Go Green!

This summer everyone is going green! In the library, we are saving paper by writing on the computers, turning off lights and air conditioners when they're not being used, and re-using everything we can! To help all the classes out with their projects, I've put a lot of great books on display, including a whole shelf full of craft guides - now instead of throwing away "junk", we can make it into art!

I will also be posting Go Green links on the home page of our online catalog.

Don't forget about your public library this summer! Using the library is a great way to go green - borrowing books and magazines instead of buying them saves paper. All your local libraries have activities for summer reading, and their theme is "Be Creative".

Have a Great Summer!

***MAKE SURE TO RETURN ALL BOOKS TO THE LIBRARY ASAP!!! ALL BOOKS ARE DUE NOW!!***

The school year is coming to an end, and I want to wish everyone a safe, happy summer, filled with books and reading! It's been proven that kids who read over the summer do better on school exams in the fall than kids who put down the books after June 26th. Do yourself a favor, and do some reading for fun.

For book suggestions, and to sign up to participate in online book logs and reviews, go to http://www.summerreading.org/. This is the link to the New York Public Library's summer reading program. You can join up in any borough, and get the books at your local library.

Barnes and Noble will give you a FREE book if you read 8! Sign up here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/summerreading/

TD bank will give you $10 if you read 10 books! Get the details here: http://www.tdbank.com/SummerReading/

Show me your summer reading log in September and get a prize! Have a great summer, everyone!

Slam!

Thanks to all the participants, our first ever P9 Poetry Slam was a HUGE success! Congratulations to grade 5-6 winner Brynda Terry and grade 7-8 winner Naliek Garrett, and to all the students who wrote amazing poems and were brave enough to stand up and read them. All the poems were excellent, and the judges had a hard time making our final decisions. Special thanks also to judges Officer Roberson and Coach, and organizers Mr. LaScala and Ms. Weinstock. It was a terrific morning, and we will definitely hold another slam next year!

POETRY!!

Poetry month is techically over, but the poetry celebrations continue. Our first poetry slam will be held this Friday, May 8th, in the library. Anyone is welcome! To participate, you must bring an original poem and be willing to read it out loud. Poets will be judged on their writing and performance. Two winners will be chosen -one from grades 4-5-6 and one from grades 7-8. Each winner will recieve a $50 gift card! A workshop will be held on Thursday at 10:25 for anyone who wants help with composing their poem.

Stop by the library during Open Access periods to write a poem on the whiteboard, type up a small poem for the Poet-Tree, or . . . write your short poem as a blog comment!

New Books!

Pokemon, Magic Tricks, DragonBall Z! Bluford High, Wimpy Kid, superheroes and more! Come in and start borrowing! These books are on the HOT! list and can be borrowed one at a time, for a period of one week (with a few exceptions for the longer books).

For the first time, I'm setting up a Waiting List for the most popular books. This means you might have to wait a little longer to get the books you want, but it will keep things fair - some classes don't get to the library every week, while some classes come more often. This way, I can make sure that everyone who wants a book gets one!

Book Reviews Wanted!

Have you borrowed a great book lately? Don't keep it to yourself! Share a review with the rest of the school by posting to the comments section of this post, or to the library bulletin board. To leave a comment here, sign in using your Gmail login name.

Remember that a book review has 3 important parts:

• A summary of what the book is about, without giving away the ending.

• What you liked about the book: Characters, humor, information, etc.

• A recommendation: Who should read the book? Kids? Adults? Fans of horror movies? People who liked Harry Potter? Everyone?

Get started now!!

Themes for the Month

Last month, we celebrated Black History in the library with tons of classes borrowing history books and reading poems by famous African-Americans. This month, I hope we'll see the same type of interest for Women's History. Come in and see our display of Women's History Month biographies, or pick up a list of websites that can direct you to even more interesting women.

It's also not too soon to start planning for Poetry Month, coming up in April. The library will be hosting our first ever (hopefully annual) Poetry Slam, and we hope to see everyone sign up! Slammers bring an original poem and read it out loud; points are given for the quality of the poem AND the way you read it. We haven't decided what the winner will get, but if you have prize suggestions, post them in the comments!