There is no more checking out from the library this year. Please return any books you have borrowed and help your children to return their library books. A hold will be placed on the report card of any student who fails to return or pay for his or her library books by the end of the school year. A hold will also be placed on a student's report card if his or her parent has unresolved library books at the end of the school year. Please return all library books OR pay for any that have been lost or significantly damaged. I can tell you the price of books for which payment must be made. Payment must be in exact change or a check payable to MBUSD.

I encourage everyone to read every day over the summer. Parents, I'd extend this encouragement to you, too! Our children our inspired by our behavior, and studies confirm that having a parent who reads can encourage a child's reading. Further, books can be a great conversational topic and shared interest, for people of every age. So pick a time each day to read and stick with it until it's a habit. Create a reading nook in your home, make sure there are books and magazines on hand in every room, and visit the public library weekly. We are lucky that there are so many delicious places to eat right near the Manhattan Beach public library! Consider making a tradition of pairing your library visit with the Tuesday farmer's market, a trip to Jamba Juice, or lunch at Lemonade. The public library is offering many fun summer events along with the summer reading program, with signups beginning June 16, the first day of summer break. The district summer reading lists offer suggestions for books but please note, they are not required reading until students are heading into sixth grade. 

Thanks to Pennekamp's students, families, teachers, and staff for a very fun and productive year! Highlights for me have been the Shakespeare and Ferdinand plays, the library renovation, and our very successful food drive. It's been a great year here at Pennekamp, but as with every new year, I'm already looking forward to sharing new the books and experiences that will come along next year. Happy summer, happy reading!

I feel like I keep saying this, but we are really in the home stretch now :-)

There is no more checking out from the library this year. Please return any books you have borrowed and help your children to return their library books. A hold will be placed on the report card of any student who fails to return or pay for his or her library books by the end of the school year. A hold will also be placed on a student's report card if his or her parent has unresolved library books at the end of the school year. Please return all library books OR pay for any that have been lost or significantly damaged. I can tell you the price of books for which payment must be made. Payment must be in exact change or a check payable to MBUSD.

Readalouds will conclude this year with some of my favorites, some books about travel, some about change that takes place over time.

Today was the last meeting of the book club for 5th-grade students. Overall the students enjoyed Hello, Universe, giving it a rating of 3.58 stars out of a possible 5. (That doesn't sound too good, but this is a tough crowd! You can see all the ratings of the club selections here.)

​Michael Mackavoy, the children's librarian from the Manhattan Beach public library, will be presenting assemblies next week for all grades to explain the public library's summer reading program. The assemblies are Wednesday, June 7, scheduled as follows: K & grade 1, 10:35 to 10:55; grades 2 & 3, 11:05 to 11:25; grades 4 & 5, 1:00 to 1:25. There are many great events coming up at our local public library. Take a look by clicking here.

A huge shout-out to Mrs. Julie Jones, who took care of the library last week during my absence! I've heard such nice things about her from the students and parents today, and there's literally no one I'd trust more with "my" library, so thanks very much, Mrs. Jones!

This week's theme for the readalouds is adventure. We are on shortened days, with dismissal at 12:45 every day except Wednesday, which is the usual 1:30. Several classes have shifted their times accordingly, but others (notably grades 4 and 5) will not have library this week. With Monday being a holiday, there are few empty time slots into which classes can move.

The end of the year is upon us. This week is the last week to check out books from the library this year. Friday, June 2, is the last day! Students in grade 5 are no longer checking out because they are beginning to get their permission slips signed, which indicates that they no longer have library books. All books are due on or before June 9. Classes will visit the library next week but will not be checking out books--returns only next week.

A hold will be placed on the report card of any student who fails to return or pay for his or her library books by the end of the school year. A hold will also be placed on a student's report card if his or her parent has unresolved library books at the end of the school year. Please return all library books OR pay for any that have been lost or significantly damaged. I can tell you the price of books for which payment must be made. Payment must be in exact change or a check payable to MBUSD.

Next Monday is the last meeting of the book club for 5th-grade students. Our current selection is Hello, Universe, by Erin Entrada Kelly--many copies are available at the Manhattan Beach public library.

Michael Mackavoy, the children's librarian from the Manhattan Beach public library, will be presenting assemblies next week for all grades to explain the public library's summer reading program. The assemblies are Wednesday, June 7, scheduled as follows: K & grade 1, 10:35 to 10:55; grades 2 & 3, 11:05 to 11:25; grades 4 & 5, 1:00 to 1:25. There are many great events coming up at our local public library. Take a look by clicking here.

This week our theme for Weekly Readalouds and books on display is art and creativity. Specific titles can be found here.

The library remodel is really pretty much done for this year! Today a lovely new area rug arrived--shout out to local flooring distributor Carpet Spectrum for help with that! My sincere thanks to the PTA and Dr. Brown for initiating and funding these awesome improvements to our library.

