Greetings!
My two favorite things about Christmas are the wonderful music and the stories. If you don’t have a large collection of Christmas books in your library, I would recommend that you begin collecting.
I want to share some of my favorite stories and books for Christmas with you this week.
Patricia Polacco is a prolific artist/author and she has many Christmas stories with lovely illustrations. Look for A Christmas Tapestry, Trees of the Dancing Goats, and An Orange for Frankie.
Joe Wheeler writes the Christmas in My Heart books. Your older students and parents will enjoy reading these. In fact, most of these stories are great to read aloud at storytime.
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. This short story has been reprinted many times and is also illustrated by many different illustrators. Any book would be fine, but if you want to know what my personal favorite is, it is the one that is illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger.
James Herriot wrote wonderful stories and some of them were reprinted as picture books. The Christmas Day Kitten and Moses the Kitten are favorites.
I love, love, love Tasha Tudor’s art and her book Becky’s Christmas tells the story of a farm family long ago who prepared for Christmas by making their own gifts for each other. The love and preparation for the old fashioned holiday is sweet and comforting. It is out of print and pretty expensive, so keep an eye out for a copy that is reasonable. This is the kind of thing that I look for at used bookstores.
A Certain Small Shepherd by Rebecca Caudill is a favorite. This is the alternate book I read to the 3rd and 4th graders. This year I am reading The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden and next year it will be A Certain Small Shepherd. It is the story of an Appalachian family and a young boy who is mute until something happens at Christmastime.
Of course, Charles Dickens wrote the very famous Christmas story – A Christmas Carol. It would be nice to have it in two formats, both the original language and possibly a simpler version for younger children.
Peter Spier is an artist who draws wonderfully ordinary people and actually doesn’t use words. His books are great for everyone, but especially the children who aren’t yet reading. Try Peter Spier’s Christmas by Peter Spier. Then you will need to get his other wordless books. Look for Rain, Noah’s Ark, (notice two rabbits going in and dozens coming out. The look on Noah’s face is priceless), Jonah, Circus, and others.
The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L’Engle is a very sweet story of the Austin family who appear in other of her books. I first read this at my in-law’s house in a magazine one Christmas in the early 1980s, and actually went and bought the magazine so I would have the story. The magazine became lost or tossed, and I was delighted to find it as a short book.
Well, I hope you find something here that is new to you and that you like. I am certain that you have your personal favorites and I have actually left out a lot of mine. These are ones that I feel are perfectly appropriate for elementary schools.
Have a wonderful Christmas and reflect on the gift of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
Audrey
Currently Reading
How Far to Bethlehem? By Norah Lofts
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 31 % through on my Kindle) (this is on hold right now)
Behind Rebel Lines by Seymour Reit (recommended to me by a parent who got it from our local ABC)
Monday, December 14, 2015
Monday, November 30, 2015
Display Ideas
Hello!
I hope you had a restful Thanksgiving vacation. I was happy to have my son and his new wife for a couple of days. We did not go shopping or do much of anything except enjoy each other’s company.
I don’t know if you do much in the way of display for your library. It is a good way to spotlight books that might not be normally used. I know that I have checked out books that were just placed on top of the shelf at my local public library, but if they had been in the stacks, I might not have discovered them.
I don’t want to put more on your plate then is necessary, but these ideas are rather simple, but can be powerful.
Idea 1: Set up a display that rotates around. Have each teacher choose 8 – 10 (or more) books from the school library that they enjoy or enjoyed reading as a child. Print out a sign with their picture on it that says something like “Mrs. Campbell’s Favorites”. Use a table or shelf to stand the books up. You are done. Leave these up for a couple of weeks, then change out for another teacher. When you are out of teachers, begin on the 8th graders. Now it is the cool thing to do. Remember that the books need to be from the school library so other children can check them out, too. Books from home do not belong in this display. This can last you for 8 – 10 weeks or more. If you are in a larger school, you can group the teachers into sections and have groups like “Books our 3rd and 4th grade teachers like” or “8th grade girls’ favorites”. You will come up with something that works. Also, once the display is going, all you need to do is to make a sign unless you have students that can help with that, too.
Idea 2: Many schools have something like ‘Student of the Week’. I encourage you to include the library in this. The student of the week can choose books that they like or books that support their hobbies or activities. Students can display the books for you, too. In fact, the student whose turn it is can be responsible for his or her own display. She or he can also bring display items to support their favorites. If a girl loves horses, she probably has some horse items that can be in display. A student who enjoys karate, can bring the clothing or belts, or even just photos of them participating. If you are worried about items ‘walking off’, then photos would be better.
Idea 3: Assign a small group of two or three students to find books on a particular subject. Students can either choose their subjects (with your approval) or you can have a list to choose from. Subject ideas might include: alphabet books, cookbooks, needlework, pets, books with red covers, adventure books, etc. You can find lists of topics online or even in your bulletin board books.
Idea 4: Pinterest has thousands of display ideas. The problem is choosing the ones you want.
Be sure to make it easy for YOU. In your other classroom displays, include books with everything you do. Just this simple thing is a subtle way to show the importance of books and reading.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Currently Reading
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 31 % through on my Kindle)
The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata (Previewing for the library)
Never Say Die by Will Hobbs (Previewing for the library)
Clementine for Christmas (Previewing for the library)
Monday, November 23, 2015
Let There Be Music (Books)
Hello,
Karen Carlton is one of my readers and is currently teaching Music. She told me about her collection of books and I asked if I could share them with you. She graciously agreed, so here goes.
Karen’s collection is divided into four types of books. The titles of each section are my own.
People in Music: She has books about composers, including some books that tell the back story of particular songs and pieces. Books about the orchestra are also included in this section. Other songbooks are probably included in this section, too.
Specific Classical Songs: In this section are included specific songs such as Peter and the Wolf, The Carnival of the Animals, and others like that.
Individual Songs: Many times an entire book is comprised of one song. I’m a Little Teacup, How Much is That Doggy in the Window?, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly are all songs and also have books about them.
Music Stories: Max Lucado has a story about The Song of the King, also other authors have written Do You Digeridoo, and Max Has Two Sticks.
I also suggested that Karen purchase the companion to the SDA hymnal that has information and stories about the hymns we sing each week. There are other sources of hymn stories available, also.
Children like to sing and sign the lyrics in sign language. There are a few books with simple signs to accompany songs. This makes a song that is sung especially lovely. If you don’t know sign language, check in your community for someone who can come and teach the signs to your children. It is good for the children, good PR for the school and fun besides. It is a fairly simple thing to do and really impresses the parents.
Have a wonderful week! Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Audrey
Currently Reading
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 31 % through on my Kindle)
The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata (Previewing for the library)
Never Say Die by Will Hobbs (Previewing for the library)
Clementine for Christmas (Previewing for the library)
Karen Carlton is one of my readers and is currently teaching Music. She told me about her collection of books and I asked if I could share them with you. She graciously agreed, so here goes.
Karen’s collection is divided into four types of books. The titles of each section are my own.
People in Music: She has books about composers, including some books that tell the back story of particular songs and pieces. Books about the orchestra are also included in this section. Other songbooks are probably included in this section, too.
Specific Classical Songs: In this section are included specific songs such as Peter and the Wolf, The Carnival of the Animals, and others like that.
Individual Songs: Many times an entire book is comprised of one song. I’m a Little Teacup, How Much is That Doggy in the Window?, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly are all songs and also have books about them.
Music Stories: Max Lucado has a story about The Song of the King, also other authors have written Do You Digeridoo, and Max Has Two Sticks.
I also suggested that Karen purchase the companion to the SDA hymnal that has information and stories about the hymns we sing each week. There are other sources of hymn stories available, also.
Children like to sing and sign the lyrics in sign language. There are a few books with simple signs to accompany songs. This makes a song that is sung especially lovely. If you don’t know sign language, check in your community for someone who can come and teach the signs to your children. It is good for the children, good PR for the school and fun besides. It is a fairly simple thing to do and really impresses the parents.
Have a wonderful week! Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Audrey
Currently Reading
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 31 % through on my Kindle)
The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata (Previewing for the library)
Never Say Die by Will Hobbs (Previewing for the library)
Clementine for Christmas (Previewing for the library)
Monday, November 16, 2015
Cataloging books in a set or series
Hello,
This week I want to discuss an option in cataloguing. Sometimes we buy a set or series of books and when we begin to catalog them, we notice that there are multiple authors. Some of the sets that immediately come to mind are the Dear America diary books, the American Girl sets, and the Adventist Girl sets. Each of the American Girl and the Adventist Girl sets have one author, but if we catalogued them by author, they would not be near each other on the shelf. In the Adventist Girl books, the ones by Sandy Zaugg would be at the end of the 813s while the ones by Jean Boonstra would be near the beginning of the 813s.
Most of the students that look for these books may not find the other sets quickly or easily. It really makes more sense to shelve them all together. Since they all have different authors, we decided to put them all together and instead of using the author’s name, we used ‘American Girl’ as the author. For the Adventist Girl books, you can use ‘Adventist Girl’ as the author.
Sometimes we have bought books that started out with one author or editor such as the Guide’s Greatest stories. Each story in the book has a different author, so we used the editor’s name as the author. At the beginning, Lori Peckham was the editor, so they started out with using ‘Lori Peckham’ as the author. However, as they progressed, the editor changed a couple of times. Since we wanted them all to stay together on the shelf, we continued using ‘Peckham’ instead of the new editor.
I have bought science books that have been printed and bound so they are sets, but the subjects may not be similar. A recent set that I bought was titled Great Achievements in Engineering. Individual titles included Mechanical Engineering by Christ Eboch, Biological Engineering by Melissa Abramaovitz, Environmental Engineering by Carol Hand, Aerospace Engineering by Angie Smibert, Civil Engineering by L. E. Carmichael, and Electrical Engineering by Jennifer Swanson. Each of these books has a particular area of engineering and according to Dewey, they would be individually located throughout the 600s. My options were to either put them in the proper place along with other books that had a similar subject. I could put the Aerospace book with the other aerospace books and so forth. Or I could keep them all together on the shelf together and use a generic engineering Dewey number for them all.
I decided to put the engineering books in the proper places with different Dewey numbers. They are all in the 600s so they aren’t too far from each other even though they aren’t shelved together on the shelf as a set. Someone else might want to keep them together and that is fine, also.
How do I decide which option to do for this? I think of how the books might be used by our students. Will they want to read these as a set? Can each book stand individually? How thick or thin are the books? Thin books can get lost between thicker books, so a thin set might be better shelved together in order to be noticed. I have a set of about 18 thin books on spies and spying, that work nicely all shelved together. Students find them easily and they are used often.
With the engineering books, I decided that the students would more likely choose them because of the subject matter and would find them individually because they are looking for the particular subject rather than a set of engineering books.
My main point is to help you make your library useful to your patrons. Make it easy for them to find the books they need.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Currently Reading
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 30 % through on my Kindle)
Mary Arden by Grace Livingston Hill
The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart (previewing for the library)
This week I want to discuss an option in cataloguing. Sometimes we buy a set or series of books and when we begin to catalog them, we notice that there are multiple authors. Some of the sets that immediately come to mind are the Dear America diary books, the American Girl sets, and the Adventist Girl sets. Each of the American Girl and the Adventist Girl sets have one author, but if we catalogued them by author, they would not be near each other on the shelf. In the Adventist Girl books, the ones by Sandy Zaugg would be at the end of the 813s while the ones by Jean Boonstra would be near the beginning of the 813s.
Most of the students that look for these books may not find the other sets quickly or easily. It really makes more sense to shelve them all together. Since they all have different authors, we decided to put them all together and instead of using the author’s name, we used ‘American Girl’ as the author. For the Adventist Girl books, you can use ‘Adventist Girl’ as the author.
Sometimes we have bought books that started out with one author or editor such as the Guide’s Greatest stories. Each story in the book has a different author, so we used the editor’s name as the author. At the beginning, Lori Peckham was the editor, so they started out with using ‘Lori Peckham’ as the author. However, as they progressed, the editor changed a couple of times. Since we wanted them all to stay together on the shelf, we continued using ‘Peckham’ instead of the new editor.
I have bought science books that have been printed and bound so they are sets, but the subjects may not be similar. A recent set that I bought was titled Great Achievements in Engineering. Individual titles included Mechanical Engineering by Christ Eboch, Biological Engineering by Melissa Abramaovitz, Environmental Engineering by Carol Hand, Aerospace Engineering by Angie Smibert, Civil Engineering by L. E. Carmichael, and Electrical Engineering by Jennifer Swanson. Each of these books has a particular area of engineering and according to Dewey, they would be individually located throughout the 600s. My options were to either put them in the proper place along with other books that had a similar subject. I could put the Aerospace book with the other aerospace books and so forth. Or I could keep them all together on the shelf together and use a generic engineering Dewey number for them all.
I decided to put the engineering books in the proper places with different Dewey numbers. They are all in the 600s so they aren’t too far from each other even though they aren’t shelved together on the shelf as a set. Someone else might want to keep them together and that is fine, also.
How do I decide which option to do for this? I think of how the books might be used by our students. Will they want to read these as a set? Can each book stand individually? How thick or thin are the books? Thin books can get lost between thicker books, so a thin set might be better shelved together in order to be noticed. I have a set of about 18 thin books on spies and spying, that work nicely all shelved together. Students find them easily and they are used often.
With the engineering books, I decided that the students would more likely choose them because of the subject matter and would find them individually because they are looking for the particular subject rather than a set of engineering books.
My main point is to help you make your library useful to your patrons. Make it easy for them to find the books they need.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Currently Reading
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 30 % through on my Kindle)
Mary Arden by Grace Livingston Hill
The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart (previewing for the library)
Monday, November 9, 2015
Dewey Decimal Game
Hello,
I know that teaching the Dewey Decimal System is probably not on your top three things to teach this year. However, you may have students that could learn to shelve books and be a help to you.
I have mentioned that I have a Library Club. The members of my Library Club give up two lunch recesses each week to come and work in the library. They shelve the books they have learned to shelve, straighten the books on the shelves, dust in the library, pick up trash, help with displays, and help with anything that I need them to do. I begin teaching them to shelve books by using small cards with Dewey numbers on them. They put the cards in order and I check for accuracy. If there is a problem, I tell them that they have made a mistake and they look for it. When one set of cards is complete correctly, they go on to another set of cards. I have about ten sets of cards with increasing difficulty.
I have some students that have completed all the cards and are now shelving books. When a student shelves a book, she shelves the book with the spine facing up and sticking out a bit and she slips in a marker beside the book with her name on it. One of us checks the book and we know how well the Library Club member is doing with shelving.
One more thing I will start doing is to have them work on a Dewey Decimal Shelving game that is online. You can search the internet for ‘order in the library’ or ‘dewey decimal shelving game’. Students click ‘Play’ and sign in with their name. If you are concerned that they have their name online, they can use just a first name or a fake name. Progress isn’t saved, so I made a bookmark for my girls to use as they complete each section. It actually gets fairly difficult in the last few levels, so is a challenge for most students.
Students can do this game from home or in spare time at school. If others see them working on this, they might also want to ‘play’ and the more people you have that have a basic knowledge of shelving, the fewer mistakes you will have in the library.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
I know that teaching the Dewey Decimal System is probably not on your top three things to teach this year. However, you may have students that could learn to shelve books and be a help to you.
I have mentioned that I have a Library Club. The members of my Library Club give up two lunch recesses each week to come and work in the library. They shelve the books they have learned to shelve, straighten the books on the shelves, dust in the library, pick up trash, help with displays, and help with anything that I need them to do. I begin teaching them to shelve books by using small cards with Dewey numbers on them. They put the cards in order and I check for accuracy. If there is a problem, I tell them that they have made a mistake and they look for it. When one set of cards is complete correctly, they go on to another set of cards. I have about ten sets of cards with increasing difficulty.
I have some students that have completed all the cards and are now shelving books. When a student shelves a book, she shelves the book with the spine facing up and sticking out a bit and she slips in a marker beside the book with her name on it. One of us checks the book and we know how well the Library Club member is doing with shelving.
One more thing I will start doing is to have them work on a Dewey Decimal Shelving game that is online. You can search the internet for ‘order in the library’ or ‘dewey decimal shelving game’. Students click ‘Play’ and sign in with their name. If you are concerned that they have their name online, they can use just a first name or a fake name. Progress isn’t saved, so I made a bookmark for my girls to use as they complete each section. It actually gets fairly difficult in the last few levels, so is a challenge for most students.
Students can do this game from home or in spare time at school. If others see them working on this, they might also want to ‘play’ and the more people you have that have a basic knowledge of shelving, the fewer mistakes you will have in the library.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Monday, November 2, 2015
Books from Home or Not?
Hello,
I occasionally get someone asking me what to do when students bring books from home to read for school assignments or even just for personal pleasure. Many of the books might not be appropriate for our schools. The question is “Should we allow them to bring these books to school or not?”
I have struggled with this question myself. On the one hand, I want to rejoice that they are reading and enjoying it! On the other hand, those books would bring much criticism if they were available in the school library.
Here’s how I have answered this dilemma for myself. If a student brings inappropriate material to the school to read, I talk to them privately and ask that they take it home and not bring it to school. I do not criticize them for reading the book. I tell them that that particular book is not appropriate for our school and if they want to read it at home and their parents don’t mind, that is fine. But here at school, there are many parents that do not want their children to read that type of book, and if those parents see the book here or hear about someone reading it here, they would be upset. Then I help them find a book to read at school from the library.
