Reminder from the CHA Library

As the year winds down, I wanted to remind you that all CHA library books are due Friday, May 31.  Reminders have been going home all week.  If you have questions about a lost book, please contact me lduffina@chesnuthillacademy.com.  If books aren't returned, your account will be billed (or you may contact me to get a replacement.)  Thank you!

New Books!

A CHA parent generously donated money to the library for the purchase of new books.  The students were able to peruse and hear some of the new titles as well as check them out this week.  Many of the books flew off the shelves, and eager children shared them with one another.  The older students were challenged to read some of the Sasquatch nominees, while the younger students flocked to the poetry books.

Celebrating Award Winners

The American Library Association recently announced their Newbery and Caldecott Award-Winning books.  Primary students heard This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen as well as the Theodor Geisel winner, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.  Students in the third grade and older heard excerpts from Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan, this year's Newbery winner.  This story is told from the perspective of Ivan, a gorilla for many years who lived in a shopping mall.  All these books prompted discussion about what makes a "good book."

New Titles in the Library

Mrs. Duffina has been busy cataloging new books to add to our CHA library collection.  These books have been donated by individual students as birthday books and donations from the book fair.  A big thank you goes to CHAPTER for donating many new titles ranging from Kindergarten reading level all the way through Middle School.  Not only were fiction books donated, but we also acquired quite a few new non-fiction titles.  Mrs. Duffina shared many of them with the students, and they were quickly checked out!

Folktales in LIbrary

In preparation for the Cultural Fair, the students have been hearing and discussing folktales from the countries they are studying in their homerooms.  Kindergarten students heard the short story, "Will You Marry Me, Mouse?" and tales from Goha the Wise Fool both based from Turkey.  First grade students enjoyed hearing The Girl Who Wore Too Much and the beginning of The Tale of Two Rice Birds, traditional folktales from Thailand.  The second grade students heard one version of Baba Yaga and Bearhead which are folktales from Russia.  In preparation for their study of Spain, third grade students heard Medio Pollito and The Beautiful Butterfly.  Fourth grade students completed some research on the Internet as a group and heard The Frog King from Kenya.  After looking up information on various atlases about Egypt, the students heard and discussed two myths.
Students will continue to hear folktales and complete work from an atlas for the next week or two.

National Bullying Prevention Month

Did you know that October is National Bullying Prevention Month?  In library this week, students heard age-appropriate literature and discussed elements of bullying.  It has been wonderful hearing all of the different solutions the students come up with as they talk about what was going on in the books.  The younger students heard The Tale of Sir Dragon by Jean Pendziwol.  Second and third graders heard Bully by Judith Caseley, and the fourth and Middle School students heard Bully by Patiricia Polacco.

Scholastic Book Fair is Coming

In library this week, students viewed an authors' video on the Scholastic Book Fair.  Students and teachers will be filling out their wish lists early next week.

The Book Fair will be open Wednesday, October 17 from 3:00 - 5:30, Thursday, October 18 from 3:00 - 5:30, and Friday, October 19 from 3:00 - 7:30.

If you're interested in previewing some of the titles that may be available, please click on the link of the book fair link at the bottom of the Chestnut Hill homepage.

Thank you for supporting CHA!

This was our first week of checking out books in the library.  Most students were able to find a book that interested them.  Please note that the policy is that students may check out one book a week. If your child needs more than a week to check out the book, they can return it for renewal or just let me know. At this point, Kindergarteners are only choosing picture books.  I will have them start selecting non-fiction later in the year. 

Below are the check-out days for your child’s homeroom class:

Mondays:  Mrs. Kim’s class

Tuesdays:  Mrs. Brown’s class

Wednesdays:  Mr. McCullough’s class, Mrs. Taylor’s class,  Ms. Conrad’s class, Mrs. Douglas’s class, Mrs. Setting’s class

Thursdays:  Mrs. Anderson’s class, Mrs. Box’s class, Ms. Lundberg’s class, Mrs. Newell’s class

Fridays:  Mrs. Daffara’s class, Mrs. Lodwick’s class, Middle School, Mrs. Johansen’s class, Mrs. Prichard’s class

If students want to turn in their library books early, there is a slot to the right of my computer in the library. 

Library/Journalism/Newspaper

Hello.  I am Lisa Duffina, and I am the Library Media Specialist at Chestnut Hill Academy.  This is my tenth year at CHA, and I'm excited to start my new "post" as librarian.  This week in library, we went over procedures and expectations of the library.  I also shared how we will have "birthday books" this year.  If there is a book that our library doesn't have, and your child has a birthday, why not think about donating a book to us?  We will share it with the class and then have it available for checkout!  I read Double Trouble in Walla Walla by Andrew Clements to the second - MS students.  My son "donated" this book to the library -- and it's one I always enjoy reading at the beginning of the year.  We will start checking out books next week.  The students are allowed to check out one book a week.   More information on check out days will be posted in next week's blog.

Middle School Interviews Boeing's Wendy Lacy

Middle school students did a great job with their press conference today. They interviewed Boeing Test Program Manager Wendy Lacy. They asked great questions and conducted themselves professionally. We will begin writing our news stories in the upcoming weeks.

Middle Schoolers Prepare for Press Conference

Middle Schoolers are busy at work preparing for next week's press conference with Boeing Engineer Wendy Lacy!

Middle Schoolers Get the Scoop on Prof. Watermelon

Middle Schoolers are writing interview questions in hopes of getting some never-before-told information about Prof. Watermelon. Students learned that if you want that kind of information from the source you are interviewing, you must put the source at ease. We listened to Oprah's interview with J.K Rowling as an example with this. Oprah is a master interviewer! We could learn a lot from her skills!