What are you going to read over the holiday?

Not sure what to read over the holiday? Here are some lists of great books to get you started.



These lists are compiled by teachers, librarians, and other experts in children's literature. They are to be taken as guides to interesting titles not as school endorsed must-read lists. Every child has different abilities and interest so please use these lists as starting point to help your child choose a book in which he or she can escape or learn something new. 
Enjoy!

Create your own Playlist on LessonPaths!

Images courtesy of the thenounproject.com

School's out for summer (almost!)

It's almost that time again....

Below is a great deal of information about the end of the school year in the library. Here's a link to a calendar to help you remember important dates.

• June 2-6- The last week for student borrowing.
• June 9- All student and parent books are due. (Please add this date to any parent info that you are sending out.)
• June 9- Class library inventories should be completed.
• June 9- Book recommendations (class library, book set, big book) should be sent to Debbie by this date.
• June 9-20: The Library and Learning Lab will be closed (no classes or supervision during break times or after school.) Returns only, please.
• June 13- Majority of books checked out to teachers & class libraries due + National Library books. Keep what you absolutely need.  

Overdue Notices

To reduce the amount of paper we use, notices will be emailed to teachers and students in grades 3-5. Please remind students to check their email and perhaps forward the lists to parents for help in locating books.

When you receive your overdue notices, please don't worry too much if there are books on the list that you haven't see in a while. We have tried to tidy up your lists so that resources from a long time ago have been marked as lost. Find what you can and let us know what is missing. Keep your iPad.

Returns:

Please ask TAs and students to sort through your books before returning them to weed out your class library books, guided readers, book sets, your personal books, etc.

Don't panic! We will be reasonable and flexible.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Incentives! 

There will be treats for:

• The first infant & junior class to return all student books.
• The first infant & junior class to return all class library books (without a class library sticker).
• The first teacher to clear his/her account.

Congratulations, UWC East Dragons Readers Cup Team! - Update...

Congratulations to our Older Readers team who came in third place in the Readers Cup last week. The competition was fierce. Our five grade 5 students, exhausted and excited from the Exhibition, competed against teams of 6 members- many of whom were in middle school. 

                                   

Our Younger readers team of grade 2, 3, and 4 students gained valuable experience competing against many teams. They were gracious and exhibited great sportsmanship. 

                                  

There were 26 teams with 146 competitors competing in the 3 categories, younger, older, and mature. 

Congratulations to SAS who won the younger and Older categories; and to UWC Dover who won the Mature Readers category.

Click here for more information about the competition. 

The following students are on the UWCSEA East Readers Cup team for the competition at the Canadian School, Lakeside on May 22 at 4:00 PM. 

Younger Readers

Arya, 4RoW

Rohan, 2DGo

Alana, 2MLN

Jiya, 3MaW

Sophia, 3MaW

Aarush, 3MaW

Older Readers

David, 5JTo

Divya, 5LWh

Teja, 5AnC

 Vatsala, 5LWh

Joseph, 5AnC

Alternates

Joshua, 3CHo

Manasvini, 3CHo

Mekhla, 2MLN

Saduakas, 3JaG

SeoYee, 2NDo

Dylan, 3JaG

We have been preparing for the competition for many weeks after school. The Readers Cup is where teams from different international schools in Singapore test their knowledge of books from the Red Dot Award lists. 

Add your favorite poem to our Poet-Tree

In some parts of the world...

To celebrate Poetry Month, write your favorite original poem or a poem by your favorite poet and add it to our tree. (We've re-purposed our Book Week tree, in honor of Earth Day later this month.)

Just ask the Lovely Library Ladies, for a "leaf" and add it to the tree.

Feeling even more creative? Try Book Spine poetry using books from our library. Again, ask the Library Ladies for an iPod, take a picture of your poem, and email it to Ms. Diaz.  

Have a look at some poetry resources. 

Create your own Playlist on LessonPaths!

Unless someone like you...

April 22 is Earth Day. The Lorax and The Wump World are two of my favorite books to read this time of year. We've created a display of stories and information books about taking care of our planet.

A special thanks to 2DGo for our very own Truffula Trees!

Stop by and check them out. Also, have a look at the resources below.

Create your own Playlist on LessonPaths!

 Image courtesy of Michelle at http://qreateandtrack.com/2011/04/22/happy-earth-day/

Poem in your pocket Tuesday

Tuesday during Book Week was Poem in Your Pocket Day. Here are some videos of students sharing poems.

2NDo

5SLC

G5 French

G4 French

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

March 2 was Dr. Seuss' birthday. Follow the links below for ideas to celebrate his wonderful writing!