We also have students here who don’t check out books for their book reports and tell the teacher that they have a book at home they are reading. Most of our teachers have these students bring the book from home so it can be approved first.
So, what can you do if a student DOES bring a book from home? How do you know if it is appropriate or not? If I see a cover that looks like witches, vampires, or fantasy, I will just ask the child what the book is about. It may be that the publisher has put a wild cover on a perfectly good nonfiction book to attract the child. I see this often at our Scholastic Book Fair. Another child brought in a book to me with a fantastical cover but told me that he thought I should buy the book for the library. It deals with Christian and biblical themes. I bought a used copy to read and make my decision. Since it has a cover that might bring on criticism, I will read it through before actually purchasing it for the library. The student might also let you borrow his copy to read while you make a decision about the book.
So, if I need to find out about a book, I have three places I go to get a quick overview for a book I am not familiar with.
1. I first go to Amazon.com and look the book up there. I can get a brief summary there.
2. Goodreads.com is also another place to find out what a book is about. There is a LOT of information there and you can spend a lot of time looking at book lists.
3. Commonsensemedia.org is a great place to go for information on books and tons of other media, also. Items are rated according to the age level it is appropriate for, and tells about the content. You can check to see if there is any bad language in a book and what it is, any sexual situations, drinking or smoking, and more. There is also a blog with posts about other things.
Today I got one titled “What Should Parents Know About Tumblr?” It is a great place to get information.
Nothing really takes the place of reading a book for yourself, but if you cannot, check with your parents and see if any of them are willing to preview books for you.
Here is the list of criteria that the NAD used for choosing books for Pathways. It might be helpful to use this if you need to.
1. SDA standards compromised
Jewelry in pictures, Dancing, Reference to meat, Playing chess and cards, dice
Use of “heck”, “crikey”, Reference to movies—Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Twilight
2. Creatures that never lived
Cave men, Millions of years ago, Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, monsters, vampires, occult
3. Promotion of other doctrines, false doctrines
Catholic saints, Reference to pope, State of the dead
4. Fables and Fairy tales
Fable, fairy tales, Giant stepping over cars, Tall tales such as Paul Bunyan, Halloween, Magician in picture, Native America legends
5. Animal personification
Animals dressed, Children make up stories about talking animals,
Mouse covering ears, drawing, Story told from dog’s viewpoint, Steam coming out of ears, Winnie the Pooh on bulletin board
These could easily be teachable moments.
History of music mentions jazz, hip hop, rock, Sting, etc. – used as history lesson
Secular activities on Sabbath -
Child lies – child should be caught and punished
I hope this information is helpful to you. Have a great week.
Audrey
Currently reading:
A Life Inspired: C. S. Lewis biography by Christopher Gordon
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 30% through on my Kindle)
Cold War on Maplewood Street by Gayle Rosengren (previewing this for the library. So far it is really good!)
I occasionally get someone asking me what to do when students bring books from home to read for school assignments or even just for personal pleasure. Many of the books might not be appropriate for our schools. The question is “Should we allow them to bring these books to school or not?”
I have struggled with this question myself. On the one hand, I want to rejoice that they are reading and enjoying it! On the other hand, those books would bring much criticism if they were available in the school library.
Here’s how I have answered this dilemma for myself. If a student brings inappropriate material to the school to read, I talk to them privately and ask that they take it home and not bring it to school. I do not criticize them for reading the book. I tell them that that particular book is not appropriate for our school and if they want to read it at home and their parents don’t mind, that is fine. But here at school, there are many parents that do not want their children to read that type of book, and if those parents see the book here or hear about someone reading it here, they would be upset. Then I help them find a book to read at school from the library.
We also have students here who don’t check out books for their book reports and tell the teacher that they have a book at home they are reading. Most of our teachers have these students bring the book from home so it can be approved first.
So, what can you do if a student DOES bring a book from home? How do you know if it is appropriate or not? If I see a cover that looks like witches, vampires, or fantasy, I will just ask the child what the book is about. It may be that the publisher has put a wild cover on a perfectly good nonfiction book to attract the child. I see this often at our Scholastic Book Fair. Another child brought in a book to me with a fantastical cover but told me that he thought I should buy the book for the library. It deals with Christian and biblical themes. I bought a used copy to read and make my decision. Since it has a cover that might bring on criticism, I will read it through before actually purchasing it for the library. The student might also let you borrow his copy to read while you make a decision about the book.
So, if I need to find out about a book, I have three places I go to get a quick overview for a book I am not familiar with.
1. I first go to Amazon.com and look the book up there. I can get a brief summary there.
2. Goodreads.com is also another place to find out what a book is about. There is a LOT of information there and you can spend a lot of time looking at book lists.
3. Commonsensemedia.org is a great place to go for information on books and tons of other media, also. Items are rated according to the age level it is appropriate for, and tells about the content. You can check to see if there is any bad language in a book and what it is, any sexual situations, drinking or smoking, and more. There is also a blog with posts about other things.
Today I got one titled “What Should Parents Know About Tumblr?” It is a great place to get information.
Nothing really takes the place of reading a book for yourself, but if you cannot, check with your parents and see if any of them are willing to preview books for you.
Here is the list of criteria that the NAD used for choosing books for Pathways. It might be helpful to use this if you need to.
1. SDA standards compromised
Jewelry in pictures, Dancing, Reference to meat, Playing chess and cards, dice
Use of “heck”, “crikey”, Reference to movies—Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Twilight
2. Creatures that never lived
Cave men, Millions of years ago, Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, monsters, vampires, occult
3. Promotion of other doctrines, false doctrines
Catholic saints, Reference to pope, State of the dead
4. Fables and Fairy tales
Fable, fairy tales, Giant stepping over cars, Tall tales such as Paul Bunyan, Halloween, Magician in picture, Native America legends
5. Animal personification
Animals dressed, Children make up stories about talking animals,
Mouse covering ears, drawing, Story told from dog’s viewpoint, Steam coming out of ears, Winnie the Pooh on bulletin board
These could easily be teachable moments.
History of music mentions jazz, hip hop, rock, Sting, etc. – used as history lesson
Secular activities on Sabbath -
Child lies – child should be caught and punished
I hope this information is helpful to you. Have a great week.
Audrey
Currently reading:
A Life Inspired: C. S. Lewis biography by Christopher Gordon
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 30% through on my Kindle)
Cold War on Maplewood Street by Gayle Rosengren (previewing this for the library. So far it is really good!)
Monday, October 26, 2015
Read Aloud books
Hello,
Last week I sent a list of read aloud books to you. I had a request for some ideas for read aloud books that are Christian, rather than secular, so this week I will focus on some titles that will fit that criteria.
Deborah by Margaret Heppenstall. One of my favorite read aloud books is Deborah by Heppenstall. This is REALLY old. I read it as a child and it was a real eye-opener to me that someone could and would write a whole book about a Bible character. (Now, we have dozens of them sold by our local ABC store and I have read many of them. They are all good, too, and while most of them are written for adults, they also might make good read alouds. You will need to decide that.) Back to Deborah. This is the story of the Little Captive Maid who was sold into Naaman’s household. Very little is known about her, but Ms. Heppenstall has written a wonderful story. Kids really like it and after I have read it, they want to check it out again. Make sure you have a copy or two in your library.
Voyager by Charles Mills. Charles Mills wrote a great story called Voyager years ago. It was published by the Review and Herald and soon was out of print. I just did a quick check on Amazon and see that there are nearly 30 copies for sale and a few of them are only $0.01 each. The story line is about a preteen boy whose parents have just adopted a young Asian girl. He wants his new sister to be happy and he builds a time machine. He and his sister go back in time to Bible times and view the new world immediately after it was created and many other places. They learn about the Bible and learn to love Jesus. I know. You might be worried about the time machine part, but trust me. It is really a great story. If you like this one, there is a sequel called Voyager ll: Back in a Flash where the story continues. He wrote a third book in this series called Truth Trackers, but I wasn’t quite as impressed with that one. The first one is good and the second one is almost as good. There was something about the third one that didn’t feel the same to me.
Speaking of Charles Mills; he also co-wrote a series with Ruth Redding Brand that I really like. A few friends find a hidden mansion back in the woods and they sneak around trying to see inside. An old man surprises them. He turns out to be the grandfather of one of the children. She is embarrassed by him at first, but the man – Professor Appleby – shows them some of his treasures sent by his sister who is traveling in the Holy Land. She also sends tapes for him to listen to and the children love the Bible stories. They return again and again to hear more Bible stories.
Ruth Redding Brand wrote the Bible stories and they are completely wonderful. Charles Mills wrote the connecting modern story parts. There are six books in the set and I think you really need to read them in order since the modern parts tend to build on one another. The first book sets up the whole series, and the second book builds on that information. My guess is that you have a few of these in your library already. If not, likely someone in your church has a copy you can borrow or you can go to the ABC or Amazon.
Book 1 – Mysterious Stories from the Bible
Book 2 - Amazing Stories from the Bible
Book 3 - Love Stories from the Bible
Book 4 - Adventure Stories from the Bible
Book 5 - Miracle Stories from the Bible
Book 6 - Heroic Stories from the Bible
Do not forget all the old mission stories. Here are a few of my favorites.
Clever Queen by Eric B. Hare
Jungle Thorn by Norma Youngberg
Dookie, Sookie, and Big Mo by Underhill
Dr. Rabbit by Eric B. Hare
There are many more. Also, check out Josephine Cunnington Edwards, the SDA quintessential storyteller. Swift Arrow is a fabulous story and I don’t know of anyone who does not like that story. George is captured by Indians and lives with them as the son of the chief for a number of years until he finally escapes and returns home. It is very exciting.
I hope you have a great week. Enjoy yourself.
Audrey
Currently reading:
A Life Inspired: C. S. Lewis biography by Christopher Gordon
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 29% through on my Kindle)
Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
Last week I sent a list of read aloud books to you. I had a request for some ideas for read aloud books that are Christian, rather than secular, so this week I will focus on some titles that will fit that criteria.
Deborah by Margaret Heppenstall. One of my favorite read aloud books is Deborah by Heppenstall. This is REALLY old. I read it as a child and it was a real eye-opener to me that someone could and would write a whole book about a Bible character. (Now, we have dozens of them sold by our local ABC store and I have read many of them. They are all good, too, and while most of them are written for adults, they also might make good read alouds. You will need to decide that.) Back to Deborah. This is the story of the Little Captive Maid who was sold into Naaman’s household. Very little is known about her, but Ms. Heppenstall has written a wonderful story. Kids really like it and after I have read it, they want to check it out again. Make sure you have a copy or two in your library.
Voyager by Charles Mills. Charles Mills wrote a great story called Voyager years ago. It was published by the Review and Herald and soon was out of print. I just did a quick check on Amazon and see that there are nearly 30 copies for sale and a few of them are only $0.01 each. The story line is about a preteen boy whose parents have just adopted a young Asian girl. He wants his new sister to be happy and he builds a time machine. He and his sister go back in time to Bible times and view the new world immediately after it was created and many other places. They learn about the Bible and learn to love Jesus. I know. You might be worried about the time machine part, but trust me. It is really a great story. If you like this one, there is a sequel called Voyager ll: Back in a Flash where the story continues. He wrote a third book in this series called Truth Trackers, but I wasn’t quite as impressed with that one. The first one is good and the second one is almost as good. There was something about the third one that didn’t feel the same to me.
Speaking of Charles Mills; he also co-wrote a series with Ruth Redding Brand that I really like. A few friends find a hidden mansion back in the woods and they sneak around trying to see inside. An old man surprises them. He turns out to be the grandfather of one of the children. She is embarrassed by him at first, but the man – Professor Appleby – shows them some of his treasures sent by his sister who is traveling in the Holy Land. She also sends tapes for him to listen to and the children love the Bible stories. They return again and again to hear more Bible stories.
Ruth Redding Brand wrote the Bible stories and they are completely wonderful. Charles Mills wrote the connecting modern story parts. There are six books in the set and I think you really need to read them in order since the modern parts tend to build on one another. The first book sets up the whole series, and the second book builds on that information. My guess is that you have a few of these in your library already. If not, likely someone in your church has a copy you can borrow or you can go to the ABC or Amazon.
Book 1 – Mysterious Stories from the Bible
Book 2 - Amazing Stories from the Bible
Book 3 - Love Stories from the Bible
Book 4 - Adventure Stories from the Bible
Book 5 - Miracle Stories from the Bible
Book 6 - Heroic Stories from the Bible
Do not forget all the old mission stories. Here are a few of my favorites.
Clever Queen by Eric B. Hare
Jungle Thorn by Norma Youngberg
Dookie, Sookie, and Big Mo by Underhill
Dr. Rabbit by Eric B. Hare
There are many more. Also, check out Josephine Cunnington Edwards, the SDA quintessential storyteller. Swift Arrow is a fabulous story and I don’t know of anyone who does not like that story. George is captured by Indians and lives with them as the son of the chief for a number of years until he finally escapes and returns home. It is very exciting.
I hope you have a great week. Enjoy yourself.
Audrey
Currently reading:
A Life Inspired: C. S. Lewis biography by Christopher Gordon
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 29% through on my Kindle)
Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
Monday, October 19, 2015
Read Alouds
Hello!
I had a request for ideas for books to read aloud. I began to make a quick list, but it turned into a much longer list than I had expected. I will star my favorites. Some of these are out of print, but you can get them through any online bookstore.
Books for Any Age
*The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. You probably know about these and have them in your library. The TV show is loosely based on the books which are much better.
*The Secret Garden by Burnett. I never got to read this aloud to my third graders because they had already heard it in second grade. (Right, Dorice?!) Don’t be intimidated if the children say they saw the movie. None of the movies live up to the book.
*Ramona the Pest by Cleary. Actually, ANY book by Beverly Cleary. There are many to choose from. If you don’t have any of them in your library, don’t let me know about it!
*Frindle by Andrew Clements. Any of his school stories are terrific.
*Snow Treasure by McSwigan. Excitement, adventure, gold, Nazis, and a true story. You can’t go wrong with this one.
The Hundred Dresses by Estes. Story of bullying and regret. Powerful and simple. Great discussion starter.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Coerr. True story of a Japanese girl who contracts leukemia as a result of the atom bomb. Very touching and sad. Teach children to make an origami paper crane, then let them fold cranes while you read this book.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – Robinson. Hilarious escapades of the Herdmans. Be ready for great big belly laughs.
The Courage of Sarah Noble by Dagliesh. Pioneer story of a young girl.
*Herbie Jones series by Kline. Very funny and realistic. The author is/was a teacher so she knows all about kids like Herbie. One of my favorites is the one in the bathroom.
*Owls in the Family by Mowat. True story of a young boy in Saskatchewan in the 40s or 50s who raises two owls as pets. Hilarious.
Stone Fox by Gardiner. Sled dogs, racing, prize money. This may be a lit set for some of you, so if it is, disregard for a read aloud.
**The Story of Holly and Ivy by Godden. My favorite Christmas story to read aloud to 3rd and 4th graders. I have a display case just outside my library and I turn the display case into a toy shop window when I read this book. I’m so happy that this is the year to read it. One of our volunteer aides collects dolls and is very involved in helping me with this display. We’ve been working on parts of it for nearly two years now. I’ll show pictures and tell you about it when I put it up. Meanwhile, buy this book if you don’t have it and read it. Get the edition that has the Barbara Cooney illustrations. That is the window that I copy.
*Safe Return by Dexter. I am currently reading this to fifth and sixth grades. They are studying countries in the world, so I chose to read this which is based on an event that happened years ago on the island just off Sweden named Gotland.
Caddie Woodlawn by Brink. The story of Brink’s grandmother in the mid 1800s. Won the Newbery medal so you know it is a good story. The story of the Woodlawn family continues in the book Magical Melons. There is one story in Magical Melons that the older boy tells to the younger ones that is absolutely hilarious, but I would recommend you read it first to see if it is something you want to read aloud. If not, the story can be skipped and none the wiser.
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. Robert McCloskey is most famous for his picture books, most notably Make Way for Duckings, but his chapter books are great fun. My favorite story is the one about the doughnuts. I seem to remember Captain Kangaroo reading the story when I was a child. Now I have just dated myself!
The Great Brain series by Fitzgerald. I haven’t actually read this series, but one of our teachers read the books each year to her classroom and the students loved it. I’ve heard others wax rhapsodic about them, too, so I include them in this list for you.
Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain by Burch. Ida Early is described as an Appalachian ‘Mary Poppins’. She comes to be the housekeeper for a family.
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. You likely read this one when young, and know the story of the boy who runs away and practices survival skills. If you like this one, you might consider the sequels On the Far Side of the Mountain, then Frightful’s Mountain. And, if you do go this far with the series, you might as well add the resource book with survival skills to your library– Pocket Guide to the Outdoors: Based on My Side of the Mountain.
**Toliver’s Secret by Brady. This story is based on an incident during the Revolutionary Way. A young girl must carry a message baked inside a loaf of bread to another town across the river. It is easy enough. Get on her grandfather’s friend’s fishing boat which will take her to the town. Go to the tavern and deliver the loaf of bread to the owner, then he will make sure she gets home. She dresses up like a boy, but nothing goes the way Grandfather expected it would go. I LOVE this story.
