Category

Second grade students have been busy learning about different versions of classic folk and fairy tales. As part of this unit, we will be hosting local Glenview author Songju Ma Daemicke on Monday, February 27.  She is the author of A Case of Sense, a book inspired by a folktale her grandfather told her as a child. She will be visiting SFX to tell 2nd grade students about her childhood growing up in China and the role

In the world of children’s literature, this was a very important week. Each year, the American Library Association holds their midwinter conference where book award committees meet and select the most notable books published in the previous year. This Monday, the awards, which include the Caldecott and Newbery medals, were announced. I was excited to be at the awards announcement as I was fortunate enough to be

Kevin Henkes, author/illustrator of numerous award-winning books for children and a very popular author with our SFX students, will be visiting the Evanston Public Library on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 4:30 p.m. Henkes will celebrating the release of his 50th book for children, Egg. For details and to register for the event, visit the Evanston Public Library’s program calendar. Henkes is a wonderfully engaging speake

Book Cafe returns!  It is open to students in 4th and 5th grade. We will meet on Wednesday, February 8 during 4th and 5th grade lunch period. We will be reading Liberty by Kirby Larson, who is our featured author for this school year and will be visiting SFX on Friday, May 19. Students are invited to bring a sack lunch and come to the library and join me for a fun book discussion. Dessert will be provided. Registrati

Happy New Year to you all!  I hope you all enjoyed a joyous Christmas with your family and friends. As we return to school this week, I am very excited to share many great books with our students in 2017. Some of the exciting library programs coming up include Battle of the Books, the return of Book Cafe for students in 4th-5th grade, and the inaugural Breakfast with Books get together for middle school students. As

What fun we all had when David visited SFX on Monday! His visit was made possible by your generous support of the EPIC Difference Fund. His hilarious and engaging presentation had our Kindergarten-3rd grade students enraptured from the start. David showed the children how he created his artwork completely on his computer and he encouraged all the children who are interested in illustration to try sumopaint.com to cre

This week our 3rd grade students will become book award committee judges. In preparation for the January announcement of the winners of the 2017 Caldecott medal for outstanding illustrations in a children’s book, 3rd grade will embark on a few weeks of studying, analyzing, and critiquing children’s picture books published in 2016. Each week when they visit the library, I will guide them through spending t

Tuesday was an exciting day as the Scholastic truck pulled up to the school and boxes and boxes of books rolled off the truck in preparation for this year’s Holiday Book Fair. The book fair runs Thursday-Sunday and proceeds from the fair help support our school library. Proceeds from last year’s book fair enabled us to buy the online database suite of Scholastic Go! helping our students find credible and

Author David Biedrzycki, is a lifelong artist who drew all the time as a child even getting in trouble with his teachers for doodling on his homework. Having worked as a professional artist since 1980, he has written and/or illustrated numerous children’s books. His book, Breaking News: Bear Alert, won the 2016 Monarch Award: Illinois’ K-3 Readers’ Choice Award, and is incredibly popular with our st

SFX students in grades 4-6 will, for the second year in a row, have an opportunity to participate in Battle of the Books, a literary trivia game. For added fun, this year we will play an interscholastic game with two other area schools, Baker and Chiaravalle (Evanston). When we return from winter break, more information will be made available to students on how teams will be formed but until that time, this is the li

Sunday marked World Kindness Day. In a world that is full of unrest, it is wonderful to take a day to concentrate on giving to others. As Christians God calls us to do this all year round not just one day of the year. Last week, the Association of Library Services for Children, a division of the American Library Association, published a wonderful list of children’s books that share the message of creating unity

What a wonderful visit we had Friday afternoon with author Peter Kujawinski. You could hear a pin drop as Peter held the 5th-8th grade students in the palm of his hand as he enraptured them with his amazing storytelling. Students may still order a copy of Peter’s book Nightfall. Complete the order form and return it along with payment to school by Monday morning so that we can secure a signed copy of the book f

