When the Relatives Came

Caldecott Honor 1986

Written by Cynthia Rylant
Illustrated by Stephen Gammel (my favorite illustrator)

We're visiting the relatives in North Dakota, so my Caldecott choice for today seemed obvious. My husband is one of eight children... so it seems like there are a billion children running around.

Tonight after a long day of cousin fun, my kiddos snuggled up for a Caldecott Challenge. Frankie gave this one eight out of five stars. Lots of connections!

Here's our highs and lows:

High: The amazing illustrations true lily are reminiscent of a family gathering. My cousin even cuts hair out on the deck like the family in this book.

Low: Whenever I read this book, I wish for the setting to not be named as Virginia. Instead of feeling like this is my own family-being reminded that the story takes place in Virginia removes me from the story just as I am feeling a part of it.

The Stray Dog

Caldecott Honor 2002

The Stray Dog
Retold and Illustrated by Marc Simont
From a true story by Reiko Sassa

Oliver has been carrying this book around for a few days. I can see why-- it is a fun story with great pictures.

High: I love how the dog looks inside of the dog catchers net--what great illustrations.

Low: Like the dog in this story-- my childhood dog's name was Willy. Only Simont spelled it wrong:)

Our favorite pictures.

ALA 2012

Sitting at an airport...again. Waiting for my flight home from ALA in Anaheim, California. I'll make a more detailed post about my amazing experience when I arrive home, and have a real computer.

So a quick high/low of my first ALA before I get on this plane in 2 minutes:

High: Attending the award ceremony of the Newbery/Caldecott Ceremony. A true magical moment.

Low: Surprise--missing my flight and arriving later than planned.

Finally On My Way!

I'm sitting in Denver waiting to catch my connecting flight to ALA. I am so excited to be attending my first ALA conference in Anaheim, CA. Unfortunately for me, I went to the wrong airport yesterday.... and missed my flight by minutes. I spent most of the day at the MSP airport on standby, and finally went home so I could catch a flight at 6:30 this morning--so that makes two super early mornings for this night owl.

On a bright note, I ran into my friend and coworker who was taking the flight I wanted to get on. Thanks Ms. McCormick for helping me pass some time. Here we are at Gate E5 my home away from home.

Guest Blogger

A Super Nerdy Book Club Moment--Holding the original manuscript to one of my favorite books!

I am super excited to be a guest blogger over at The Nerdy Book Club. Check out my post "An Open Letter to Judy Blume."

6th Grade Dewey Movies

Sixth Graders learned about the Dewey Decimal System. They worked in small groups to examine sections of the library. Students thought of five images that would represent their section of the library. We then:

• Reviewed how to upload copyright free images from Creative Commons
• Reviewed how to cite photographs
• Learned about adding captions to help viewers understand our movies
• Learned how to upload free music from Freeplay Music

Here are our Videos about Dewey in the Brimhall Library:

3rd Grade eBooks

Our 3rd Graders researched Native American groups of the Southwest they then summarized their notes and created illustrations on the computer or the iPad.

Students learned how to turn their work into PDF files and upload them to Flipsnack. Check out our great eBooks below:

• Hopi--Lily, Siri, Ella, Colton
• Ute--Jordan, Eric, Severen, Toby
• Navajo--Shemiyah, Daniel, Lesli, Yejin
• Navajo--Teontay, Jade, Nicolas, Andrew
• Pueblo--Alexander, Haley, Mike, Zijing
• Shoshone--Jennifer, Anlin, Mike, Kelly
• Apache--Samia, Pengsu, Junior, Seth
• Hopi--Mimi, Amanda, Liv, Anisha, Taylor
• Comanche--David, Liam, Shelby
• Ute--Quincy, Andrew G., Amen, Grace H.
• Pueblo--Ruby, Nicholai, Fernando, Elise
• Shoshone--Victoria, Adib, Youssef, Grace W.
• Apache--Iliana, Soloman, Ethan, Renee
• Comanche--Sabyl, Jessica, Jeremiah