Not even a mouse

Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

You can make your own Christmas mouse ornament to hang on your christmas tree by coloring a picture of a mouse (without a tail) then taping a candy cane to the back for it's tail.

Merry Christmas.

Did you Know?

“The Night before Christmas” also known by the name of “A Visit from St Nicholas” was written by Clement Moore on the eve of Christmas for his family in 1822 without any intention of publishing it. A friend of Clement Moore heard about this poem from his children and made a copy of the poem to add it to her collection. She then gave it to an editor and the poem was published on the 23rd of December in 1823.

"Twas the Night Before Christmas"

By Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!

On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

Happy Holidays

I love to share Christmas traditions, but also enjoy sharing

how other celebrations are celebrated this time of year.

The first week in December I am sharing this story, since Chanukkah starts Dec 1st this year.

I also have dreidels on the table so the students can have fun playing a game from that celebration.

The second week of December we are sharing Christmas traditions.Students will have an opportunity to share their favorite tradition,and I will share one of my favorite..."The Night Before Christmas"

I found a video of this version so students will get to listen to (& watch)the story.

The third week of December I will share portions of the story below and show a video of a Saint Lucia Day celebration.

Family Fun!

We have the "Family Fun" magazine at school with great activities, recipes and crafts ideas, but there is also Family Fun online with more information and activities not found in the magazines. This is a great place to find fun things to do as a family, especially during the holidays. To check out their online site go to the Family Fun link under our online resources.

Thankful

We are watching a short 3 minute clip called the "Mayflower Deconstructed" this week from history.com. You can watch it by going to the Mayflower link under online resources. There are many other videos there about Thanksgiving, and about history.

We have so much to be thankful for ~ Happy Thanksgiving

A few Veterans in my family

Remember

Our Veterans!

Veterans Day

For Veterans Day, this week we are sharing a story about a veteran that lives right in our area dubbed "The Candy Bomber" while he served as an U.S. Air Force pilot during the Berlin Airlift in 1948/49. Keep an eye out for the book "Candy Bomber" based on his experience. We will be getting a copy of it in our media center very soon.

Synergize

The habit that we will be focusing on this week is Synergize, or working together as a group. This is a great time of the year to think of ourselves as part of a larger group (the larger group possibly being our school or your family.) As we approach the holiday season I hope you will take the opportunity to find a way that you might work together (or synergize) to do something for someone else. As a family, participate in a service project, collect items for those in need, shovel a neighbors walk; or as a class, work together with your classmates to do something special for someone else.

Culturegrams

Check out culturegrams if you have students preparing to do reports on countries around the world and how they celebrate. Lots of good information here. Go to the "UEN-Pioneer" library link to find out more. I gave students bookmarks with the username and password this week to access this site at home. Come to the library if you didn't get one.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween pop-up

I am sharing "MOMMY?" a pop up book about a little boy wandering through a creepy castle and the characters he meets. You can see how pop-ups are made, see sneak peeks of other pop-up books and make your own halloween pop-up if you go to the "make pop-up" link under online resources.

At Halloween (with kindergarten) we recite the poem "5 Little Bats" and give each student their own copy of the poem and a bat finger puppet. Making your own finger puppets is simple. Cut out the shape you want, cut 2 slits in it and slide it over your finger (pictured to the right.) The kids love it and think it is so fun to have their own bat to keep. Below is the poem we use. I have them do the actions with their finger puppets.

5 little bats sitting on the floor

(have puppet sit on their knee)

1 flew away and there were 4

4 little bats sitting in a tree

(make a tree with fingers spread apart)

1 flew away the there were 3

3 little bats tasting witches brew

(make a cauldron with one hand cupped)

1 flew away and there were 2

2 little bats just having fun

(fly bat through the air)

1 flew away and there was 1

1 little bat who likes to pretend

Won’t fly away - he is your friend

(have bat sit on their shoulder or head)

Frankenstein

If you want a good laugh check out this parody of "Madeline" by Nathan Hale. To view, go to the site labeled "Frankenstein" in our online resources list. The link will take you to his blog where you will also find other graphic novel/comic book reading.

Love it !!!

I visited the butterfly classroom today!! What fun to see the beautiful butterflies and think about the wonders of nature all around us. Take time over fall break to explore nature. Be on the lookout for animals & insects or see how many different colors of leaves you can discover. Enjoy the fall weather and changing of the seasons, then tell me all about it when we come back from break.

Guess How Much???

Next week students have a chance to guess how much these pumpkins weigh. The closest to the right weight will take them home on Oct. 29th. Happy Haunting, and Happy Guessing too!!!