**Understood Betsy by Fisher. The story of a young girl who is sent to relatives when illness prevents her aunt from taking care of her. Elizabeth Ann finds her courage and independence and grows into a strong happy girl. As Elizabeth Ann begins to become independent and learn to do things for herself, her name in the book goes from Elizabeth Ann to Betsy. I watch for this each time I reread this.
So, there is a list of read alouds that I like. I am positive that I left lots of books off this list, but that’s how things go. I might do another list again sometime and include some of your favorites.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Currently Reading:
The Edge by Roland Smith
Carney’s House Party by Maud Hart Lovelace
A Life Inspired: C. S. Lewis biography by Christopher Gordon
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 29% through on my Kindle)
I had a request for ideas for books to read aloud. I began to make a quick list, but it turned into a much longer list than I had expected. I will star my favorites. Some of these are out of print, but you can get them through any online bookstore.
Books for Any Age
*The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. You probably know about these and have them in your library. The TV show is loosely based on the books which are much better.
*The Secret Garden by Burnett. I never got to read this aloud to my third graders because they had already heard it in second grade. (Right, Dorice?!) Don’t be intimidated if the children say they saw the movie. None of the movies live up to the book.
*Ramona the Pest by Cleary. Actually, ANY book by Beverly Cleary. There are many to choose from. If you don’t have any of them in your library, don’t let me know about it!
*Frindle by Andrew Clements. Any of his school stories are terrific.
*Snow Treasure by McSwigan. Excitement, adventure, gold, Nazis, and a true story. You can’t go wrong with this one.
The Hundred Dresses by Estes. Story of bullying and regret. Powerful and simple. Great discussion starter.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Coerr. True story of a Japanese girl who contracts leukemia as a result of the atom bomb. Very touching and sad. Teach children to make an origami paper crane, then let them fold cranes while you read this book.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – Robinson. Hilarious escapades of the Herdmans. Be ready for great big belly laughs.
The Courage of Sarah Noble by Dagliesh. Pioneer story of a young girl.
*Herbie Jones series by Kline. Very funny and realistic. The author is/was a teacher so she knows all about kids like Herbie. One of my favorites is the one in the bathroom.
*Owls in the Family by Mowat. True story of a young boy in Saskatchewan in the 40s or 50s who raises two owls as pets. Hilarious.
Stone Fox by Gardiner. Sled dogs, racing, prize money. This may be a lit set for some of you, so if it is, disregard for a read aloud.
**The Story of Holly and Ivy by Godden. My favorite Christmas story to read aloud to 3rd and 4th graders. I have a display case just outside my library and I turn the display case into a toy shop window when I read this book. I’m so happy that this is the year to read it. One of our volunteer aides collects dolls and is very involved in helping me with this display. We’ve been working on parts of it for nearly two years now. I’ll show pictures and tell you about it when I put it up. Meanwhile, buy this book if you don’t have it and read it. Get the edition that has the Barbara Cooney illustrations. That is the window that I copy.
*Safe Return by Dexter. I am currently reading this to fifth and sixth grades. They are studying countries in the world, so I chose to read this which is based on an event that happened years ago on the island just off Sweden named Gotland.
Caddie Woodlawn by Brink. The story of Brink’s grandmother in the mid 1800s. Won the Newbery medal so you know it is a good story. The story of the Woodlawn family continues in the book Magical Melons. There is one story in Magical Melons that the older boy tells to the younger ones that is absolutely hilarious, but I would recommend you read it first to see if it is something you want to read aloud. If not, the story can be skipped and none the wiser.
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. Robert McCloskey is most famous for his picture books, most notably Make Way for Duckings, but his chapter books are great fun. My favorite story is the one about the doughnuts. I seem to remember Captain Kangaroo reading the story when I was a child. Now I have just dated myself!
The Great Brain series by Fitzgerald. I haven’t actually read this series, but one of our teachers read the books each year to her classroom and the students loved it. I’ve heard others wax rhapsodic about them, too, so I include them in this list for you.
Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain by Burch. Ida Early is described as an Appalachian ‘Mary Poppins’. She comes to be the housekeeper for a family.
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. You likely read this one when young, and know the story of the boy who runs away and practices survival skills. If you like this one, you might consider the sequels On the Far Side of the Mountain, then Frightful’s Mountain. And, if you do go this far with the series, you might as well add the resource book with survival skills to your library– Pocket Guide to the Outdoors: Based on My Side of the Mountain.
**Toliver’s Secret by Brady. This story is based on an incident during the Revolutionary Way. A young girl must carry a message baked inside a loaf of bread to another town across the river. It is easy enough. Get on her grandfather’s friend’s fishing boat which will take her to the town. Go to the tavern and deliver the loaf of bread to the owner, then he will make sure she gets home. She dresses up like a boy, but nothing goes the way Grandfather expected it would go. I LOVE this story.
**Understood Betsy by Fisher. The story of a young girl who is sent to relatives when illness prevents her aunt from taking care of her. Elizabeth Ann finds her courage and independence and grows into a strong happy girl. As Elizabeth Ann begins to become independent and learn to do things for herself, her name in the book goes from Elizabeth Ann to Betsy. I watch for this each time I reread this.
So, there is a list of read alouds that I like. I am positive that I left lots of books off this list, but that’s how things go. I might do another list again sometime and include some of your favorites.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Currently Reading:
The Edge by Roland Smith
Carney’s House Party by Maud Hart Lovelace
A Life Inspired: C. S. Lewis biography by Christopher Gordon
Secret Lives of the First Ladies (audio book) by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 29% through on my Kindle)
Monday, October 5, 2015
Sunflower Award for 2014 and 2015
Hello!
I will culminate my Sunflower Award posts this week with a list of books previously read for our Sunflower Award. I’ll try to refrain from too many comments and instead just give you the titles of the books.
In 2014 the list included:
Almost Home by Joan Bauer – foster home, Joan Bauer is a favorite author
Same Sun Here by Silas House
A Black Hole is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami Dechristofano – nonfiction, science
Chickadee by Louise Erdich
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt – foster home, great author
The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin - nonfiction
Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson – anything by this author is going to be good
Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinelli
Kindred Souls by Patricia MacLachlan
Above Average by Andrew Clements
Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate – Winner for 2014
Dumpling Days by Grace Lin – Asian family and culture
In 2015 the list included:
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin – Winner for 2015 – I have read books by Ann Martin and chose the book because of the Asperger’s which I thought would help readers learn more about what it is like to have this, but in reading it we found that there is a place where the father (who is not too supportive of the daughter) takes the Lord’s name in vain. However, the story was so powerful, we decided to choose it for our favorite and I put a disclaimer in the front of the book. We hesitated and discussed this a lot, but finally came to this conclusion that works for our school.
All Four Stars by Tara Dairman – a girl loves to cook and becomes a food critic, slightly unbelievable, but fun
Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince – true story of a Somalian refugee who becomes a ballerina
Half a World Away by Cynthis Kadohata – story of adoption/ dealing with being adopted
Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald – Art mystery, great story, was a contender for the award
Zane and the Hurricane by Rodman Philbrick – story about surviving Hurricane Katrina
Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord – girl moves to a beach town, befriends the neighbors, enters a photography contest, one neighbor has Alzheimer’s
Skink – No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen – Bought this because of the author, but it isn’t appropriate after all. We have others by this author, so I assumed it would be OK. Wrong assumption.
Another Day as Emily by Eileen Spinelli
Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamina - story about surviving Hurricane Katrina
Hope is a Ferris Wheel by Robin Herrera
Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
I kept all the titles in so you could see that I have made a few mistakes in choosing books for the library. I have decided to buy them ahead of time now and read them or have a trusted parent read for me to assess them BEFORE I put them on the Sunflower list. I won’t make those mistakes again.
I have also tried to find books that are interesting to read, and have some kind of lesson to learn or information to learn from the book.
If you read something that you would recommend, please let me know and I will promote it here on this blog.
Have a great week and happy reading.
Audrey
Currently reading:
Tangled Vines by Kay Bratt (Book 2 of The Scavenger’s Daughters)
Cloudy Jewel by Grace Livingston Hill
Adventist Spirituality for Thinkers and Seekers (the Faith I Highly Recommend) by John Thomas McLarty
The Haystacks Church by Andy Nash
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
I will culminate my Sunflower Award posts this week with a list of books previously read for our Sunflower Award. I’ll try to refrain from too many comments and instead just give you the titles of the books.
In 2014 the list included:
Almost Home by Joan Bauer – foster home, Joan Bauer is a favorite author
Same Sun Here by Silas House
A Black Hole is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami Dechristofano – nonfiction, science
Chickadee by Louise Erdich
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt – foster home, great author
The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin - nonfiction
Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson – anything by this author is going to be good
Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinelli
Kindred Souls by Patricia MacLachlan
Above Average by Andrew Clements
Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate – Winner for 2014
Dumpling Days by Grace Lin – Asian family and culture
In 2015 the list included:
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin – Winner for 2015 – I have read books by Ann Martin and chose the book because of the Asperger’s which I thought would help readers learn more about what it is like to have this, but in reading it we found that there is a place where the father (who is not too supportive of the daughter) takes the Lord’s name in vain. However, the story was so powerful, we decided to choose it for our favorite and I put a disclaimer in the front of the book. We hesitated and discussed this a lot, but finally came to this conclusion that works for our school.
All Four Stars by Tara Dairman – a girl loves to cook and becomes a food critic, slightly unbelievable, but fun
Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince – true story of a Somalian refugee who becomes a ballerina
Half a World Away by Cynthis Kadohata – story of adoption/ dealing with being adopted
Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald – Art mystery, great story, was a contender for the award
Zane and the Hurricane by Rodman Philbrick – story about surviving Hurricane Katrina
Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord – girl moves to a beach town, befriends the neighbors, enters a photography contest, one neighbor has Alzheimer’s
Skink – No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen – Bought this because of the author, but it isn’t appropriate after all. We have others by this author, so I assumed it would be OK. Wrong assumption.
Another Day as Emily by Eileen Spinelli
Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamina - story about surviving Hurricane Katrina
Hope is a Ferris Wheel by Robin Herrera
Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
I kept all the titles in so you could see that I have made a few mistakes in choosing books for the library. I have decided to buy them ahead of time now and read them or have a trusted parent read for me to assess them BEFORE I put them on the Sunflower list. I won’t make those mistakes again.
I have also tried to find books that are interesting to read, and have some kind of lesson to learn or information to learn from the book.
If you read something that you would recommend, please let me know and I will promote it here on this blog.
Have a great week and happy reading.
Audrey
Currently reading:
Tangled Vines by Kay Bratt (Book 2 of The Scavenger’s Daughters)
Cloudy Jewel by Grace Livingston Hill
Adventist Spirituality for Thinkers and Seekers (the Faith I Highly Recommend) by John Thomas McLarty
The Haystacks Church by Andy Nash
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Monday, September 28, 2015
New Books, part 2
Hello!
Today I am continuing the post I started last week about new books. These are also books I will be using for our Sunflower Award this year. I believe I neglected to mention that these books are appropriate for readers in grades 5 – 8, or above. There isn’t anything inappropriate in them for the younger ones, but they (and the Newbery Award in general) are written for middle grades and upper elementary. Don’t worry, I’ll get to the younger children soon.
Fort by Cynthia DeFelice. (2015)
Two boys decide to build a fort in the woods one summer. Okay, it was near the edge of the woods, but it was in the woods. Sounds pretty perfect, right? Unfortunately, two bullies happen to find their fort and start to make trouble for Wyatt and Augie. Wyatt and Augie don’t want to fight, but they decide to stand up for themselves and the other boy, Gerard, that is being bullied because he is ‘retarded’ (the word used in the book.) They come up with a way to get even that even the adults approve of or at least, don’t disapprove. Adventure, comedy, and summer fun make this a great story for kids, and boys in particular.
Note: these are preteen boys and there are a couple of instances that one boy ogles the breasts of the other boy’s aunt. Example: “Her giant bosoms were poking out over the top of her V-neck shirt, right in front of my eyes. They looked like two soft pillows nestled in there.” Use your own judgment regarding this. For me, it was basically a one-liner, so I have opted to put the book in the library. I also really liked that Wyatt and Augie befriended Gerard, the boy who was mentally challenged and did not make fun of him, but included him in their activities.
Dear Hank Williams by Kimberly Willis Holt. (2015)
Tate Ellerbee needs a pen pal and chooses to write to Hank Williams, the country western singer since she listens to him on the radio every Saturday night with her great-aunt and great-uncle who are her guardians. Through her letters we learn about her family and the challenges she faces. There are some happy times and some poignant times, but for the most part Tate is an optimistic young girl just doing the best she can.
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. (2015)
Ally is smart. In fact, she is so smart, she has been able to hide from everyone including her teachers, the fact that she is unable to read. When she is in danger of being caught, she creates some kind of distraction, so has been branded a trouble-maker. But this new teacher happens to be smarter than Ally and he helps her shine by focusing on her gifts. He also helps her to be diagnosed with dyslexia and then encourages her to keep trying to read. This is a great story for children who have a learning disability to know that they aren’t alone and they CAN learn.
Counting by 7’s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. (2014)
Willow Chance is a genius. She is strange and weird and she knows it. She doesn’t care. Early in the book, Willow’s adopted parents are killed in a car accident. She ends up staying temporarily at a classmate’s home until things get sorted out. Willow is a catalyst for change in the lives of both the classmate’s family situation and the school counselor’s life. So much is going on in the book, that it is really quite difficult to write a short review of this. Grab a copy and read it for yourself.
The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. (2015)
Ada was born with a club foot. Her mother is ashamed of her twisted foot and does not let Ada out of the apartment, so for ten years, Ada has been stuck there. War comes and the British children are being sent to the country to be safe. Ada’s younger brother Jamie is to go to the train station. Ada knows that her life is bad enough now with a mother who treats her cruelly, and without her brother, it will be worse, so she sneaks out and joins him. They are placed with Susan who does not seem to want them, but she does her duty to feed and clothe them and take care of them. Ada sees a pony in the pasture and learns to ride, so finally she is able to move like the wind rather than crawl around. Over time the children and Susan bond and learn to love each other.
Parts of this story are difficult to read since the children’s mother is really very cruel to Ada. Ada’s resourcefulness and grit help her get through it and the story ends well for the children.
I got a request from one of my readers to let you know which books win. Next week I will give you the titles we have used for the last two years and let you know which ones won our award.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Currently reading:
Tangled Vines by Kay Bratt (Book 2 of The Scavenger’s Daughters)
Cloudy Jewel by Grace Livingston Hill
Adventist Spirituality for Thinkers and Seekers (the Faith I Highly Recommend) by John Thomas McLarty
The Haystacks Church by Andy Nash
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Today I am continuing the post I started last week about new books. These are also books I will be using for our Sunflower Award this year. I believe I neglected to mention that these books are appropriate for readers in grades 5 – 8, or above. There isn’t anything inappropriate in them for the younger ones, but they (and the Newbery Award in general) are written for middle grades and upper elementary. Don’t worry, I’ll get to the younger children soon.
Fort by Cynthia DeFelice. (2015)
Two boys decide to build a fort in the woods one summer. Okay, it was near the edge of the woods, but it was in the woods. Sounds pretty perfect, right? Unfortunately, two bullies happen to find their fort and start to make trouble for Wyatt and Augie. Wyatt and Augie don’t want to fight, but they decide to stand up for themselves and the other boy, Gerard, that is being bullied because he is ‘retarded’ (the word used in the book.) They come up with a way to get even that even the adults approve of or at least, don’t disapprove. Adventure, comedy, and summer fun make this a great story for kids, and boys in particular.
Note: these are preteen boys and there are a couple of instances that one boy ogles the breasts of the other boy’s aunt. Example: “Her giant bosoms were poking out over the top of her V-neck shirt, right in front of my eyes. They looked like two soft pillows nestled in there.” Use your own judgment regarding this. For me, it was basically a one-liner, so I have opted to put the book in the library. I also really liked that Wyatt and Augie befriended Gerard, the boy who was mentally challenged and did not make fun of him, but included him in their activities.
Dear Hank Williams by Kimberly Willis Holt. (2015)
Tate Ellerbee needs a pen pal and chooses to write to Hank Williams, the country western singer since she listens to him on the radio every Saturday night with her great-aunt and great-uncle who are her guardians. Through her letters we learn about her family and the challenges she faces. There are some happy times and some poignant times, but for the most part Tate is an optimistic young girl just doing the best she can.
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. (2015)
Ally is smart. In fact, she is so smart, she has been able to hide from everyone including her teachers, the fact that she is unable to read. When she is in danger of being caught, she creates some kind of distraction, so has been branded a trouble-maker. But this new teacher happens to be smarter than Ally and he helps her shine by focusing on her gifts. He also helps her to be diagnosed with dyslexia and then encourages her to keep trying to read. This is a great story for children who have a learning disability to know that they aren’t alone and they CAN learn.
Counting by 7’s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. (2014)
Willow Chance is a genius. She is strange and weird and she knows it. She doesn’t care. Early in the book, Willow’s adopted parents are killed in a car accident. She ends up staying temporarily at a classmate’s home until things get sorted out. Willow is a catalyst for change in the lives of both the classmate’s family situation and the school counselor’s life. So much is going on in the book, that it is really quite difficult to write a short review of this. Grab a copy and read it for yourself.
