Hello friends and followers, I am no longer the librarian at the ECS and am taking over the library at Borchardt Elementary. I will no longer be posting or updating this website. Please feel free to visit me at my new website at www.rbelibrary.com
Read On!
Today and for the next 2 days this post will stay up do you can enter your child’s name into the drawing for 5 free books! Please have completed the Summer Reading Fun! log with your child by reading aloud to them for at least 15 minutes each day.
Your child should have completed the reading log each day they were read aloud to by coloring in the box, writing their initials, or putting a sticker in the box. You do not have to submit the reading log, but if you have a picture of your child with their completed reading log that you would like for me to post on the ECS Library blog, please email the picture to me at lambertn@friscoisd.org
Remember, in order to be eligible for the book drawing, you must submit your child’s favorite book title from that month on the entry form below!
Thank you for reading to your child and participating in our Summer Reading Fun! The entry form for the drawing is below. Good luck!
The ECS Library has entered the $100K Follett Challenge to try and win resources and money for the ECS Library.
This is a really fun opportunity and we need your vote! Spread the word becasue voting starts on Thursday, June 23rd.
To vote for the ECS Library, please click on the link below. You can see our video submission as well below.
Looking for a way to have fun reading this summer with your preschool child? Well, then look no further than the ECS Library Summer Reading Fun!
All you have to do is read to or with your young child every day for at least 15 minutes. After you read, allow your child to color, write a letter, or place a sticker on our Summer Reading Fun Log.
At the end of each month of summer, check back to the ECS Library Blog to enter your child’s favorite book for that month, and you could win 5 free books!
On June 30th, July 31st, and August 19th you will then go to www.ecslibrary.org enter your contact information and the name of the book that was your favorite one to read that month.
For all the details and more information click here!
Find this book in Easy Fiction at E MCG
So Many Days by Allison McGhee and illustrated by Taeeun Yoo is a wonderful new little picture book that I want to share on this, the last day of school.
In this book, it very much echoes the ideas and message of of Dr. Seuss’ Oh! the Places You’ll Go. I find this book highly appropriate for either a beginning or an ending journey.
If you are beginning a journey in life, and want you little one to feel encouraged in the possibilities of life, this is the book for you! If you are ending a phase or a journey in life, and you want you little one to know that while one journey ends, another begins, this is the book for you.
The book echoes this, “Who will you be and where will you go?” The words assure the reader, “You are are stronger than you know… You are braver than you know…You are wilder than you know.” The final words to this book are beautiful, “You are loved more than you know.”
This beautiful and touching book is just wonderful! I know that if you are able to share this one with your young child, you will both be touched!
So as we end another school year, I wish all my ECS Library Blog readers a happy summer! I will not be posting on this blog throughout the summer except on the summer reading days as scheduled, but I will be here through the summer!
Check out this book
at the ECS Library
from the alligator!
For me, this time of year is always bitter sweet. However, this year is especially different because someone that I admire with great esteem is leaving my professional life. Dr. Leigh Ann Jones, our district Library Coordinator is moving on and moving up in the world. While I am thrilled for her, I am sad to be losing someone who has inspired me and to whom I look up to as a mentor. Enter the bitter.
Switching gears, I love the end of a school year because it is amazing to get to see how kids grow and change. I love the promise that the first days of summer bring. I love having more time to spend with my own children and to spend reading. Hence the sweet.
Stay with me.
So, last night I was reading to my son. As is our routine, I picked up one of the new books from the ECS Library that I had chosen for us to read (because he picks some and I pick some). The book was a funny little book about a fox in the dark and some animals that are really scared of the fox. As we read, I realized my son was really enjoying this book, but I was not. At the end, he requested that we read the book a second time because he liked the book so much.
I am going to make this book a book of the day, but not because I think it particularly wonderful, but because my four year old son thinks it is wonderful. You see, I began thinking about how as parents, we may want to pick the books we read to our children, but it is really important to let them pick too! Even though we may not love it, they do, and validating their opinions and choices when it comes to books is really important.
