The book fair is almost here!!! We need your help!
Once again we are in need of parent help to make our book fair a success! Please click HERE to volunteer for our book fair! Dates and times for the book fair can be found on the Kyffin LMC website
What happened in October:
Roland Smith Came to Visit! Our 4th through 6th grade students had a chance to meet and talk to bestselling author Roland Smith. Mr. Smith was entertaining and educational:
"He taught me that I can write about anything" (4th grade student).
"He said that when you write you have to research twice as long before you write so it's easier" (4th grade student)
"He inspired me to write more!" (5th grade student)
"He said that when my teacher corrects my writing it makes me a better writer" (6th grade student)
Michele Barone Came to Visit!
Once again, our 3rd grade students were wowed by Denver author Michele Barone's energy and insight. She talked to students about the importance of having ideas and writing them down. "Nothing ever happened, it was boring" was her grandmother's mantra, and yet through asking questions and researching history, Michele wrote a book about her grandmother's experience growing up in rural Colorado. She also wrote The Capitol Ghost Mystery about our Denver capitol!
We are always looking for parent volunteers to help out in the library! We need parents to do all sorts of things in the library - everything from shelving books to working with technology! We do ask that if you can volunteer in the library, that you commit to a regular time slot each week. Please contact Mrs. Covington (scovingt@jeffco.k12.co.us). Thanks!
Author visit in October
Roland Smith, author of books like Peak, Criptid Hunters, and Elephant Run, is coming to Kyffin on October 11th! Students in grades 3-6 will have the opportunity to hear him speak and talk about his experience writing and how he comes up with the amazing ideas for his books. There will be an opportunity for students to order his books and have them autographed. Students are also encouraged to bring any Roland Smith books they already own, or go to the book store and purchase books to be autographed. Check out Roland Smith's website for more information on his awesome books, and go to the Kyffin LMC Special Programs page for the order form. Order forms will also go home in Friday folders on Friday, September 23rd.
Theme for the 2016-2017 School Year
In 2014, we were Library Ninjas. In 2015 it was Superheroes. This year? We are Rockstars. Please come visit the library to check out our awesome rockstar decorations, and stay tuned for our annual library video featuring the Kyffin Library Rockstars (we haven't made the video yet, but we will!)
The Book Fair is Coming!
The dates for our Fall Scholastic Book Fair are November 4-11. Set up will be on November 3rd and tear down will be on November 11th. Please mark your calendars now for this awesome event!
It's time for the JCPL summer reading program! This summer, kids across Jefferson County will attempt to read a mili-marathon of minutes (26.2 million minutes). There are also prizes available to the public school that has the most participants sign up!
Check out the summer reading lists too - in case you need a suggestion of what to read!
Breakout EDU
In May, three classes were able to test a fun new project called BreakoutEDU. BreakoutEDU is a classroom escape game where students must work together to solve a series of clues that in turn, open a series of locks on a big wooden box. Mrs. Sprague's first grade class, Mrs. Hughes' second grade class and Mr. Ardan's fifth grade class all completed group "breakouts", and if you have a child in one of those classes, no doubt you heard about the Breakout session...the kids LOVED them. The sessions are challenging, and students really must work together in order to open the locks. The teachers learned something as well! We learned that letting kids struggle and stretch their creative thinking can be difficult sometimes (especially when we know the codes!!!) but in the end, the students learn so much if we just let them fight through it and figure out the answers together. We borrowed four Breakout boxes from Rooney Ranch Elementary School, and will be purchasing several boxes for Kyffin to use next year!
End of the Year Wrap Up
The 2015-2016 school year has been a great success! We started the year off by giving the library a much needed makeover, and that set the tone for the school year. In the fall we hosted a great Book Fair and Mrs. Covington and Mrs. Mueller introduced all students to the year of the Superhero...
During the winter we saw an increase in circulation - more than we usually see in the months of January and February, and with the help of PTA, the library purchased 15 Chromebooks for use around the school. Teachers now utilize more Google Apps for Education (like Google Classroom and Google Forms) than they ever have, which is very exciting.
In the spring we hosted an all-school author visit from Karla Oceanak and Kendra Spanjer (author and illustrator of the Aldo Zelnick series), and planned with PTA and administration for technology for the upcoming school year.
Many of you have started to ask what the theme of the library will be for next year...
Come see us in August and find out!
Have a wonderful summer full of sun, fun and great books!
Review: Moving Target is about an ordinary girl named Cassie, or at least she thinks she's ordinary. Turns out she has type O blood and a special birthmark which proves she can find the Spear of Destiny and become bound with it. With the help of Simone and Asher, they figure out hte clues and find the spear. Next thing on their list is to save Cassie's dad. In all of the mix up, Cassie's dad got shot by a guy working for a secret group called Hastie. He soon vanished and it's up to Cassie, Asher and Simone to find the spear and save Cassie's dad. Will they find the speak and save Cassie's dad, or will they fail and stay being a moving target? Read Moving Target to find out!
