Another week. A sunny one, by the looks of it! I have found this article if you wish to talk about the Russian invasion in a matter-of-fact way with your children. It is important they know what is going on (because they already know something is going on), without unnecessary details. It’s a fine line to walk.

General Library News

Our Matilda Movie Nights were a success! One of our students wrote us a review of that afternoon. Thanks, Tanvi! It was interesting to notice how, even though we know from the book that Miss Trunchbull is horrible, seeing her horrendous face and hearing her shout in the movie, feels just a little bit more horrible than in the book! But it all turned out to be okay in the end. Phew!

We’ve got some great new displays up. The focus of the Swedish display is telling a story through illustrations. There is so much gorgeous art to be found in these novels!

The other display is set up for tomorrow’s International Women’s Day:

PYP Library Times

This week, we take extra time for our read alouds while reviewing the Five Finger Rule which is connected to our central idea: “Finding a just right book requires skills, knowledge and courage.”

In PYP F, we focus on our new Julia Donaldson picture books. I read The Smeds and The Smoos to the classes during our library time. It is a story of prejudices, friendship, understanding and cooperation.

In PYP 1, we read There is a Superhero in Your Book by Tom Fletcher. We will practice the Five Finger Rule, and students will receive a bookmark to remind them to use this rule at home too!

In PYP 2, we will read a Norse myth about Balder, out of one of the Storytime issues. This connects to PYP2’s new unit of inquiry in which they will explore different myths as well as artifacts. We’ve received the delayed Storytime issues, which are now ready to be checked out!

In PYP 3, 4 and 5 we will continue our read aloud novels, while checking in with the I-PICK method of choosing a “just right” book.

We are looking forward to enjoying long read alouds this week!

Welcome back for another week of library news! The sun is shining, the days are brighter. Perhaps that will help alleviate some of the worry around the recent events taking place in Ukraine? If only…

General Library News

Believe it or not, but we’ve got another round of beautiful new books! Picture books in English, and novels in Swedish.

INFORMATION FOR IF YOUR CHILD HAS COMPLETED THE WINTER READING CHALLENGE: We’re all set for the movie nights this Tuesday (ALL LGRP students, PYP F – 2) and Friday (PYP 3 – 5). Today I’ve received the question, “Until what time is the movie night?” Good question, and sorry I didn’t write this earlier on the blog. We start the movie right after school (14.30ish), as soon as everyone has settled in. I think we will wrap up around 16.15 – 16.30. Students who are in PAL will then head back to their PAL group, students who aren’t will exit the buildinng and find their parents at a pre-arranged meeting spot! Students don’t need to bring anything: juice and popcorn is provided!

PYP Library Times

This week in our library lessons, we will warm up with a quick quiz. I will say the first names of famous authors (for example, “Roald”), and students can shout out their last names and which books they have written. It’s been fun today, and I’m impressed with their author knowledge!

We will continue on then to “the decision tree” of choosing books. Students often tell me that they don’t know what book to choose. I walk them through the following questions:

1. Would you like to read fiction or non-fiction?
2. If you chose fiction: What genre, what kind of story would you like to read?
   • The next question becomes: Would you like to read a stand-alone novel or a series?
3. If you chose non-fiction: What topic would you like to learn about?
4. Whether you’ve chosen fiction or non-fiction, at the end you apply the five finger rule (more about that next week!).

The decision tree looks like this:

In PYP F and 1, we will focus on the characteristics of a fiction book and a non-fiction book. We will share some examples with the students. When students are checking out their books, they will tell us what kind of book they’ve checked out!

We will have time for our read-alouds too! In PYP 3, we will continue reading The Last Elephant by Justin D’Ath, in PYP 4, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, and in PYP 5 Holes by Louis Sachar. In PYP F and 1, we will read one of the Little People, Big Dreams books. In PYP 2, we will finish our Bunjitsu Bunny by John Himmelman and for the PYP 2 classes that already have finished it, we will read the first story of the latest Storytime magazine. Reading aloud to the students might just be my favorite part of the lesson!

Happy Reading & Take care!

Fleur

Welcome back! We hope you’ve had a great sports break! It was quite rainy and snowy here in Sweden, which means lots of cozy times to curl up with a book. Or maybe you travelled to catch some sun rays?