We always have guessing games for the students during the book fair. I have so much painting pumpkins to decorate for halloween, I thought I'd paint one with a popular book character on it for the book fair too. The student that guesses the closest to this "Buzz Boy" pumpkins weight takes it home at the end of the book fair. Visit the library during the book fair and you can make your guess!!

The painted faces that had the most votes were

dracula

a mummy

a witch

& a silly face

so those are the faces that will be painted on our guess the weight of the pumpkin pumpkins.

*I will post pictures after they have been painted.

Good luck guessing the weight!

The student that guesses the closest to the right weight of a pumpkin will take home that pumpkin at the end of October.

Talk Like a Pirate

Aarrrrrr!: (done with a growl): Pirate exclamation.

Ahoy: Hello

Avast: Stop and pay attention

Davy Jones' Locker: The bottom of the sea

Disembark: To leave the ship

Doubloon: Pirate gold

Down the Hatch: said before eating or drinking

Embark: To enter the ship in order to go on a journey

Jolly Roger: Pirate flag

Lubber: Land lover. Someone who doesn't like to be at sea.

Matey: Friend or comrade

Me Hearty: Someone dear to your heart

Rigging: Ropes that hold the sails in place

Scallywag: A bad person or enemy

Sea Dog: An experienced sailor

Shiver me Timbers: Expression of surprise or fear

Walk the Plank: A pirate punishment

Begin with the End in Mind

Our focus this week is "Begin with the End in Mind" so we are sharing books with characters that practice this trait. With upper grades I am book-talking a few books from Roald Dahl, since his birthday is on Sept.13th and many of his books have characters that used the "Begin with the End in Mind" attitude to overcome obstacles. With younger grade we are reading "Whistle for Willie" by EzrJack Keats about a boy who desperately wants to learn to whistle.

Be Proactive

This week we are reading books with characters that are examples of being proactive, Esperanza in "Esperanza Rising", and the Page in "King Bidgood's in the Bathtub." How have you been proactive this week?

I received this information from the district...

"A contest is being sponsored by Utah Educational Savings Plan in conjunction with Zions Bank. Six prize winners will receive a $1000 certificate for deposit in a Utah Educational Savings account. The deadline for submission is September 30th."

Entry forms are attached as photos in the post above this. *Click on the photo to view a larger image.

If you have any questions contact Mrs. Morley in the media center.

We always review the rules and expectations in the media center at the beginning of the year. With younger grades we are reading "The Shelf Elf" about an elf that works in the library. In the book he reminds us of proper library manors and asks for help in keeping the library and it's books in good condition.

Leader in Me

We are now a Leader in Me school and will be teaching, and practicing, "The 7 Habits of Happy Kids." I so excited to be back and am looking forward to a year of discovering how we can all be leaders in the

media center.

Go to the

Leader in Me link under online resources for student games and fun.

School starts on the 25th and I am looking forward to sharing new things in the media center with you. Remember back to school night is Tuesday, August 24th, from 4-6 pm. Come meet your teachers and see new things we've been working on this summer to make our school a "Leader in Me" school. I am so excited for this new school and hope you are too. Scheduled library times don't start until the 2nd week of school but I WILL be at at school when you start so you can stop by the media center to say hi anytime.

See you soon!!

library service

We had an Eagle Scout service project in the library today during summer library, cleaning, moving, and organizing books. Many of those helping were students from our school in the past, or at present, and other students that came to exchange books chose to stay and help with the project too. Thank you for all of your help!

We had fun making thumbprint animal pictures in the library today. You can make your own thumbprint art. Try making a bookmark, a card for someone, or just make pictures for fun. There are a lot of jokes about animals. Make a thumbprint animal picture on one side of a card, then write a joke about that animal on the back of the card. Most important... HAVE FUN !!

ARRRR!!

We were pirates in the library today with newspaper pirate hats and all. We did a maze to help the pirate find his treasure, found diamonds in a hidden picture, and colored a treasure map. We also watched a movie about something buried in the ground, but it wasn't treasure... it was dinosaur fossils.

Today it was SNAKE day at summer library.

THis is what we did...

• Watched "The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash
• Made snakes out of balloons
• Colored and cut out snakes to hang from the ceiling
• Did snake mazes and coloring pages

If you haven't come to summer library yet, we hope you join us next week. Remember we are open every monday from 10 am - noon, except the week after the 4th of July. We will be open on Wednesday the 7th that week. Hope to see you there!!