The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. (2015)
Ada was born with a club foot. Her mother is ashamed of her twisted foot and does not let Ada out of the apartment, so for ten years, Ada has been stuck there. War comes and the British children are being sent to the country to be safe. Ada’s younger brother Jamie is to go to the train station. Ada knows that her life is bad enough now with a mother who treats her cruelly, and without her brother, it will be worse, so she sneaks out and joins him. They are placed with Susan who does not seem to want them, but she does her duty to feed and clothe them and take care of them. Ada sees a pony in the pasture and learns to ride, so finally she is able to move like the wind rather than crawl around. Over time the children and Susan bond and learn to love each other.
Parts of this story are difficult to read since the children’s mother is really very cruel to Ada. Ada’s resourcefulness and grit help her get through it and the story ends well for the children.
I got a request from one of my readers to let you know which books win. Next week I will give you the titles we have used for the last two years and let you know which ones won our award.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Currently reading:
Tangled Vines by Kay Bratt (Book 2 of The Scavenger’s Daughters)
Cloudy Jewel by Grace Livingston Hill
Adventist Spirituality for Thinkers and Seekers (the Faith I Highly Recommend) by John Thomas McLarty
The Haystacks Church by Andy Nash
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Monday, September 21, 2015
New Books Part 1
Hello,
I have some wonderful new books to tell you about. Three years ago I started a program at my school that is similar to the Newbery Award that is given out each year to the best story written in that year.
Note: The Newbery is awarded by a group of adults who read all the published books in the year and discuss (read this to mean ‘argue’ at times) over which books will make the short list. Then the short list is discussed over a handful of meetings until one book is chosen and possibly a few are honor books. Out of about 1000 books, that is a LOT of reading for these people.
Many public libraries and middle school libraries conduct ‘Mock Newbery’ programs where students who want to read can read the books they can and their groups also discuss and choose the one they think or hope will actually win the Newbery.
I thought about doing something like this, but have shied away from it because so many of the new books aren’t appropriate for our schools and I often don’t purchase the winner each year because of this. One day about three years ago, I thought about doing something similar, but choosing 12 – 15 titles that were newer books and having students who are interested in reading be a part of this. We call our award the “Sunflower Award” because the sunflower has historical meaning for Rogers. I don’t have a lot of readers, but this is the third year for our award.
Here are some of the books that are on my list for this year. I will add more next week. If you have any students who are avid readers, these are titles that they might enjoy reading. If you don’t get them for your library, they might find them in the public library.
Blue Birds by Caroline Starr Rose (2015)
This is a historical novel in free verse about the Roanoke people and the English people. The story is written as journal entries from two girl’s point of view. Alis is English and Kimi is a Native American. The mystery of Roanoke Island is not solved, but we do learn more about each culture through the eyes of these two young women.
May B by Caroline Starr Rose (2012)
May’s father has volunteered for her to go and help out on a neighbor’s homestead until Christmas. May does not want to be there, but neither does the young wife. A terrible turn of events leaves May all alone and she must try to find food and fuel to make it through until Christmas. With winter upon her, and the walls of the sod house seeming to close in on her, she is stranded. This novel is also written in free verse.
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (2010)
The country is Sudan. Two young people facing problems. Two different time periods. In 1985 Salva’s village is attacked and he must join a mass of people traveling to escape the war. Salva is a survivor and travels across Africa to Ethiopia, and then to Kenya before getting a new home in the United States. In 2008 Nya walks eight hours a day to fetch water for her family. Her day is filled with the search for water until one blessed day when men with iron giraffes come and begin to dig near her village. The two stories mingle, first one, then another until they come together at the end.
Paper Things by Jennifer Richard Jacobson (2015)
I have never been homeless, so I don’t know what it is like having to find a place to stay night after night. This story is about a young preteen girl and her older brother who are on their own and trying to find a place for themselves. Her brother has a few friends that open their apartments to the siblings, but it is difficult for Ari to keep up with her schoolwork when she is going from place to place. She is embarrassed and doesn’t tell her best friend, so that creates a distance between them. Eventually, new friends help Ari deal with her life and she is able to stand up for herself.
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai (2015)
Culture clash comes when Mai is forced to go to Vietnam with her beloved grandmother for the summer. Mai is a Southern California girl ready for sunning, beaches, and being near her friends and possibly making friends with one special boy. But when she is sent to Vietnam, things are so different and strange, that Mai cannot wait to go back home. Mai does not speak the language and she does not know the customs of the country. Little by little she begins to adapt and accept her family and her heritage.
Next week I will tell you about a few more.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Currently reading: The Scavenger’s Daughters (Book One in The Tales of The Scavenger’s Daughters) by Kay Bratt
Currently Re-reading: The Haystacks Church by Andy Nash, At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
I have some wonderful new books to tell you about. Three years ago I started a program at my school that is similar to the Newbery Award that is given out each year to the best story written in that year.
Note: The Newbery is awarded by a group of adults who read all the published books in the year and discuss (read this to mean ‘argue’ at times) over which books will make the short list. Then the short list is discussed over a handful of meetings until one book is chosen and possibly a few are honor books. Out of about 1000 books, that is a LOT of reading for these people.
Many public libraries and middle school libraries conduct ‘Mock Newbery’ programs where students who want to read can read the books they can and their groups also discuss and choose the one they think or hope will actually win the Newbery.
I thought about doing something like this, but have shied away from it because so many of the new books aren’t appropriate for our schools and I often don’t purchase the winner each year because of this. One day about three years ago, I thought about doing something similar, but choosing 12 – 15 titles that were newer books and having students who are interested in reading be a part of this. We call our award the “Sunflower Award” because the sunflower has historical meaning for Rogers. I don’t have a lot of readers, but this is the third year for our award.
Here are some of the books that are on my list for this year. I will add more next week. If you have any students who are avid readers, these are titles that they might enjoy reading. If you don’t get them for your library, they might find them in the public library.
Blue Birds by Caroline Starr Rose (2015)
This is a historical novel in free verse about the Roanoke people and the English people. The story is written as journal entries from two girl’s point of view. Alis is English and Kimi is a Native American. The mystery of Roanoke Island is not solved, but we do learn more about each culture through the eyes of these two young women.
May B by Caroline Starr Rose (2012)
May’s father has volunteered for her to go and help out on a neighbor’s homestead until Christmas. May does not want to be there, but neither does the young wife. A terrible turn of events leaves May all alone and she must try to find food and fuel to make it through until Christmas. With winter upon her, and the walls of the sod house seeming to close in on her, she is stranded. This novel is also written in free verse.
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (2010)
The country is Sudan. Two young people facing problems. Two different time periods. In 1985 Salva’s village is attacked and he must join a mass of people traveling to escape the war. Salva is a survivor and travels across Africa to Ethiopia, and then to Kenya before getting a new home in the United States. In 2008 Nya walks eight hours a day to fetch water for her family. Her day is filled with the search for water until one blessed day when men with iron giraffes come and begin to dig near her village. The two stories mingle, first one, then another until they come together at the end.
Paper Things by Jennifer Richard Jacobson (2015)
I have never been homeless, so I don’t know what it is like having to find a place to stay night after night. This story is about a young preteen girl and her older brother who are on their own and trying to find a place for themselves. Her brother has a few friends that open their apartments to the siblings, but it is difficult for Ari to keep up with her schoolwork when she is going from place to place. She is embarrassed and doesn’t tell her best friend, so that creates a distance between them. Eventually, new friends help Ari deal with her life and she is able to stand up for herself.
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai (2015)
Culture clash comes when Mai is forced to go to Vietnam with her beloved grandmother for the summer. Mai is a Southern California girl ready for sunning, beaches, and being near her friends and possibly making friends with one special boy. But when she is sent to Vietnam, things are so different and strange, that Mai cannot wait to go back home. Mai does not speak the language and she does not know the customs of the country. Little by little she begins to adapt and accept her family and her heritage.
Next week I will tell you about a few more.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Currently reading: The Scavenger’s Daughters (Book One in The Tales of The Scavenger’s Daughters) by Kay Bratt
Currently Re-reading: The Haystacks Church by Andy Nash, At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
Monday, September 14, 2015
What are You Reading?
Greetings!
As I was sitting here musing about what to write to you today and wondering if there was anything new I could say, I got a flash of brilliance. At least, I HOPE it was brilliance. In any case, these flashes don’t come along that often so I need to jump on them when they do come.
I was wondering what you all are reading? (If you aren’t reading anything, shame on you.) Anyway, I thought it would be a great school year project/bulletin board for your class. A bulletin board could be titled “What Are You Reading?” or something even more creative. Put your name up along with a strip of paper that has the title of the book you are currently reading. Each student’s name can be up with blank strips. Let them write the titles of the books they are currently reading and as you/they complete a book, put a new strip up. If you put the new title strip over the old one, by the end of the year, they will have a list of all the books they read over the school year. The students will be very interested in what you are reading. If you read some of the juvenile titles in your school library, they will check them out when you are done.
I taught third grade for years and I would go to the library and check out some chapter books that were about their reading level. During our silent reading period, I would be reading and would deliberately giggle quietly, then hush myself. After the silent period, students would ask what I was reading that was so funny. I told them and when I returned the book, someone would grab it. It was sneaky, but it worked. Even now, years later, I have some of those parents telling me that their children love to read because of me.
The only thing I did was to have a daily silent reading period and read great stories to the children. I promoted reading and let them know how much fun it could be.
If you put up a reading area similar to this idea, I’d like to know how it works for you.
Have a great week,
Audrey
As I was sitting here musing about what to write to you today and wondering if there was anything new I could say, I got a flash of brilliance. At least, I HOPE it was brilliance. In any case, these flashes don’t come along that often so I need to jump on them when they do come.
I was wondering what you all are reading? (If you aren’t reading anything, shame on you.) Anyway, I thought it would be a great school year project/bulletin board for your class. A bulletin board could be titled “What Are You Reading?” or something even more creative. Put your name up along with a strip of paper that has the title of the book you are currently reading. Each student’s name can be up with blank strips. Let them write the titles of the books they are currently reading and as you/they complete a book, put a new strip up. If you put the new title strip over the old one, by the end of the year, they will have a list of all the books they read over the school year. The students will be very interested in what you are reading. If you read some of the juvenile titles in your school library, they will check them out when you are done.
I taught third grade for years and I would go to the library and check out some chapter books that were about their reading level. During our silent reading period, I would be reading and would deliberately giggle quietly, then hush myself. After the silent period, students would ask what I was reading that was so funny. I told them and when I returned the book, someone would grab it. It was sneaky, but it worked. Even now, years later, I have some of those parents telling me that their children love to read because of me.
The only thing I did was to have a daily silent reading period and read great stories to the children. I promoted reading and let them know how much fun it could be.
If you put up a reading area similar to this idea, I’d like to know how it works for you.
Have a great week,
Audrey
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Welcome to the New School Year!
Hello!
I apologize for not starting this sooner, but I do have excuses. I was sick last week, and just plain forgot! I got out of the habit of my weekly email, and need to get back in!
I am Audrey Campbell, the Media Center Director at Rogers Adventist School in College Place, WA. I am starting my fifteenth year at Rogers. Before coming to College Place, I was teaching third grade at Keene Adventist Elementary School in Keene, TX, and previously to that I taught grades 5 – 9 in Tallahassee, FL. Each of these schools has something to do with the man I married. He was in graduate school at Florida State University in Tallahassee when we married, then went to Southwestern Adventist University to teach physics. After seventeen years in Keene, we transitioned to Walla Walla University. You may have noticed that my early teaching experience was in a classroom. When we moved here, the job the Lord gave me was the job in the library. I have learned a LOT and it is the perfect job for me. I love books and have been preparing for this position all my life. I didn’t realize it until I got here, but it is true. If you want to know more of this story, let me know. I am not shy.
Some of you have been getting my emails for years now and others of you are brand new to this. It has been six and a half years since I started as the Resource Librarian for the NPUC. Most of you are small schools teachers with either no librarian or a volunteer helper. Most of you have little experience in library and may not feel confident. You are the reason I am here. I am your librarian. If you have any questions or comments, email me. I will help you.
Now I have a bit of ‘homework’ for you. Please do one of both of these things.
1. Go to sdalibrarian.blogspot.com. This is my blog. After I send out my weekly email full of very interesting things to you, I post it to this blog. You can see that I have been posting since January of 2009. Check out any post you like, but bookmark this so you don’t forget where it is.
2. Make a list of the things you would like to know or things you would like to see in an email from me. What are your needs? What do you wish you could do in your classroom in regard to books or libraries this year? Send me the list and I will do my best to make these wishes come true.
I hope you have a wonderful school year. I want to hear from you, so don’t be hesitant to contact me.
Audrey
I apologize for not starting this sooner, but I do have excuses. I was sick last week, and just plain forgot! I got out of the habit of my weekly email, and need to get back in!
I am Audrey Campbell, the Media Center Director at Rogers Adventist School in College Place, WA. I am starting my fifteenth year at Rogers. Before coming to College Place, I was teaching third grade at Keene Adventist Elementary School in Keene, TX, and previously to that I taught grades 5 – 9 in Tallahassee, FL. Each of these schools has something to do with the man I married. He was in graduate school at Florida State University in Tallahassee when we married, then went to Southwestern Adventist University to teach physics. After seventeen years in Keene, we transitioned to Walla Walla University. You may have noticed that my early teaching experience was in a classroom. When we moved here, the job the Lord gave me was the job in the library. I have learned a LOT and it is the perfect job for me. I love books and have been preparing for this position all my life. I didn’t realize it until I got here, but it is true. If you want to know more of this story, let me know. I am not shy.
Some of you have been getting my emails for years now and others of you are brand new to this. It has been six and a half years since I started as the Resource Librarian for the NPUC. Most of you are small schools teachers with either no librarian or a volunteer helper. Most of you have little experience in library and may not feel confident. You are the reason I am here. I am your librarian. If you have any questions or comments, email me. I will help you.
Now I have a bit of ‘homework’ for you. Please do one of both of these things.
1. Go to sdalibrarian.blogspot.com. This is my blog. After I send out my weekly email full of very interesting things to you, I post it to this blog. You can see that I have been posting since January of 2009. Check out any post you like, but bookmark this so you don’t forget where it is.
2. Make a list of the things you would like to know or things you would like to see in an email from me. What are your needs? What do you wish you could do in your classroom in regard to books or libraries this year? Send me the list and I will do my best to make these wishes come true.
I hope you have a wonderful school year. I want to hear from you, so don’t be hesitant to contact me.
Audrey
Monday, June 1, 2015
Miscellaneous Musings
Greetings!
I have thought about a few things that I missed throughout the postings this year or thought of some items that really didn’t fit in the theme of the post each week, so here is my catch up day.
Dictionaries
It is my opinion that dictionaries for children or ones that say “Student” on them are often almost useless. Words that children want to know how to spell aren’t in them and they feel frustrated. I recommend that your school have a few copies of a really good dictionary. I bought The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition a couple of years ago and just love it. Yes, the children can go to the internet and find the words they need, but knowing how to use a dictionary is a life skill that is useful. This particular dictionary has lots of extras that you won’t find in most dictionaries. The pages before the dictionary words actually begins has lots of information. Regional Patterns of American Speech, Variation and Change in Our Living Language, Indo-European Roots, Semitic roots, and word history notes. I used this dictionary for a small group and we studied etymology of words and found some very interesting and very cool things. The dictionary also has many color photos and illustrations throughout the entire book. I really think you need one or two of these.
Encyclopedias
It is so easy to find information on the internet now, that encyclopedias are mostly online now. We all have access to the ones that the NAD or our unions subscribe to for us, but if your internet is not reliable at all times, you might want to keep one set. Keep your newest set. Toss the others. If anyone protests, ask them if they want their child learning from encyclopedias that are 25 + years old. If they do, give them the set!
Bibles
I know there is a particular Bible recommended for the Bible curriculum and it is great for each student to have their own Bible to use for the schoolwork. I also think it is good to have copies of other versions for comparison. I also recommend the Andrews Study Bible. One or two copies in your library will really be helpful. Each chapter begins with a page or two of historical information about that particular book. The footnotes are what I really love about this Bible. Cultural notes are included so I have learned a lot about the time period and it helps me better understand certain passages. Keep an eye out in a few weeks for campmeeting specials.
I hope you have had a great year. I enjoy meeting you when the occasion arises. Please introduce yourself to me if we do meet and let me know that you are on my list. I was returning from the last NAD Teacher’s Convention in Nashville and while waiting in the airport, I noticed a group of teachers that seemed to be going to where I was going. We started talking and eventually introduced ourselves. When I said my name, one of them cried out, “You’re the LIBRARIAN!” Why, yes I am. It was fun to meet them.
Have a great summer! Let me know if you have any questions. I occasionally check this email and I am looking for new material to write about.
Audrey
I have thought about a few things that I missed throughout the postings this year or thought of some items that really didn’t fit in the theme of the post each week, so here is my catch up day.
