National French Day

The Ant and the Grasshopper, Ms. Rich’s 2nd Grade Homeroom

Lower Library Celebrates
National French Day,
Nov. 5 – 11



During National French Day, boys and girls from pre-first through fifth grade had the opportunity to hear about France from Madame Felch. During these library enrichment sessions, they learned about French geography, the French flag, the Eiffel Tower, other famous monuments and commonly used French and English cognates. The reading of La Fontaine’s version of The Ant and the Grasshopper presented the children with the moral: “If you don’t work when you should, you must be willing to accept the consequences.” Future library enrichment sessions are planned for winter and spring.

7th grade Booktalks

Today in the library, Mrs. Little's seventh grade English class participated in a "Book Talk". Each student was asked to tell their classmates about the best book they had read so far this year. Some students dressed up as their favorite character while others used posters or dioramas to share information about the book.

Red Gables 2008 Fall Book List has Something for Everyone!

Where can you Meet Derek Jeter, follow Nancy Reagan, live wild with Giraffes and watch Panda grow? In the Lower Library at Red Gables, those books and 177 more biographies, non-fiction, junior fiction and easy reading picture books are new this fall. Preview the entire list from Library Lion to Nancy Drew; from Eye on Energy to Science Rocks! Double Dragon Trouble to Tornadoes and from Planets to Would I Lie to You? It's the truth-- these are great books!

You can find all 177 titles by clicking on "Red Gables List" under "New Books in Library " to the right.

Caution tape, Cafeteria Food and Banned Books = Tasty Learning

On October 2, 2008 as EHS students crowded their way into the cafeteria they found the usual lunch tables covered in "Caution" and "Warning" tape. Upon each table sat a book along with an index card. The books ranged from student favorites such as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and James and the Giant Peach to classics like Animal Farm and Of Mice and Men.

Specific to each book, an index card on each table provided details about when, where and why the title had been challenged or banned. Students and teachers alike were astonished and surprised to discover that all of the books had been challenged or banned. Many students were angered, coming to the realization that their peers in other cities across the US had been unable to check out such titles as Dr. Suess's The Lorax or Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

Book banning is unfortunately "alive and well in the US"; there were 420 reported attempts to remove books in 2007 according to the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom. Providing students this information about some of their favorite books at lunchtime proved a great time to get a peer discussion flowing. Sometimes it is crucial to "take the books out of the library" in order to reach high school students in a new way.

Classroom Teachers Choose Great Books

Check out what teachers in pre-first through third grade are reading to their classes! These include several classics and several recently published works. Teachers and students are invited to add their comments to this blog about these great books.

Pre-First Read Aloud

P1-Florentine
“Ramona the Pest” By Beverly Cleary
“The Jamie and Angus Stories” by Anne Fine
“Jamie and Angus Together” by Anne Fine
“Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus” by Barbara Park

P1-Hileman

"Junie B. Jones and the Stinky Smelly Bus" by Barbara Park

"Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business" by Barbara Park

"Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth" by Barbara Park

"Junie B. Jones and Her Sneaky Peeky Spying" by Barbara Park

"Junie B Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake" by Barbara Park

"Mrs. Piggle Wiggle" by Betty MacdDonald

First Grade Read Aloud

1-Budde
“The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe” By C. S. Lewis
“The Witch Family” By Eleanor Estes
“The Spiderwick Chronicles” Book 1 By Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

1-Parker
“James and the Giant Peach” by Roald Dahl
“Gooseberry Park” by Cynthia Rylant
“The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams
“The Cricket in Times Square” by George Selden

1-Peck
“Gooseberry Park” by Cynthia Rylant,
“Lafcadio” by Shel Silverstein
“All About Sam” by Lois Lowry

1-Sanchez
“Gooney Bird Greene” by Lois Lowry
“Funny Frank” by Dick King Smith
“Gooseberry Park” by Cynthia Rylant

Second Grade Read Aloud

2-Todd

"Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary

"The Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor Estes

"Rip Roaring Russell" by Johanna Hurwitz

2-Smith
“The Year of Miss Agnes” by Kirkpatrick Hill
“Stone Fox” by John Reynolds Gardiner
“Amber was Brave, Essie was Smart” by Vera Williams
“The Doll People” by Ann Martin

2-Rich
“Clementine’s Letter” by Sarah Pennypacker
“The Minpins” by Roald Dahl
“The Year of the Dog” by Grace Lin

2-Walker
“Vacation under the Volcano” by Mary Pope Osbourne
“Just Grace” by Charise Mericle Harper
“The Truth about Bats” by Joanna Cole

Third Grade Read Aloud

3- Royse
“Penderwicks” by Jeanie Birdsall

First Graders Read David McPhail

The First graders have been learning about author/illustrator David McPhail. Mr. McPhail always wanted to be an artist. He started drawing when he was two years old and he drew on anything, anytime and any where. He is best known for his animal characters that come to life.

First graders enjoyed The Bear's Toothache which was published in 1972, Lost!, Mole Music, which was a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year and Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore.

One of the highlights of David McPhail's work is looking for "clues to the story" in the opening pages or title pages of his books.

New Student Picks

From the Red Gables Librarians

Students love to ask us for suggestions of “really good books” to read and all of us have favorites of each genre. The best suggestions, however, come from their own classmates. So Ensworth Students, young and older, if you have a favorite book, and anytime you read a book you think your peers would like, let us know about it by responding directly to this blog. Tell us the title and author of the book, and, in your opinion, who would like to read it. We’d love you have your name and grade, too.