SUMMER LIBRARY

During our first week of Summer Library patrons received a bookmark that we will sign off on each week they come to the Library during the summer. At the end of the summer (before school starts) we will have a Summer Reading Celebration and patrons will receive prizes for their summer library attendance.

See you @ the Library!!

Go to the Orem Public Library link under Summer Reading to see the schedule for their children's and teen summer reading programs held Tuesdays @ 2.

Check out the Summer Reading links to the left of our blog and the Summer Reading Calendar (above) with a month full of reading ideas to keep you busy. Click the calendar to make it larger. Happy Summer Reading!

National Poetry Month

This week in the library we are having fun with poetry because April is National Poetry Month. One of the most popular poets among the children is Shel Silverstein. If you would like to find some great activities and fun with poetry online, Shel Silverstein style, go to the Shel Silvetstein link under our online resources.

WANTED!!

I am always on the look out for great readers at school. Check out some readers on my "WANTED" list in our slideshow to the left.

Do you want to add your face to a wanted poster? I made these wanted poster online at http://www.glassgiant.com/wanted/

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Over Spring break I had the chance to see (from a distance) some of the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. I was sad it isn't opened yet, but guess I'll have to go back someday. I hope you had a great spring break filled with fun and adventure, even if it was just an adventure you went on through a book you read. You DID read over spring break, didn't you?? If you enjoy reading fantasy and haven't read Harry Potter, you have to give it a try. It's one of my favorite series! Want find out more about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios? Go to the Harry Potter link under online resources.

Happy Easter!

This week the 2nd grade class that had the least overdue books made bunny ears for their special activity. You can make your own bunny ears from a paper plate. See the picture above as a guide.

This week we read the biography "Kate Shelley and the midnight express" by Margaret Wetterer, a story about a young girl, Kate Shelley,that saved the lives of two men when a railroad bridge was washed out, plus the lives of 200 others speeding toward the broken bridge on an express train

From Wikipedia...

Catherine "Kate" Shelley was a midwestern United States railroad heroine, and the first woman in the United States to have a bridge named for her. She was also one of the few women to ever have a train named after her, the Kate Shelley 400.

Inventory Train

This week I will be sharing a train story with younger students and doing another project with all of the classes, forming a human train. It's inventory time and students are going to help with that effort by making a inventory train!! We will form a track (or line) and bring books to the scanner, then return them to their proper spot on the shelves after they are scanned.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Today we made leprechaun hats with a first grade class as their reward for having the least overdue books last week. If you would like to make your own leprechaun hat all you need is a paper plate, scissors to cut with and items like crayons and stickers to decorate your hat. See the attached pictures for a visual guide.

I AM SO LUCKY!

What a nice surprise to come to school on Monday and find this adorable poster hanging next to the library entrance. Thank you to all of the PTA volunteers that are helping with teacher appreciation week and giving of your time and talents. Wednesday is St. Patrick's Day and when I think of being "lucky" one of the things that come to my mind is how grateful I am to work in the library at Orchard, and the appreciation that I feel from the staff and students for what I do. Thank You!

March is Youth Art & National Craft

March is Youth Art Month, and National Craft Month. I am amazed at the detail and crafting put into pop-op books and am presenting a pop-up book this week during library classes to share my amazement. Robert Sabuda, one of the paper crafters that created several pop-up books with Michael Reinhart, celebrates his birthday on March 8th. If you would like to check out a website put together by Sabuda and find instructions for a few simple pop-ups that you can make, go to the "make a pop-up" link.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I am reading a collection of quotes from different Dr. Seuss books this week to see if students can guess/remember what book the quote comes from.

* Do you know what books these Dr. Seuss quotes come from??

A person’s a person no matter how small.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.

Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way.

If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good.

I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent.

And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

Wear your Dr. Seuss hat to school on Tuesday March 2nd (or dress up as your favorite Dr. Seuss character) to remember Dr. Seuss' birthday. We will be having Seussical fun in the library this week sharing Suess stories, discovering Seuss characters and stretching our imaginations like Dr. Seuss himself.

* If you would like to explore a fun online site with Seuss activities go to the "Suessville" link under online resources.

Science Fair

This week was our science fair. If you enjoy experimenting, click on the "science experiments" link under the online resources for a list of experiments you can do right at home or school with step by step instructions. Always get permission from your parents before trying these experiments.

Winter Olympics

The Olympics are here and we are discovering a little about the current Olympic games, remembering past Olympics, and discovering how we can each be a champion through the book "Celebrate The Fire Within" by Kathy Larsen. You can access current information about what is happening @ the Olympics through the Olympics 2010 link listed under the online resources.