So, as I prepare to go on as a librarian and venture toward summer and summer reading, I am reminded of a post from Dr. Leigh Ann Jone’s blog. (You can see the full post by clicking here and going to her blog.) In this post, she outlines the Birthday Cake Theory (by Alleen Pace Nilsenand Kenneth L. Donelson) of reading development and the important stages children have to go through to build a love of reading.
Essentially the theory is this:
Leigh Ann goes through all the stages on her post, but for my parents and readers, I just want to convey how important it is that we grow children who love to read. Letting them have choices about the books you read to them helps them find value in the experience and helps them learn to not just enjoy reading, but love reading.
The Unconscious Delight stage is what we hope for when we hope for things for our children, right? So let’s do all we can this summer to help them love reading by letting them pick their books and just enjoy being read to!
For more information about the ECS Library Summer Reading Fun click here!
Dr. Leigh Ann Jones
Follow her on Twitter @LeighAnnJones
Find this book in Easy Fiction at E DUD
The Pirate Cruncher by Johnny Duddle is a wonderfully fun book that I had really wanted to do at a story time this year. I just felt it was a bit too long for my age group, and I hadn’t perfected some of the parts of the book for performance.
Trust me when I tell you that this book begs to be “performed.” In this book, there is a pirate who is singing to some other scurvy dog pirates about an island filled with treasure. As you know, no self-respecting pirate can pass up an opportunity to seek out some treasure. The story ends in the way I think stories about greedy pirates should, so I guess you will just have to read it yourself to see if you agree!
The engaging and creative text in this book is accompanied by marvelous illustrations that your young child will love. Remember jolly rogers, you have to put on your pirate hat and speak like a pirate to really do this story justice!
Check out this book
at the ECS Library
from the alligator!
Find this book in Easy Fiction at E DUB
In Front Of My House by Marianne Dubuc is a funny little ( I mean the book itself is quite small) book that my son and I discovered. We both really enjoyed reading this book together, and found it very interesting…
The book is “unpaged” meaning the pages are not numbered, which is probably a good thing because it looks more like a chapter book than a picture if you judge this book by its cover. However, when you open it up, you see that the text is sparse and the pictures are vibrant.
This book is a circular story, meaning that where it begins is also where it ends. My son and I loved that, but what we really enjoyed was the places this book took us to. You start out at the narrator’s house, then you travel from a sock to a book of fairy tales, to a forest and a mountain, to a werewolf and a ghost, to a rocket ship and an extraterrestrial, and then… well I think you get the idea!
This book is just perfect for young children who are able to use their imaginations to take them on the amazing journey this book inspires! Read this with your young child and you will both appreciate this book!
Check out this book
at the ECS Library
from the alligator!
Find this book in Nonfiction at 398.2 BRE
The 3 Little Dassies by Jan Brett is Jan Brett’s African version of The Three Little Pigs. After reading this book, Jan Brett has put her classic touch on this fun story!
In this book, there are three little dassies (an unusual creature with a big bump of a nose like a koala bear, bright eyes and soft fur) and they of course set off on their own. While this is essentially the traditional story, there are many African touches in the illustrations and the costumes of the dassies.
Instead of a big bad wolf, there is an eagle and a wise Agama Man (a red-headed agama lizard) who helps the dassies. Jan Brett’s classic touch of the additional illustrations that help tell the story on the sides of the pages never fail to impress even the youngest reader with their detail and what they add to the story.
Young children familiar with the original fairy tale will find this book both fun and interesting! Share this one with your young child and fall in love with Jan Brett’s stories!
For more information about Jan Brett and her work, visit her website at http://www.janbrett.com/
Check out this book
at the ECS Library
from the alligator!
Find this book in Easy Fiction at E DEM
Mini Racer by Kristy Dempsey and illustrated by Bridget Stevens-Marzo is a just a fun new picture book that I came across that I know young children will really enjoy!
What child that you know doesn’t at some point take some little cars and race them around? None that I know. In this book, the author and illustrator appeal to any child that has ever raced a little car! Plus, they play up the fun of the race by having several different types of “vehicles” racing.
