Family Reading Night 2016

Thank you to everyone who came out to Family Reading Night this year! We had a great time visiting different stations based on fairy tales and hearing storyteller Chris Fascione! See below for links to some of the projects from the evening:

Fairy Tale Photo Booth:

Click this picture to go to a Google Drive folder with all the photos.

Book Character Pumpkins:

Use the arrow to progress through the slide show, or the triangle to play through them all. 

Green Screen Partner Reading:

You can also access them individually here on YouTube.

Puppet Pal Stories can be seen here.

Author Liesl Shurtliff Visit

We kicked off our One Book, One School with a visit from Liesl Shurtliff, the author of Jack! She spoke with the third through fifth graders about her life and her books Rump, Jack, and Red. She shared the inspiration she got from her family and her interest in fairy tales. Students enjoyed participating in a reader's theater of Rumpelstiltskin and asking her questions.
With kindergarteners through second graders, she focused more on what fairy tales are and where they came from. She told them the story of Rumpelstiltskin and Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. 
Finally, she signed all the Jack books that were sent home for our One Book, One School program! Many thanks to the PTO for sponsoring One Book, One School, including Liesl Shurtliff's visit.

Aaron Becker Author Visit

Prospect was delighted to welcome award-winning author/illustrator Aaron Becker on Monday, October 3. He talked with students about his Journey trilogy. He shared some of the origin story of the magical world in Journey. He encouraged students to keep using their imagination because the possibilities are endless. He also shared some of his earliest works from when he was in elementary school. 

While Aaron Becker's books are wordless picture books, they appeal to all ages as children study the details, use their imaginations, and discover a story of their very own. 

We have quite a few autographed books available for purchase. Please complete the order form with payment and turn it in to Mrs. Swanson by Tuesday, October 11.

If students are interested in learning more about Aaron Becker, check out his website: http://www.storybreathing.com/

Be sure not to miss his "Making of Journey" video: http://www.storybreathing.com/the-making-of-journey/

Weekly Checkout Schedule

Mrs. Swanson and Mrs. Reinhardt are so excited to welcome students back to school, and back to the MRC! We can't wait to find out what you did this summer...especially any great books you've read! This year in MRC we continue to encourage students to read for pleasure and for the joy of reading.

Mrs. Swanson will be collaborating with the teachers and you will be likely to find her in the classrooms upstairs if she is not in the MRC. The MRC schedule will be flexible, but most weeks each class will come in and check out at the same time. See the schedule below.

Kindergarten
Bergin am - Friday 10:20
Bergin pm  - Thursday 12:30
Brom  - Thursday 10:20

First Grade
Grant - Friday 8:50
Monat - Friday 10:50
Turrentine - Thursday 2:30

Second Grade
Nolin - Wednesday 2:30
Segovia - Wednesday 2:00
Tweedie - Wednesday 12:30

Third Grade
Goetz - Friday 9:20
McKay - Monday 9:30
Wichman - Thursday 9:20

Fourth Grade
Awick - Thursday 1:30
Malsack - Tuesday 2:00
Warren - Tuesday 2:45 (or Wednesday morning at 8:50 some weeks)

Fifth Grade
Akiti - Thursday 10:50
Legner - Wednesday 1:30
Shramovich - Monday 10:50

Remember, students can also come to the MRC to check in and checkout books whenever they need new books to read. Great times to come down are right away at the beginning of the day, right after lunch, or after school.

"Middle Grade Mania" Author Visits

Today our third and fourth graders got to meet three authors at my school: Elana Arnold, Beth Fantesky, and Greg Neri. They came to talk to about their newest middle grade novels as part of Middle Grade Mania with HMH Kids Publishing Company. They came on tour through Anderson's Bookshop, a local bookstore and bookfair company. If we host bookfairs with Anderson's, they share their authors with schools, which is a win-win situation!

We learned that Elana Arnold's latest book, Far From Fair, was inspired by her own life. When her husband got laid off, they sold their house and car and took their two kids into an RV and went traveling up the East Coast with their pet ferret, just like Odette's family in the novel. Elana shared that she always wanted to be a writer but in her early twenties, she found herself ready to write but with no ideas. Instead she taught, raised her children, lived her life, and said she nearly forgot she was a writer. When her family started traveling in the RV, she started blogging, and people read her blog and connected with her. She commented that "road trips and life are winding weird things" - eventually, 15 years after she thought she would start writing, she got her first book published. She encouraged the students by saying that writers don't always write: they read, daydream, have adventures, get bored, and they write too.  Elana explained that the love of story is human, and being able to tell stories to people is fabulous!

Greg Neri shared that as a writer you never know where or when the next story idea will come along. Getting a story idea is like finding a piece of gold on the ground that no one else seems to notice. You start digging at it and realize it is bigger than you thought and you need to dig around to get it free...but when you do, it is priceless. Writers have their eyes and ears open all the time looking for those nuggets of gold! His book, Tru & Nelle, tells the story of Harper Lee and Truman Capote's childhood friendship. Greg described how he and his brother were interested in solving mysteries when he was a child, and when he learned that Lee and Capote liked to play Sherlock and Watson-style detectives, he felt like he struck gold with a story idea.

Beth Fantesky shared that she has lucky writing socks! She explained that her book Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter came about after she wrote her PhD thesis on 1920s Chicago news, and someone told her that topic would make a great children's book. She described getting so attached to her characters that when it is time to start writing a new book, it is like starting a new school and she always thinks she won't like it as much as her old familiar characters.  She loves creating characters and spending time with them, just like good friends.

The two copies of each of these books we purchased were immediately checked out by my students and hold lists have started. I'm glad they got the chance to see a glimpse into the lives of these three authors! If anyone would like to order any of these books, you can order them through school, just get in your order forms by Wednesday, March 23!

First Grade Martin Luther King Jr. Books

In the MRC, first graders learned a little bit about Martin Luther King, Jr. and then got a chance to make a mini ebook about him using the Book Creator iPad app. In addition to learning about Martin Luther King, Jr., our main goal was for the students to explore the Book Creator app and get some experience using it. They will be using it again later in the school year to create books about a Washington D.C. monument.

To see a PDF of your child's book, click on the link below to reach a Google Drive folder for each class.

Mrs. Grant's Class

Mrs. Monat's Class

Mrs. Turrentine's Class

District Battle of the Books

This afternoon Prospect's winning Battle of the Books team competed against the top teams from each of the other d181 elementary schools. Our team consisted of six fourth graders who earned the most points throughout Prospect's Battle of the Books season. While we didn't win, we are very proud of all the learning, practice, teamwork, and great attitude of our team! We look forward to Battle of the Books again next fall!