The new Poem-in-Your-Pocket poster is up! Come by the library and see if you can find your photo among the more than 300 on this year's poster. Great job to all the students and teachers who wrote, read, and carried poems during this special week.

There have been a lot of contest winners announced lately, so I thought I'd list some of them here. It can be hard to choose books among the great many that are being published all the time; sometimes turning to award winners can help make the choice. The California Young Reader Medal has been awarded to the following books: Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, by Mac Barnett; Each Kindness, by Jacqueline Woodson; and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, by Chris Grabenstein. The Cook Prize for an outstanding book in the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, or math) went to Journey: Based on the True Story of OR7, the Most Famous Wolf in the West, by Emma Bland Smith. The winner this year of the Caldecott Medal (for illustration) was Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, by Javaka Steptoe. I just finished The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill--the winner of the Newbery Medal (for writing)--and I thought it was terrific. 

I have been meaning to mention that during the month of May, the County of Los Angeles public libraries are forgiving overdue fines! If you have any materials that are late, please return them and ask to have the overdue fines cleared. If you previously returned something late and now have a fine on your account, ask to have that fine cleared. It's just for the month of May, but it's a great way to make a fresh start with the public library system. All MBUSD libraries are closed over the summer, so chances are you will be relying on the public libraries then; and there are so many outstanding services and programs at the public library year 'round, you really want to feel comfortable there!

Speaking of great public library services, and with summer coming up, take at look at the public library's Discover & Go program. With an LA County Library card, you can reserve free passes to many local museums and cultural attractions. That's a great deal.

The summer reading lists are on the MBUSD website. The lists for students in grades 1 & 2, grade 3, and grades 4 & 5 are nonrequired: the books on these lists have received strong reviews or have been popular around our school district, but they are not curricular choices and they are not required reading. 

The book club for 5th-grade students met Monday. I'm still computing the ratings of our last two books, but meanwhile, we have chosen our selection for June: Hello, Universe, by Erin Entrada Kelly. 

This week in the Readalouds we are celebrating Asian/Pacific Heritage Month. Most of the books are favorites of mine, including Luka's Quilt, Basho and the River Stones, Two of Everything, and I, Doko. Grade 5 is hearing poems about the presidents, as a follow-up to Poem-in-Your-Pocket week. The new Pocket  Poem poster should by up by Monday, if not sooner.

This is a fun week at Pennekamp: Poem-in-Your-Pocket Week! Everyone is encouraged to carry a poem this week and be ready to share it with friends and classmates. Photos will be taken of students who bring a poem to the library, and there will be time during class visits to read poems aloud. 

The MBUSD summer reading lists have been updated! Students going from 5th grade to MBMS have required reading--3 books from that list, of which one must be a nonfiction choice (marked on the list with a little # symbol). Younger grades may choose books from the summer "pleasure reading" (nonrequired) lists, prepared collaboratively by the MBUSD elementary library media specialists. If your child wants to read books not on the lists, or from a list that doesn't correspond to his or her grade, that is very much "allowed"! The most important thing is that students read over the summer. Pennekamp will in fact be visited on June 7 by librarians from the Manhattan Beach public library, who will be promoting the summer reading program they offer to encourage summer reading.

Copies of The Gauntlet are now available at the Manhattan Beach public library for students in the 5th-grade book club. Please ask for one at the children's information desk. Thank you for your patience, dear club members, and thanks to the library for getting the copies for us. Our next club meeting is Monday, May 8, but the book moves along very quickly (thank goodness!).

This week pretty much all classes are hearing books about baseball. Why? Because baseball is fun, interesting, and intersects with American history. For specific titles please click over to the Weekly Readalouds page of this website.

Also this week students will be encouraged to check out poetry in preparation for our annual school Poem-in-Your-Pocket event next week. National Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day is Thursday, April 27, this year. It is just that: a day to carry a poem with you and share poetry with others. For our observance, students who have a poem in their pocket when their class visits the library can read their poem aloud and have their photo taken for this year's Pocket Poem poster. 

The renovation of the library has really come along! I am waiting for a couple of remaining aspects to come together, then I will post a new picture! The students seem to be enjoying the changed space, and I certainly am. Thanks again to the PTA and to Dr. Brown for the awesome improvements.

I have some catching up to do here on the blog, so this post will look back as well as ahead.

The week of April 3 began with a very exciting visit from Cylin Busby, author of a terrific middle-grade historical fiction book: The Nine Lives of Jacob Tibbs, which was the 5th-grade book club's March selection. 

Thanks to the PTA for initiating and funding these improvements. Thanks also to Dr. Brown for her support and for lots of help with the project. I would ask that the students and Dragon families remain patient next week as everything gets put back, but soon things should be all done and looking great! 