Dictionaries
It is my opinion that dictionaries for children or ones that say “Student” on them are often almost useless. Words that children want to know how to spell aren’t in them and they feel frustrated. I recommend that your school have a few copies of a really good dictionary. I bought The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition a couple of years ago and just love it. Yes, the children can go to the internet and find the words they need, but knowing how to use a dictionary is a life skill that is useful. This particular dictionary has lots of extras that you won’t find in most dictionaries. The pages before the dictionary words actually begins has lots of information. Regional Patterns of American Speech, Variation and Change in Our Living Language, Indo-European Roots, Semitic roots, and word history notes. I used this dictionary for a small group and we studied etymology of words and found some very interesting and very cool things. The dictionary also has many color photos and illustrations throughout the entire book. I really think you need one or two of these.
Encyclopedias
It is so easy to find information on the internet now, that encyclopedias are mostly online now. We all have access to the ones that the NAD or our unions subscribe to for us, but if your internet is not reliable at all times, you might want to keep one set. Keep your newest set. Toss the others. If anyone protests, ask them if they want their child learning from encyclopedias that are 25 + years old. If they do, give them the set!
Bibles
I know there is a particular Bible recommended for the Bible curriculum and it is great for each student to have their own Bible to use for the schoolwork. I also think it is good to have copies of other versions for comparison. I also recommend the Andrews Study Bible. One or two copies in your library will really be helpful. Each chapter begins with a page or two of historical information about that particular book. The footnotes are what I really love about this Bible. Cultural notes are included so I have learned a lot about the time period and it helps me better understand certain passages. Keep an eye out in a few weeks for campmeeting specials.
I hope you have had a great year. I enjoy meeting you when the occasion arises. Please introduce yourself to me if we do meet and let me know that you are on my list. I was returning from the last NAD Teacher’s Convention in Nashville and while waiting in the airport, I noticed a group of teachers that seemed to be going to where I was going. We started talking and eventually introduced ourselves. When I said my name, one of them cried out, “You’re the LIBRARIAN!” Why, yes I am. It was fun to meet them.
Have a great summer! Let me know if you have any questions. I occasionally check this email and I am looking for new material to write about.
Audrey
Friday, May 29, 2015
Working with Dewey 800s and 900s
Greetings!
This week we will do both 800s and 900s.
The 800s will probably be your largest section to work with. For the most part, you will have three basic sections. We will ignore 820 – 890 since you will probably not have any literature in Old English, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, or any other languages. An elementary school library will probably only have literature in English, so we will concentrate on that.
808 Collected stories
This includes books that have multiple stories in them such as Uncle Arthur, The Children’s Hour, Guide’s Greatest, Shoebox Kids, Really Truly stories, and others. It may be that you decide to put these collected story books in with the 813s and that may be what works best for your library. One thing you need to know about these books. Some sets such as Guide’s Greatest stories are written by multiple authors. If you want to keep them all together, catalog them by just one author. We started out with a few that had Lori Peckham as the editor, so now all our Guide’s Greatest books are catalogued as if she were the editor so the series can be shelved all together.
811 Poetry
Look for books on poetry with poems that children would enjoy reading as you add to this section. Keep older poetry books if you need to locate a poem from there, but consider putting in some Shel Silverstein, as well.
813 Stories, Fiction (If you don’t like the word ‘fiction’, use the word ‘story’ instead.)
When adding to this section, look for books that will appeal to boys. I have a few posts on ideas for books for boys on my blog. Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com. For some reason, boys will not read books about girls, but girls will read books about boys.
Weed out books that are in bad shape, missing pages, or marked up. If a book is important to your school or community, replace it with a newer, better copy. Weed out books that aren’t circulating at all. At our school we have years that some books never move, but other years that they are checked out. We won’t weed them because they are being used every other year. If your library is automated, you can begin by compiling a list of books that haven’t been checked out in the past five years or so and then examine those books to determine if they are shelf-worthy.
One thing I have done regularly is to take books that I am considering weeding out and putting them on a special cart or table with a sign to the effect in that these books are in danger of being kicked out of the library, or endangered books, or something clever like that. I have also requested that students take a book and read the first few chapters and let me know if it is a good story and worth keeping in the library. Most students are willing to help in this way. Also, they usually like the story and actually read the whole book, so that is a nice trick to have up your sleeve.
The 900s are geography, history, and travel books.
In the 900 section you will put general history or geography information. This would include books that have information about all fifty states or a history over time. If it cannot be cataloged to a specific historical time period or a specific area, put it in this general section.
910 Geography and travel, pirates, shipwrecks, Titanic, atlases, maps, charts.
913 Geography of and travel in the ancient world
914 Geography of and travel in Europe
915 Geography of and travel in Asia
916 Geography of and travel in Africa
917 Geography of and travel in North America
918 Geography of and travel in South America
919 Geography of and travel in other areas
920 Biography (or put in a separate ’B’ section which is much easier for kids)
920 Collected biographies (books that have more than one story about a famous person)
927 Sports biographies (we have all our athletes biographies here)
929 Genealogy
929.9 Flags
930 History of the ancient world
940 History of Europe – Middle Ages, castles, WW1, WW2
950 History of Asia; Far East
960 History of Africa
970 History of North America
970.1 Native Americans
971 Canada
972 Middle America; Mexico
973 United States of America
973.2 Colonial, Pilgrims
973.3 Revolutionary War
973.4 Lewis and Clark
973.5 Westward expansion, War of 1812
973.6 Mexican-American War
973.7 Civil War
973.8 Spanish-American War, Reconstruction, Transcontinental Railroad
973.9 Vietnam War
974 Northeastern United States
974.7 Ellis Island
975 Southeastern United States, September 11
975.3 Washington, D. C.
976 South central United States
977 North central United States
978 Western United States
978.6 Montana
979 Great Basin and Pacific Slope region
979.5 Oregon
979.6 Idaho
979.7 Washington
979.8 Alaska
980 History of South America
990 History of Other parts of the world – Australia, Arctic, Polynesia, New Zealand, etc.
996 Pitcairn
996.9 Hawaii
You may not notice the correlation between the geography and history sections. Notice the Geography of and travel in the ancient world – 913- and History of the ancient world – 930. Both have a three (3) in the number. Geography and history of Europe both have a 4 in it and so on. Isn’t Dewey fascinating!?
As far as adding books to your library, check the subject headings here and add in as needed. I would recommend that you have a separate section for your biographies which really makes them easy to find.
Weeding this section may go quickly. Check your books on countries and make sure that information is not outdated. Look for two-color photos and other markings of an old book and strongly consider weeding these out and replacing with new editions. It may be that your school subscribes to a database that keeps this information updated and you won’t need to worry about the old books any longer. Try CultureGrams from Proquest for state and country information. They update hourly. In any case, information in this section is best if it is current.
I hope you have a great week. We only have one more to go!
Audrey
This week we will do both 800s and 900s.
The 800s will probably be your largest section to work with. For the most part, you will have three basic sections. We will ignore 820 – 890 since you will probably not have any literature in Old English, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, or any other languages. An elementary school library will probably only have literature in English, so we will concentrate on that.
808 Collected stories
This includes books that have multiple stories in them such as Uncle Arthur, The Children’s Hour, Guide’s Greatest, Shoebox Kids, Really Truly stories, and others. It may be that you decide to put these collected story books in with the 813s and that may be what works best for your library. One thing you need to know about these books. Some sets such as Guide’s Greatest stories are written by multiple authors. If you want to keep them all together, catalog them by just one author. We started out with a few that had Lori Peckham as the editor, so now all our Guide’s Greatest books are catalogued as if she were the editor so the series can be shelved all together.
811 Poetry
Look for books on poetry with poems that children would enjoy reading as you add to this section. Keep older poetry books if you need to locate a poem from there, but consider putting in some Shel Silverstein, as well.
813 Stories, Fiction (If you don’t like the word ‘fiction’, use the word ‘story’ instead.)
When adding to this section, look for books that will appeal to boys. I have a few posts on ideas for books for boys on my blog. Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com. For some reason, boys will not read books about girls, but girls will read books about boys.
Weed out books that are in bad shape, missing pages, or marked up. If a book is important to your school or community, replace it with a newer, better copy. Weed out books that aren’t circulating at all. At our school we have years that some books never move, but other years that they are checked out. We won’t weed them because they are being used every other year. If your library is automated, you can begin by compiling a list of books that haven’t been checked out in the past five years or so and then examine those books to determine if they are shelf-worthy.
One thing I have done regularly is to take books that I am considering weeding out and putting them on a special cart or table with a sign to the effect in that these books are in danger of being kicked out of the library, or endangered books, or something clever like that. I have also requested that students take a book and read the first few chapters and let me know if it is a good story and worth keeping in the library. Most students are willing to help in this way. Also, they usually like the story and actually read the whole book, so that is a nice trick to have up your sleeve.
The 900s are geography, history, and travel books.
In the 900 section you will put general history or geography information. This would include books that have information about all fifty states or a history over time. If it cannot be cataloged to a specific historical time period or a specific area, put it in this general section.
910 Geography and travel, pirates, shipwrecks, Titanic, atlases, maps, charts.
913 Geography of and travel in the ancient world
914 Geography of and travel in Europe
915 Geography of and travel in Asia
916 Geography of and travel in Africa
917 Geography of and travel in North America
918 Geography of and travel in South America
919 Geography of and travel in other areas
920 Biography (or put in a separate ’B’ section which is much easier for kids)
920 Collected biographies (books that have more than one story about a famous person)
927 Sports biographies (we have all our athletes biographies here)
929 Genealogy
929.9 Flags
930 History of the ancient world
940 History of Europe – Middle Ages, castles, WW1, WW2
950 History of Asia; Far East
960 History of Africa
970 History of North America
970.1 Native Americans
971 Canada
972 Middle America; Mexico
973 United States of America
973.2 Colonial, Pilgrims
973.3 Revolutionary War
973.4 Lewis and Clark
973.5 Westward expansion, War of 1812
973.6 Mexican-American War
973.7 Civil War
973.8 Spanish-American War, Reconstruction, Transcontinental Railroad
973.9 Vietnam War
974 Northeastern United States
974.7 Ellis Island
975 Southeastern United States, September 11
975.3 Washington, D. C.
976 South central United States
977 North central United States
978 Western United States
978.6 Montana
979 Great Basin and Pacific Slope region
979.5 Oregon
979.6 Idaho
979.7 Washington
979.8 Alaska
980 History of South America
990 History of Other parts of the world – Australia, Arctic, Polynesia, New Zealand, etc.
996 Pitcairn
996.9 Hawaii
You may not notice the correlation between the geography and history sections. Notice the Geography of and travel in the ancient world – 913- and History of the ancient world – 930. Both have a three (3) in the number. Geography and history of Europe both have a 4 in it and so on. Isn’t Dewey fascinating!?
As far as adding books to your library, check the subject headings here and add in as needed. I would recommend that you have a separate section for your biographies which really makes them easy to find.
Weeding this section may go quickly. Check your books on countries and make sure that information is not outdated. Look for two-color photos and other markings of an old book and strongly consider weeding these out and replacing with new editions. It may be that your school subscribes to a database that keeps this information updated and you won’t need to worry about the old books any longer. Try CultureGrams from Proquest for state and country information. They update hourly. In any case, information in this section is best if it is current.
I hope you have a great week. We only have one more to go!
Audrey
Monday, May 18, 2015
Working with Dewey 700s
Greetings!
We are now on the 700s and I can see the end in sight!
The 700s are labeled ‘The Arts’. This is a section that lots of kids really like to browse through especially your artistic types. If you have books in this section that are quite valuable, consider having that book be used only in the library rather than checking it out. Few parents want to pay $60.00 or more for a lost book.
700 Art History
710 Landscaping
720 Architecture
You likely don’t have anything in these sections, but it’s nice to know where they are.
730 Sculpture
737 Stamp collecting, coin collecting
740 Drawing books
743 How to Draw books
745 Handicrafts, Origami, Calligraphy
750 Painting
759 Artists
760 Graphic Arts
770 Photography
780 Music
790 Recreational and performing arts
This section is huge. Include indoor games, jokes, riddles, games, sports, athletics, ball games, weight lifting, track and field, gymnastics, Olympics, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, backpacking, cycling, bicycles, ice and snow sports, boating, swimming, diving, hot air balloons, equestrian, and more.
If you don’t have much in the 700’s, consider adding joke books, riddle books, books on camping, hiking, and backpacking. Add books on how to play football, baseball, and other sports. Children who like horses might like to see a book on dressage and horse showmanship. We have books on ballet, skateboarding, skiing, martial arts, and much more. What activities do your students enjoy? Add books to support their interests.
Origami books are usually quite popular and drawing and painting books are also great to add.
Artists are included here. Biographies aren’t included in this section, but usually books about artists include more about their art rather than a biography of the artist. You may need to evaluate a book to determine if it is a biography or a book about an artist and his or her work.
Consider adding in books on digital photography. There are lots of books for kids on this topic.
Check with your teachers and see what units they teach or focus on. We have a teacher here who follows the Iditarod each year with her class so we have a number of books on the Iditarod.
Weed out old outdated editions of stamp collecting or coin collecting, and outdated photography books, especially if they have outdated equipment in the photos. Mainly just check for outdated anything in this section.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
We are now on the 700s and I can see the end in sight!
The 700s are labeled ‘The Arts’. This is a section that lots of kids really like to browse through especially your artistic types. If you have books in this section that are quite valuable, consider having that book be used only in the library rather than checking it out. Few parents want to pay $60.00 or more for a lost book.
700 Art History
710 Landscaping
720 Architecture
You likely don’t have anything in these sections, but it’s nice to know where they are.
730 Sculpture
737 Stamp collecting, coin collecting
740 Drawing books
743 How to Draw books
745 Handicrafts, Origami, Calligraphy
750 Painting
759 Artists
760 Graphic Arts
770 Photography
780 Music
790 Recreational and performing arts
This section is huge. Include indoor games, jokes, riddles, games, sports, athletics, ball games, weight lifting, track and field, gymnastics, Olympics, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, backpacking, cycling, bicycles, ice and snow sports, boating, swimming, diving, hot air balloons, equestrian, and more.
If you don’t have much in the 700’s, consider adding joke books, riddle books, books on camping, hiking, and backpacking. Add books on how to play football, baseball, and other sports. Children who like horses might like to see a book on dressage and horse showmanship. We have books on ballet, skateboarding, skiing, martial arts, and much more. What activities do your students enjoy? Add books to support their interests.
Origami books are usually quite popular and drawing and painting books are also great to add.
Artists are included here. Biographies aren’t included in this section, but usually books about artists include more about their art rather than a biography of the artist. You may need to evaluate a book to determine if it is a biography or a book about an artist and his or her work.
Consider adding in books on digital photography. There are lots of books for kids on this topic.
Check with your teachers and see what units they teach or focus on. We have a teacher here who follows the Iditarod each year with her class so we have a number of books on the Iditarod.
Weed out old outdated editions of stamp collecting or coin collecting, and outdated photography books, especially if they have outdated equipment in the photos. Mainly just check for outdated anything in this section.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Working with Dewey 600s
Greetings!
We are more than halfway through our Dewey weeding project. Let’s move on to the 600s.
This section is all about putting to use the things that are in the 500s. We often call this section the ‘how-to’ section. A few examples include:
1. 500 – Information about minerals; 600 - Man used minerals and made machines (cars, trucks, airplanes, etc.)
2. 500 – Information about animals; 600 – Man domesticates animals for work and for pets (horses, dogs, cats, gerbils, etc.)
3. 500 – Information about plants; 600 – man prepares plants for food (cookbooks)
This also helps us explain to children why the dog books aren’t in the 599s, but in the 636s instead.
In the first two subdivisions, 600 – 610, you will find general technology, inventions, medicine, health, diseases, the human body, survival, and first aid books.
The 620s include subjects on mining, railroads, trains, cars, ships, boats, knots, airplanes, automobiles, space exploration, rockets, and moon missions. One area you likely don’t have anything on would be geocaching. This is a wonderful family friendly activity and I would encourage you to put books in the library on this subject.
In the 630s, we have agriculture and related areas such as farming, forestry, hunting, fishing, conservation, and gardening. Specifically in the 636 section are animal husbandry and all our domesticated animals go here. Look for books on aquariums, and turtles and fish as pets for your library. Check with your students and see what kinds of animals they have as pets and try to get books for those particular pets for your library.
The 640s include home and family management subjects so expect to see cooking, sewing, housekeeping and home repair books here. I love cookbooks for children and we have a lot of them in our library. They are kept circulating most of the time, too. One subject that would be good to have is a book on babysitting.
In the 650s, you might not have much. It is office services, shorthand, accounting, and similar topics.
The 660s also might be slim since the topics are chemical engineering. Explosives, fuels, food technology, and industrial oils, fats, waxes, and gases, and metallurgy are included here.
The 670s section is manufacturing in a more general way. Lumber processing, wood products, leather and fur processing, pulp and paper technology, metalworking iron and steel would be here.
The 680s m might be more interesting. This is manufacture for specific uses. Include blacksmithing, household appliances, printing, clothing, leather, fur goods, and related products here. Also, include books on Legos and other toys such as Barbie and other dolls. Another great addition to your library would be building tree houses and forts. Check out books by David R. Stiles for this subject.
David Stiles’ books might also go into the 690s since that section is on construction, building materials, wood construction and carpentry, roofs, utilities, and heating and cooling. However, since books about tree houses are really kind of like toys, so that is where they really belong.
