Check out the LMC's summer site with all our summer reading recommendations, plus links to summer activities too! Check out everything there by clicking on all the picture and objects. I hope it helps you have an incredible and well deserved summer break with reading adventures and journeys though books as part of it!
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The Summer We Saved the Bees by Robin Stevenson. Meet Wolf and his family, living with his mother and stepfather, younger twin sisters and teenage stepsister, trying to help the environment as much as possible. But now Wolf's mother has become truly obsessed with saving the bees, so much so that she takes the kids out of school early to begin a summer long trip educating people about the bees plight and importance. Across Canada. In a converted van running on vegetable oil! Not only is Wolf missing his school, his older sister is planning to run away and he is worried about his younger sister, the twin who barely speaks. Can he help his parents see they are not being fair to their family, only to the bees? Grade 4-5 The Boy Who Grew Dragons by Andy Shepard. Tomas loves helping his grandfather in his big garden where he has spent a lot of time since his had an operation on his heart. When he finds a strange weed like red fruit he takes it back to his room to see what grows. And a baby dragon hatches! His dragon, he names Flicker for his flickering sparks and scales, also has exploding poop and a strange smell. Can he possibly hide Flicker and try to keep him as his very own very special pet? But when his best friends and his baby sister become suspicious and there may be more little dragons hatching...well read to find out! Grades 3-5. Danielle Svetcov, the author of the meaningful and inspiring realistic fiction novel, Parked, has sent us a special message about summer reading especially in this year of quarantine and a summer which will probably not look exactly like past summers. Click below to hear her important message! @dsvetcov
Today, 12 fourth grade students, Will, Alex, Oliver, Anthony, Ben, Matt, Jake, Colin, Sophia, Molly, Owen and Davis completed their work from before school became remote by debating via Zoom! These students paired up to prepare for one topic: either whether Zoos, or Homework or School Uniforms - are helpful or harmful? The debate via Zoom was full of complete, clear and convincing arguments on both sides. Their teachers and I were impressed with the research and writing work that students put in to prepare, and the way they debated today, with feeling, passion and facts! Congratulations to these debaters - We believe these students will have many more opportunities to use and practice the important skills they all demonstrated.
On May 4, we began our One Book, One Remote School read of A Boy Called Bat! The book may be read by families as an eBook on Epic or they may listen to each chapter read by members of the Patton staff. We will read over the next 3 weeks according to a schedule, while remote school classes and LMC will discuss the story! We hope families in our Patton community will enjoy this special time to share the adventure of reading together! Here is a special hello from author Elana K. Arnold. Check out the LMC A Boy Called Bat page for activities, book trailer and more!
Some great fiction series on Epic Books that I recommend for awesome spring break reading!3/23/2020 I am reading some new chapter books over this spring break but since I know your access to these new books right now is limited, I will wait until a later date to describe those and instead here are some recommendations that you can get, right now, on Epic Books, some that read to you, others that you read yourself online. All these books are great ways to take an adventure from your everyday life, build your reading skills, meet new characters and encounter new places! If you do not yet have an Epic login, let your parent and teacher know so they can send a link to get you started with free access to these great series and much more! The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Angleberger- this is the first book in a series that is not a Star Wars story! It is actually realistic fiction, about a group of 6th graders, one of whom claims his origami Yoda puppet can tell the future. Classmates decide to test this theory asking the puppet questions about themselves and school issues, and documenting in a journal what happens. In this way, as the school year progresses, the kids learn a lot about each other, respect differences and what it means to be a friend. Grades 4-6. Game Changers series by Lupica. Football (Game Changers), basketball (Playmakers) and baseball (Heavy Hitters) are realistic fiction stories for sports lovers, with situations that make you feel you are in the game and go through the dilemmas, joys, challenges and successes with the characters. Grades 3-6. Phoebe and her Unicorn series by Dana Simpson. Meet a pretty egotistical unicorn named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils and a confident and happy 9-year-old girl named Phoebe who navigate a strange friendship through a series of adventures in a real and unicorn world. Grades 2-4. Unexplained Mysteries series - examine Big Foot, Alien Abductions, Bermuda Triangle, Loch Ness Monster, UFO's and more. Do you believe, or not? Find out what is the evidence. Read all about it if you dare! Boxcar