in Education. UPDATE 2/1/2013: Half Price Books created a blog entry about this exciting find. You can read it here.

Following the signing event, children and their parents were invited to visit the library for a very special story time. I shared the ebook Kundersanterbleebin with the families. It is a wonderful book I discovered this year about believing in Santa Claus. It is one of my new favorite Christmas books. Everyone enjoyed the story and the new Elfanese words they learned.

The families checked out a number of books to keep them busy during the two week holiday break. Some of our friends carried out two bags full of books.

We also had a great time taking pictures using the Grinch and Rudolph camera apps.