Have a Wonderful Holiday!

Our Grade Ones got in the Christmas mood and helped decorate the library with their unique gingerbread people.  Thank you to the students and their teachers!

In our library classes, we took time to enjoy a seasonal story and to think about giving and receiving gifts as well as our wishes for friends and family.

     
We in the ES Library would like to wish you all a wonderful, refreshing holiday.  Safe travels and we will see you in the new year!

And the winners are...

Friday was the closing date for all photo contest submissions.  We loved seeing all the entries come in and want to say a big thank you to all our parents for their support.  The theme of our contest this year was "Curl up with a good book!".  Photos were judged on creativity and composition.

Congratulations to Eric, Elly and Stella, Jack and Sunny, Minyoung, and Albert for winning their respective divisions.  All photos have been put on display outside of the ES Library. Please stop by and enjoy these wonderful pictures.  Well done, everyone!

WebPath Express

This week in library all Grade 3, 4, and 5 students were introduced to WebPath Express.

  

WebPath Express is a powerful search tool that provides students with quick, easy access to safe, credible websites. Because the questionable websites have already been filtered out, students can spend their time focusing on what counts - relevant content!

Students logged in to their personal library accounts and created a new resource list.  Then we used WebPath Express to look for websites about their current unit of inquiry.  They practiced refining their searches by grade level and language.  Once they found a few great websites, they learned how to save them to their newly created resource list. 

We are super excited to use this learning tool alongside our library books and our encyclopaedias.  We know that using a variety of information sources is a key to student success. 

The Caldecott Medal

Since 1937, every year in the United States, the Caldecott Medal is awarded to the artist of the "most distinguished American picture book for children".  This award was named in honor of Randolf Caldecott, a nineteenth century English illustrator.

The 2014 winner is Locomotive, illustrated by Brian Floca.




The honor books for 2014 are...


  


This week in library, the Grade 1 and 2 classes enjoyed Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Tabak.  It won the Caldecott Medal in 2000.  We highly recommend it as a clever tale about creative responsible stewardship of our resources.




We encourage all of our students to check out a Caldecott Medal winner the next time they are in the library.  Nothing beats curling up with a wonderful picture book!

For more information about this award, you can go to the ALA website, the Children's Books Guide, and Good Reads.

World Book Online

This week, every Grade 3, 4, and 5 class had the opportunity during their library time to explore their current topic of inquiry using World Book Online.  The KIS libraries subscribe to this encyclopedia for our students, parents, and teachers.  This database is an excellent source of information. With it, you can find answers to your questions quickly with facts you can trust. There are thousands of authoritative articles with photographs, illustrations, and maps just waiting to be explored. The website address is www.worldbookonline.com.  (The username and password are available at the library).

The Battle of the Books Begins!

We have our team and we have our books.  Now we are going to read and read and read! We are also going to practice asking and answering trivia questions until we know the details of each book inside and out.  In the spring, we hope to travel to the mainland to compete against other international schools in the annual Battle of the Books.

Dashel Pearl offered words to his kids from the day they were born.  A man who loved language almost as much as color or taste or air, he explained to his daughter, Early, that words are everywhere and for everyone... "They're for choosing, admiring, keeping, giving.  They are treasures of inestimable value."


- excerpt from Hold Fast by Blue Balliet p.6