Lewis and Clark Learns

Tis the voting season.  First, second, third, fourth, and fifth grade readers voted last week for their favorite Mark Twain, Show Me, and GKCRead nominees.  142 readers voted for Mark Twain and GKCRead because they had read at least 4 nominees.  All of my first and second graders voted for their favorite Show Me because we read them together throughout the year.   LC 4th and 5th grade Mark Twain results  Tie for 1st place between T he War That Saved My Life and The Worst Class Trip Ever LC 3rd grade GKCRead results 1st place Rescue on The Oregon Trail LC 1st and 2nd grade Show Me results   1st place The Day The Crayons Came Home Third graders excited to see their Mark Twain list. A big crowd of readers. Cheering for the results. Getting a sneak peak at the covers of next year's list...so exciting! A little voting treat. Viewing the results. Celebrating our reading. Voting with reading frie...

On Thursday, January 18th SEVENTY FIVE 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade readers enjoyed delicious hot chocolate to celebrate their reading!  These readers all read AT LEAST 8 GKCRead or 8 Mark Twain nominees.  LC has amazing readers and outstanding teachers who all love to read for pleasure!   Way to read LC Blazers!

My readers are SO excited to have the opportunity to make a real impact on next year's Mark Twain Nominee list.  Just a few weeks into the year, and I have more than 15 readers who have already finished this year's list!  As a result, they are starting to read next year's preliminary list of books and rating them so their opinions can help decide on the final 2018-2019 Mark Twain list!  What a great experience for our passionate and ravenous LC readers.  Anyone who finishes the list has the same opportunity until December of 2017! Good Books!  Good Times!

So, I am beginning my 30th year of teaching!  I simply can't fathom that I have been teaching for that long or that I still love it as much as I did the very first year.  I love that each year is a fresh new beginning.  Here are a few pics showing what is new in the LC library this year... Our theme for our Missouri reading award programs is Reading is My SuperPower!  Love these sunglasses that add a bit of pizzazz to our pictures. We added several new titles to our collection of book sets for our Build A Book Club section. After reading a GKCRead or Mark Twain Nominee, our readers have the opportunity to rate the books in order to help others decide if they should read it.   Our annual survey stated that LC students wanted more comfy seating.  Picked up these guys from IKEA.  The kiddos were pretty thrilled to see them. Found this table on the side of the road.  Picked it up, primed it, painted it black, ...

So, as a celebration of reading, the Missouri Mark Twain nominee readers were going to be attending the movie Wonder based on the book by the same title.  Unfortunately, the movie release date was moved from April to November so our plan fell flat.  To replace that event, Mrs. Haynes and I put our heads together to create an afternoon of book love!  Our 4th and 5th grade teachers made arrangements to allow those kids to spend the entire afternoon in the library and Dr. Palmer ok'd a sub for my classes.  We started at 11:45 with lunch for 42 kids...hot dogs, nacho chips, apples, grapes, and drinks.  We then made duct tape bookmarks, enjoyed a quiz bowl of Mark Twain nominee questions, had a book tasting session of 2017-2018 Mark Twain and Truman nominees, and engaged in great character analysis session created by Mrs. Haynes.  This involved answering questions about last year or the upcoming Mark Twain nominees such as, what character made you think differ...

  Our annual hot cocoa party was a great success.  HUGE thanks to Mrs. Haynes for keeping our cocoa bar running smoothly all afternoon for our readers.

Our 4th and 5th graders are reading up a storm!  These cards represent the kiddos who have read 4 or more Mark Twain Nominees and are already eligible to vote for their favorite title in February.  Many have already read all 12 nominees and are working on the Lewis & Clark Above and Beyond list.  I am so thankful for our teachers who, during their very busy days, encourage and challenge their students to read great books.   Mrs. Haynes tracks all this reading like a boss!

Trouper  The 2015-2016 Missouri Show Me Award Winner Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library  The 2015-2016 Missouri Mark Twain Award Winner

Each year we celebrate the amazing readers who reached the goal of reading all of the Mark Twain or GKCRead nominees!  Mrs. Haynes and I so appreciate Dr. Palmer and Mrs. Ferguson covering our lunch duties and our PTA for funding the pizza for readers.  Our kids really look forward to this day and we love seeing them having fun and enjoying lunch in the library.

Each year LPS treats its readers to a extra special author visit.  Fourteen Lewis & Clark 5th graders who had read all 12 Mark Twain nominees traveled to Heritage Middle School to hear a presentation by the one and only Roland Smith! I am so proud of our readers who set a reading goal and met it.  We joined an auditorium full of other readers to hear all about Roland Smith's life and books.  We had a blast and really enjoyed getting books autographed.