Weeding in the 600s would include taking a look at the books on medical information. Make sure that your books have current medical practices in them or else discard them. Outdated information here can be dangerous. Check out the books on cancer, AIDS, and other topics that change quickly. This is another place that up-to-date information needs to be accurate.
Check the pets section. Look at the books and make sure the pictures are current photos and the books are in good condition.
As much as I love cookbooks, discard any that are old and not being used. Check the physical condition and make sure all pages are intact. If you have any books on nutrition and food preparation, make sure that these are also current. Replace books that talk about the four food groups with information about the food pyramid.
Mostly you will weed according to use and condition of the book. If a book is used, but is in poor condition try to replace with a newer updated copy. If a book is not being used and is in poor condition, get rid of it. If a book is not being used, but is in good condition, figure out why it isn’t being used, and either promote it in some way, or get rid of it. Pretty new books that no one reads are useless. Get someone to read them or get rid of them.
I put some old weeded books on a table in our hall last week with a sign that said “FREE – Do Not Bring Back”. Ten minutes later after all the students were out of school, nearly all the books were gone. I was shocked, but pleased. I put more books out and the same thing happened. I mention this so you know what might be an option for you and your weeded books. If anyone begins to criticize you for throwing away perfectly good books, just tell them that you are updating the library to reflect the current curriculum.
I hope this week goes well for you.
Audrey
We are more than halfway through our Dewey weeding project. Let’s move on to the 600s.
This section is all about putting to use the things that are in the 500s. We often call this section the ‘how-to’ section. A few examples include:
1. 500 – Information about minerals; 600 - Man used minerals and made machines (cars, trucks, airplanes, etc.)
2. 500 – Information about animals; 600 – Man domesticates animals for work and for pets (horses, dogs, cats, gerbils, etc.)
3. 500 – Information about plants; 600 – man prepares plants for food (cookbooks)
This also helps us explain to children why the dog books aren’t in the 599s, but in the 636s instead.
In the first two subdivisions, 600 – 610, you will find general technology, inventions, medicine, health, diseases, the human body, survival, and first aid books.
The 620s include subjects on mining, railroads, trains, cars, ships, boats, knots, airplanes, automobiles, space exploration, rockets, and moon missions. One area you likely don’t have anything on would be geocaching. This is a wonderful family friendly activity and I would encourage you to put books in the library on this subject.
In the 630s, we have agriculture and related areas such as farming, forestry, hunting, fishing, conservation, and gardening. Specifically in the 636 section are animal husbandry and all our domesticated animals go here. Look for books on aquariums, and turtles and fish as pets for your library. Check with your students and see what kinds of animals they have as pets and try to get books for those particular pets for your library.
The 640s include home and family management subjects so expect to see cooking, sewing, housekeeping and home repair books here. I love cookbooks for children and we have a lot of them in our library. They are kept circulating most of the time, too. One subject that would be good to have is a book on babysitting.
In the 650s, you might not have much. It is office services, shorthand, accounting, and similar topics.
The 660s also might be slim since the topics are chemical engineering. Explosives, fuels, food technology, and industrial oils, fats, waxes, and gases, and metallurgy are included here.
The 670s section is manufacturing in a more general way. Lumber processing, wood products, leather and fur processing, pulp and paper technology, metalworking iron and steel would be here.
The 680s m might be more interesting. This is manufacture for specific uses. Include blacksmithing, household appliances, printing, clothing, leather, fur goods, and related products here. Also, include books on Legos and other toys such as Barbie and other dolls. Another great addition to your library would be building tree houses and forts. Check out books by David R. Stiles for this subject.
David Stiles’ books might also go into the 690s since that section is on construction, building materials, wood construction and carpentry, roofs, utilities, and heating and cooling. However, since books about tree houses are really kind of like toys, so that is where they really belong.
Weeding in the 600s would include taking a look at the books on medical information. Make sure that your books have current medical practices in them or else discard them. Outdated information here can be dangerous. Check out the books on cancer, AIDS, and other topics that change quickly. This is another place that up-to-date information needs to be accurate.
Check the pets section. Look at the books and make sure the pictures are current photos and the books are in good condition.
As much as I love cookbooks, discard any that are old and not being used. Check the physical condition and make sure all pages are intact. If you have any books on nutrition and food preparation, make sure that these are also current. Replace books that talk about the four food groups with information about the food pyramid.
Mostly you will weed according to use and condition of the book. If a book is used, but is in poor condition try to replace with a newer updated copy. If a book is not being used and is in poor condition, get rid of it. If a book is not being used, but is in good condition, figure out why it isn’t being used, and either promote it in some way, or get rid of it. Pretty new books that no one reads are useless. Get someone to read them or get rid of them.
I put some old weeded books on a table in our hall last week with a sign that said “FREE – Do Not Bring Back”. Ten minutes later after all the students were out of school, nearly all the books were gone. I was shocked, but pleased. I put more books out and the same thing happened. I mention this so you know what might be an option for you and your weeded books. If anyone begins to criticize you for throwing away perfectly good books, just tell them that you are updating the library to reflect the current curriculum.
I hope this week goes well for you.
Audrey
Monday, May 4, 2015
Working with Dewey 500s
Greetings!
Now we are getting to the larger sections. This week we tackle the 500s which is the science and nature section. These are the pure sciences: Math, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Earth science, Paleontology, Biology, Botany, and Animals all listed in their Dewey order. I think it would be easiest to take a section at a time and talk about what to weed and what to add.
500 We begin with the 500 heading. This is general science and the kinds of books you find here are books that have many different categories in them like Science Fair projects, science encyclopedias, question and answer books dealing with science and others like that.
Do you have any books with science projects or experiments? That would be a good place to add or update here. Carefully evaluate anything over five years old. I usually notice the astronomy section since there have been many changes over the last five years here. Look at your sets of books and make sure that no individual titles are missing. If you do have missing parts of a set, consider if the set is worth keeping or if it would be better to discard and get a new set or individual books that would cover the material.
510 Mathematics
There are some great books on math and the history of math. It is likely that you don’t have much here, so adding some fun new titles will build interest here. Math does not really get outdated like astronomy does, so check the condition of any books you may have. Weed out old, ugly, unused books. You can discard books that talk about the ‘new math’, books that have fine print and aren’t something you would use to teach math now.
520 Astronomy
We have had some major changes in this branch of science. Update your library with books on stargazing, and make sure your books don’t include Pluto as a planet any longer or say that Jupiter has 17 moons. Look for books that are attractive and have modern technology being used. This is a section to really watch the publishing dates and carefully consider what is valuable to your library and what is not.
530 Physics
Do you even have ANYTHING in this section? I admit that until recently our library was pretty sparse here and I am married to a physicist. But a year or two ago, I asked my husband to help me pick out some books that would be attractive and interesting to students in grades 6 – 8 and he found a number of titles that he felt would be interesting. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll post those titles for you. If you do have anything here, look at it and carefully evaluate its value to your school and your curriculum. If the book isn’t useful to you in some way, why are you letting it take up valuable real estate on your shelves? This weeding information applies to the rest of this 500 section and very likely your whole library.
540 Chemistry
For the most part, chemistry books may also fit in the experiments section. I’d recommend keeping experiments all together. Find books on the elements and put here. There is one that is published by Scholastic called “The Elements” that is used constantly here. I have mended our two hard cover books multiple times each and also mended a paper copy as well. If you choose to get one, I would recommend a hard cover.
550 Earth Sciences
Add books on earthquakes, volcanoes, geology, rocks and minerals, field guides for rocks, gems, and minerals, and meteorology.
560 Paleontology
Add or replace books on dinosaurs, and fossils. There are few Christian-based books, but they are out there. I would recommend you purchase books on dinosaurs and put a disclaimer note in the front. Mine says this: “Please note that parts of this book do not agree with the Biblical story of Creation.” I print out a page of 30 at a time using Avery 5160 address labels. That way when I need one of these disclaimers, I have them ready at hand.
570 Life Sciences
Add in books on genetics, habitats, rainforest, deserts, ponds, oceans, forests, mountains, and general biology books here. Don’t be afraid to put in a high school or even college textbook here. Some kids really get a kick out of looking through a higher level textbook.
580 Botony
Add books on trees, flowers, and plants here. Make sure you have field guides for local plants and flowers along with general field guides. Something that is kind of fun to have is a book on edible wild plants.
590 Animals
This is the largest section of the 500s and may even rival your 800s section. Books on animals go here. A breakdown of this section will be really helpful to know where to catalog and what you might want to include here. I hope you try to include something in each category.
590 Animals (zoology)
590.1 Animal encyclopedia, general information
590.73 Zoos
591 Specific topics in natural history
591.4 Camouflage
591.5 Endangered animals, Migration, Hibernation
592 Invertebrates (Worms)
593 Marine and seashore invertebrates (Sponges, jellyfish, anemones, coral, starfish)
594 Mollusks (slugs, snails, nudibranch, mussels, oysters, scallops, clams, shells)
595 Arthropods (Butterflies, Bees, beetles, flies, insects, spiders)
596 Chordates
597 Fish; cold-blooded vertebrates
597.8 Amphibians
597.9 Reptiles
598 Birds
599 Mammals
599.2 marsupials, rat kangaroo, wallaby, possum, wombat, koala, platypus
599.3 pangolin, anteaters, aardvark, beaver, squirrel, rodents, sloth, armadillo, rabbits, coney, pikas, hedgehog, mole, shrew, rat, mice, vole, porcupine, chipmunk, marmot, prairie dog,
599.4 bats
599.5 marine mammals: whales, dolphins, porpoises, manatees
599.6 pigs, boars, hippo, camel, giraffe, pronghorn, bovines, bison, gazelle, sheep, goat, deer, tapir, zebra, rhino, elephant, wild horses
599.7 mongoose, civets, hyena, leopard, big cats, mink, weasel, badger, skunk, otter, wild dogs, wolf, fox, bears, panda, seals
599.8 primates, monkey,
599.9 homo sapiens
I hope you are all doing well and are gearing down for the end of the school year. I can barely believe that it is almost upon us.
Audrey
Now we are getting to the larger sections. This week we tackle the 500s which is the science and nature section. These are the pure sciences: Math, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Earth science, Paleontology, Biology, Botany, and Animals all listed in their Dewey order. I think it would be easiest to take a section at a time and talk about what to weed and what to add.
500 We begin with the 500 heading. This is general science and the kinds of books you find here are books that have many different categories in them like Science Fair projects, science encyclopedias, question and answer books dealing with science and others like that.
Do you have any books with science projects or experiments? That would be a good place to add or update here. Carefully evaluate anything over five years old. I usually notice the astronomy section since there have been many changes over the last five years here. Look at your sets of books and make sure that no individual titles are missing. If you do have missing parts of a set, consider if the set is worth keeping or if it would be better to discard and get a new set or individual books that would cover the material.
510 Mathematics
There are some great books on math and the history of math. It is likely that you don’t have much here, so adding some fun new titles will build interest here. Math does not really get outdated like astronomy does, so check the condition of any books you may have. Weed out old, ugly, unused books. You can discard books that talk about the ‘new math’, books that have fine print and aren’t something you would use to teach math now.
520 Astronomy
We have had some major changes in this branch of science. Update your library with books on stargazing, and make sure your books don’t include Pluto as a planet any longer or say that Jupiter has 17 moons. Look for books that are attractive and have modern technology being used. This is a section to really watch the publishing dates and carefully consider what is valuable to your library and what is not.
530 Physics
Do you even have ANYTHING in this section? I admit that until recently our library was pretty sparse here and I am married to a physicist. But a year or two ago, I asked my husband to help me pick out some books that would be attractive and interesting to students in grades 6 – 8 and he found a number of titles that he felt would be interesting. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll post those titles for you. If you do have anything here, look at it and carefully evaluate its value to your school and your curriculum. If the book isn’t useful to you in some way, why are you letting it take up valuable real estate on your shelves? This weeding information applies to the rest of this 500 section and very likely your whole library.
540 Chemistry
For the most part, chemistry books may also fit in the experiments section. I’d recommend keeping experiments all together. Find books on the elements and put here. There is one that is published by Scholastic called “The Elements” that is used constantly here. I have mended our two hard cover books multiple times each and also mended a paper copy as well. If you choose to get one, I would recommend a hard cover.
550 Earth Sciences
Add books on earthquakes, volcanoes, geology, rocks and minerals, field guides for rocks, gems, and minerals, and meteorology.
560 Paleontology
Add or replace books on dinosaurs, and fossils. There are few Christian-based books, but they are out there. I would recommend you purchase books on dinosaurs and put a disclaimer note in the front. Mine says this: “Please note that parts of this book do not agree with the Biblical story of Creation.” I print out a page of 30 at a time using Avery 5160 address labels. That way when I need one of these disclaimers, I have them ready at hand.
570 Life Sciences
Add in books on genetics, habitats, rainforest, deserts, ponds, oceans, forests, mountains, and general biology books here. Don’t be afraid to put in a high school or even college textbook here. Some kids really get a kick out of looking through a higher level textbook.
580 Botony
Add books on trees, flowers, and plants here. Make sure you have field guides for local plants and flowers along with general field guides. Something that is kind of fun to have is a book on edible wild plants.
590 Animals
This is the largest section of the 500s and may even rival your 800s section. Books on animals go here. A breakdown of this section will be really helpful to know where to catalog and what you might want to include here. I hope you try to include something in each category.
590 Animals (zoology)
590.1 Animal encyclopedia, general information
590.73 Zoos
591 Specific topics in natural history
591.4 Camouflage
591.5 Endangered animals, Migration, Hibernation
592 Invertebrates (Worms)
593 Marine and seashore invertebrates (Sponges, jellyfish, anemones, coral, starfish)
594 Mollusks (slugs, snails, nudibranch, mussels, oysters, scallops, clams, shells)
595 Arthropods (Butterflies, Bees, beetles, flies, insects, spiders)
596 Chordates
597 Fish; cold-blooded vertebrates
597.8 Amphibians
597.9 Reptiles
598 Birds
599 Mammals
599.2 marsupials, rat kangaroo, wallaby, possum, wombat, koala, platypus
599.3 pangolin, anteaters, aardvark, beaver, squirrel, rodents, sloth, armadillo, rabbits, coney, pikas, hedgehog, mole, shrew, rat, mice, vole, porcupine, chipmunk, marmot, prairie dog,
599.4 bats
599.5 marine mammals: whales, dolphins, porpoises, manatees
599.6 pigs, boars, hippo, camel, giraffe, pronghorn, bovines, bison, gazelle, sheep, goat, deer, tapir, zebra, rhino, elephant, wild horses
599.7 mongoose, civets, hyena, leopard, big cats, mink, weasel, badger, skunk, otter, wild dogs, wolf, fox, bears, panda, seals
599.8 primates, monkey,
599.9 homo sapiens
I hope you are all doing well and are gearing down for the end of the school year. I can barely believe that it is almost upon us.
Audrey
Monday, April 20, 2015
Working with Dewey - 400s
Greetings!
This week we will discuss the 400s. In this section we have books on languages. Usually when we think of languages, we think foreign (to us) languages, however, English is a language so put your dictionaries, grammar, vocabulary, and books on etymology in this section. You can see where to catalog books on other languages in the breakdown below.
400 Language
410 Linguistics
412 Etymology
413 Specialized dictionaries: Thesaurus, Synonyms
415 Grammar
419 Sign languages
420 English and Old English
423 Dictionaries
425 Vocabulary, grammar (or in 372 section)
430 Germanic languages; German
440 Romance languages; French
450 Italian, Romanian and related languages
460 Spanish and Portuguese languages
470 Italic languages; Latin
480 Hellenic languages; classical Greek
490 Other languages
What to weed from here? Discard old-fashioned and outdated books of grammar. Check the condition of the books and either repair or replace any that are in poor condition.
What to add? Check your dictionaries. Do you have any unique dictionaries? Consider putting in a rhyming dictionary, a book of idioms, or any other interesting ones that you come across. One type of 400 book that is popular in our library is the series “The First Thousand Words in . . .” published by Usborne. We have the typical Spanish, German, French, and Italian but a couple of years ago, students asked for Chinese, Latin, and Russian, so we added those as well. Check with your students to see what languages they would like to have in the library. As children see their ideas come into the library, they become more interested in using it. You might have Spanish-English dictionaries or other dictionaries with dual languages in it. Put those here.
Do you have any children going on vacation to a foreign country? Ask them to bring back a children’s picture book for the library written in the country’s language. I just talked to a girl who will be going to Thailand and asked her if she would try to bring something like that for the library. Most families would not think of this and would be very happy to try to find a book for you.
I hope you have a great day.
Audrey
This week we will discuss the 400s. In this section we have books on languages. Usually when we think of languages, we think foreign (to us) languages, however, English is a language so put your dictionaries, grammar, vocabulary, and books on etymology in this section. You can see where to catalog books on other languages in the breakdown below.
400 Language
410 Linguistics
412 Etymology
413 Specialized dictionaries: Thesaurus, Synonyms
415 Grammar
419 Sign languages
420 English and Old English
423 Dictionaries
425 Vocabulary, grammar (or in 372 section)
430 Germanic languages; German
440 Romance languages; French
450 Italian, Romanian and related languages
460 Spanish and Portuguese languages
470 Italic languages; Latin
480 Hellenic languages; classical Greek
490 Other languages
What to weed from here? Discard old-fashioned and outdated books of grammar. Check the condition of the books and either repair or replace any that are in poor condition.
