Prescott Library's Best of 2018 Book List

At the end of every year the librarians at Wheeler come together and think about all the books we have read, discussed and heard about. We usually create a holiday list to share with the Wheeler Community.

This year the Head of the Library Department, Christine Smith suggested we create a Best of 2018 list to be more inclusive and aware of those who may not celebrate these particular holidays.

Below you will find the link to our Best of 2018 Book List. This list includes picture books, beginner readers, chapter books, non fiction, books for young adults and adults. Most of the titles on the list can be found in the libraries here on campus and/or easily purchased through Amazon.

Best of 2018

From the Library Department,

Reader's Theater

Performing for Nursery and Kindergarten

Each year, I work with the kids who choose not to be part of the play to create a Readers' Theater.   Not only do I want the kids to have a low-stakes performance experience, I also want them to take ownership of the creation of the script.  First, the kids did a run through of a Reader's Theater based on the book The Great Fuzz Frenzy.  They used this script to come up with criteria for how they would choose a book for their Reader's Theater.  They decided that they wanted one that was funny; of interest to Early Childhood students (since they planned on presenting it to them); and  included good narrator and character roles.  After reading 12+ books, the kids chose the book Big Mean Mike by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Scott Magoon.

I divided the students into three groups and they each wrote a section of the script.  When they finished, we read through it to look for errors.  Once we had the script finalized,  we picked names out of a bowl to determine parts.  During this week of play rehearsals, we practiced our script multiple times and  performed it twice--once to Nursery and K and once to 3rd grade.  This year the kids wanted to make sure the audience could see the pictures in the book since a bunch of the humor relates to the illustrations.  So we projected the book on the screen during the presentations.  The audiences were fantastic and the Kindergarten liked it so well that they sparkled us with Gratitude Glitter!

My Experience at the People of Color Conference

Last week I traveled with eleven of my colleagues and six students from the Upper School to Nashville, Tennessee. We were in the heart of the city in the downtown area. We walked daily to the People of Color Conference held at the Music City Center.

Over the course of three days I attended six workshops, participated in my affinity group twice and heard some amazing speakers. I vigorously took notes each day and upon my return I have been spending a lot of time reflecting, reviewing and thinking about the best way I can incorporate what I learned into what it is I do here at Wheeler.

Here's what I have come up with so far....

 1. I plan to share my identity and culture with my students and encourage them to do the same.

2. In one of the workshops I attended a kindergarten teacher shared how she writes good morning in a different language every two weeks. During those two weeks students work on pronunciation and learning about the country or countries where the language is spoken. I plan to incorporate that idea in to my  class greeting as well. I will use the library databases to help students learn about the language and countries. Through this tactic I can expose our youngest students to the world beyond what they see in their everyday lives.

3. Luz Santana an advocate for minority women spoke to an audience of over 6,000 people myself included. She spoke at length  about the idea of encouraging students to continue to ask questions. She presented studies that had showed over time our children are not asking questions once they reach a certain age. This may be caused by fear and  a lack of confidence in their abilities.  She encouraged us as educators to create space for children to ask questions daily. Their ability to ask will empower our students to be advocates for themselves and others in the present and in the future. I am currently restructuring my curriculum so that I can provide my students the opportunity to ask questions and to seek answers.