Children Mysteries by Warner are on Epic as audio books allowing readers to get to know these characters and the mysteries they get involved with and solve, in all aspects of their lives and everywhere they go! Find out how these young detectives do it! Grades 3 and above. Jack and the Geniuses by Bill Nye. A newer series starring Jack and his two older "foster" siblings Ava and Matt, both certifiable geniuses. Although Jack does not consider himself as smart as his siblings, he is the one who manages to solve the mystery when, in the first book, the three go to an Antartica base camp to try out Ava and Matt's new inventions. Full of interesting science, experiments and innovations and great new locations. Grades 4-6 Masterminds by Korman. Eli and his friends live a happy life in wonderful and peaceful Serenity, New Mexico until a friend is sent away for trying to get away from the town and leaves Eli an ominous message that something is wrong in Serenity. That begins Eli and four friends investigation into the town and their own families. Their surprising and dark discoveries will lead them...to a daring escape! And their adventures and trouble continue with the next books. Grades 4-6 The Terrible Two's by Barnett. When Miles Murphy, prankster, moves to a new town and a new school, he wants to continue his "jokester" ways but there is a problem. That role has already been taken by another troublemaker who is even better than Miles, Niles Sparks. And Niles has everyone fooled that he is a do-gooder. What would happen if the two got together!? Grades 3-5 Martin Bridge, Ready for Takeoff by Kerrin. Get to know inventive and fun Martin and his friends. Join Martin as he navigates many hysterical and challenging situations but always rises to the top. Quirky drawings help the fast paced action. Grades 2-4. Big Nate by Pierce. yes, you can read the whole series here. Though Nate is in trouble a lot and a serious goof-off at times, he is also clever and good natured. Enjoy his silliness and the awesome cartoon drawings too. Just don't pick up any bad habits or ideas! Fairy-Tale Detectives- The Sisters Grimm by Buckley. Sisters, Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with their grandmother who reveals that the girls have two famous ancestors, the Brothers Grimm, whose classic book of fairy tales is actually a collection of real case files. Now the girls must take on the family responsibility of being fairy tale detectives making sure the fairy tale characters do not appear and wreak havoc in the real world! Happy Spring Break to Patton students and families! While you enjoy reading together, playing board games, doing puzzles this week... don't forget to check out My Remote Learning Resources page which has a list of the numerous special opportunities to hear fun and engaging authors reading, view illustrators drawing, watch puppet shows or live zoo webcams. Also watch this blog for my spring break reading recommendations! Patton Readers!
The votes on Patton March Madness for Books from last week are in! Now it's time to Vote for the Elite 8! K-3: votes on the K-3 and Series forms 3rd grade: votes on all forms! Grade 3-5: votes on grade 3-5 and Series forms Voting Open Today - Right Here! (vote only one time on each contest) After reading Joan Proctor, Dragon Doctor the women who loved reptiles by Patricia Valdez, by a 2020 monarch nominated book, first graders chose a reptile to research, took notes on body, habitat, prey and special characteristics. Then students found a good photo of the reptile they studied and using the green screen, they walked with their reptile while telling us about it, just like Joan did! Click on image below to enjoy their work: On a snowy night in February... (Tuesday, February 25), Patton families celebrated great books, reading together and activities relating to the 2020 Monarch nominated books. After picking up their bookmark "schedule", they headed to different classrooms to read a book and learn, create, imagine, craft, draw or build.
In the Commons, families read The Little Red Fort and then built a fort out of boxes and cardboard pieces or they read Alma and How She Got Her Name and then built their name out of legos. In the art room families read Don't Lick this Book about germs that are all around us! Then they created germ figures out of modeling clay and animated them with the Stop Motion app on the iPad! In the LMC, families read Big Mooncake for Little Star and then created a mobile of the phases of the moon, or they read Yasmin the Explorer and used the Beebots to move Yasmin around the market. Families also read The Truth About Bears, learning bear facts and creating a bear that speaks with the Chatterpix app and they read Malala's Magic Pencil and wrote their own ideas for a magic pencil that could help the World! Families who read Perfectly Norman helped their student create his or her own wings using the Explain Everything app. When families read We Don't Eat Our Classmates, students made a "friendship sandwich", and after reading Bad Guys, they wrote their own "rap sheet" for another bad guy character. The finale of the evening was a staff presentation of the Monarch nominated story The Rabbit Listened. We hope everyone enjoyed the stories, crafts and just being together. Here's a view of the action: |
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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 |