What to add? Check your dictionaries. Do you have any unique dictionaries? Consider putting in a rhyming dictionary, a book of idioms, or any other interesting ones that you come across. One type of 400 book that is popular in our library is the series “The First Thousand Words in . . .” published by Usborne. We have the typical Spanish, German, French, and Italian but a couple of years ago, students asked for Chinese, Latin, and Russian, so we added those as well. Check with your students to see what languages they would like to have in the library. As children see their ideas come into the library, they become more interested in using it. You might have Spanish-English dictionaries or other dictionaries with dual languages in it. Put those here.
Do you have any children going on vacation to a foreign country? Ask them to bring back a children’s picture book for the library written in the country’s language. I just talked to a girl who will be going to Thailand and asked her if she would try to bring something like that for the library. Most families would not think of this and would be very happy to try to find a book for you.
I hope you have a great day.
Audrey
Monday, April 13, 2015
Working with Dewey - 300s
Greetings!
This week we move on to the 300s and see what needs to be done there.
This section is the most confusing to me. It is Social Science, and is easily mistaken for Social Studies by children which is confusing since Social Studies (History and Geography) are in the 900s! Another reason it can be confusing is that there seem to be so many categories there. It isn’t as straight forward as the 200s – Religion or 400s – Languages. Here is a list of what is included in the 300s.
300 Social Science
306 Family, marriage, divorce, death
310 Collections of general statistics
320 Political science
325.1 Ellis Island, Immigration
326 Slavery
330 Economics
331 Careers
332 Money; allowances
333 Energy
333.95 Endangered species
340 Law
350 Public Administration and Military science
360 Social problems and services, associations
362.4 Physical disabilities
362.7 Personal safety
363.7 Recycling
370 Education
371.3 Study Skills – testing,
372 Elementary Education
372.4 Old reading series books
372.44 Vocabulary
372.6 Language Arts
372.61 Grammar
372.623 Writing – reports, essays, themes
372.63 Spelling
372.7 Math
380 Commerce, communications and transportation
383 Pony Express, Mail
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore
391 Costumes, clothing history
394.2 Holidays (Rogers separates the holidays out as shown below)
394.2 Christmas
394.21 Thanksgiving
394.26 All other holidays
395 Manners
398 Folklore, fairy tales, legends
So, let’s ignore 310 and 340. You likely won’t use these sections much if at all in the elementary library. Instead here is what you will likely be using most.
306 Family, Marriage, Divorce, Death
320 Political Science
325.1 Ellis Island, Immigration
326 Slavery
330 Economics
331 Careers
332 Money; allowances
333 Energy
333.95 Endangered species
350 Public Administration and Military science
360 Social Problems and services
362.4 Physical disabilities
362.7 Personal safety
363.7 Recycling
370 Education
371.3 Study Skills – testing
372 Elementary Education
372.4 Old reading series books
372.44 Vocabulary
372.6 Language Arts
372.61 Grammar
372.623Writing – reports, essays, themes
372.63 Spelling
372.7 Math – Teaching of math
380 Commerce, communications and transportation
383 Pony Express, Mail
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore
391 Costumes, clothing history
394.2 Holidays (Rogers separates the holidays out as shown below)
394.2 Christmas
394.21 Thanksgiving
394.26 All other holidays
395 Manners
398 Folklore, fairy tales, legends
Use this somewhat shorter list to see what you might put in your library. Do you have books on divorce? Consider how many of your students come from divorced families. It may well be a subject that is important to include in your library.
Books in immigration, Ellis Island and slavery will help support your curriculum as you teach these subjects.
Do you have any books on careers? Allowances? Money? Our Adventist Book Centers have a few books on money management and one or two are particularly focused toward children. Other subjects that are important to have in your library are books on endangered species, recycling, study skills, holidays, and manners.
Some subjects that are fun to include are books with costumes and clothing, and the Pony Express.
What should we weed out of this section? Check to see if the books you have are older than five years. If they are, it is possible that the information inside is outdated. Take a look inside to see what information is given and make a quick evaluation to decide if the book is still worthwhile to have in the library. If you aren’t sure, make a notation inside the front cover of the date you considered discarding the book. If in a year or two the book still has not circulated, you may then feel more comfortable about discarding it.
Look at the books in each section quickly.
1. Check the physical condition of the books. Weed out books that are marked up, shabby, have very small print or poor quality pictures, missing pages, warped cover or wavy pages damaged by water.
2. Check the content. Is the information obsolete? Do you have travel books from the 1960s? Do you have multiple copies that aren’t needed?
3. Do you have materials that aren’t circulating? Why aren’t they being used? Can you promote them so they will be used or would it be better to find other materials to replace them?
4. Is there other information on the same subject in your collection to justify discarding the book?
I was in a school a few years ago that had multiple shelves of old Reader’s Digest and Time Life books on countries and travel. The books were in good condition, and there was a lot of information and pictures in them. I would have discarded them since they were outdated but the teacher wanted to keep them. The books helped to support the study of different countries and any outdated information could be updated quickly by using the internet. You decide if the book will help support your curriculum or not. You might want to discard them, but if there is nothing else to replace the information, it might be best to keep the books until you can upgrade to a new set. Then you can discard the old set.
You might want to consider subscribing to a database such as CultureGrams from Proquest or Scholastic’s database GO!
CultureGrams includes a section about the United States and another section about the countries of the world. The information is updated every few hours so what the students learn is up to the minute.
GO! is a database that I don’t have, so I went to the website to find out about it. It looks like it includes three encyclopedias, two science resources – one on animals and one on science, a United States resource and a world resource, plus a Spanish resource for Spanish speakers. I don’t know anything about price, but you can check it out at this site. http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/grolier/
I hope things are going well for you and that you have a great week.
Audrey
This week we move on to the 300s and see what needs to be done there.
This section is the most confusing to me. It is Social Science, and is easily mistaken for Social Studies by children which is confusing since Social Studies (History and Geography) are in the 900s! Another reason it can be confusing is that there seem to be so many categories there. It isn’t as straight forward as the 200s – Religion or 400s – Languages. Here is a list of what is included in the 300s.
300 Social Science
306 Family, marriage, divorce, death
310 Collections of general statistics
320 Political science
325.1 Ellis Island, Immigration
326 Slavery
330 Economics
331 Careers
332 Money; allowances
333 Energy
333.95 Endangered species
340 Law
350 Public Administration and Military science
360 Social problems and services, associations
362.4 Physical disabilities
362.7 Personal safety
363.7 Recycling
370 Education
371.3 Study Skills – testing,
372 Elementary Education
372.4 Old reading series books
372.44 Vocabulary
372.6 Language Arts
372.61 Grammar
372.623 Writing – reports, essays, themes
372.63 Spelling
372.7 Math
380 Commerce, communications and transportation
383 Pony Express, Mail
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore
391 Costumes, clothing history
394.2 Holidays (Rogers separates the holidays out as shown below)
394.2 Christmas
394.21 Thanksgiving
394.26 All other holidays
395 Manners
398 Folklore, fairy tales, legends
So, let’s ignore 310 and 340. You likely won’t use these sections much if at all in the elementary library. Instead here is what you will likely be using most.
306 Family, Marriage, Divorce, Death
320 Political Science
325.1 Ellis Island, Immigration
326 Slavery
330 Economics
331 Careers
332 Money; allowances
333 Energy
333.95 Endangered species
350 Public Administration and Military science
360 Social Problems and services
362.4 Physical disabilities
362.7 Personal safety
363.7 Recycling
370 Education
371.3 Study Skills – testing
372 Elementary Education
372.4 Old reading series books
372.44 Vocabulary
372.6 Language Arts
372.61 Grammar
372.623Writing – reports, essays, themes
372.63 Spelling
372.7 Math – Teaching of math
380 Commerce, communications and transportation
383 Pony Express, Mail
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore
391 Costumes, clothing history
394.2 Holidays (Rogers separates the holidays out as shown below)
394.2 Christmas
394.21 Thanksgiving
394.26 All other holidays
395 Manners
398 Folklore, fairy tales, legends
Use this somewhat shorter list to see what you might put in your library. Do you have books on divorce? Consider how many of your students come from divorced families. It may well be a subject that is important to include in your library.
Books in immigration, Ellis Island and slavery will help support your curriculum as you teach these subjects.
Do you have any books on careers? Allowances? Money? Our Adventist Book Centers have a few books on money management and one or two are particularly focused toward children. Other subjects that are important to have in your library are books on endangered species, recycling, study skills, holidays, and manners.
Some subjects that are fun to include are books with costumes and clothing, and the Pony Express.
What should we weed out of this section? Check to see if the books you have are older than five years. If they are, it is possible that the information inside is outdated. Take a look inside to see what information is given and make a quick evaluation to decide if the book is still worthwhile to have in the library. If you aren’t sure, make a notation inside the front cover of the date you considered discarding the book. If in a year or two the book still has not circulated, you may then feel more comfortable about discarding it.
Look at the books in each section quickly.
1. Check the physical condition of the books. Weed out books that are marked up, shabby, have very small print or poor quality pictures, missing pages, warped cover or wavy pages damaged by water.
2. Check the content. Is the information obsolete? Do you have travel books from the 1960s? Do you have multiple copies that aren’t needed?
3. Do you have materials that aren’t circulating? Why aren’t they being used? Can you promote them so they will be used or would it be better to find other materials to replace them?
4. Is there other information on the same subject in your collection to justify discarding the book?
I was in a school a few years ago that had multiple shelves of old Reader’s Digest and Time Life books on countries and travel. The books were in good condition, and there was a lot of information and pictures in them. I would have discarded them since they were outdated but the teacher wanted to keep them. The books helped to support the study of different countries and any outdated information could be updated quickly by using the internet. You decide if the book will help support your curriculum or not. You might want to discard them, but if there is nothing else to replace the information, it might be best to keep the books until you can upgrade to a new set. Then you can discard the old set.
You might want to consider subscribing to a database such as CultureGrams from Proquest or Scholastic’s database GO!
CultureGrams includes a section about the United States and another section about the countries of the world. The information is updated every few hours so what the students learn is up to the minute.
GO! is a database that I don’t have, so I went to the website to find out about it. It looks like it includes three encyclopedias, two science resources – one on animals and one on science, a United States resource and a world resource, plus a Spanish resource for Spanish speakers. I don’t know anything about price, but you can check it out at this site. http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/grolier/
I hope things are going well for you and that you have a great week.
Audrey
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Working with Dewey - 200s
Greetings!
This week we will tackle the 200s and do our best to get them in shape. For most of us this section – the Religion and Bible section – is plentiful. We are Christian schools and we have access to Christian materials and can freely add in this section.
Below this post is the Dewey section of the 200s. I keep in mind that I have an elementary school library and not a university library or a theology major’s library. I can probably not worry about 210, 230, or 250. So, starting with 200, in this number would go anything that doesn’t really fit in any of the other sections. This is a more generic section. It is very likely that you won’t use this number, so don’t worry about it.
On to the 220’s. In this section we have copies of The Holy Bible, and a set or two of The Bible Story books. You probably have at least one set of these blue books in your library and possibly even in your classroom libraries, too. Older people often cull their libraries and like to donate these to schools. We also put our ‘Bible Biographies’ here. The books that are written about Bible characters such as Ruth, Samuel, Esther, and so forth call ‘Bible Biographies’. We have quite a collection at our school and have actually divided them into Old Testament and New Testament characters. If you don’t have too many of these I recommend that you keep them all together.
Next would be the 240s. I see lots of devotional books in schools that I visit and here is the place they belong. Put them in 242 and they will look nice all together.
Mission books belong in the 260s – in 266 to be specific.
If you have any books on the history of the church or history of Christianity, put them in 270. Books about the Waldenses specifically go in 272.
Books about Seventh-day Adventists go in 286.7, and other Christian denominations would be in 280.
If you have books about other religions, put them in 290.
Now, what should you weed out? This might be tough for you, since we never want to throw away Christian books. It might appear as though we are throwing away Christianity! Well, don’t worry about it. You are putting your house in order.
So, how many Bibles do you have? How many do you need? Are any of the Bibles in bad condition? Missing pages? Marked up and difficult to read? Here is a place to start. How many sets of The Bible Story do you need? Most schools only need one set. Choose one that is complete and attractive and get rid of the others.
How many devotional books do you need? I have been in small schools that have so many devotional books that each student could have two or three. Look at them and choose the ones that are child-friendly. Any that are for adults can be donated to the church and let the adults take them and read them. (Don’t accept them back in a year or two!) In fact, take a look and take ALL the books that are on an adult level to the church. These are probably too difficult for the children to read or not interesting for them and they take up space on the shelf that is needed for other things.
What about our Ellen White books? We actually have a separate section for Ellen White’s books. Take a look at all of the ones you have. I would expect that you have multiple copies of many of her books. Pull out one good set of the Conflict of the Ages series, one set of the Testimonies, and one of any of the others that will actually be used in the curriculum. Send the rest to the church library or put them on a table for members to take. Just because she wrote it does not mean that it is meant for children. Keep what you NEED and donate what you don’t need.
Now look and see what the other books look like. Discard any that are too adult, have few pictures or illustrations and tiny print, are too old or beat up, or aren’t attractive.
I hope this is a great week for you.
Audrey
200s
200 Religion
210 Philosophy and theory of religion
212 Bible atlas
220 The Bible
220.92 Bible Biographies (or can separate OT 221.9’2 from NT 225.9’2)
221 The Shoebox Kids, Guide’s Greatest, etc
230 Christianity and Christian theology
240 Christian moral and devotional theology
242 Devotional Literature (or can separate Daily Devotionals 242.2)
248 Christian experience
250 Christian orders and local church (preaching, texts of sermons, pastoral work and office, parish administration, pastoral care of families and kinds of persons)
260 Social and ecclesiastical theology (sacraments, other rites, religious education, spiritual renewal, public worship, associations for religious work)
266 Mission Stories
270 History of Christianity and the Christian church
272 Waldenses
280 Christian denominations and sects; general Christianity
286.7 Seventh-day Adventist denomination
290 Other religions (Greek, Roman, Judaism, Islam, etc.)
This week we will tackle the 200s and do our best to get them in shape. For most of us this section – the Religion and Bible section – is plentiful. We are Christian schools and we have access to Christian materials and can freely add in this section.
Below this post is the Dewey section of the 200s. I keep in mind that I have an elementary school library and not a university library or a theology major’s library. I can probably not worry about 210, 230, or 250. So, starting with 200, in this number would go anything that doesn’t really fit in any of the other sections. This is a more generic section. It is very likely that you won’t use this number, so don’t worry about it.
On to the 220’s. In this section we have copies of The Holy Bible, and a set or two of The Bible Story books. You probably have at least one set of these blue books in your library and possibly even in your classroom libraries, too. Older people often cull their libraries and like to donate these to schools. We also put our ‘Bible Biographies’ here. The books that are written about Bible characters such as Ruth, Samuel, Esther, and so forth call ‘Bible Biographies’. We have quite a collection at our school and have actually divided them into Old Testament and New Testament characters. If you don’t have too many of these I recommend that you keep them all together.
Next would be the 240s. I see lots of devotional books in schools that I visit and here is the place they belong. Put them in 242 and they will look nice all together.
Mission books belong in the 260s – in 266 to be specific.
If you have any books on the history of the church or history of Christianity, put them in 270. Books about the Waldenses specifically go in 272.
Books about Seventh-day Adventists go in 286.7, and other Christian denominations would be in 280.
If you have books about other religions, put them in 290.
Now, what should you weed out? This might be tough for you, since we never want to throw away Christian books. It might appear as though we are throwing away Christianity! Well, don’t worry about it. You are putting your house in order.
So, how many Bibles do you have? How many do you need? Are any of the Bibles in bad condition? Missing pages? Marked up and difficult to read? Here is a place to start. How many sets of The Bible Story do you need? Most schools only need one set. Choose one that is complete and attractive and get rid of the others.
How many devotional books do you need? I have been in small schools that have so many devotional books that each student could have two or three. Look at them and choose the ones that are child-friendly. Any that are for adults can be donated to the church and let the adults take them and read them. (Don’t accept them back in a year or two!) In fact, take a look and take ALL the books that are on an adult level to the church. These are probably too difficult for the children to read or not interesting for them and they take up space on the shelf that is needed for other things.
What about our Ellen White books? We actually have a separate section for Ellen White’s books. Take a look at all of the ones you have. I would expect that you have multiple copies of many of her books. Pull out one good set of the Conflict of the Ages series, one set of the Testimonies, and one of any of the others that will actually be used in the curriculum. Send the rest to the church library or put them on a table for members to take. Just because she wrote it does not mean that it is meant for children. Keep what you NEED and donate what you don’t need.
Now look and see what the other books look like. Discard any that are too adult, have few pictures or illustrations and tiny print, are too old or beat up, or aren’t attractive.
I hope this is a great week for you.