Unable to visit the library last week due to the renovation, most classes asked that I come to their classrooms last week to read. Kindergarten and second-grade heard books related to their curricular topics (eggs and dinosaurs, and ancestry and biography, respectively). Third-grade voted on the Cook Prize contest: the winner in our voting was Journey: Based on the True Story of OR7, the Most Famous Wolf in the West, by Emma Bland Smith. ​An interesting thing about the Cook Prize is that it is conducted across the United States and sometimes even in schools in other countries. For other specific readalouds from last week see this site's Weekly Readalouds page. 

Looking ahead, when we return from spring break the school will be focusing on Earth Day, which is April 22. I will be reading books having to do with the environment to all grades. Below please find a PDF of Pennekamp's Earth Day schedule of events--there are a lot great activities going on. Also, Saturday, April 22, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., is the city's Earth Day fair at Polliwog. It's always an interesting and educational event, and a very convenient place for recycling batteries, prescription eyeglasses, and (this year for the first time, I believe) gently used clothing.

The weekend of April 22 and 23 is also the L.A. Times Festival of Books, taking place on the USC campus, for all you book lovers out there.

Last but not least, there are a couple of art workshops this week at the Manhattan Beach public library: Get Smart on Art for Grades 2 to 5, on Wednesday, April 19; and for older kids (grades 6 to 12) DIY Paperclip Jewelry, on Thursday, April 20.

Students in grade 4 have been independently reading several books nominated for the California Young Reader Medal in the "Intermediate" (chapter book) category. Those students who read all three nominees were permitted to vote on that category. Although I promoted this part of the contest mostly with 4th grade, there were also a few 5th graders who had read all three nominees. With votes due to the state organizers by April 1, we chose today for our voting/pizza event! The winner at Pennekamp was Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, by Chris Grabenstein. Statewide winners will be announced around May 1. Thanks to the PTA for providing the funds that allow for our participation in the CYRM contest.

To see what all the grades are hearing this week in the library, click on over to the Weekly Readalouds page of this website. Mostly we are looking at books somehow related to spring (including books about baby animals). 

Monday, April 3, the book club for grade 5 is having lunch with Cylin Busby, author of many books for children and teens, including The Nine Lives of Jacob Tibbs, our current club selection. The students and I are very much looking forward to meeting Ms. Busby and discussing Jacob Tibbs!

Next week (after the book club meeting) the library will be closed for a week or two for replacement of the flooring and a few other improvements. I realize this will inconvenience students and families, but the changes we are making will be very worth this temporary interruption. Everything should be done by the time we return from spring break.

This Thursday, March 30, one of my favorite Pennekamp events takes place: the annual Richstone Feast. There are two serving times for what promises to be an excellent dinner--come to either the 5:15 or the 6:45 seating. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time from Mr. Warner, or you can almost for sure get tickets at the door. This event is organized and carried out almost entirely by the 5th-grade students. All proceeds go to the Richstone Family Center, which works to keep families safe from domestic abuse. Every year it's such a fun time, and it feels really good to know that we are benefiting this extremely worthy organization. Don't miss this wonderful event.

Last but not least, I urge you to check out the Wednesday STEM lineup at the Manhattan Beach Public Library. Next up on April 12 at 3:30 is an event introducing a new "mobile makerspace" van. The programs are free of charge. Click on the PDF below to see more specifics.

According to a recent UNICEF estimate, more than 3,000 children die each day due to diarrheal diseases, most of which are caused by unsafe water. Hauling water each day takes a great deal of time for women and girls in the developing world (as depicted in a new picture book, The Water Princess, by Susan Verde, based on the life of Georgie Badiel). The theme of World Water Day this year is reducing and reclaiming wastewater. There's even a clever video showing how water can be used for various purposes before it goes down the drain. You can make a difference by fundraising for and donating to organizations that improve access to clean water, such as the Georgie Badiel Foundation or the Ryan's Well Foundation, among others. Below is a very inspiring video about Ryan Hreljac and the foundation that he started (and be advised that YouTube content often comes along with comments and sidebars that are not appropriate for children).  

There are a couple of special events coming up at the Pennekamp library. Next Monday, March 27, students in grades 4 or 5 who have read all three nominees in the "Intermediate" category of the California Young Reader Medal contest will be permitted to vote at the library during lunch. Each student voting will receive a piece of Papa John's cheese pizza and a small bottled water! To show an understanding of the nominees students also need to fill out a brief questionnaire for each book. "Invitations" will be distributed on the morning of March 27 to the students who have read all three books and filled out the three questionnaires. Thanks to the PTA for funds used to buy multiple copies of the nominated books and for the pizza and drinks.

The other very exciting event coming up is on April 3: the book club for 5th-grade students will have lunch with Cylin Busby, author of The Nine Lives of Jacob Tibbs, our terrific current selection! I am so excited, as I love this book. Likely as not it will be on the 2017 MBUSD summer pleasure reading list for students entering grades 4 and 5.

Okay, now here's the inspiring video about the Ryan's Well Foundation. Have a great week!