Five Ways to Celebrate

30 Dr. Seuss Quotes

Activities on Pinterest

More Activities on Pinterest

Need another reason to continue the reading celebration?

http://www.worldbookday.com/

Book Week Performances and Presentations

As part of the East Book Week celebration next week, February 24-28, we will have 3 author visits and a puppet show. Keep reading for more details.


K1 & K2:

Nikole Horkin from Once Upon a Puppet Theater will share adaptations of Ugly Fish by Kara Lareau and This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen. Nikole makes all of the puppets and sets. She is quite talented and the children love her shows.



K2 & Grade 1:

Sarah Mounsey, author of the Paw Prints series will share her stories on Wednesday, February 26. The Paw Prints series has been awarded a bronze medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards. Sarah is taking orders for signed copies of her books. Complete this form and return it to school if you are interested.


G2 & 3:

Felicia Low-Jimenez, one half of the husband & wife team who write the Sherlock Sam series, will visit East on February 26. Sherlock Sam, a clever and observant 10 year old boy, solves mysteries all over Singapore. The first in the series, Sherlock Sam and the Missing Heirloom in Katong, is one of the titles on the Red Dot Award short list. This is Felicia's first visit to East and we are really looking forward to it. Books will be for sale just outside the Primary School Library on February 26 and 27.


G4 & 5:

Tristan Bancks, a children's book author with a background in acting and filmmaking, will visit East on February 24 and 25. His books include the Mac Slater series, The Nit Boy series, My Life & Other Stuff I Made Up, and Galactic Adventures; First Kids in Space. Tristan will lead workshops to inspire our students as writers and storytellers. Forms have been sent home for book orders. Contact Debbie Diaz if you would like a form. ddi@uwcsea.edu.sg

There will also be a Bookaburra Book Fair in the Plaza from February 26-28. 

Be a Reading Fan!

The Primary School Book Week will be February 24 - 28. 

Below is info about the week. Feel free to do more in your class or grade.

 

Our theme for the week is:

Be a Reading Fan!

Print the posters here and here.

Daily Events:

Art Attack Monday- Kick off the week with an art activity to accompany a book. This can be an activity you do in class, for home learning, as a class or individually. Maybe use a Red Dot book as inspiration or a class novel….Be creative! Click here and here for ideas. (Display space for your artwork will be available in or just outside the library later in the week.)

Poem in your Pocket Tuesday- everyone comes to school prepared to share a poem -- either in their pocket to be read or in their head to be recited. Don't forget to ask students to share their poems! You might want to promote this the week before or for home learning. Have quick poetry breaks during the day. Perhaps have a student ring a bell at random times and students quickly read their poems to a partner.

Buddy Reading Wednesday- during Morning Meeting time. Contact your buddy class prior to the event. Book fair in the Plaza.

Thinking Thursday- focus on nonfiction. Here’s a link to magazines and news sites. Or maybe take this time to explore our databases. Links are on on the library homepage. Click here for login info. You could make the reading fan/sports fan connection and research a favorite sport or athlete or the Olympics. Book fair in the Plaza.

Book Character Friday- Come to school dressed as a favorite book character. Click here and  here and here for costume ideas. Infant/Junior assembly at 8:30 in the Main Hall. Book Fair in the Plaza.

Click here for a timetable of special events during the week.

Week Long Events:

Book Nooks- Be on the look out for special reading areas with bean bags and pillows around campus for reading books before school and throughout Morning Break and Lunch Break. Thanks in advance to Grade 3 for organizing this!

Bookmark Competition- Each class will be given blank bookmarks to decorate to celebrate our theme, Be a Reading Fan!  This can be done in class or for home learning or maybe on Art Attack Monday. There will be a winner in each grade. Copies of the winning bookmarks will be available in the library a couple of weeks later. For more info, click here.

Guest Readers- Sign up with your available times on the google doc. A guest reader will contact you.

Mother Language Storytelling in the Library at lunch time for grades 2-5.  

Red Dot Voting begins this week

Voting for your favorite Red Dot book will take place March 5-12. Children in K1-Grade 1 will vote in the library during regular check out time. Just ask for the beans from the Library Ladies.

Juniors will vote online either on the library iMacs or iPod Touches. More details about that coming soon.

The Red Dot Award is a children's choice award where the lists of titles are chosen by a committee of teacher librarians in Singapore from recent children's literature (first published in English within the past four years), with the goal of offering a range of books from around the world. Students will vote for their favorite books in March.

Here's the website for more information and to print posters.

http://www.reddotawards.com/

The Red Dot books are divided into four categories:

Early Years (ages 3-7)

Younger Readers (ages 7-10)

Older Readers (ages 10-14)

Mature Readers (ages 14-adult) - these books will be in the secondary library.