The Day We've Been Waiting For ...

We had read many of April Pulley Sayre's 60+ books and the day we have waited for, the day of her visit to our school, finally arrived!  We were ready for her!

In preparation for April's visit, all the children in the school signed their names to four paper sea turtles which were used to welcome our special guest and lead her to the Learning Center.

Her visit was amazing!  She enthralled the children with her stories, sharing fascinating information about the many animals she has studied around the world. 

And April proved to us how much she loves words by getting us chanting with her.  "Billbug, Bed Bug, Bark Beetle, Bee. Painted Lady Butterfly. Flea, Flea, Flea!" Check out April's chant books, such as Ant, Ant, Ant! (An Insect Chant), or Trout, Trout, Trout!: A Fish Chant, or Go, Go, Grapes! A Fruit Chant.  They are tons of fun to read out loud!  She can find fun rhymes and rhythms everywhere.

The children learned how slowly sloths move by doing the motions with April, and listened to recordings of howler monkeys from her visits to Central America.

They lapped up her wisdom about believing in yourself, and keeping on trying even when other kids seem better at something than you are.

April Pulley Sayre, author, with Grace Greene, Youth Services Consultant with the Vermont Department of Libraries.  Two amazing and talented women!

April with a couple of fans.

Carol and April, their birthdays one day apart!

April talks with some eager 
 aspiring authors after her presentation. 




 
 Thank you, April, for coming all the way from Indiana to visit our school!

Visit April Pulley Sayre at http://www.aprilsayre.com/ 
to read more about this wonderful author and all the books she has published.  The Essex Elementary School Library has many of her titles available to borrow.  Touch a Butterfly: Wildlife Gardening with Kids was just published in April of 2013, and later this year follow Let's Go Nuts! Seeds We Eat, and Eat Like a Bear!
 

Award-winning Author to visit EES

April Pulley Sayre

will visit us from

Indiana on

February 4th, 2013.

 

April Pulley Sayre is an award-winning children’s book author of over 55 natural history books for children and adults. Her read-aloud nonfiction books, known for their lyricism and scientific precision, have been translated into French, Dutch, Japanese, and Korean. She is best known for pioneering literary ways to immerse young readers in natural events via creative storytelling and unusual perspectives.

Read more about her books and experiences on her own website. 

The whole school has been busy preparing for her visit by reading her books and studying her style.  Last week we read Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! which the children really enjoyed;  they had great questions and observations about natural cycles and parenting styles.  

A letter went home to families at the end of last week with an order form to purchase select titles.  The form is also downloadable on the Learning Center website.

The EES Book Fair

We had a very successful Book Fair, thanks to the support of our amazing families, teachers and staff,  and fabulous parent volunteers.  Thank you!  Thank you!

Children came in with their class to browse the Book Fair.

Reading Challenge in progress

     We raised 15, 544 pennies thanks to our super readers and donations from generous families.  We were able to purchase $156 dollars worth of children's books to give to the children living at COTS (Committee on Temporary Shelter).
     How proud I am that our children worked towards this goal so that they could help other children.  Children helping children is a beautiful thing!

Clifford dropped by for a visit.

Face Painting with Mrs. Pariseau and Mrs. Coggeshall:

 

 











A couple of our Reading Heroes!

Making popsicle stick puppets...

Tasty Treats with Mrs. McNeish!

Scratch-Art bookmarks

Make your own pennants

Our Guessing Jar.  The contestant with the closest estimate won $10 at the Book Fair.

The funds raised at the Book Fair will be used to purchase print books and digital resources, as well as support our Author event in February when April Pulley Sayre visits us.

Another one of our Super Readers!

Clifford takes a break... it's a tough job!

 Clifford thanks Mr. Allen for all his good work in our school!

Thank you all for a great book fair!  

 

Red Clover Award Comes Alive!

In early November the staff at EES performed dramatic representations of the 10 picture books that have been nominated for the next Red Clover Award.  The children were treated to mini skits for each book, much like a movie trailer - just enough information to pique their interest without giving away the ending.  The Red Clover Award is a children's book award for the State of Vermont.  Children in kindergarten through grades 4 in Vermont vote for their favorite book, and the winning book is announced in April of each year. 

The Red Clover Award promotes the reading and discussion of the best of contemporary picture books in nearly all of Vermont's elementary schools. Each year over 20,000 K-4 students read, or have read to them, the ten nominated books.  The Red Clover Award is co-sponsored by the Vermont Center for the Book / Mother Goose Programs and the Vermont Departments of Education and Libraries. Click here to visit their website for more information and the history of the program.

Mrs. Scrimgeour and Mrs. Doble introduce the book All the Water in the World.

All the Water in the World

Neville

Neville

Balloons Over Broadway

Balloons Over Broadway

The Princess and the Pig

The Princess and the Pig

Me...Jane

Me ... Jane

Blackout

Swirl By Swirl

Grandpa Green

Three By the Sea

We will be reading these 10 books over the next few months in preparation for the voting in April.  So far, the children have heard Balloons Over Broadway (a true story about Tony Sarg), Three By the Sea, and Me...Jane (a true story about Jane Goodall) read aloud in the Learning Center.

Reading Makes Cents

     Our school is participating in a “Reading Makes Cents” Challenge as part of this year’s book fair events. The money raised during this challenge will be used to purchase children’s books that will be donated to the families at COTS (Committee on Temporary Shelter).

     Here’s the challenge: Can our students read 100,000 minutes by November 16th? It sounds like an impossible goal, but if all students were to read 30 minutes a day for two weeks, we could easily reach that goal before the end of our book fair. Can we do it? YES, WE CAN!

     Here’s how it works: we are asking students to bring in one penny for every 10 minutes of reading, so if your child reads thirty minutes one night, they would bring in 3 cents. We count all kinds of reading: reading by yourself, being read-aloud to, listening to books on cd, reading aloud to a younger sibling. Pennies may be brought in to the Learning Center, where we will count them daily. We’ll have a “Reading Thermometer” to show how close we are getting to our goal of 100,000 minutes.

Questions? Please contact Mrs. Scrimgeour 857-2140 or cscrimgeour@etsd.org

LET’S GET READING AND COUNTING OUR MINUTES!!