Not only is this book about racing, but it also has a surprising ending that young children will get a real kick out of. In addition to the fun illustrations and animal drivers, the book also has rhyming text that carries a jaunty pace throughout the book to match the race!
Read this book with your young child and I can assure you it will be a sure fire hit! Check out the video below for a nice little sneak peak at the book!
Check out this book
at the ECS Library
from the alligator!
Find this book in Easy Fiction at E HAL
My Heart Is Like A Zoo by Michael Hall was brought to my attention by a fellow librarian, Tia Biamont over at Robertson Elementary. Once I picked up this book and saw what wonders were inside, I knew it had to be a book of the day!
In this book there are 20 different animals and all the illustrations are cleverly made from heart shapes. The book begins, “My heart is like a zoo…” and then proceeds with a simile (a literary device where two things are compared using the words like or as) that describes the narrator’s heart as an adjective cleverly linked to a zoo animal.
Each page only has one line, the simile, and all the similes are fun and descriptive. I think you find that some of them are great discussion starters and provide for some very entertaining conversation between you and your young child.
The entire book is colorful, original, fun, and just a good read! If you check out this book and want to share it with your young child, I might recommend pairing with a fun activity. This book screams to let your child have fun with art! Allow your child to cut out different sizes of hearts, and then have them construct the hearts to make different animals. If your child can’t cut their own heart use this template My Heart Is Like A Zoo Page of Hearts that has a whole bunch of hearts already created.
This is a wonderful book that will certainly be a fun book to share with your young child!
Check out this book
at the ECS Library
from the alligator!
Find this book in Easy Fiction at E SPE
The Sunflower Sword by Mark Sperring and Miriam Latimer is fun new picture book for children that has a lovely message, great illustrations, and wonderful writing!
In this book, there is great fighting in the land between the knights and the dragons. There is a little boy who wants to be big the other knights and fight the dragons too. However, he has no sword. So, he asks his mother if he can have a sword.
She gives him a sunflower. At first he is rather disappointed, but then he finds that this sunflower sword is quite fine. When he encounters his first dragon, he raises his sunflower sword. Amazingly enough, the dragon takes it from him and the dragon is delighted that the little boy has given him the flower!
The little boy and the dragon become friends, and it isn’t long before the practice of giving dragons flowers and becoming their friends is the thing to do. Even for knights!
This is a beautiful book and a wonderful story! Share this book with your young child.
Check out this book
at the ECS Library
from the alligator!
Find this book in Easy Fiction at E BAR
Chicks Run Wild by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and illustrated by Ward Jenkins is a great new book that is perfect for bedtime!
In this rhymimg book, the chicken mama has 5 little chicks, and every night she tucks them in and tall them to go to sleep. However, once she leaves the room, they are up and going wild!
Well, the mama suspects this is going on, but every time she peeks in on them, they are sound asleep in their beds. So she kisses them goodnight and leaves again. Well, when she finally catches them in the act, you will never believe what she does!
Share this wonderful book with your young child at bedtime, but be prepared for a really fun time. My two year old daughter loved this book, and insisted on kissing the chicks goodnight too!
Check out this book
at the ECS Library
from the alligator!
What in the Wild by David M. Schwartz & Yael Schy with photos by Dwight Kuhn is an absolutely fabulous new nonfiction book where kids can be nature detectives!
In this book, each page has a mystery of nature concealed with a cryptic poem that alerts children to the clues of what is concealed in the picture. When they open the page, it reveals a wonderful tidbit of information about that element of nature accompanied by a great photo.
This book is fun, informative, mysterious, and just an all around great read! If you are looking for a book to intrigue your young child, this is it!
Share this book and I guarantee you will spend quite some time exploring the detailed photographs and finding out about some really cool things in nature!
Check out this book
at the ECS Library
from the alligator!
Coming to the ECS the Weeks of May 16th- May 22nd are the Secret Readers!
Can you guess who is who?
They Said What?