Helping Readers in Need

Can you help our friends in Melbourne, Australia? I hope so!

Imagine opening a brand new library and then a couple of months later watch it be destroyed in a storm. That’s what happened on Christmas Day in Melbourne.

While we were enjoying our Christmas Day here in the Seattle area, one of our blogging buddies was dealing with a library disaster. On Christmas Day in Melbourne Australia, a terrible storm thundered through the city. Flash floods, hailstones the size of tennis balls, tornadoes and pelting thunderstorms pummeled the city.

 

St. Martin of Tours Primary School in the northeast section of Melbourne was hit especially hard. About 4 inches of rain (96 mm) came down in a hour and overwhelmed the gutter system on the ceiling of the brand-new library media center. The water backed up and the weight collapsed the ceiling over the picture book section and office area of the library.

Forty brand new books waiting to be catalogued and placed into the library were destroyed. The S-Z picture book section was a sopping mess. You can read more about the damage and see a movie of the clean up on Miss Yeomans’ LRC blog.

So how can you help? Our friends may be many miles away from us physically, but they are readers just like us. They love books and when they come back to school they are going to need books to read. I thought it might be a great idea if our blogging friends sent them a favorite picture book.

I am going to buy a book this week and put it in the mail. Perhaps you could do the same and by the time school opens, the students at St. Martin our Tours Primary School will have new books to read. Please share this with your friends and fellow bloggers! A librarian friend is in need and we can help!

Please send your book to:

Miss Yeomans, Teacher/Librarian

St Martin of Tours

2-12 Silk Street, Rosanna VICTORIA 3084,

Australia

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Thank You For Your Service

 

Today is Veteran’s Day. 

This national holiday is a day honoring all Veterans of the armed services. A veteran is a person who has served in the armed forces: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard or the Air Force either in peace time or during war.

In past years our students have honored Veterans at our school in assemblies, but this year we don’t have a gym where we can all gather.  Instead, students are writing letters to Veterans, making posters and finding personal ways to thank our Veterans who have chosen to serve their country. Many of the 4th graders donated goodies to send overseas as a care package! One class of first graders even learned the Pledge of Allegiance in American Sign Language!

 To all our American Veterans, we say, Thank you!”

Veteran's Day 2010

 We hope you will enjoy our movie celebrating our American Veteran’s!

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How will you honor our Veterans on this holiday?

Does your country celebrate this day in a similar way?

Leave us a comment and let us know!

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Happy Halloween Bulldog Readers

 

In honor of our most popular book series, Mrs. Hembree decided to dress up as Babymouse!

 


Custom Glitter Text

Babymouse dresses up in all kinds of outfits for her adventures!

This is Mrs. Hembree’s version of Halloween Babymouse!

“Babymouse, it’s Halloween, not Flamingo Night!”

We wish all of our readers a very Happy Halloween! Happy Reading!

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What are you doing to dress up as on Halloween?
What is your favorite Babymouse book?
What is your favorite scary book?

 

 

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Bookfair Opens Monday, Oct. 3rd!

Our Annual Scholastic Bookfair opens today, Monday, October 3rd.

 It runs through Thursday, October 6th.


Our hours of operation are Monday-Thursday 8:30-9:00 (before school).

Monday – Tuesday and Thursday we are open from noon-5pm.

We will not be open on Wedneday, October 5th in the afternoon.

Our bookfair coincides with the Teacher-Parent-Student-led conferences.  We moved the bookfair last year to the same time so families who are already on campus for their children’s conferences, could easily come to the fair! It’s a win-win for everyone!

Special for adult family members is our Wednesday morning adults only shopping! Join me in the library from 9-10am on October 5th for a morning shop-a-thon. Drop the kids off in school and walk over to the library for a chance to shop without interruptions! Here’s your opportunity to get ahead on your holiday shopping without the younger ones knowing!

When you purchase books at our bookfair you are directly benefiting our library. A percentage of the proceeds from every book purchase goes directly to the library. We use this money to purchase more new books for our library.

Many people think that the school district gives the library a book budget, but unfortunately, that is not true. The school district does not contribute any money for library book purchases. We get a small amount from our building budget. However, the majority of our books are purchased after earning money from fundraisers such as the Scholastic Bookfair. Every penny helps buy us new books!