Mrs. Ann Gass is joining the library team on Monday, November 7.  She is filling the position previously held by the wonderful Mrs. Kanellos. Mrs. Gass has worked as a library assistant at a school in Northbrook and most recently held a long-term substitute position at Glenbrook South High School’s library. I have known Ann for a few years and I am very excited to have her working with me in the library.  Ann l

What an amazing week we had last week with our poet in residence, Bill Buczinsky, as he worked to nurture and grow a love for poetry writing in our students. Bill has a poetry writing journal, Strange World: A Poetic Journey, that is for sale if families would like to order a copy. Please fill out the order form and return it to the school along with your payment no later than November 15.  Checks should be made paya

Thanks to our partnership with the Book Stall at Chestnut Court, author Peter Kujawinski will be coming to SFX on Friday, November 11 to speak with our 5th-8th grade students. Peter was an American diplomat on assignment in Israel, Haiti, France and at the United Nations. He also served as U.S. Consul General in western Canada. During this time he began writing and has published books for young people and adults. His

The holiday season is rapidly approaching, as is our Christmas book fair, which starts Dec. 1.  Betsy Bird, collection manager of the Evanston Public Library, is one of the foremost authorities on new children’s books and she has just published her list of must read children’s books for 2016. The list encompasses a wide range of books. I have read many of the books on theBetsy Bird 2016 best books and wan

Thank you to all the students and families that attended last night’s fun-filled poetry event. Lead by our poet in residence, Bill Buczinsky, the students shined as they read their own poems and got caught up in the joy and excitement Bill has brought to our students this week. It was a delight to see.    

Our 3rd grade students have been busy studying the three branches of government and they have the special opportunity this Thursday afternoon to meet author Mary Parry, author of Sadie McGrady Runs for President.  Mary’s visit to the Chicagoland area is sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Sadie McGrady Runs for President is an empowering new picture book about a young girl who imagines her own campaign for

This week I am working with the 5th grade students to help them research their selected topics for their upcoming Native American research project. I have been teaching them to use the site Scholastic Go! for which our school has a subscription. Scholastic Go! is an online collection of encyclopedias that includes magazine articles and videos, as well as encyclopedia articles to support student’s informational

The third grade teachers have asked me to work with their students to help them research their selected topics for an upcoming information essay project.  In the next week I will meet with each 3rd grade class to show them two different websites that their teachers and I think will be grade appropriate and very helpful for this project. The first site is DKFindout!. This online encyclopedia for children is very user

Over the summer, I had the benefit of attending NERD Camp, a two day literacy conference in Michigan. While at the conference, I learned about Global Read Aloud. The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world. From its humble beginnings, the GRA has grown to make a truly global connection with more than 1,000,000 students having participated. This year SFX will be participat

We are so fortunate to have many wonderful children’s authors coming to the Chicagoland area in October. When young readers get a chance to meet authors it makes an indelible impression on the child. Here is a list of the three authors coming. MAC BARNETT The Magic Word Book Release Party Tuesday, Oct 4th at 4:30 PM at The Book Stall in Winnetka Join The Book Stall to celebrate the first day of Mac Barnett’s ne

For the past two weeks we have had much to celebrate in the library. Last week Tuesday, Sept. 13 would have marked the 100th birthday of prolific children’s writer, Roald Dahl, who penned such well-known tales as BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda. Due to a generous donation from a SFX family, we had our own “golden ticket” to giveaway. Each student in grades 1-5 had the opportunity

On Tuesday, our 1st-3rd grade students were enthralled by author Janet Nolan, who spent the afternoon talking with the students about how she generates the ideas for her informational picture books. She walked them through the process to make a 32 page book and the importance of writing and revising. We are so thankful to the Book Stall at Chestnut Court for making this author visit possible.  Students, who pre-order

Thanks to our partnership with The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, children’s author Janet Nolan will come to SFX the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 13 to meet with our 1st-3rd grade students. Janet has penned many informational picture books for students and her newest book, Seven and a Half Tons of Steel, which was just released, is the moving story of how a beam from one of the Twin Towers was used to build a new