Author Karla Oceanak, Mayor of Golden Marjorie Sloan, Illustrator Kendra Spanjer
On March 2nd, author Karla Oceanak and illustrator Kendra Spanjer visited Kyffin Elementary. We had a wonderful day of small presentations for students and an after school presentation for parents and students. We had several visitors from the community attend as well, including Golden Mayor Marjorie Sloan, JeffCo School Board President Ron Mitchell, and Colorado State School Board Member Jane Goff.
Students enjoyed the presentations about the Aldo Zelnick series - based on the life of tweenager Aldo who fills sketchbooks each months with his alphabet themed adventures, and Mrs. Covington was in librarian heaven spending the day with an author and illustrator.
Update: March Madness of Books
The competition has become fierce for the championship of books. There have been upsets (who knew that the Bad Kitty series would beat out the Geronimo Stilton books, or that A Dog's Purpose would take down The Strange Case of Origami Yoda?). The final match-up will be voted on after spring break, and it's going to be a great one: Harry Potter vs. Dr. Seuss!
Librarian for a Day - Molly Weber
As always, one of the items up for auction at the Kyffin Gala was "Librarian for a Day". For the second year in a row, Miss Molly Weber was the winner of that prize. Molly joined us for the day on Wednesday, March 16th. She read to Mrs. Kinghorn's Kindergarten students, helped with check out and shelving, and worked on the ever-daunting technology inventory. It was a joy to have her with us for the day once again.
Miss Weber reading "Horton Hears a Who" to Kindergarten students.
The Library has been Art-Bombed!
As many of you know, our wonderful Art teacher, Mr. Carroll, encourages 6th grade students to create "Art Bombs" for the building. This year, the art bomb for the library was amazing. I love it and want to keep it at my desk for the rest of the year (though, that will make it a little difficult to get work done...)
Upcoming Events - Read Across America Day March 2nd!
Kyffin will host a special author visit in honor of the day. Karla Oceanak & Kendra Spanjer - author & illustrator of the Aldo Zelnick series - will visit Kyffin on Wednesday March 2nd.
All Kyffin families are invited to attend the after school assembly and meet the author & illustrator!
Read Across America Day Assembly
3:30 to 4:30 in the Kyffin Elementary School Gym
All families are welcome (students need to be accompanied by adults)
Books are available for pre-order (and will be signed by the author and illustrator). Books will also be available that day. To pre-order a book, please fill out the form sent home in Friday folders on February 19th. Missed the form? Contact Mrs. Covington and she'll get you more information!
In the library in February & March
March Madness, Book Championship Edition!
March Madness isn't just for basketball (but...Go Duke!), this year all Kyffin Students will participate in the Book Championship! At the beginning of Febrary, every student was given the opportunity to nominate one book for the book championship. Much like the way teams are chosen to participate in the NCAA tournament, a secret algorithm that no one - not even Dick Vitale - understands was then applied to all nominated books. The nominees were then narrowed down to 40 entries (20 primary, 20 intermediate), and the tournament has begun! During the week of February 16th, the pool was narrowed down to the Top Ten. In coming weeks, we will continue to narrow the field. So far there have been several near-shut outs as well as several upsets.
You can see how our bracket progresses as the tournament continues by checking out our bracket display outside the library!
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of our annual book fair! Here are some amazing statistics from our book fair: Over $14,000 in net sales! This translates to:
$1,700 worth of new books for our library from the fair! These books will be available for student check out by Christmas!
$2,000 from scholastic for books throughout the year! Our scholastic dollars account is how we maintain and update our library collection each year.
$1,800 for technology for the library! Last year we used our PTA money and money we'd earned from the book fair to purchase 15 chromebooks.
$297 in gift certificates and thank-yous given to book fair volunteers and Library Shelf-Elves (5th & 6th grade students who volunteer in the library before school, after school or during their lunch recess)
Over $350 worth of books purchased as gifts for teachers! Thank you to every family that contributed to growing our classroom libraries!
Hour of Code
Thanks to Mr. Lindstrom, this year Kyffin will celebrate National Hour of Code week in December. Hour of Code is a movement to encourage students to learn computer coding. 3rd through 6th grade classes will participate in Hour of Code activities in the library during December (and some in November as well!), as well as in some of their classrooms. Our 6th grade classes have already been learning about coding by completing some "coding without technology" exercises. During the week of November 16-20, 6th grade classes learned about coding by completing the "My Robotic Friend" activity in the library: one student acted as the "Robot" and the second student acted as the programmer. The programmer had to write code that would cause the "Robot" to pick up and move the cups. Through this activity, students learned that each command must be carefully chosen, and that computers actually aren't smarter than they are.
We encourage all families to participate in Hour of Code at home! Check out our resources, along with some of the great things our students are doing on our Hour of Code page!