General Library News

We’ve got more new books! It just never ends. 😉

We’ve just put several big book orders in as well. A great mix of novels, picture books, non-fiction, students favorites, teacher requests, English, Swedish, graphic novels, replacement copies and new installments of series, etc. It will take several weeks, maybe months, to cover all the books and to catalog them. But from now until Summer, you will notice a steady stream of more new fantastic books flowing into our library. Such privilege!

It appears that our Storytime Magazine issues have been delayed (or even lost?). I am working on solving this! In the meantime, we can read more about Storytime’s mental health theme and an illustrator interview HERE on their blog. The activity pack is free to download HERE. Happy Reading!

INFORMATION FOR ALL STUDENTS WHO HAVE COMPLETED THE ISGR WINTER READING CHALLENGE 21-22: Our Matilda Movie Nights are set: Tuesday, March 1st we will welcome ALL LGRP students, PYP F, 1 and 2 students. On Friday, March 4th we will welcome PYP 3, 4 and 5 students. This week, students (who have successfully completed the challenge, of course) will receive their movie ticket. Please note that the library on 1/3 and 4/3 is not open after school to switch out books.

PYP Library Times

This week, we will start with a little game to remind ourselves of the three library rules: we take care of each other, we take care of the books and we are quiet, calm and focused in the library.

The main focus of our circle time is two-fold: students are invited to write down their book suggestions, books they think we should have in our school library. We will try our best to find and purchase these requests! We’ve received a grant from the Swedish Government to do just that! 🙂

The second thing is our read-aloud. This week, we will enjoy our stories and end with sharing any questions we might have about the book, or even the author. The goal is not to try and answer the questions, but just to share our wonderings with each other. We nurture curiosity!

Dear Readers,

What a beautifully sunny day to start our week with! Just right!

General Library News

Hurrah! We’ve got dates for our Matilda Movie Night! Calendars ready? Here we go:

Tuesday, March 1st: PYP F – 2 students + All LGRP students

Friday, March 4th: PYP 3 – 5 students

The film will be shown in the library, from 14.35 till the end of the movie (16.15ish)! There will be saft (juice) and popcorn. Students don’t have to bring anything, except their movie ticket. They will receive their movie ticket in week 8 (the week after sport lov). If your child is in PAL, please inform the PAL-teachers that they will be in the library for the movie until about 4.15. They will continue in PAL after that.

Finally! Yay!

PYP Library Times

Before I dive into what we’re doing for our library lessons this week, I’d like to tell you about a second grade student. This student, Shreyansh, has been making, writing and illustrating book since he was in first grade. All of his titles are non-fiction books and teach us about animals. He’s created ten so far, and he is currently working on his eleventh book. He truly is a prolific writer! All of his books are available in our school library. Check it out!

This week during our circle time in the library lesson, we will put our heads together to answer the question: What is a “just right” book? Today’s classes had some insightful thoughts, as you can see on the photos below (sorry for my handwriting!). We will continue with this question throughout the week.

As always, we will continue our read alouds. In the Foundation and First grade classes, we will read Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians. A fun re-telling of the Goldilocks story, teaching children how to pick a “just right” book. You can listen to it HERE as well.

We are looking forward to a “just right” week!

We will see you for our next blog post on the Monday after the break (21/2). Have a great week, and a beautiful break!

Dear Readers,

My apologies for posting the update later in the day than usual. I was absent most of last week (Thank you, Mona and Sophie for keeping the library running!) and had a lot to catch up on this afternoon. Happy to be back for two full weeks, before we have sport lov in week 7!

General Library News

We’ve got more fantastic non-fiction titles to add to our library collection. Some that are a great fit with PYP 2’s current unit of inquiry focusing on habitats and animal life.

We are still trying to figure out when would be a good time for our Matilda Movie Night. Thankfully, I noticed today, many classes are full of healthy students again. Hopefully that trend continues across the grades! We will let you know as soon as we’ve made a decision. Thank you so much for your understanding and patience!

