Central Library News & Views

We learned that pine martens eat from three basic food groups: plants, animals and junk food.

The haunting notes of the bagpipes drifted out of the library windows on a beautiful November morning.  The library had just hosted a visit with children’s fantasy author Julie Hahnke and she “piped” them out of the room.  Students in grades 3, 4 and 5 visited for about an hour each with Julie talking about everything from the life cycle of luna moths to the eating habits of pine martens to sixteenth century “swear” words.

The students learned much about the author’s writing process: how she researched her characters to create authentic voice and her setting to provide historical details.  They listened to excerpts from the book and an impromptu copyright lesson about using historical maps in books.

In addition to listening to Julie play the bagpipes, a highlight of the morning’s program was when Julie took out a 5 foot long replica claymore, or two-handed Scottish sword.  All in all, it was a memorable day in the library.

If you’d like to learn more about Julie Hahnke and her books, why not visit her Web site at www.eyesofaraptor.com

Claymore

Julie Hahnke entertains the students with the bagpipes.

Image from Destiny library catalog

You’ve read the book about Max’s mischief and seen the movie, now check out this tribute to the artwork of Maurice Sendak.

Terrible Yellow Eyes is a collection of works from many artists who admire the artwork of illustrator Maurice Sendak.

Central School students are discovering the world around them. From faces, places and events “around the corner” to those “around the world”,beautiful new books support student needs and interests. All six libraries in our district received a grant from the Mamaroneck Schools Foundation to infuse our social studies collections with new titles.

Due to a generous grant from the Mamaroneck Schools Foundation, Central School library received funds to expand our Spanish-language and bilingual collection.  New books include Spanish translations of popular books by Dr. Seuss, Mo Willems, Eric Carle and more.  Other books contain text in both English and Spanish.  These includes stories such as and nonfiction topics kids love like sharks, dolphins, dinosaurs and more!

These books may be checked out by students, teachers and Central School families.  Already there has been a terrific buzz from boys and girls who have brought home books to read with their parents at home.  In addition, non-Spanish speaking students have enjoyed reading the dual-language books and trying out some new Spanish vocabulary.

On Wednesday,May 6, we celebrated storytelling at PARTS (Poetry And Readers’ Theatre & Stories).  It was a day of story reading, story telling, poetry sharing (and even some singing) by all of our third, fourth and fifth grade students.  This year each class in these three grades presented a group recitation of poetry or stories.  In addition, each class selected an individual to demonstrate the public-speaking skills we have been working on in library: using a loud, clear, expressive voice and making eye contact with the audience.  From “Paul Revere’s Ride” to Aesop’s “The Lion and the Mouse” to Elvis Presley’s “Spring Fever” to Pinkaliscious, there was something for everyone at PARTS!

The library is please to announce that we are the recipients of two grants, the “Picturing America” print collection and the “We the People” bookshelf grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The  aim of the “Picturing America” initiative is to tell the story of America through its art.  The collection is comprised of 40  large, high-quality reproductions of selected American masterpeices.  (For more information, go to www.PicturingAmerica.neh.gov).

We also received a companion grant  to complement the print collection.  “The Bookshelf” is a collection of 17American, classic hardcover books for young readers,(plus Spanish translations of 3 titles) and 2 ”Books for Readers of All Ages.”

Titles include:

• Walt Whitman: Words for America by Barbara Kerley
• Cosechando esperanza: La historia de César Chávez by Kathleen Krull (translated by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy)
• Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull
• The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Sweet Music in Harlem by Debbie Taylor
• The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
• American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne
• On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck
• Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriette Gillem Robinet
• The Captain’s Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe by Roland Smith
• The Life and Death of Crazy Horse by Russell Freedman
• La leyenda de Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (translated by Manuel Broncano)
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
• Across America on an Emigrant Train by Jim Murphy
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
• Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange by Elizabeth Partridge
• Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck
• Viajes con Charley – en busca de América by John Steinbeck (translated by José Manuel Alvarez Flórez)
• Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
• Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out by The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance
• 1776: The Illustrated Edition by David McCullough

 

Recently, Central School’s library instituted the Birthday Book Program.  In this initial effort, families donated funds for the library to buy popular fiction and picture books for the library.  When the order arrived, participating students chose one of the new titles to be their own special “gift” to the library and a bookplate was placed in the book as a way of acknowledging this special donation.

The Birthday Book Program will continue throughout the year.  It is a great way to commemorate a child’s birthday or any special event, and at the same time, to encourage all of our Central School students to read.

On Tuesday, December 2, Central School students in grades K-3 enjoyed a visit with author/illustrator Nick Bruel.  Students were treated to spirited storytelling by Nick Bruel as he shared some of his books including: Boing, Bob and Otto, Bad Kitty, Poor Puppy, Who Is Melvin Bubble? and Little Red Bird. 

A special thank you goes out to the PTA and the Library Author Liaisons for arranging this engaging visit.

For the second year, our third grade students partnered with ninth grade students to learn about Greek mythology.  To kick off the partnership, each ninth grade student sent an introductory postcard to his or her third grade resarch buddy.  Then on November 7 and 10, four classes of students traveled from MHS to Central along with their English teachers.  Each ninth grade student had researched a Greek god or goddess and prepared a poster or project to summarize the research.  Using the poster and knowledge gained from the research, each ninth grade student taught a third grade buddy about a particular god or goddess.  The third graders completed a graphic organizer of their new information, drew pictures of their gods and synthesized their new knowledge in a short response where they explained why they would (or would not) want to be related to this god or goddess.  Then students shared with the group some of the interesting tidbits they learned.  Later, each third grade student wrote a “thank you” postcard to his or her ninth grade buddy.