It's Book Fair Time!

The WH Elementary School Library is sponsoring a Book Fair to be held this week! Students will be able to preview the books during school media classes and make a "wish list' of wanted titles. Besides students/parents/others being able to purchase books and other items from the book fair to take home, profits from the sale will be used to purchase additional titles for the elementary library collection. The Book fair is open during Parent/Teacher Conferences on Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00-7:45pm in Britt in the Elementary LMC.

I will only meet with 2 Kindergarten classes this week. On Tuesday, I will meet with K-Jass and on Thursday I will meet with K-Geelan. Both will watch the DVD of Bats in the Library based on the book written and illustrated by Brian Lies.

On Halloween day, I dressed in a costume and read a story in the the K-4 classrooms. It was a lot of fun! The HS students were treated to book related videos during their visits in the HS LMC.

Happy Halloween!
Mrs. T. Reiter, K-12 Teacher Librarian.

Teens' Top Ten 2011

Readers ages 12-18 recently selected their top ten favorite books out of a field of 25 nominations. The 2011 winners are:

1. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare


2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins


3. Cresendo by Becca Fitzpatrick


4. I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore


5. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa


6. Matched by Ally Condie


7. Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson


8. Paramormalcy by Kiersten White


9. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver


10. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

How many have you read?

This week I will meet with three classes on Tuesday, October 25th: K-Geelan - We will listen to Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler, 4-Hildman - We will use the Iowa AEA online databases, and 2-Glawe - We will listen to One Witch by Laura Leuck. On Thursday, October 27th I will meet with 2-Davoli - We will listen to One Witch by Laura Leuck, 3-Zuehl - We will listen to Jeepers Creepers by Laura Leuck, and K-Loeschen - We will listen to Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING BACK YOUR LIBRARY BOOK! You can not check out a new one UNTIL the checked out book is returned. Contact the school libraries if you have any questions.

Happy Reading!

Mrs. T. Reiter, K-12 Teacher Librarian

College and Career Ready?

Last Thursday and Friday, I attended the Iowa Library Association's 121st Conference in Council Bluffs. It was very educational and rewarding to "rub elbows" with fellow public, school, and academic librarians. I don't know why I had never attended a ILA con before!

One of the sessions I attended was "College and Career Ready: What does it mean? What can we do?" It was hosted by Dr. Jean Donham, Associate Professor, School Library Studies at UNI in Cedar Falls. In this session we examined selections for the Literacy Core Curriculum to discuss how the library program contributes to implementation. We reviewed first year college assignments to assess what skills and dispositions are necessary for success. In short, here is what I took away from this session for students to be college and career ready:

1. Students need to be engaged in meaningful, rigorous classes all 4 years of High School. No senior slacker classes.



2. Preparing for college/career begins in Middle School. Students need foundational skills in composition, math, reading, and science.



3. Students need to develop "Academic Discipline," that is the ability to work alone to meet a goal, the ability to think out a problem, the knowledge to use resources to solve the problem, and the ability to 'self-check' their work.



4. Helpful dispositions for students to posses are to be open-minded, be curious, be investigative (persistent), use reason, and use evidence.

There is much evidence here to support the collaboration of classroom teacher and teacher librarian to assist students in getting college and/or career ready!

This week I am at the HS/Elem on Tuesday. I meet with:

• 2-D where we will listen to Pumpkin Soup written and illustrated by Helen Cooper.



• 3-Z where we will go to the online catalog: http//destiny.wh.whancock.org



• K-L where we will watch an ebook downloaded from NEIBORS: The Best Place to Read

On Thursday, I will be at the MS. I will be giving a demonstration about NEIBORS, a consortium of public and school libraries that allows free download of ebooks to public library patrons.

We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself - Lloyd Alexander

Mrs. T. Reiter, K-12 Teacher Librarian

ORANGE You Interested In...

With the beginning of October comes the thoughts of PUMPKINS! 80% of the pumpkin supply in the U.S. is available in October. I went out to Furleigh Farms and picked out a few pumpkins for myself. I thought you might like to read a list of suggested book titles about pumpkins....

• Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie - Jill Esbaum


• Calabazas=Pumpkins - Jacqueline Farmer


• I Like Pumpkins!: Me Gustan Las Calabazas - Dianne Helton


• Pick a Perfect Pumpkin - Robin Michal Koontz


• Postcards from Buster: Buster and the Giant Pumpkin - Marc Brown


• Big Pumpkin - Erica Silverman, ill. by S.D. Schindler


• Pumpkin Soup - Helen Cooper


• The Pumpkin Fair - Eve Bunting


• Pumpkin Fever - Charnan Simon, ill. by Jan Bryan-Hunt


• The Pumpkin Patch - Margaret McNamara, ill. by Mike Gordon


• Oh, My, Pumpkin Pie! - Charles Ghigna, ill. by Ken Spengler


• How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? - Margaret McNamara, ill. by G. Brian Karas


• Pumpkins: A Story for a Field - Mary Lyn Ray


• The Ugly Pumpkin - Dave Horowitz


• The Legend of Spookley, the Square Pumpkin - Joe Troiamo, ill. by Susan Banta


• Pumpkin Day - Nancy Elizabeth Wallace


• "Tiny", the Littlest Pumpkin - Joseph S. Smith


• Squashed - Joan Bauer (takes place in Iowa)

Of course there are many more!

All 3 media centers have received new curesty of the annual AEA 267 book give away. The HS also received one of their yearly book orders - over 100 new titles. By the end of this week those books should be ready for check out.

On Friday, October 7, Mrs. Abels from the MS and Mrs. Johnson from the HS will be attending a workshop for library aides in Clear Lake. While there, they will be introduced to the new Iowa AEA Online databases available to students and staff by hands-on demonstration. They will also connect with other library aides from around our area to discuss trends, problems, and usage of school library media centers. I will be attending with them.

This week I will be in Kanawha on Tuesday, October 3rd and at the elementary on Thursday, October 6th.

Orange you glad you can rfead?

Mrs. T. Reiter, K-12 Teacher Librarian