Book of the Week: Counting by 7s

This post brought to you by student blogger Ally. 

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting by 7s is a great book full of twists and turns. Willow is a 12 year old girl who is incredibly smart and socially challenged. Willow is adopted and her parents shelter her and understand her. She doesn't fit in at school, although she creates a special bond with her counselor Dell Duke, and siblings Mai and Queng Ha. Willow always relies on counting by sevens, but one day, her whole world is turned around. She comes home from school one day to learn that her parents got in a car accident and died. Mai convinces her mom Patty to take Willow in temporarily, and eventually permanently. What will happen to Willow now that her parents cannot shelter her? Will she keep counting by 7s and swimming against the current, or will her life change for the better? 

New Signs in the Library

Last spring, 5th graders created new signage for our library! First they were assigned a certain Dewey section of nonfiction. Their task was to find out what types of books are in that section by looking on the shelves. After taking notes on that, they used Wordle to create word clouds for the section. I showed them that in Wordle, words will show up bigger if typed multiple times. So for the headings and important words, they typed them many times, and for less important words, they typed them in less. I think they turned out great. Here are some samples. 

Book of the Week: Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

This post brought to you by student blogger Luci. 
 
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
 
What is the meaning of life? One mysterious day, Jeremy receives a wooden box made for him. Jeremy, along with his best friend Lizzy, desperately want to open the box to find what's inside but unfortunately, the box is sealed and locked. The box needs four different story keys to be unlocked. Lizzy and Jeremy go on wild adventures in order to find the keys. But are the keys ever found? And will they ever find out what's inside the box and who sent it? Find out when you read Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life!

Book of the Week: I am Malala

This post brought to you by student blogger Harry. 

I am Malala by Malala Yousazfai 

When Malala was a young girl in Pakistan, she loved going to school in the Swat Valley. It was a school that her father had built. But things quickly changed. The Taliban had been closing down schools for girls because they very much disliked education for girls and women. Malala was trying to stand up for education. When the Taliban found out Malala was doing this, they stopped her school bus and shot her in the head. Luckily she survived and still continues to fight for all girls to have an education. Read the book to find out what happened to Malala during her courageous journey.