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June 2, 2014

6/1/2014

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Last week I was out-of-town for my son Austin's college graduation, which was of course a very proud and exciting event for me and my family. I apologize for the library being closed and for missing open house, but I hope you will forgive me under the circumstances!

This week the library is up and running at its usual pace, if not an accelerated one, due to the approaching end of the school year. Classes will be visiting the library this week and will do so next week. Classes will not be visiting the library during the partial week of June 16. The library will be closed to all patrons on June 16 for the annual "shelf-reading party," made possible through the awesome efforts of our wonderful library volunteers!

Attention parents and students: All PK library books are due no later than June 13. Please note that a hold will be placed on a student's report card due to unreturned library books. This applies to books checked out by the student or by his or her parent. Please contact me if there are any questions or concerns about library circulation. For any library materials that are lost or damaged beyond repair, payment must be made in exact change or a check payable to MBUSD.

Many parents have asked whether the Pacific library will be open this summer and… it will! MBEF has generously agreed to the funding that makes this possible. Students from any MBUSD school will be able to visit the Pacific Elementary library this summer to browse and check out books. As is the rule districtwide, a student must be accompanied by a parent or other responsible adult when using the library.

This week is the last meeting of the 5th-grade book club. What a great group this has been! It has been a genuine pleasure meeting with these students to discuss a novel every month. Their commitment to reading and the focus they bring to our discussions have made the club a very rewarding experience. The book club will start again in December for next year's 5th-graders. 

Finally, a note from the world beyond Pennekamp: The Kickstarter campaign to bring back Reading Rainbow has succeeded far beyond its initial goal. Opinions vary on Kickstarter and the appropriate uses of it, but personally, I am delighted to see so many people willing to support a program that put its faith not in flashy special effects but rather in exemplary children's books that enrich our experience of the real world. "Take a look, it's in a book…"
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May 12, 2014

5/12/2014

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This week in class readalouds we are looking at books about journeys. Some are light-hearted, some more serious, some historical, some involving animals...there are a lot of different variations on the topic. One noteworthy book, which I'm reading to a couple of classes in grade 4 and a couple in grade 5, is this year's winner of the Caldecott Medal: Locomotive, by Brian Floca. This long, incredibly detailed book about the Transcontinental Railroad is about as perfect a picture book as I've ever seen. Also very worthy of special mention is Flight of the Honeybee, by Raymond Huber. Although I have only taken a passing glance, what I've found so far on Mr. Huber's website is fascinating--information about bees, of course, but also some thoughtful musings on children's books and other topics. There's a link there to a very nice 6-minute film about bees.

We have an interesting literary event happening right here in Manhattan Beach: Our local independent bookstore--Pages--is hosting Stuart Gibbs, author of some very popular middle-grade novels. His Belly Up did very well with Pennekamp's 5th-grade book club a couple of years ago; and now there is a follow-up, Poached, another zoo-themed mystery (with an immediately appealing cover). Mr. Gibbs has two other successful storylines going: The Last Musketeer, followed by Traitor's Chase and Double Cross; and Spy School, followed by Spy Camp. I would recommend any of these super entertaining books to readers from grade 4 up through middle school. So, back to the event: At Pages; Wednesday, May 14; 7:00 p.m. Contact the store for more information (310-318-0900).

The public library has plenty of copies now of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, by Chris Grabenstein, for our 5th-grade book club. They are being held at the "express library," which is open Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 6, and Saturday from 11 to 3. Thanks to library manager Don Gould for obtaining these for us. The next and final book club meeting will be on June 2. By the way, our "express library" branch will be offering the usual summer reading program--be sure to sign up to keep track of your reading and earn prizes!
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May 5, 2014

5/6/2014

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The annual announcement on May 1 of the winners of the California Young Reader Medal is always exciting! The statewide winner in the Primary category is Press Here, by Herve Tullet; the statewide winner in the Picture Book for Older Readers category is Queen of the Falls, by Chris Van Allsburg. Neither of these won at Pennekamp, though! We preferred instead Interrupting Chicken, by David Ezra Stein, for the Primary category; and The Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the True Story of an American Feud, by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain, for the Picture Books for Older Readers category. 

In honor of the actual awarding on May 1 of the CYRM statewide prizes, I am revisiting previous CYRM winners this week in class readalouds. Classes in grade 4 are finishing When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead (which incidentally is a different kind of award-winner, as it won the Newbery Medal in 2010). Grade 5 is finishing Schooled, by Gordon Korman, or hearing The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore along with viewing the short film on which it is based, which won the Academy Award for short animation in 2011. So we have awards all around this week!

For the first time this year Pennekamp participated in the competition for the Cook Prize, awarded by the Bank Street College of Education in New York, based on votes cast by students around the world (not just in America!). The winner of this prize was recently announced, too: it is The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos, by Deborah Heiligman, which also won at Pennekamp's, with voting in just our grade 3 classes. I hope to expand Pennekamp's participation in this contest next year to grades 2, 3, and 4.

