Why go to the Book Fair Online?

For those of you wondering where the Book Fair went, the physical Scholastic Book Fair is packed up and ready to be picked up by that wonderful Clifford truck next Wednesday.  Yet, if you still want to make sure you get that Minecraft book, you are in luck!  The Scholastic Book Fair is ONLINE until April 4.  You can shop all the books that were here at the school plus thousands more! All you need to do is go to this link -http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/jeffersonelementaryschool177 

In addition, all of the fundraising benefits of shopping at the physical fair will apply to shopping the online fair. Our library will receive benefits, and we will be able to buy more books for all students to read.  Thank you for participating in our Book Fair!!

At the NCCE 2014 Conference! Looking for great new ideas to bring back to Jefferson Library. NCCE 2014

2014 Caldecott and Newbery Winners

Last week, the fourth graders read and rated some of the many, many children's picture books of 2013. They liked some better than others, but we were surprised by the winner of the Caldecott Medal, Locomotive, by Brian Floca.  The illustrations are wonderful, but the story was not so gripping as to keep their attention.  Many gave the highest rating to Journey, by Aaron Becker, so we were not surprised that the Caldecott committee chose it for a Caldecott Honor.  I put together a Prezi presentation on the winners of the Caldecott Medal and Honors, and included the winner of the Newbery, Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo, because I am a huge fan of her books and recently read this one for fun.  You can find my presentation here.  If you have not used Prezi before, take a look! What a great tool for anyone looking for a more interesting way to present materials besides PowerPoint.

Mock Caldecott

Next week the fourth grade students will evaluate some new books before the Caldecott committee makes their announcement on January 27. Here are the titles I selected for them to read. Thank you to Village Books in Bellingham for having such a wonderful selection of books, as always, and a big thank you to Watch.Connect. Read. for posting their own Mock Caldecott list for me to use!

KAFE's Stars of Christmas

Stars of Christmas Voting Time! Get out there and vote for your favorite choir! There are two entries from Jefferson, so they need you to vote this week, every day, on KAFE 104.1!

http://kafe.com/2013/11/21/kafe-stars-of-christmas/

Why not try a little coding this week?

The Hour of Code is upon us, so I thought that I would give it a try...and it was fun! Who knew that the coding that I learned in elementary school on a large cumbersome box of a computer is still applicable today.  I remember using 1s and 0s to get that little turtle to get to the other side of the screen, and that feeling of success is what the Hour of Code is all about.  Next week is Computer Science Education Week, and the reality is that we need to teach kids to code, so that they can learn to think.  Computers are so easy today, that no one thinks when they use them.  If we don't teach students to code, they will never understand how those apps are working, and therefore, they will never wonder about how to make a better app.    I don't have to know how a combustion engine works to drive a car, but I do need to understand it in order to develop a better, more efficient engine.  We inspire creativity by teaching how something works.

The Scholastic Book Fair is here!

We are open today (Friday, November 22) until 4:00 pm. Also shop here on Monday and Tuesday until 4:00. Special Family Night on Monday - Open until 8:00 pm. You can shop our online fair at any time until December 2. Find great books online and also in person while helping raise money for more books for the Jefferson Library.