Research - let your child see you reading
When I was a kid, I remember very clearly that my dad always had a book, a newspaper or a magazine in his hands. On Sunday evenings, we would sit down as a family to watch Murder, She Wrote* and after about 10 minutes, my dad - who was not an Angela Lansbury fan (I know...it was difficult, but I somehow survived) - would pick up his book and go to the back of the living room to read. I remember wanting to sit with him, so I'd go back and sit next to him with my book. At first, I would just hold the book and still watch the show, but eventually I started reading my book as well. I truly believe that my dad instilled a deep love of reading in me simply by modeling what pleasure reading looked like.
More and more, research is showing that children who see their parents read for pleasure are twice as likely to read for pleasure themselves. Reading to and with your children is fundamental in developing their core reading skills, but don't discount the power modeling what pleasure reading looks like - whether it be with a magazine, a newspaper, an eReader or the dogeared copy of your favorite book.
Here is a great article from the Department of Education on the many ways to encourage children to become life-long readers.
*Yes, I have seen every single episode of Murder, She Wrote. And yes, when the marathons come on television, my sister and I binge watch them. I learned two important lessons during my childhood: the importance of reading and that Mrs. Fletcher can solve any mystery.
This is the 1st book of the series. Review #1 - Maddy, Grade 6
Rating: 4 Stars - This book is better than most.
Summary: I Funny is about a kid in a wheelchair who is bullied a lot. He is really funny and has 2 friends who are totally different. He is brothers with a bully named Steve.
Review: I think 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders would like this book.
Review #2 - Ida, Grade 5
Rating: 5 Stars - It's hard to imagine a better book!
Summary: This book is mostly about a middle school kid. It is also about funny Jokes told. I think it is an amazing book
Review: This book is enjoyable because I like J.P. This is for kids who love funny books
Rating: 5 Stars - It's hard to imagine a better book!
Summary: The book Eragon is about a boy who finds a strange stone and brings strangers to his town and he flees trying to hunt them down after the king has his uncle. He sets off on an epic adventure with dragons, warlocks, wizards, and elves, among other entities. ending in a battle for the great dwarven city of father
Review: I think that people who have a taste for action and adventure
Summary: Brian is a batboy for the detroit tigers. His favorite player hank Bishop comes to play for the tigers. He is having trouble with his swing but Brian is scared to speak up.
Review: You can feel what the character is feeling.
Rating: 3 Stars - This book is readable, but not fantastic.
Summary: Some kid named Luke must hide from the government because he is born a third child. He can not go outside. But one day, he found one other shadow friend.
Kyffin Book Fair 2015 - The book fair is almost here! We need lots of parent volunteers! All volunteers will receive a coupon for 10% off their purchase. If you volunteer for more than one shift, you'll receive more than one coupon! Sign up to volunteer at the 2015 Kyffin Book Fair!
Google Google Everywhere! - Thanks to the PTA, I was able to attend a 3 day EdTechTeam Google Apps for Educators Summit in Boulder. In three days, I learned more about Google Apps than I thought possible, and I am so excited to share that learning with students, teachers and parents. If you are looking for opportunities to learn more about Google Apps (even if you aren't a teacher), please fill out this form so that I can start to develop some adult learning opportunities. And if you can't wait, feel free to check out the Google Apps page that I have created as a part of our Library website. All the answers aren't there yet, but we're working on it. Google Apps Training Information Form
Design Thinking & Creating Prolific Readers - Our 5th graders have been challenged by their teachers to complete the "20 Book Challenge". This challenge is intended to encourage students to read a variety of genres and explore the wide range of books that are available to them. Often times students get stuck in "reading ruts" - where they find themselves reading the same types of books over and over again. Young readers often struggle to see the value in reading new and different genres, so our 5th grade classes are currently following some design thinking protocols to create resources that will encourage us to be more prolific readers. Some of our current ideas include creating book trailers, book reviews, book reading contests and audiobooks. Stay tuned to see what our amazingly talented 5th graders create!
October Author Visit - Our 3rd grade students had the opportunity to visit with local author Michelle Barone. Barone is the author of several young adult novels, including The Capitol Ghost Mystery, which takes place at our capitol building here in Denver. Barone is an inspirational speaker who encourages students to write about their experiences and discusses the writing process with them. We enjoy having her come visit each fall!
Rating: 5 Stars - It's hard to imagine a better book!
Summary: Margaret is a little girl with a brilliant mom and a creative brother who meets three mysterious witches that take her brother, her and her friend into the fabric of time to a fantastic land that gives her a task to save her father who is trapped in time.
Review: This book is geared to 4th- 6th graders of all genders but it is truly enjoyable for all ages.
Summary: Amanda gets in trouble at school and during the summer she goes to a town to visit her cousin when she meets a mysterious woman that sends her out to find gifts
Review: If you like mystery and adventure, you would love this adventurous book. If you enjoy stories about friends and weird connections, then you would love this book.