 Paying is easy at the bookfair. Cash, checks, debit and major credit cards are accepted! Scholastic provides us with a professional cash machine and debit/credit card machine so we make shopping easy and pain free!

New this year is the addition of the ONLINE BOOKFAIR!

Families who can’t attend the bookfair or have extended family members who might live out of town can also support our fair. Simply visit the Scholastic Online Bookfair link, create an account and find those books! The website includes an expanded booklist from preschool through adult.  Books purchased online will be sent to school, free of charge and given to your child personally by Mrs. Hembree.

I hope you will plan to attend this year’s Bookfair this week, where Reading is Out of This World!

Mrs. Hembree, Librarian

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Reading at Stonehenge

 

Look carefully at where Marlo is reading!

Where do you think she is?

Marlo reading at Stonehenge

 Now if you have looked carefully, and have heard of Stonehenge before,

you might have noticed something different about this photo.

The surrounding area is all brown!

That is because this Stonehenge is in Maryhill, Washington!

Here is the description from the Washington Stonehenge website:

“On a lonely bluff overlooking the Columbia River and the town of Maryhill, Washington, is a full-size replica Stonehenge. An almost identical copy of the more famous English Stonehenge, it was built by Sam Hill, a road builder, as a memorial to those who died in World War I. Dedicated in 1918, the memorial wasn’t completed until 1930. Hill passed away soon after he finally saw his masterpiece completed.”

The actual Stonehenge in England looks like this.

Photo by Lucille Pine 12/2006

 The two Stonehenges really look quite similar!

I also learned something new today because I didn’t know that we had a

replica here in Washington State!

 Thanks Marlo for helping me learning some WA State geography!

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What do you think about this replica of Stonehenge?

Have you ever visited Stonehenge in either Washington or England?

Did you read there???

Leave us a comment and let us know!

 

 

 

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Reading from Resting to Ruins

 

As the deadline of August 31st looms for our Reading Contest,

I am finding my email box filling up with new entries!

Who will be one of the Bulldog Reader Winners?

Perhaps it will be one of these fabulous readers!

Grace knows there's nothing like reading in bed!

 

Who is our mysterious masked reader?

 

Bridget takes reading to new heights!

 

Mrs. Adair reads in front of the Mayan Ruins,Chichen Itza, near Cancun, Mexico.

 

 What you think about our latest entries?
Mrs. Adair went to Mexico. Have any of you been there too?
Leave us a comment and let us know!

 

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Reading Makes You Grow!

 

More of our Bulldog readers have sent in photos of them reading during the summer! Check out our latest additions!

Josa learns that reading can make you grow!

 

Josa cooks with R2D2!

 

Ellie & Alissa “tree-reading”!
If you have a photo of you reading, please email it to jhembree@lwsd.org!
 I will accept photos until August 31st!
 
In the meantime, Keep Reading!
If you have a comment for our adventurous readers, let us know!

 

 

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Traveling with Pigeon in MA

Pigeon and I are on vacation in Massacusetts. This is the state where I was born. It is located on the eastern seaboard of the USA. If you look at the map, you will find Massachusetts colored green on the upper right side of the map above Connecticut and below Maine and New Hamphire. Massachusetts is about 3,000 miles from Seattle.

USA map with states

 

Here is a map of Massachusetts. It is not a very big state in size. I first flew into Boston.

 

 

My next stop on the trip will be Maine. Maine is the most northeast state in the US.

 

The unfortunate part of being on a trip is having computer problems! Pigeon and I have taken lots of photos, but we will have to wait to show them off until we get back from our trip. Until then enjoy the last weeks of your summer vacation and Keep Reading!

Have you ever been to Massachusetts or Maine? What did you do?

What kind of vacation trip is your favorite?

Please let us know! 

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Morgan, Madison and Megan in Missouri!

At the corner of 3 states!

At the corner of Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas!

 

Praying Hands Memorial, Webb City, MO.
Praying Hands Memorial, Webb City, MO.

 

At the Joplin Public Library

At the Joplin Public Library, Joplin, Missouri

In late May, a massive tornado tore through Joplin destroying 25% of the city.

You can see some of the destruction in this photo.

 
Repair manuals are important after a tornado! Notice the damage in the background.

Repair manuals are important after a tornado! Notice the damage in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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