Accessing our Online Databases from Home

Hi everyone.  I have had a number of people ask me how to access our online databases from home.  I made this quick screencast.  Hopefully it helps.  Please let me know if you have any questions!

Spotlight on Kindergarten

I am fortunate to have the job of being the Lower School Librarian for the primary grades. I feel a special connection to this year's  Kindergarten group. They were the Nursery class during my first year here at Wheeler, and my have they grown!

We kicked off the school year with the book The Not So Quiet Library by Zachariah OHora. The book serves as a testament to how much libraries have changed. It is no longer the quietest space in the Lower School. If you walk in on one of my Pre K classes, we are usually singing, making loud animal noises or listening to music on Pandora's Disney Channel. Zachariah leads the children into a library of mean grumpy monsters who want to eat the books. The job is left to the main characters, a boy and his friend who is a bear, to show the monsters the purpose of the books and how much fun books can be.The illustrations are bright, colorful and unique. It is the perfect book to open up our illustration unit and  look at the role of the illustrator, and that's exactly what Kindergarten students have spent the month of September and October doing. 

We have enjoyed the book Wolfie the Bunny, also illustrated by Zachariah OHora. Wolfie the Bunny's character is so surprising and unique; I knew the students would have a great time making their own. Many of them have made two and three drafts, and selected their best version. This week we have added color and worked to create frames for our final illustrations.

Next week their Wolfies will be on display in the story room down in the Lower School Library. If you have a chance, stop by and check out all of their hard work! 

Selina Alko and Sean Qualls Visit Last Friday.

We were so fortunate to have Selina Alko and Sean Qualls visit our school on Friday, October 13th.  They met with students in grades N-7.  There were so many wonderful moments during the day it's hard to choose just one to share, but here goes… My absolute favorite moment occurred during their visit with Nursery and Pre-K.  A child had asked them how they made the cover image of the book Why Am I Me?  Selina began explaining that she liked to think of the little girl as her when she was young and the little boy as Sean.  She then pointed to the place where the two circles intersected and began to say, “And when the circles come together you can see…”  At this point, she was interrupted by a Nursery student who exclaimed, “A sparkle!”   All the adults in the room stopped, considered the moment, and agreed that that was the perfect answer!

Thanks to everyone for making this such a successful visit.  Special thanks goes to the Parents’ Association for supporting our author visits annually and to Wendy D’Amico and Jacinta Tapalian who helped plan the day.    The authors commented on how smoothly everything went and were particularly impressed by what deep questions the students asked.  

Happy October!!

October is an exciting month for us down here in the Lower School Library!! We are preparing for our Annual Celebration of Reading!! Each year we celebrate reading by inviting one or two authors to come and meet with students in the lower school and middle school here at Wheeler. 

We are fortunate enough to welcome Selina Alko and Sean Qualls; both are illustrators and Selina Alko is also a writer. They are husband and wife, who have recently collaborated on non fiction picture books. They are from Brooklyn, New York.

We are excited to welcome them to the Wheeler campus, where they will share the process of illustrating and writing books! Below you can find links to their bios and a few of their books. Students are encouraged to post questions on our interactive board in the library

https://www.selinaalko.com/about

http://www.seanqualls.com/