Three Cheers for Volunteers!

Last Thursday we hosted a breakfast for all the fabulous volunteers at Club. We are so lucky to have hundreds of dedicated volunteers who make our Club community so special. Many of these volunteers help in the Media Center and our program could not function without them! Thanks to all volunteers who reshelve books, assist with morning check out, process new materials, work at the Book Fair, and many other things. You make our community of readers GREAT!

Our Volunteer of the Year, Jill Organ, was honored for her years of service as treasurer of the PTA and organizer of the Durham Bulls fundraiser!

This collection of books was donated in honor of Cathy Jones, a dedicated Media Center volunteer and supporter of the humanities. We will miss you, Cathy!

Colin Bootman Visits Club Boulevard

Renowned illustrator/artist Colin Bootman visited Club Boulevard this week. His visit was made possible by the Durham Public Library in celebration of National Children's Book Week.We are so grateful for this community partnership and the support of the public library!

Below is a book trailer Mr. Bootman shared for the book: The Steel Pan Man of Harlem

 Mr. Bootman shared his story with the students by taking them on a visual journey through his artwork (beginning from elementary age). He also encouraged everyone to explore their interests, whatever they may be, and to capitalize on the passion they have for those interests.

At the end, Mrs. Karlene Fyffe Phillips from the Durham Public Library spoke to the students about signing up for the DPL Summer Reading Program. The kick-off is Saturday, June 14th, from 10-1pm at Northgate Mall. We hope to see everyone there!

Día de los Niños/ Día de los libros--Children's Book Day!

Yesterday was Día de los Niños/Día de los libros--or 'Día' for short. This is a day created by famous Latina children's author Pat Mora to celebration reading in all families and across all cultures. You can find out more about Día here: http//dia.ala.org  

At Club Boulevard, I hosted a Día celebration for families who participated in the Multicultural Book Bingo reading challenge. This is a challenge I issued to all families at the beginning of April; the goal was for families to read the books together and learn about different cultures. Books are a wonderful way to for children to gain a better understanding of world culture and for students to consider all viewpoints, respect differences, and become more self-aware. Books were available for check out in our Media Center or at the Durham County Library. I also encouraged families to visit the International Children's Digital Library--an excellent resource for multicultural titles. Here is our Bingo Board:

READ a multicultural book….

written in another language.	about a Native American tribe.	that is bilingual.	set on the continent of Africa.
that is a folktale from another country.	set on the continent of Europe.	that is a trickster tale.	from your family’s heritage.
that contains a song.	that teaches you about a cultural celebration.	set on the continent of Asia.	and locate the country on a map.
set on the continent of South America.	written from a child’s point of view.	that contains a recipe.	that is a fairytale.

The families who attended the celebration enjoyed a light breakfast and circulated around 4 stations to promote books and cultural understanding. Station descriptions are below. Before leaving, each child selected a new book to keep. Thank you to Mr. Lamb, our Spanish teacher, for helping with the event!

Students used iPads to access PebbleGo's articles on Customs Around the World

Families read a folktale and looked up the country of origin in an atlas

Kids enjoyed decorating bookmarks with Dia's buzz word: "Bookjoy"

New books just waiting to be read! :)

At this station, children read a NF book and imagined what it would be like to visit that country.

At the iPad station, students created a Venn diagram to compare their family's custom to a world custom.

Mrs. Derby's 2nd grade class also completed the Bingo Board together. They visited the Media Center and I read aloud Book Fiesta!:Celebrate Book Day/Children's Day by Pat Mora.

Then they enjoyed spending time at the learning stations and also got to choose a new book. It was a fun morning of learning!

We look forward to our Día celebration next year! :)

Book Fair Fiesta

The Book Fair Fiesta is here! Please stop by before school, after school, or during Multicultural Night to shop! All monies raised will benefit the students at Club. We are still in need of volunteers to help, especially in the morning. Click on this link to sign up! http://tinyurl.com/fairfiesta

If you can't visit the fair but would still like to shop, you still have the opportunity to shop online: http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/clubblvd. All orders will be shipped to the school for FREE! Last day to order online is April 19th.

Netiquette

I met with fourth graders this week to talk about what it means to be a good digital citizen. We began by disccussing what the world 'etiquette' means and how that word changes when we add the letter 'n' to the beginning... NETIQUETTE. 

We watched this video about Digital Netiquette on BrainPop: http://www.brainpop.com/technology/computersandinternet/digitaletiquette/

 

Students were reminded to use their manners online as well as in person and not to be 'trolls' and start 'flame wars' on the internet. We also talked about cyberbullying and I encouraged students to tell a trusted adult right away if they feel they are being bullied online. Our students are given great responsibility when going online and must use this privilege responsibly.

Lois Ehlert contest

Lois Ehlert was our Author of the Month for March. The students loved reading her colorful books! Below are the winners from our Lois Ehlert book contest. To submit their name, students had to read a Lois Ehlert book of their choosing, fill out the form below about the book, and turn it into Mrs. Husketh. Over 40 students entered the drawing and 10 students were the lucky winners!

Battle of the Books Competition

Today our 4th and 5th grade Battle of the Books team competed and placed 5th in the district semi-finals. These young readers dedicated 6 months to prepare by reading from the list of 18 books chosen by the state committee. They discussed their thoughts in weekly practices, logged in to the MyBobTeam website to quiz themselves, battled each other in anticipation of the big day, and learned more about themselves as readers in the spirit of competition. Each student challenged himself/herself and grew as a result of our time together. 

I am so proud of the way our team conducted themselves today-- they were wonderful competitors who displayed good sportsmanship and great attitudes. Well done, manatees! 

Team members give final words of encouragement before the competition.

Hanging out before rounds of play begin.

Ready for Battle!

My colleague, Mrs. Calhoun, from Sandy Ridge--they were the reading ninjas!

Kaeshad's shirt says it all...

The boys take 1!

The boys take 2!

The girls :)

This is how we felt after 11 rounds of competition! 

We can't wait to start reading for next year!!