Audrey
200s
200 Religion
210 Philosophy and theory of religion
212 Bible atlas
220 The Bible
220.92 Bible Biographies (or can separate OT 221.9’2 from NT 225.9’2)
221 The Shoebox Kids, Guide’s Greatest, etc
230 Christianity and Christian theology
240 Christian moral and devotional theology
242 Devotional Literature (or can separate Daily Devotionals 242.2)
248 Christian experience
250 Christian orders and local church (preaching, texts of sermons, pastoral work and office, parish administration, pastoral care of families and kinds of persons)
260 Social and ecclesiastical theology (sacraments, other rites, religious education, spiritual renewal, public worship, associations for religious work)
266 Mission Stories
270 History of Christianity and the Christian church
272 Waldenses
280 Christian denominations and sects; general Christianity
286.7 Seventh-day Adventist denomination
290 Other religions (Greek, Roman, Judaism, Islam, etc.)
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Working with Dewey - 100s
Greetings!
I understand that you might not be familiar with Dewey and the different sections and also wonder what in the world should I put in each section? What do I weed out? Each week we will have a section or two for you to take a look at and make quick decisions. I’ll help you with ideas of what to discard and what to keep and what to add to make your library attractive and more functional for your students.
At the end of this post is a quick overview of the Dewey 100’s. As I look over this, I can see that in an elementary setting we probably don’t need anything in divisions 110 – 140, so that makes things a bit easier. There might not be much in the 160 division – Logic – either. This is not the logic puzzle category. Logic puzzles will go in the 700’s section. As I look at the 180 and 190 section, this is also not a usual category for an elementary school, so we will concentrate on the 150’s and 170’s here.
The 150’s include books on emotions and dealing with these feelings.
The 170’s section will have books on family relationships including marriage and divorce, friendships, and the vices and virtues. Check your library and see if you have any books to help students whose parents are going through a divorce. Are any students having trouble making friends?
This is not a large section and if you have a small handful of books here you will be fine as far as the ‘official Dewey distribution’ goes.
Here are a few books that you might consider for your library.
1. Boom by Michael Ross, Editor. The subtitle is “A guy’s guide to growing up”. This is a great book for guys who are going through puberty and the book helps answer a lot of intimate questions that boys have and don’t know how to ask others. It is published by Focus on the Family and has a religious bent. A page on having sex has two sides – one side is what Hollywood says and the other side is what God says. I highly recommend this book along with the ‘girl’ version titled Bloom by Susie Shellenberger also published by Focus on the Family.
2. Young Man: a Christian Boy’s Guide to Teenage Sexuality and Young Woman: A Christian Girl’s guide to Teenage Sexuality are written by Jonathan and Ana Gallagher and are the Adventist counterpart of Boom and Bloom. We don’t have either of these books in our library at present. The books are quite attractive and well done but they appear to be more appropriate for high school rather than elementary.
3. You have heard of Steven Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This book and others like it would go in this 170’s section. But I recommend Sean Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective TEENS. Sean is Steven’s son and this title is much more attractive to our students because of the word ‘TEENS’ in it. Even though our students aren’t yet teens, they are approaching them quickly and want to think of themselves as teens. It is entirely possible that they will pick this book up and read parts of it.
4. PowerKiDs press has a series of books on feelings and problems that students encounter in life. The titles in this set begin with “How to deal with . . .” and include Anger, Bullies, Competitiveness, Discrimination, Feeling Left Out, Fighting, Hurt Feelings, Insults, Jealousy, Lying, Secrets, and Teasing. These books can be bought individually and are only about 24 pages each. This series fit nicely in the 150’s.
So, how do I weed in this section? If you have any copies of the old books titled “On Becoming a Woman” or “On Becoming a Man” by Shryock in your library, this would be a good time to get rid of them and update to the suggestions above. Check publication dates. Anything published before 1990 would be books to look over and see if they are still valuable to your library. Check the covers of the books for wear and tear. If they are old and beat up, toss them. Are pages missing? Toss it. Is the book in bad condition, but popular at your school? Can you get a better copy or a newer edition? Toss the old one and get a new one.
Each week I’ll have ideas for you to get your library into shape a little at a time. Don’t be intimidated. You can do it.
Have a great week,
Audrey (with help from Joy)
100 Philosophy, psychology
110 Metaphysics (cosmology, space, time, change, structure, force and energy, number and quantity)
120 Epistemology, causation and humankind (the unconscious and subconscious, origin and destiny of human souls, determinism and indeterminism)
130 Parapsychology and occultism (also phrenology, dreams and mysteries, etc)
140 Specific philosophical schools (humanism, sensationalism, naturalism, pantheism, eclecticism, liberalism)
150 Psychology – Emotions, Death, Dying, Sadness
160 Logic
170 Ethics (ethics of family relationships, occupational ethics, recreation and leisure, sex and reproduction, social relations, consumption, etc)
177.6 Friendship, friends
179.8 Vices – anger, cheating, covetousness, envy, hatred, jealousy, pride, sloth
179.9 Virtues – gratitude, cheerfulness, gentleness, honesty, humility, modesty, patience, prudence, self-control, self-reliance, toleration
180 Ancient, medieval and eastern philosophy
190 Modern western philosophy
I understand that you might not be familiar with Dewey and the different sections and also wonder what in the world should I put in each section? What do I weed out? Each week we will have a section or two for you to take a look at and make quick decisions. I’ll help you with ideas of what to discard and what to keep and what to add to make your library attractive and more functional for your students.
At the end of this post is a quick overview of the Dewey 100’s. As I look over this, I can see that in an elementary setting we probably don’t need anything in divisions 110 – 140, so that makes things a bit easier. There might not be much in the 160 division – Logic – either. This is not the logic puzzle category. Logic puzzles will go in the 700’s section. As I look at the 180 and 190 section, this is also not a usual category for an elementary school, so we will concentrate on the 150’s and 170’s here.
The 150’s include books on emotions and dealing with these feelings.
The 170’s section will have books on family relationships including marriage and divorce, friendships, and the vices and virtues. Check your library and see if you have any books to help students whose parents are going through a divorce. Are any students having trouble making friends?
This is not a large section and if you have a small handful of books here you will be fine as far as the ‘official Dewey distribution’ goes.
Here are a few books that you might consider for your library.
1. Boom by Michael Ross, Editor. The subtitle is “A guy’s guide to growing up”. This is a great book for guys who are going through puberty and the book helps answer a lot of intimate questions that boys have and don’t know how to ask others. It is published by Focus on the Family and has a religious bent. A page on having sex has two sides – one side is what Hollywood says and the other side is what God says. I highly recommend this book along with the ‘girl’ version titled Bloom by Susie Shellenberger also published by Focus on the Family.
2. Young Man: a Christian Boy’s Guide to Teenage Sexuality and Young Woman: A Christian Girl’s guide to Teenage Sexuality are written by Jonathan and Ana Gallagher and are the Adventist counterpart of Boom and Bloom. We don’t have either of these books in our library at present. The books are quite attractive and well done but they appear to be more appropriate for high school rather than elementary.
3. You have heard of Steven Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This book and others like it would go in this 170’s section. But I recommend Sean Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective TEENS. Sean is Steven’s son and this title is much more attractive to our students because of the word ‘TEENS’ in it. Even though our students aren’t yet teens, they are approaching them quickly and want to think of themselves as teens. It is entirely possible that they will pick this book up and read parts of it.
4. PowerKiDs press has a series of books on feelings and problems that students encounter in life. The titles in this set begin with “How to deal with . . .” and include Anger, Bullies, Competitiveness, Discrimination, Feeling Left Out, Fighting, Hurt Feelings, Insults, Jealousy, Lying, Secrets, and Teasing. These books can be bought individually and are only about 24 pages each. This series fit nicely in the 150’s.
So, how do I weed in this section? If you have any copies of the old books titled “On Becoming a Woman” or “On Becoming a Man” by Shryock in your library, this would be a good time to get rid of them and update to the suggestions above. Check publication dates. Anything published before 1990 would be books to look over and see if they are still valuable to your library. Check the covers of the books for wear and tear. If they are old and beat up, toss them. Are pages missing? Toss it. Is the book in bad condition, but popular at your school? Can you get a better copy or a newer edition? Toss the old one and get a new one.
Each week I’ll have ideas for you to get your library into shape a little at a time. Don’t be intimidated. You can do it.
Have a great week,
Audrey (with help from Joy)
100 Philosophy, psychology
110 Metaphysics (cosmology, space, time, change, structure, force and energy, number and quantity)
120 Epistemology, causation and humankind (the unconscious and subconscious, origin and destiny of human souls, determinism and indeterminism)
130 Parapsychology and occultism (also phrenology, dreams and mysteries, etc)
140 Specific philosophical schools (humanism, sensationalism, naturalism, pantheism, eclecticism, liberalism)
150 Psychology – Emotions, Death, Dying, Sadness
160 Logic
170 Ethics (ethics of family relationships, occupational ethics, recreation and leisure, sex and reproduction, social relations, consumption, etc)
177.6 Friendship, friends
179.8 Vices – anger, cheating, covetousness, envy, hatred, jealousy, pride, sloth
179.9 Virtues – gratitude, cheerfulness, gentleness, honesty, humility, modesty, patience, prudence, self-control, self-reliance, toleration
180 Ancient, medieval and eastern philosophy
190 Modern western philosophy
Monday, March 16, 2015
Books Boys (and Girls) Like
Greetings!
Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to find books that boys like and will read? I hate to label books as ‘boy books’ or ‘girl books’, but face it, books about cupcakes and girls being unkind to other girls in school really don’t appeal to most boys. It seems that girls who are readers will read anything – books that appeal to both girls and boys. Boys will seldom pick up a book with girls as the main character. So, I went looking for authors and titles that appeal to many boys in my school. One real plus for purchasing these is that the girls will probably read them, too!
One suggestion was the author Ralph Moody (1898 – 1982). You or your parents may have read his books as young people. Little Britches, Man of the Family, and The Home Ranch are three of his books. Most of his books are set in the American West and the ones I mentioned above are autobiographical. If you like these, they continue with Mary Emma & Company, The Fields of Home, Shaking the Nickel Bush, The Dry Divide, and Horse of a Different Color. You may even already have some of these in your library, but they may look old and dry. I suggest you begin with Little Britches and just start reading that book aloud to your students. This is very likely to get them started and interested in reading more from Ralph Moody.
Another author that was suggested to me is John D. Fitzgerald (1906 – 1988). He wrote a series called The Great Brain which are also loosely based on his childhood. The main character – The Great Brain – is based on his mischievous older brother, Tom. There is a movie of the first book on YouTube with Jimmy Osmond playing the main character.
Roland Smith (1951 - ) is really one of my favorite authors. He writes exciting adventures and I haven’t noticed any problems with language in the ones that I have. Roland lives near Portland, Oregon. He has had some very interesting jobs over his lifetime which translate into his books. He was a zookeeper and also was one of those who worked to save wildlife after Exxon Valdez spill. He writes both fiction and nonfiction. My favorites are Peak, Jack’s Run, Zach’s Lie, The Storm Runner series, and Legwork (only available in Kindle edition). I am looking forward to a sequel of Peak called The Edge which is coming Fall 2015. He has also written a few alphabet books that are beautifully illustrated. His book Sea Otter Rescue is the story of his work helping to rescuing sea otters after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Will Hobbs is an author I happened upon in the public library. I picked up one of his books and read it, then returned to see what else he had written. Then I bought a bunch of them for our school library. He writes for upper elementary, middle school, and young adult readers. When students need to read an adventure story, I point them to his books. So far, he has written nineteen books for young people and two picture books for younger ones. His goal is to “take young people into the outdoors and engage their sense of wonder” so he sets his stories in wild places he knows from firsthand experience. He has won multiple awards for some of his books and some have been translated into other languages. I suggest Crossing the Wire, Far North, Jason’s Gold, Take Me to the River, River Thunder, and Leaving Protection.
If you boys and girls like to read about war, what about a true story about a Seventh-day Adventist man? The Seventh Escape by Jan Doward will fit that requirement. This is the story of Walter Loge’s escape from a prison camp hoping to reunite with his wife and children and might be a great read aloud when studying World War 2 (or any other time). The Adventist Book Center sells this book and if you go online, to their site, you can read the first chapter.
Another World War 2 true story is the story of John Weidner, a Seventh-day Adventist who helped save the lives of Jews and other who were fleeing the Nazis. Check out Flee the Captor by Herbert Ford.
If you haven’t read any books by Farley Mowat, you really must find one and get started. I recommend beginning with Owls in the Family. This is the story of Farley’s boyhood and the animals he collected in his Canadian prairie hometown. Be prepared to laugh and even cry as you read it. It is a wonderful read aloud, but I have a difficult time not bawling at the end. No spoilers here. The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be has a few of the same incidents in it, but focuses more on his dog than the owls. Lost in the Barrens is a wonderful survival story about a Canadian teen and an Inuit teen who decide to go on a quick adventure rather than staying in the spot where they were told.
Finally, keep in mind the classic ‘captured by Indians’ stories. You really must have a copy of Swift Arrow by Josephine Cunnington Edwards and Spotted Boy and the Comanches by Mabel Earp Cason. Countless SDA teachers have read these stories to their students and loved them. Students then check these books out and read them again. (and again!) I used to wonder what I would do if I were captured by Indians, but knew the chances were slim in Orlando, Florida.
I hope you can find some books here that will appeal to your boys (and girls) and get them started reading. If you have other suggestions, I would love to add them to my list.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to find books that boys like and will read? I hate to label books as ‘boy books’ or ‘girl books’, but face it, books about cupcakes and girls being unkind to other girls in school really don’t appeal to most boys. It seems that girls who are readers will read anything – books that appeal to both girls and boys. Boys will seldom pick up a book with girls as the main character. So, I went looking for authors and titles that appeal to many boys in my school. One real plus for purchasing these is that the girls will probably read them, too!
One suggestion was the author Ralph Moody (1898 – 1982). You or your parents may have read his books as young people. Little Britches, Man of the Family, and The Home Ranch are three of his books. Most of his books are set in the American West and the ones I mentioned above are autobiographical. If you like these, they continue with Mary Emma & Company, The Fields of Home, Shaking the Nickel Bush, The Dry Divide, and Horse of a Different Color. You may even already have some of these in your library, but they may look old and dry. I suggest you begin with Little Britches and just start reading that book aloud to your students. This is very likely to get them started and interested in reading more from Ralph Moody.
Another author that was suggested to me is John D. Fitzgerald (1906 – 1988). He wrote a series called The Great Brain which are also loosely based on his childhood. The main character – The Great Brain – is based on his mischievous older brother, Tom. There is a movie of the first book on YouTube with Jimmy Osmond playing the main character.
Roland Smith (1951 - ) is really one of my favorite authors. He writes exciting adventures and I haven’t noticed any problems with language in the ones that I have. Roland lives near Portland, Oregon. He has had some very interesting jobs over his lifetime which translate into his books. He was a zookeeper and also was one of those who worked to save wildlife after Exxon Valdez spill. He writes both fiction and nonfiction. My favorites are Peak, Jack’s Run, Zach’s Lie, The Storm Runner series, and Legwork (only available in Kindle edition). I am looking forward to a sequel of Peak called The Edge which is coming Fall 2015. He has also written a few alphabet books that are beautifully illustrated. His book Sea Otter Rescue is the story of his work helping to rescuing sea otters after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Will Hobbs is an author I happened upon in the public library. I picked up one of his books and read it, then returned to see what else he had written. Then I bought a bunch of them for our school library. He writes for upper elementary, middle school, and young adult readers. When students need to read an adventure story, I point them to his books. So far, he has written nineteen books for young people and two picture books for younger ones. His goal is to “take young people into the outdoors and engage their sense of wonder” so he sets his stories in wild places he knows from firsthand experience. He has won multiple awards for some of his books and some have been translated into other languages. I suggest Crossing the Wire, Far North, Jason’s Gold, Take Me to the River, River Thunder, and Leaving Protection.
If you boys and girls like to read about war, what about a true story about a Seventh-day Adventist man? The Seventh Escape by Jan Doward will fit that requirement. This is the story of Walter Loge’s escape from a prison camp hoping to reunite with his wife and children and might be a great read aloud when studying World War 2 (or any other time). The Adventist Book Center sells this book and if you go online, to their site, you can read the first chapter.
Another World War 2 true story is the story of John Weidner, a Seventh-day Adventist who helped save the lives of Jews and other who were fleeing the Nazis. Check out Flee the Captor by Herbert Ford.
If you haven’t read any books by Farley Mowat, you really must find one and get started. I recommend beginning with Owls in the Family. This is the story of Farley’s boyhood and the animals he collected in his Canadian prairie hometown. Be prepared to laugh and even cry as you read it. It is a wonderful read aloud, but I have a difficult time not bawling at the end. No spoilers here. The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be has a few of the same incidents in it, but focuses more on his dog than the owls. Lost in the Barrens is a wonderful survival story about a Canadian teen and an Inuit teen who decide to go on a quick adventure rather than staying in the spot where they were told.
Finally, keep in mind the classic ‘captured by Indians’ stories. You really must have a copy of Swift Arrow by Josephine Cunnington Edwards and Spotted Boy and the Comanches by Mabel Earp Cason. Countless SDA teachers have read these stories to their students and loved them. Students then check these books out and read them again. (and again!) I used to wonder what I would do if I were captured by Indians, but knew the chances were slim in Orlando, Florida.
I hope you can find some books here that will appeal to your boys (and girls) and get them started reading. If you have other suggestions, I would love to add them to my list.
Have a great week.
Audrey
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