This week the Pennekamp library welcomes members of the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club who will be reading to our students in kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade. The "Rotary Reads" program is just one of the many community service activities of our local Rotarians. It is a great benefit to our students to have members of the community, from many different walks of life, visit us to share their love of reading.

Our book valentines are up--they look great! Please come by the library to see the dozens of hearts decorated by our students in honor of the books they love.

This Monday, February 24, is the monthly meeting of the 5th-grade book club. We are discussing Wonder, by R. J. Palacio, and what a wonderful book it is. Next up for March is A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz.

Pennekamp's voting on the nominees for the California Young Reader Medal is finished, and we have our winners! For the "primary" category, our winner is Interrupting Chicken, by David Ezra Stein, with 69 votes (cast by students in TK, K, and 1st grade); a fairly close second place goes to Press Here, by Herve Tullet, with 55 votes. In the category "Picture Books for Older Readers," our winner with 40 votes is The Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the True Story of an American Feud, by Suzanne Tripp Jurman. What's interesting about the California Young Reader Medal is that the winners are chosen not by adult "experts" but solely by the votes of young readers. Our votes will be tallied with those of students throughout California, with the statewide winners to be announced on May 1. 

This week grade 3 begins participating in a different contest--one we have not done before at Pennekamp. It is the Cook Prize, sponsored by the Bank Street School in New York City. The Cook Prize is like the California Young Reader Medal in that the winner is chosen by student voting. It is different, though, in that the nominees are all "STEM" books--books about Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math.

More information on Pennekamp's participation in these contests can be found on this website's Book Contests page.

It is another busy week here at Pennekamp! It is Random Acts of Kindness Week, Valentine's Day, and the last week before the February break. Also...

This week begins Pennekamp's Literacy Month. A variety of activities and events are planned. In the library we start with an annual tradition: the students will have an opportunity to create a valentine for a book they love. The valentines are used to decorate our library until the end of the school year and provide an informal type of "book recommendation" among the students. You can download the valentine template (see below) and make one at home, and paper copies are available in the library.

In readalouds this week, grades 2 and 3 are hearing books related to Presidents Day. Kindergarten will be hearing Otis and the Tornado, by Loren Long, for Random Acts of Kindness Week; and 1st grade will hear Porcupining: A Prickly Love Story, by Lisa Wheeler, for Valentine's Day. TK is pretty much done with bears and is going on to the topic of friendship, so that's what we'll be reading about. With grades 4 and 5 I am continuing our novels: When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, and Schooled, by Gordon Korman.

The classes that visit library on Monday were rescheduled this week to accommodate a training session for teachers and administrators. Mrs. Horowitz's class doubled up with Mrs. Hunt's class last Friday; Ms. Gralnik's class will come to library on Tuesday, from 9:30 to 10:00; Ms. Cannon's class has moved to Thursday, 11:30 to noon.

Next week (February 10-16) is Random Acts of Kindness Week, which usually coincides with Valentine’s Day (February 14). Second grade this week is hearing Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, by Eileen Spinelli. It is a nostalgic favorite of mine. Pennekamp old-timers (such as myself) may remember when this book was dramatized here by the second-grade classes. Third grade will be hearing Each Kindness, by Jacqueline Woodson, which is about a missed opportunity to include a lonely classmate. 

In an interview in School Library Journal, author Jacqueline Woodson said this about the ideas behind Each Kindness:

I think there’s this sense people have that tomorrow will always come—that we’ll always have another chance at something.  But of course, it’s not always true. People die. People move away. Whatever the reason is, sometimes that moment is, as Chloe says, “Forever gone.”  When I got to this line in the book, I knew that’s what this book was saying to me and by extension, once it was published, to the world: that we can’t assume we’ll get another chance. So do the right thing in this moment—be kind. I think kindness is so easy. It connects people, and it’s empowering.  It feels good to compliment someone and watch their face light up.  At night, our family has to say what kind things we’ve done during the day.  The beauty of this is it makes us all slow down during the day, take in what we’ll be bringing to the dinner table.

Kindergarten and first grade will be voting this week on the nominees for the California Young Reader Medal. TK voted last week, with very different results in the two TK classes! I will announce the results of our voting next week, once all the voting is done, and then our results will be tallied with those of students all over California to determine the statewide winner.

After voting, the kinders will hear Sock Monkey Rides Again, in anticipation of Valentine's Day. (Thanks to Heidi Snively, the wonderful library media specialist at Grand View, for bringing this fun book to my attention!) Grade 1 will hear Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox, a light, short picture book about Groundhog Day (which also delivers a message of friendship). Did you hear? Punxsutawney Phil said six more weeks of winter!

TK is done with CYRM so we are reading about bears this week, in support of their study on that topic. The TK students have been given time lately to look at and read a selection of library books during their class visit. They seem to be really enjoying this! I don’t think I’ve mentioned lately that parents may check out books (10 at a time) from the Pennekamp library. Please feel free to come by whenever the library is not in use for a class visit.

That leaves grades 4 and 5. With both these grades I am continuing to read aloud our chosen novels.

Next week begins Pennekamp’s “Literacy Month.” Watch for special activities not just at the library but all over school throughout the coming weeks!

Kindergarten parents, you have begun receiving a "courtesy notice" from the library simply advising you what your child has checked out and when the item is due. The notice does not necessarily mean the item is late! I simply wanted a way to let parents know what materials are checked out. Kindergarteners should return their library books on their class's library visit day (Cannon, on Monday; Rios, Vanderpool/Schneck, and Vavao, on Wednesday) so that they can take a new book. Thank you for helping your child locate and return his or her book on "library day."