An article worth reading!

Did you see James Patterson's Op/Ed piece on cnn.com? It's called, "How to get your kid to be a fanatic reader." It's definitely worth reading http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/opinion/patterson-kids-reading/index.html?hpt=op_t1

His main point is that the more kids read (no matter what they are reading) the better readers they are! So if your kid loves Captain Underpants or Junie B. Jones or the Guinness Book of World Records or The Vampire Diaries, but doesn't want to read the classics, it's okay. They are still improving their vocabulary and becoming better readers.

Patterson has a website - ReadKiddoRead - with lots of great book recommendations. Check it out and help your child find a book that he or she will not want to put down. I will be looking it over to find new books to add to our library collection.

New Library Catalog!

Not sure if you've heard, but you can now access the library catalog from home. Just go to http://swain.follettdestiny.com and you can see all the books we have in the library. Soon you will be able to see what books you have checked out as well. Let me know what you think!

Have you tracked your minutes?

We have read over 270,000 minutes this summer! That's amazing! I'm so proud of all that you have read so far - keep it up! We are currently in 34th place in the entire country. Wow! Keep tracking your minutes until the end of August: www.scholastic.com/summer

Hunger Games Movie!

It's coming in March. Check out the motion poster and some details about the movie:

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/hunger-games-exclusive-motion-poster-revealed-155258074.html

We have all three books in the trilogy in the library. Come in on Wednesday between 11:00 and 12:00 to check them out!

Read for the World Record!

Wow! You have read over 200,000 minutes. That's amazing! Keep up the great reading and keep tracking your minutes. We are currently in 30th place in the whole country! If we can crack the Top 20, we will be listed in the 2012 Scholastic Book of Records. Together, we can do it!

What's the best book you've read this summer?

Leave a comment with the title, author, and age range!

Swain School Summer Reading Info

Here is the link to the summer reading information by grade level:

http://www.swain.org/current-families/back-to-school/summer-reading.html

Let me know if you have any questions!

By the way, we have already read over 150,000 minutes and are in 28th place nationally - keep tracking those minutes!! http://www.scholastic.com/summer

One World, Many Stories

That's the theme for the summer reading program at the local public libraries. Students can sign up at their local branch and earn prizes for the books they read.

Here are links to some of the local library websites:
Allentown Public Library http://www.allentownpl.org/childrens_services.htm
Bethlehem Area Public Library http://www.bapl.org/youth/ysprograms/ys_sumreading11.html
Emmaus Public Library http://www.emmauspl.org/events.html
Lower Macungie Public Library http://www.lowermaclib.org/kids/parents.cfm
Parkland Library http://catalog.parklandlibrary.org/Parkland/contentpages.asp?loc=25

Tumblebooks

Students have enjoyed watching and listening to TumbleBooks in library class, and we wanted to make sure you knew how to access them from home.

TumbleBooks and TumbleReadables are databases provided FOR FREE by the Parkland Community Library. On TumbleBooks, students can listen to and read along with popular picture books and they've added lots more great books, including one of my favorites, Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo.

On TumbleReadables, there are books for upper elementary students, middle schoolers and young adults. There is also a section for the classics and Shakespeare. Students can read or listen to the full text of novels right on the site. Check it out and let me know what you think!

http://catalog.parklandlibrary.org/Parkland/contentpages.asp?loc=28
(You must access the sites through the Parkland Library website.)

2011 Read for the World Record!

We are once again participating in Scholastic's Read for the World Record Challenge. We have already read more than we read all last summer - 134,000 minutes!!! Great job! Keep up the great reading and keep tracking your minutes. Our goal is to double last year's total and to be in the top 20 schools in the country! We are currently ranked number 25! To track your minutes go to http://www.scholastic.com/summer/ and click on "Kids". If you forget your login and password you can send me an email krarmstrong@swain.org or contact Raina at the front desk.