• Mrs. Guanci’s Class Narratives
• Mrs. Hayes’ Class Narratives
• Miss Smith’s Class Narratives
• Miss Smith’s Class Tidepool

If you need help viewing these books, please see this post with instructions for both computers and iOS devices like the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

Mrs. Mahoney	Mrs. Mirra	Mrs. Coram
Mrs. Daly	Mrs. Downie	Mrs. Churchill
Mrs. Detzel	Mrs. Barnstein	Mrs. Desmond

Let me take a moment to highlight some of the truly amazing feats that these stellar volunteers accomplished this year:

• Checking out, checking in, and reshelving 22,908 books,
• Pulling, filling, and managing 1,643 holds (although we’re still trying to figure out how that Hold system works! Right, Lisa???),
• Changing the call # and spine labels on the entire Easy Nonfiction collection (that’s close to 1,000 books!),
• Stamping and barcoding approximately 600 new books that were added to the collection,
• Smiling through every task,
• and making every single person who walked into the LTC feel welcome.

There is so much more that I have not mentioned here but I think you get the picture. I could not have done all of that on my own and still teach students. Thank you for your time, thank you for your willingness and dedication to Pine Glen, and thank you for helping to make the LTC an inviting space and an invaluable resource.

This year our really big library and technology project with the second grade was the culture project. Inspired by work shared by teachers at Fox Hill during a Social Studies Curriculum Council meeting, this was an in-depth project involving instruction by the second grade teachers, librarian, and technology specialist. Students researched and learned about one of the cultures their family came from, nonfiction text features, and finding appropriate images online, then inserting those and text into a finished electronic book on the iPad. Many students also used their voices to share some of the words they learned in the language of the country that they studied.

Click on the links below to access the books created by the second grade students!

• Miss Anderson’s class
• Mrs. Keough-Lane’s class
• Miss Varrell’s class

If you need help viewing these books, please see this post with instructions for both computers and iOS devices like the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

Many of the projects this year were created in Book Creator for iPad, which creates an ePub file, which is an electronic book format. The advantage of the electronic book format is that it allows students to insert audio and video into their books. The negative is that there aren’t many options for how you can read those books. Up until a couple of months ago, your only option was using iBooks on an iOS device. Now, fortunately, there’s another option on the computer. This post will describe both ways of reading student work created in Book Creator.

iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)

First, you’ll need to download iBooks from the App Store. It’s completely free!

Next, you’ll need to find an ePub file to download. Here’s the first grade graphic novel that I posted earlier this year!

After tapping on the link, you’ll see a screen that gives basic information and gives you a download button that you should tap.

This will bring you to an Open In screen. If it says Open in iBooks, tap that. Otherwise tap Open in… and then choose Open in iBooks from the list that pops up.

iBooks will open up with your new book ready to read!

Computer (PC or Mac)

If you don’t have it already, you’ll need to download the Chrome web browser by Google.

Download the ePub file and save it somewhere easy to find again. I use the Downloads folder or the Desktop.

You’ll then need to add the Readium Extension to Chrome. In order to add it, you’ll need to be signed in to a free Google account.

After downloading, it should create a New Tab on the Apps page. Click on Readium.

Click the Add Items button

Click Choose Files, then find your epub where you had saved it. Then click Add Book. Now you can read your book!

Later this year, Apple will release a new version of Mac OS X that will have iBooks built in, so this is just a temporary measure for reading on Mac. After that it will work much more like iOS.

On Wednesday, June 19, author and illustrator and creator of Lunch Lady will be visiting Pine Glen students!

Jarrett J. Krosoczka has been passionate about storytelling through words and pictures since he was a kid.  Jarrett is a two-time winner of the Children’s Choice Book Award for the Third to Fourth Grade Book of the Year and is the author and illustrator of twenty books including the Lunch Lady graphic novels and the just released Platypus Police Squad middle-grade chapter book series. Jarrett’s TED Talk on his journey from boy to artist has been viewed more than a half-million times. He is also the host of The Book Report with JJK on SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live, a weekly segment celebrating books, authors and reading. His work was recently featured on the front page of The Boston Globe and on NPR’s All Things Considered. It has also been recommended by national publications such as Newsweek, The New York Times and USA Today.

Students may purchase author books to have signed and take home. Please print and fill out the order form and return it with the proper funds by Wednesday, June 5 (one day late is okay.)

Smore allowed us to write assignment descriptions, include visuals, and add links to resources and documents. Plus, the finished Smore provides a link so we can add it to our Symbaloo and students can find it easily.

Check out the two different projects below. I think we’ll assign more projects this way. What do you think?

5th Grade 13 Colonies

4th Grade Mexico and Canada Project

Pine Glen students are allowed to borrow books over the summer as long as they don’t have any overdue books. Fifth grade students can return their Pine Glen books to the Middle School in the fall

Pine Glen Library & Technology Center’s Summer Reading Program:

Burlington Public Library’s Summer Reading Program

Starting on June 24, kids can sign up for the Burlington Public Library’s Summer Reading Program. By reading this summer, you can win lots of fun prizes and incentives.

Read Your Way to Fenway!

Hey Red Sox fans! Want a chance to win Red Sox tickets this summer? Play the Red Sox Reading Game!

Pick up a card from me at the library. Write down all required information including an educator who has made a difference in your life and has been important to your education. Then list nine books you pledge to read over the summer. Then simply mail your card back to the MTA. Mailing in your card enters you and the educator you nominated for a chance to win Red Sox tickets! If you lose your card or need an additional card, one can be printed from http://readingmatters.org/. Deadline is July 13th!

Not only did I want to provide signage for the collection but I also wanted to make sure that the signs were useful and meaningful to the students, not just to me. That meant clear, simple, and visual signs. After lots of consideration, I decided to ask the Pine Glen PTO to help me purchase a lot of white cardboard magazine holders. I created signs that include the Dewey subject, the Dewey number and images to match. Then I printed them and attached them on the back side of the magazine holder. Fortunately for me, there is plenty of room on the shelves for these sign holders.

I’ve only just begun labeling the shelves but I already have seen how much easier it is for even the youngest students to find what they are looking for and that is my ultimate goal: developing independent users of the library space and collection.

Thank you Pine Glen PTO for once again supporting the Pine Glen LTC with the vision of creating a friendly and inviting space and turning your kids into enthusiastic and effective library users.