This is a special week at the library as we will have visiting readers from the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club. "Rotary Readers" have been coming to all five of the district elementary schools for as long as I've been a library media specialist (since 2003) and probably before that, too. Rotary Club members volunteer to visit our schools to talk about their commitment to service, their work in our community, and their love of reading. They will be reading to DK, Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades.
Grade 3 is hearing The Birdman, by Veronika Martenova Charles, which is based on the true story of a man in Calcutta who deals with his own profound loss by using some of minimal wages to purchase and free birds illegally captured for the pet trade. We will use (and thus review) three reference books (atlas, encyclopedia, and dictionary) to gather background for the story and talk about how the actions of one person can affect many people.
With grade 4, The Cello of Mr. O, by Jane Cutler, will be our reference point as we talk about terms and ideas that can be used in writing a "literary response." Of particular interest is the concept of "theme."
Grade 5 is in the midst of a catalog search game, which continues this week and comes to completion next week. We will also read a short book for Women's History Month: Elizabeth Leads the Way, by Tanya Stone, about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her work toward women's suffrage, along with a section from The Story of the Nineteenth Amendment, by R. Conrad Stein.