Oakdale spotlights Dr. Seuss

We should have posted BEFORE Bella Vista, because now we look like we went to no effort at all compared to them.  However, we love Dr. Seuss, too.  Here is our little tribute to him.

Bella Vista Celebrates Dr. Seuss's Birthday

 Dr Seuss

1904-1991

Hooray! This week we are celebrating Dr. Seuss's Birthday (which is on Sunday March 2). Did you know that a publisher made a bet with Dr. Seuss that he could not write a book with 50 words or less.  Well he did, "Green Eggs and Ham".   Here are some more fun facts on Dr. Seuss:
- His real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel.
- He graduated from Dartmouth College.
- He wanted to be a cartoonist.
- He ended up working in advertising for 30 years
- 1937 he published his first book "And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street".
- 1957 he published "The Cat in the Hat", his 13th book.
- 1984 he was the winner of the pulitzer prize.
- He has an Acadamy Award, 3 Emmy Awards, 3 Grammy Awards, and 3 Caldecott Honors.
- He wrote and illustrated 44 books all of which are still in print today.
- His books are in print in over 12 languages.

 We would like to thank our wonderful Principal, Mr. Prescott, for the fun Dr. Seuss pencils, erasers, bookmarks, and crayons.

 Dr. Seuss characters have taken over the Meet the Author wall in our school.

 Truffula trees have sprouted up all over our library.

We have had so much fun this week celebrating this wonderful author.
Information taken from www.seussville.com

Oakdale

We don't know if you are familiar with 'Library Mouse' by Daniel Kirk.  It is a story of a mouse who lives in a library and writes little books and leaves them for the children to read.  We set up a display with blank books we made out of plain, white paper cut into fourths and stapled on the left.  The children can take them home to create and return them for sharing.  Watch for part 2 of this post as the books start to come in.

Happy 100th Day of School!

The Top 100 Picture Books

By The School Library Journal
Bella Vista students will take home a copy of this list today to celebrate the 100th day of school!
How many of these books are in our library media centers for students to read? 

1. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1963)

2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (1969)

3. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems (2003)

4. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (1947)

5. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (1962)

6. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (1941)

7. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems (2004)

8. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Ray Cruz (1972)

9. Bark, George by Jules Feiffer (1999)

10. The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone, illustrated by Mike Smollin (1971)

11. Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes (1996)

12. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (1960)

13. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1982)

14. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (1947)

15. Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel (1970)

16. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (1955) 17. The Story of Ferdinand

by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson (1936)

18. A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead (2010)

19. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (1902)

20. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean (2010)

21. Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (1928)

22. Corduroy by Donald Freeman (1976)

23. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert (1989)

24. Tuesday by David Wiesner (1991)

25. Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (2004)

26. We Are in a Book by Mo Willems (2010) 27. Bread and Jam for Frances

by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban (1964)

28. Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman (1961)

29. Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall (1977)

30. Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (1987)

31. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (1948)

32. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (1942)

33. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (1971)

34. Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola (1975)

35. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith (1989)

36. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (1957)

37. The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (2009)

38. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Eric Carle (1967)

39. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (2000)

40. Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann (1994)

41. Curious George by H.A. Rey (1941)

42. Freight Train by Donald Crews (1978)

43. Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, ill. by Margaret Bloy Graham (1956)

44. The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey and Don Wood (1984)

45. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman (1960)

46. Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say (1993)

47. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (1939)

48. George and Martha by James Marshall (1972)

49. Press Here by Herve Tullet (2011)

50. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg (1984)

51. The Library by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small (1995)

52. Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth (2005)

53. Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco (1998)

54. Olivia by Ian Falconer (2000)

55. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (1969)

56. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (1985)

57. Doctor De Soto by William Steig (1982)

58. Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt (2006)

59. Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann (1995)

60. There Is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems (2007)

61. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss (1957)

62. Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley (1992)

63. The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss (1961)

64. King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood (1985)

65. The Arrival by Shaun Tan (2006)

66. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes (1991)

67. Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Garth Williams (1960)

68. The Three Pigs by David Wiesner (2001)

69. Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton (1995)

70. Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas (2009)

71. S tellaluna by Janell Cannon (1993)

72. But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton (1982)

73. May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, illustrated by Beni Montresor (1964)

74. I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (2011)

75. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett (1978)

76. Eloise by Kay Thompson (1955)

77. Flotsam by David Wiesner (2006)

78. Zoom at Sea by Tim Wynne-Jones, illustrated by Eric Beddows (1993)

79. Pierre by Maurice Sendak (1962)

80. Madeline’s Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans (1953)

81. Fortunately by Remy Charlip (1964)

82. A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton (2008)

83. Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman (2002)

84. Not a Box by Antoinette Portis (2006)

85. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (1964)

86. The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch (1980)

87. My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza (2005)

88. No, David! by David Shannon (1998)

89. Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel, illustrated by Blair Lent (1968)

Arnie the Doughnut by Laurie Keller (2003)

91. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith (1992)

92. The Gardener by Sarah Steward, illustrated by David Small (1997)

93. Traction Man is Here! by Mini Grey (2005)

94. The Mitten by Jan Brett (1989)

95. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn (2007)

96. Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber (1972)

97. Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, illustrated by Judy Horacek (2004)

98. Duck On a Bike by David Shannon (2002)

99. The Maggie B by Irene Haas (1975)

100. The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Crockett Johnson (1945)

Oakdale Elementary

Look what Shannon did!  This bookcase connects to our 'Readers Cafe'. 

 She painted the end with (multiple coats) of chalkboard paint. We love it! 

This is the paint she used.

Snowmen all Month

This month at Sprucewood we decided to read as many snowmen books that we could to our classes.  We loved, All You Need for a Snowman, by Alice Shertle,  had fun looking for hidden pictures in, Snowmen at Christmas, by Carolyn Buehner a local author, and enjoyed the interesting medium of the illustrations in Snowball, by Lois Ehlert.  As part of our snowman celebration we have added a Makerspace to our Media Center.  The first week of December when the students came to the library we directed them to our station and let them have some hands on learning time.  After the students had checked out his/her books and were reading at their tables we invited the quiet readers, by fours, to come to the Makerspace and add snowflakes to a snowman. We had just read, All You Need for a Snowman, so the students knew exactly what was needed. 

We spent the next week adding more snowflakes to our snowman body and he began to take shape.  Our snowmen were a bit slimmer and trimmer than most but the students had a wonderful time.  After the snowman body was complete we added a head, a scarf, a Merry Christmas Greeting from the Media Center and of course we couldn’t forget the carrot nose.  Each Snowman was then filled with a Christmas treat and returned to each classroom for the students to enjoy. 

 We are hoping to use our Makerspace for several more hands on learning experiences in the coming months.  Just thinking of the science experiments, nature wonders or introduction to architecture or music is getting us very excited. We hope your holidays are filled with

lots of good reading time.

 Janette and Karen   

Bella Vista Goes to Extremes!

 Bella Vista goes to extremes to encourage students to read a variety of books.  Mrs. Wing's fourth grade class just completed their team projects on extreme weather. Their posters are now hanging up in the library media center with a variety of extreme weather books for students to check out. Teachers were notified via email about this new display in the library and the students are made aware during class visits.