As I announced last week, the 2014 summer reading lists are now available! The lists for students entering grade 6 and above present reading requirements; the three lists for elementary students (entering grades 1 and 2; entering grade 3; entering grades 4 and 5) are nonrequired reading possibilities! If your child is casting around for something to read, the summer reading lists are full of a variety of fun and interesting suggestions, but elementary students do not have an assigned summer reading requirement. The five MBUSD elementary library media specialists collaborated to create all three lists.

Looking ahead, the library will be closed during the week of Memorial Day as I have an out-of-town family event to attend. Unfortunately this means that the library will not be open during Open House--I will miss seeing everyone's families! The last book club meeting will be Monday, June 2. The last week of class visits will be the week of June 9. The last day to check out books from the library will be Friday, June 6, which means all books will be due no later than June 13 (also the very last day of class visits). Please note that a hold will be placed on a student's report card if he or she has any unreturned library books; likewise parents must also return all library materials by or before June 13 to avoid a hold being placed on their student's report card. Please contact me if there are any questions or concerns about library circulation.
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June 4 to 8, 2012

6/9/2012

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The past week was the last week of regular class visits to the library. Books are no longer being checked out this year, and most are being returned right on schedule. There is never an overdue fine at the library, but any student with unresolved library issues on the last day of class will have a hold place on his or her report card pending resolution. Please contact the library if you have any questions about your student's, or your own, library account.

Yesterday I enjoyed having lunch with two 3rd-grade students, Lauren and Lindsey. Lauren won my "lunch in the library" event at the teacher raffle and invited her friend Lindsey to join us. The girls were delightful companions! I hope they had as good a time as I did!

Wednesday night I was honored at the board meeting of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District as classified employee of the year at Pennekamp. My sincere thanks go out to Pennekamp's students, families, teachers, staff, and to Principal Mabry for being so supportive of my efforts. 

Also this past week I had the pleasure of introducing the new digital collection at Manhattan Beach Middle School (MBMS) to current 5th graders. Did you know that e-books can be checked out just like "regular" books? Well, they can, and like all library materials, they are free of charge. MBMS has just introduced 96 e-book titles, and MBUSD students moving up to 6th grade at MBMS are encouraged to check out these titles during the summer. Browse it by clicking on MBMS Digital Library.

The Pennekamp library is closed during the summer, so please visit the public library. Our local Manhattan Beach branch has an exciting summer reading program lined up, with entertaining events as well as various forms of recognition for participating readers. It's going to be a lot of fun, so be sure to sign up soon!

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May 29 to June 2, 2012

5/29/2012

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Thanks to the many families who visited the library at Open House! It was wonderful to see familiar faces and to make new friends!

Class visits this week are focused on the summer reading list titles for students in grades K through 4. These lists consist of optional, nonrequired choices for pleasure reading. If your child wants to read something else, that's just fine! I am encouraging students to get public library cards, as the Pennekamp library is closed during the summer. For grade 5, only Mrs. Curry's class is visiting the library this week because the other two classes will be on a field trip on their library day. Mrs. Curry's class will hear a book about Harriet Tubman, to support the Harriet Tubman play that grade 5 attends next week. DK will hear books about travel and home. 

Book club for 5th grade meets this Friday, June 1, in the library at lunch recess. This is our last meeting of the year.

Here again are the end-of-year dates as announced last week:

Classes will visit the library as usual through the week that ends on June 8.

The last day to check out books will be June 1. Please return all books as soon as possible, but certainly by June 8. A student will not receive his or her report card if he or she has outstanding library issues, and that includes books owed by the student's parent.

If you need to pay for a lost book, please pay with a check made out to MBUSD. Cash is also acceptable, but please make payment in exact change.

The library will be closed all day on Thursday, June 14, for shelf-reading.
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May 9 to 13, 2011

5/8/2011

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It is getting close to the end of the school year! The summer reading lists have been posted on the district website and also can be viewed from Reading List Links on my Find a Book tab. The end of the year means it's time to return all library books and resolve any issues related to lost or damaged books. It is the policy of our school district to withhold the report card of any student who has (or whose parent has) unresolved library issues, so please begin rounding up those library books.

The next meeting of the book club for students in grades 4 & 5 will be Wednesday, June 8, from 1:30 to 2:30. Preregistration is required. The selected book is Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Copies are available at the Manhattan Beach branch of the County of Los Angeles Public Library. Ask for a copy at the reference desk in the library; reserving a copy online is likely to take a long time, because copies have already been pulled for us throughout the county system. 

DK will be doing something a little different this week: hearing books about identity and self-acceptance. There are quite a few good ones, and I particularly wanted to try out a new book, Spork, by Kyo Maclear & Isabelle Arsenault, which has gotten very favorable reviews. 

With 2nd grade I am beginning a short, funny novel--The Legend of Spud Murphy, by Eoin Colfer--about two boys who have to spend long summer hours in the children's section of their local library, presided over by a mean children's librarian known as "Spud" Murphy. Will the boys ever safely set foot off the "junior section" rug?

3rd grade will hear Baseball Saved Us, by Ken Mochizuki, in honor of Asian Pacific Island Heritage Month, which the month of May happens to be. The book recognizes the military service of Asian Americans during World War II and the Korean War.  

