Ms. Nancy's Library & Technology Blog

“A word is dead / When it is said, / Some say. / I say it just / Begins to live / That day.”

— Emily Dickinson, poet (1830-1886)

I love that the New York Botanical Garden has put up an exhibit based on Dickinson’s gardens. Talk about bringing poetry (through flowers) to life. I’ve been reading a couple of biographies lately about Dickinson. (You’ll find lots of good bio info on her online, of course.)

This week at our house we’re reading “The Lightning Thief,” by Rick Riordan (we’ve just started the series, and it’s as good as everyone says), “Gregor the Overlander,” by Suzanne Collins (“The Hunger Games,” “Catching Fire”) and yes, anything and everything Pokemon.

For book club, we’ve started on “Little Women” and “Little Vampire Women.” Yes, we like to read. It really cuts into our TV time, haha.

What are you reading?

Best,

Ms. Nancy

“I read because one
life isn’t enough, and
in the pages of a book
I can be anybody;

–Richard Peck, author
Zihuatanejo, Mexico
1990

“Yo leo porque una sola
vida no es suficiente, y en
las paginas de un libro puedo
ser cualquier otra persona;

Yo leo porque uno
de estos dias me ire de este
pueblo y voy a viajar a
todas partes y conocer a todo
el mundo y quiero estar
preparado.”

“And this our life, exempt from public haunt, / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

— William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)

Here is a link to a great episode of Oregon Art Beat, “Teaching Creativity.” It aired May 27, 2010.

The episode features Michael Geisen, an award-winning teacher at Crook County Middle School in Prineville; John Baker, Choir Director at Rex Putnam High School, who has been teaching choirs to soar musically for nearly three decades; and the artists supported by Young Audiences, whose concerts and classes are paid for through student fund-raising.

(Thanks, Sandra, for the heads-up. Make sure to bookmark her website — lots going on over there, including a great page on research tools.)

“Sometimes a crumb falls
From the tables of joy,
Sometimes a bone
Is flung.

— Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

I love that poem, it thrills me every time I read it.

We had the first meeting today of the brand-new Mother-Daughter Book Club that my 10-year-old and I have started with some of our friends in the neighborhood. I’ll write more about it soon — watching the hockey game and that is taking priority this afternoon, haha. Philadelphia Flyers vs. the Montreal Canadiens (the French spelling, oui!), first game of series to see who will win Eastern Conference title. Well, if you like hockey as much as we do, this is exciting, especially since former Portland Winter Hawk Braydon Coburn is playing for the Flyers and just scored the first goal of the game, woooooooooooooooot! as Felipe would say.

But I digress.

This book club will be a lot of fun, and I will write about it here every month, to give you tips, book lists and all that, in case you are inspired to start your own. We will meet once a month, and rotate the houses where we meet. (Which is good, cuz some of us — ahem, me — have three cats and some of us are allergic. I feel bad for people who aren’t fans of cats who come to my house, it is painful for them. I like my guests to be comfortable, not miserable!) But I digress, again.

The titles we picked out for the next five months are:

1) “The Mother-Daughter Book Club,” by Heather Vogel Frederick.

2) “Moxie Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little,” by Peggy Gifford.

3) “Percy Jackson — The Lightning Thief,” by Rick Riordan

4) “The Old Willis Place,” (SPOILER ALERT on that clip, beware!) by Mary Downing Hahn

5) “Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott

Happy reading! And here is a word from my daughter:

I think the book club is really fun. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to read. It is also a fun way to get together with friends and talk about books.

ps — The best part about book clubs, next to discussing the books, of course: Snacks. We are going to try to keep our treats tied in with the books, so in keeping with that spirit, here is a recipe from the Heather Vogel Frederick book. (You will find more recipes and discussion questions here.)

Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 24 standard-size muffin cups, or line with paper wrappers; set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, whip the butter until light and fluffy. Mix in sugar. Beat in eggs, two at a time, then the vanilla. Alternately beat in the flour mixture with the milk, just until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups; bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are soft but springy. Cool 5 to 10 minutes in the tins on a wire rack; carefully invert and cool completely. Frost as desired.

Prep time: 18 minutes; Cook time: 20 minutes; Yield: 24 servings.

Bon appetit!

— Ms. Nancy

Interesting story, give it a read.

— Ms. Nancy

Hello, I am Ms. Nancy’s daughter. I am in the fifth grade and I came up with an idea for when you are reading a lot of books and are not sure which one to read, want to finish them all fast or just plain want to read! My idea is called a Reading Sprint. Here’s how you do it:

1.) You get a bunch (2-4 is a good amount) of books that you are reading and put them in a pile.

2.) Next you take the book from the top and read a chapter of it. If you are in the middle of a chapter then you can just finish the chapter.

3.) Once you have read the book on top, you put it on the bottom of the pile and read some of the next book.

4.) You keep on doing this and eventually, you will be finished with the books in no time!

You can read a certain amount of pages also if the book’s chapters are too long. You might want to have a variety of books so you won’t get them mixed up. If you have to stop when you are not finished with the chapter or amount of pages and you have to go do something or take a break, you might want to leave that book you were reading on the top of the pile so you will remember that you were reading it.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about this idea and try it. It is really fun, I do it all the time!

Anyway, bye for now and remember to keep on reading! : )

…let’s celebrate while there’s still one day left of it.

What a great reason to read a book. (smiles.) This year’s theme: “Communities thrive @ your library.”

Best,

Ms. Nancy

PS — I’m also happy because it’s still April and that means… it’s still National Poetry Month. And… I applied for (and received) a $1,000 grant from the National Education Association. That means picture books, art books, more graphic novels and lots of other great titles. I’ll write more about this soon, but here’s a little shout-out I got from PPS. Thanks, y’all! Have a great spring.

“I have never started a poem whose end I knew. Writing the poem is discovering.”

—Robert Frost, New York Times (7 Nov. 1955)

Hello from the Library Girl!

April is National Poetry Month, and they’re celebrating over at Poets.org. Scholastic Teachers has loads of info to share (for teachers, staff and parents, too). Wikipedia has a useful entry on how National Poetry Month began in 1996.

Some of the most popular poetry books in our school library are by Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, and Calef Brown. There are many other poetry collections (by various authors) and those are great, too. One of the best titles ever for a poetry book is: “Frankenstein makes a sandwich: and other stories you’re sure to like, because they’re all about monsters, and some of them are also about food…” by Adam Rex. It’s a funny book, and really popular with the kids. We have some wonderful biographies about poets, too, including profiles of Robert Frost, Maya Angelo, Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson.

PS — Don’t forget to turn in those overdue library books. The end of the school year will be here before you know it, and it’s almost time for me to take inventory of our collection. Thank you!

— Ms. Nancy

“Overdues” by Shel Silverstein

What do I do?

“Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as the headlights, but you make the whole trip that way.” — E.L. Doctorow, writer (1931- )

And look here — Mrs. Crocodile has a new website.

Happy reading and writing!

— Ms. Nancy