The Map Trap by Andrew Clements is another good realistic fiction story that feels like it could take place in our school and has characters we feel like we could meet. Alton does not just love maps, he knows more about maps than most of his teachers and has collected hundreds, all different types and sizes. He has even created a few unorthodox and secret maps of his own - including maps of his teacher's brain, and maps of the popularity of students in his class, which he does not want to be made public. But when his special folder is stolen and he starts getting notes from the "mapnapper" he has to rethink his past choices and decide how to make to deal with this situation without hurting anyone's feelings. Can he do it? Who stole his maps? And will he ever get the maps back? Find out! Grades 4-5. One Came Home by Amy Timberlake is set in Wisconsin in 1871. That is the year the largest wild pigeon nesting in United States history happened around Placid, Wisconsin where Georgie is growing up. Thirteen year old Georgie, lives with her mother and grandfather who run the local general store, and her beloved older sister Agatha, whom Georgie worships. Agatha, loves everything about the outdoors and longs to leave Placid to study nature at the University of Wisconsin. But when Agatha disappears suddenly and the sheriff suspects she has been killed, Georgie and Agatha's former boyfriend, Billy, leave Placid on a journey to find Agatha or find out what happened to her. Part prairie adventure, part mystery, the reader is taken on a wild ride through Wisconsin and its history, complete with sharp shooters, counterfeiter's and true stories of the greatest pigeon nesting in history. Grade 5-6. Everybody's Revolution by Thomas Fleming changes our idea that the American Revolution was won solely by colonist's who were white males. Instead we find out that women, slaves, Native American's and people of many different nationalities participated and made significant contributions to the Revolution's success. Read their fascinating stories and discover the surprising people behind our independence from Britain.
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We read the Monarch Award nominated The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt about crayons that write letters to their owner complaining about how often or little they are used and threatening to quit! Then students wrote a letter to their favorite crayon color, using drawings to ask the crayon "please don't quit"! Here are some of the letters hanging in the LMC: Second grade students read about a community worker on Pebble Go and in books, taking notes on what the worker does, where they work, their training, and special equipment. Using Explain Everything app on the iPad, students found an image of their worker and took a photo of themselves to "cut out" and insert onto the worker image. Then they recorded what they had learned about the worker. Here are Ms. Wegley's student community workers: |
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December 2021
My Reading List!
AuthorI am the Library Media Center director at Patton School in Arlington Heights where I help students from kindergarten through 5th grade find terrific independent reading for enjoyment and information, and teach students the skills to use information and technology safely and productively and to connect, communicate and share with others. I have four grown children, a large black dog, (flat coat retriever) and a small striped cat. I am an obessive Chicago Cubs fan and I love to run. Patton LMC Summer Reading Blog |