The other grades are hearing books related to their classroom studies: K and 1st, about butterflies; 4th, California statehood; and 5th, the Lewis & Clark expedition.
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May 2 to 6, 2011

5/2/2011

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This week we will be focusing on a couple of May events, in particular Mother's Day, but also National Bicycle Month. For Mother's Day, DK will hear When You Meet a Bear on Broadway, by Amy Hest, about mothers; and A Crash Course for Molly, by Eva Eriksson, which is about bicycling. 

The 2011 reading lists compiled by the district's library media specialists can now be viewed from the district's webpage or from this site's Find a Book tab. From that list 1st grade will be hearing A Bedtime for Bear, by Bonny Becker, which is the sequel to A Visitor for Bear, nominee for the California Young Reader Medal this year.

2nd grade will be oriented to the location of popular nonfiction topics in the library. The students will take home a "Popular Topics by Dewey Number" bookmark to remind them of what we've covered.

3rd grade is doing a variety of things this week. Classes are completing their review of research skills (such as identifying the parts of a book, determining which reference book to use, finding topics in an encyclopedia); as time permits, classes are hearing either 365 Penguins, by Jean-Luc Fromenthal (if they did not hear it last week), or The Friend, by Sarah Stewart. 

4th grade will not be coming to library this week because they have STAR testing at their usual library visit times.

For 5th grade, we will attempt a rather long picture book about the Lewis and Clark expedition, which they are studying in their history unit with Mrs. Curry. There are several interesting books that cover the expedition from the standpoint of various Corps of Discovery members, but before looking at those, we will make sure to be well acquainted with the facts of the expedition. 

In other library news, statewide winners for the California Young Reader Medal have been announced: in the Primary category, Martina the Beautiful Cockroach, by Carmen Agra Deedy; in Picture Books for Older Readers, the winner is John, Paul, George, & Ben, by Lane Smith; in the Intermediate novels, which were read by the book club for students in 4th and 5th grade, the winner is Zorgamazoo, by Robert Paul Weston. 

The book club will meet again (this year's final meeting) on Wednesday, June 8, from 1:30 to 2:30 in the library. The next book is Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Just a reminder: if you plan to shop for books or any other items on Amazon, click through to Amazon from the library website's home page and your purchases will earn from 5-15% for the Pennekamp PTA. It's a great way to raise money for our school, free of charge to you.
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April 18 to 22, 2011

4/17/2011

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Earth Day, April 22, is the focus of most class visits this week. Our school will be participating in environmental activities all week, and this week's reading selections will educate and inspire on that topic as well, especially concerning the ocean environment and the problem of trash production.

On Thursday, April 21, staff members from the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and Aquarium will be visiting the library to talk about caring for the ocean environment. Classes who come to library on Thursday (Barney, Rumble, Price, and Moreno) will be treated to this special event. 

On Tuesday, April 19, at 7:00 p.m., author D.J. MacHale (the Pendragon series, The Monster Princess) will be speaking at Pages: A Bookstore, our town's local independent bookstore. Known for the Pendragon series and The Monster Princess, MacHale is an interesting and engaging speaker; and as this event takes place on the publication date of The Black, the second book in MacHale's new Morpheus Road series, it should be a very exciting evening.

Many new books are being added to the library's collection this week and next. Click here to see what's new in our library. 

The book club meets this Wednesday, April 20, from 1:30 to 2:30 in the library. Our selection this time (chosen by the club participants) is Keeper, by Kathi Appelt, a 2011 Newbery Honor book. We will have one more club meeting this year and will choose our next book from the district's list of books recommended for pleasure reading for students entering grades 4 and 5. Our club members who are currently in grade 5 are encouraged to consult the list of books for students entering grade 6, of which each student is required to read three. Before grade 6, all district reading lists are simply for students' pleasure reading--suggested books on these lists are not required.
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    Barbara Siegemund-Broka, library resource specialist, maintains this blog to inform Pennekamp students and families about library news and related content. Any opinions expressed here are solely her own. 

    What's Ms. Barbara reading?

    Picture
    How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, by Jenny Odell
    ​
    Worth repeating:

    His eyes are soft. “Do you know why I became a librarian?”
       I wait for him to tell me, because of course I don’t.
       “Dewey,” he says. “As in the decimal system.”
       I’m not sure if he’s joking or not, but he continues, “I like order. I like organization. The idea of all the information in the world, all organized, everything in its place—I like that idea.”
       He clears his throat. “But I’ve been doing this job for a long time. And the thing I’ve learned is that stories aren’t about order and organization. They’re about feelings. And the feelings don’t always make sense. See, stories are like …” He pauses, brow furrowing, then nods, satisfied in finding the right comparison: “Water. Like rain. We can hold them tight, but they always slip through our fingers.”
       I try to hide my shock. Joe doesn’t seem like the poetic type.
       His caterpillar eyebrows knit together. “That can be scary. But remember that water gives us life. It connects continents. It connects people. And in quiet moments, when the water’s still, sometimes we can see our own reflection.”
     
    --From When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Heller, winner of the 2021 Newbery Medal

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