Mrs. Sandwith and Mrs. Bruce were in the northeast visiting several private school and college libraries. The previous post was at Hopkins School - the 5th oldest private school in the U.S. It was founded in 1660 and settled in this location overlooking the town of New Haven, CT. in 1926. We were fortunate to tour the renovated library prior to the grand re-opening on March 31st.

Mrs. Sandwith was holding a snowball-- part of her quest during this trip was to find snow.

We had a great time talking to several librarians about their best practices which in turn will help the Ensworth librarians continue to offer their best to this community. We also met with several librarians from Yale and Vassar to discuss research skills they wish incoming freshmen would have. This visit has helped us set our goals to assist Ensworth students with building a "research tool kit" from Pre-1 through the 12th grade. We were able to confirm some of our best practices and also look at issues from the college level view so we can improve on certain skills and continue to build.

Where in the world is Mrs. Sandwith

Hello Red Gables Students. Can anyone identify what state Mrs. Sandwith is in? Also what is she holding?

The Hollywood Librarian Trailer

Librarians in the Blogosphere!

In thinking about the content of our blog I decided to do a little research to see what other school library blogs were like. All of the blogs I looked at are different. Some act as an advertising medium for the library, highlighting new acqusitions and book club meetings. Others seemed to focus on fun and bring digital photos, U-Tube clips and music into the librarian's world. Many of the blogs focused on Web 2.0 and new tech tools for educators.

All of the blogs however provided a "taste" of the school. Just from skimming through the pages I was able to glean an understanding of the philosophy of the school and gained a glimpse into the school through a librarian's eyes.

Check out other School Library Blogs!

Happenings in H.S. Library

The high school library space is becoming a bubbling assortment of research paper writers. This is the time of year the history department assigns mini research and reflection papers. As the head librarian, I love this time of year because the library is busy every period. Students are working individually and in groups. Even though we are a wireless campus which allows "have library will travel" availability, many faculty like the fieldtrip aspect of bringing the students to the library classroom to review search strategies using with Ebsco, Proquest or JStor. So watch your feet so you aren't trampled-- but welcome to the library and thank you faculty for not by-passing us and going straight to the Google super highway where traffic tie-ups are worse than a few trampled feet.

Bucket List

Over this past weekend I saw the movie "The Bucket List." Between that movie and planning a library lesson with the 9th graders for the upcoming Big Read of Fahrenheit 451 I began to think about my own "bucket list" in the form of books. Hummm, what would I read if I only had a limited time before books disappeared. I immediately was drawn to one of my bookshelves at home. It contains all my favorites, from the childhood series of Elsie Dinsmore, Beautiful Joe, Gone with the Wind, The Yellow-Wallpaper, The Awakening, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to current faves The Secret Life of Bees, World Without End, and A Thousand Splendid Suns... but then my eyes move to another shelf The Canon that includes the Great Books Series, how many books can I reread quickly so I'll never forget them? Where do I begin and where do I end? So many books, and so little time... So while I'm trying to reduce my favorites to something manageable in case of a crisis- What's in your bucket?

Libraries Adapt

I recently read an Issues article from The Tennesean (1/27/08) discussing the need for newspapers to adapt to meet the needs of readers. It's not only newspaper editors that are constantly faced with keeping readership and usage up. School libraries have had to re-examine how to reach out to students. Here at Ensworth, we have to do the same.

The Ensworth libraries have embraced technology on both campuses to the point that our library catalog is web-based and all our databases are accessible from any location that has internet access. We have created ways for students and faculty to NOT step foot into the library. Is this a sane thing to do? As librarians at Ensworth, we recognize that our community does not stop researching after 5pm once the doors are locked for the night. Our smallest students have their own computers at home and our community expects a 24/7 access to information. Over the MLK weekend, I received two phone calls and four emails from students requesting research guidance. I love those inquiries because we want our students to think beyond "Google" when looking for research material. If someone told me ten years ago I would be writing a "blog" and encouraging our students to check the library online resources, I would have been astounded and thought maybe they had read too much Ray Bradbury. (see previous blog)

To quote from the Issues article: "The challenge for editors across the nation is to take advantage of the new avenues for reaching residents in print and online-- and to ensure that coverage changes as community needs and interests change." We only need to adjust a few words to make this quote our own.

The on-going challenge for librarians across the nation is to take advantage of the new avenues for reaching our community in print and online. We will continue to have books on the shelves, create comfortable quiet nooks for reading around the fireplace, still have comfortable laps for the little ones, but also provide 24/7 access to quality research materials, provide thought provoking blogs and continue to stay in step with the future to always be a productive and important role in our community. - JMB

Welcome

Welcome to the Ensworth Librarians Blog. We hope to keep this interesting and informative with the goings on at all three libraries and some muses from our librarians.

The High School Science department is participating in the National Endowment for the Arts Program "The Big Read." (links on the right sidebar) All our ninth graders will be reading Ray Bradbury's classic- Fahrenheit 451 during the month of February. What a wonderful book. It brought back memories of the past when I taught a winter-term course to some international students at a boarding school on the east coast. We had such interesting discussions when we looked at the technology descriptions within the book and replaced it with plasma screens and ear-phones so many of them had. We also discussed various forms of censorship. I am very interested in listening to the discussions that will take place on our campus to compare the insights from the two groups. - JMB