Tuesday, December 12th, is the annual Book Out Spirit Day fundraiser for the F.AVE media center! Shop at Little Shop of Stories anytime on Dec. 12th, tell them you are there for F.AVE, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the F.AVE media center! So, get your holiday book shopping done, support our F.AVE media center, and shop locally on December 12th.
I love collaborating and helping teachers find great books for their students. Ms. Prophet and I work together a few times a year, and she has awesome ideas. This year, she told me that she wanted to pull her students out of their reading ruts, find some new books that would get them excited about reading, but challenge them at the same time. I chose books from our Mock Newbery List, high quality narrative non-fiction, and some of our Junior Library Guild selections for the kids to "taste." Parents came into her classroom, brought snacks, decorated with tablecloths and flowers. The students had 4 courses: appetizers, beverages, main course, dessert. Each table has books of different genres: non-fiction, historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, and realistic fiction. Student rotated around to each table, choosing books, reading parts of them and filling out a reflection form. Later that day, students came to the media center and checked out one of the books that they tasted earlier. Her students were really excited to check out their selections. After check out they were spread out all over the library, diving into their new selections. Attached below are the winners of the On the Same Page Book Trailer contest! Congratulations! What a truly amazing day here at F.AVE! Our long anticipated author visit with Christopher Paul Curtis finally happened. He spoke to 4th and 5th grade and held the students in thrall for 45 minutes with his presentation. We all agreed that his humor and dynamic personality made this visit the best ever at F.AVE! No slides, no fancy drawings, just great jokes and even better advice. He definitely got their attention with his "bookmarks" too, ask your student about them. Our students were engaged, perhaps even spellbound. The students enjoyed his story about working in a car factory, as he demonstrated his job on the assembly line. He sang songs, explained what he went through to get his books published, and told great stories about his childhood. I think my favorite part of the day, though, was his out-going, friendly personality. When we walked into the assembly, he immediately started introducing himself to teachers who were standing along the wall. He happily posed for selfies and chatted about growing up in Michigan. At the end of the assembly, he stood at the door and greeted each child as they filed out. Everyone got a smile and a handshake or hug. Mr. Curtis signed well over 300 books for our students today, happily personalizing them and stopping for pictures with teachers as they stopped by. I've never had so many teachers stop by for a picture as I had today. I think Ms. Newton, our principal, is still floating from their conversation. Check out pictures of our awesome visit below! Thank you to Little Shop of Stories, On The Same Page, Decatur Education Foundation and all the folks who bring OTSP to our community. The excitement around reading today has vibrated throughout our building. We read a lot and we love it!
Thanks, Christopher Paul Curtis, for making F.AVE's day! Our 4th Annual World Series of Books is underway! Each week (or two) a new round will begin as F.AVE students pick their favorite book series for the year! Harry Potter is the juggernaut, winning the first 3 World Series Championships! Could Percy Jackson surge ahead this year? Will newcomers Wings of Fire or I Survived be a Cinderella story? Will the Netflix series give Series of Unfortunate Events an edge?
Vote once in each round to pick your favorite series!
Win an autographed copy of Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis! Read the book! Create a book trailer using iMovie or WeVideo. A book trailer is basically a video advertisement for a book. The ultimate goal of the trailer is to make us WANT to read the book! Look here for the "rules" and to help you plan your trailer. If you would like a planning document, use this one. To view examples of trailers go here. Turn in your book trailer by November 5th to Mrs. Smith. You can see her for help turning it in. Our judges will look at all the trailers submitted and judge them based on:
Students in my Newbery Book Club created films about their favorite Newbery books. Some students opted to create a 90 Second Newbery Film, which tells the entire story of the book in just 90 seconds! Some of these students will be entering their films in the 90 Second Film Festival. Other students opted to create a book trailer. See our book club films below! Jude Harper made a 90 Second Newbery film of My Father's Dragon, by Ruth Stiles Gannett. It won a Newbery Honor in 1949. Her film stars friends and family and is a creative interpretation with some awesome costumes and guest actors. Raquel created a book trailer about March: Book 3, by John Lewis. March did not win a Newbery, but it won numerous other ALA awards in 2017. Her book trailer uses moving music and pictures from the book and from real life to entice her audience to read the book. Liam created a book trailer about the book Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson. He used Powtoon to create an engaging trailer. Chains did not win a Newbery, but it won the Scott O'Dell Award from Historical Fiction in 2009 and was a National Book Award Finalist in 2008. Amelia made a 90 second Newbery film about Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine. We just had an author visit from Ms. Levine, so we were excited to see her film that starred her family with some funny scenes as she tried to corral her little sisters. Ella Enchanted won the Newbery Honor in 1998. Ella Enchanted from Shannon Ziliak on Vimeo. Norah created a 90 second Newbery about A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle. Her super creative film is a stop action movie using lego figures. She decided she liked it without sound, so you need to know the story! A Wrinkle in Time won the Newbery medal in 1963. Movie Coming Soon! Ethan did a book trailer about Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo. Ethan decided to use a book talk format, so he tells us about the book, then reads his favorite part (hint: it involves a squirrel and a vacuum cleaner). Flora and Ulysses won the Newbery medal in 2014. A couple students chose to make films about Adam Gidwitz's book, The Inquisitor's Tale, which one a Newbery Honor this year. This book was a huge favorite of our entire club this year. Isabella created a 90 second Newbery film using stop motion lego action. She narrated the story as her lego figures act it out. Lana created a live action book trailer that looked like it was a lot of fun to film. Lana's film is set to private on Vimeo, so use the password "baba" to view it. Lucas chose to make a 90 second Newbery film about Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul Curtis. Lucas wrote a script and filmed a live action movie with the help of his family. Elijah of Buxton won a 2008 Newbery Honor and was the 2008 Coretta Scott King Award winner. Umar filmed a book talk about the One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate. Her book won the Newbery medal in 2013. |
Corinne Smith
Media Specialist at Fifth Avenue Upper Elementary in Decatur, GA Archives
November 2023
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