PYP Library Times

This week in our library lesson, we will start with a greeting song. We will briefly discuss the central idea of our new library unit of inquiry: “Finding a ‘just right’ book requires skills, knowledge and courage.” Students can share their first thoughts and associations they have connected to the central idea. In the next few weeks, we focus on one question each week during circle time. Of course, all of these questions and their answers are woven into every circle time, every conversation Sophie and I have with the students, as well as into discussions students have with each other about books and book suggestions. By highlighting one question per week though, we can slowly unpack the central idea and fully develop and strengthen our skills, knowledge and courage required to choose a ‘just right’ book!

We will also continue our read alouds, of course. Nothing is as magical as a spellbound audience taking in every word of the story, living the story in their minds, and erupting with questions as soon as story time is finished!

We are looking forward to a purposeful couple of weeks with lots of healthy students and teachers!

Dear Readers,

Welcome back to another week of reading and library fun! Many students are absent due to covid (directly or indirectly). We think of you, and we wish you all the health, strength and patience that you need! And remember that there are some great free websites with lots of stories to read and listen to. Check out our “useful links” page on this library blog!

General Library News

We’ve got some splendid new books to show off!

First of all, the remaining non-fiction titles from our Scholastic Book Sale (yes indeed, we did get a lot!). We chose many inspiring books focusing on ordinary women doing extraordinary things. When I showed a class the “Women’s Football” book this morning, one of the students said, “What about men’s football books?”. True, I said, but so many books on sports, science, or any other field really, focus on men’s achievements that we felt like it needed balancing out a bit. We hope that, in the future, books about great scientists, designers, engineers, etc. are books about great people who changed the course of history – whatever their gender!

We have (finally!) received the books from India we ordered last year in January. We had a long list of books in different Indian languages. Not all were available, but we are thankful for the ones we were able to purchase for our school library. Today, I noticed how proud children felt that “their language” can be found here in the library. Other students asked if we had books in Turkish, Spanish, Rumanian, Chinese and Japanese. Yes, to all! And more! Obviously, we focus on English and Swedish, but it’s important that all students are able to access books in their mother tongue as well. The public library here in Gothenburg has an immense collection of books in languages other than Swedish. Learn more about that at the “World Literature House” in Gothenburg.

I’ve told all classes, but just here for you as parents: our ISGR book club for students in grade 3 – 5 is starting soon! We will meet online once a month, our first Google Meet is on Friday, February 4th from 16.00 – 17.00. If your child has expressed interest, please read the pdf below carefully. If your child likes to sign up, please return the form no later than this Friday (28/1). The maximum number of students is 12, and we still have a few spots available! Email me (fleur.doornberg-puglisi@staff.isgr.se) with any questions.

If you haven’t seen it yet, the new PYP promotional video features our beautiful school library as well! Watch and pass it on!

Just a reminder that we will let you know when we will have our Matilda Movie Night as soon as we know!

PYP Library Times

Last week, we immersed ourselves in the new read alouds. So many connections and questions after these first sessions. Wonderful to see such inquisitive students!

We had a great spontaneous read aloud in one of the PYP 1 classes, where many students brought books to share with us. One of the students treated us to “Please, Say Please” by Kyle T. Webster. It was so fun! You can listen to it read aloud HERE.

This week, we will spend our circle time in the library lesson introducing the new non-fiction books and Indian language books displayed in the library. We will continue with our read aloud books as well. This week in the younger years, we will focus on the connection conversation starter “This story reminds me of…” and in the older years, students will reflect on which learner profile attitudes they can recognize in the chapter we’ve read.

In PYP F, we will read “Hey, Little Ant!” by Phillip and Hannah Hoose connected to the IB key concept of perspective. In PYP 1, we will read “Dragons Love Tacos” by Adam Rubin connected to their unit of inquiry focusing on celebrations.

We are looking forward to a great week, full of courage and curiosity!

Happy Reading!

Fleur & Sophie

Dear Readers,

After envisioning several scenarios in which we could host 70+ students, cross-grades and cross-sections, for a movie night, we came to the conclusion that we need to postpone this event. Not cancel, just postpone. Last week, and this week too, feels like we’re hitting a peak in the number of cases, and it feels irresponsible to add to that by organizing an event with so many students from different classes gathered together.

We hope you understand!

We’re going to ride this wave, and will let you know when it makes more sense to have our Matilda Movie Night!

Fleur & Sophie

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to another blog post with library updates!

General Library News

Today is the last day to have handed in the answer sheet for the ISGR Winter Reading Challenge 21 – 22! If your child has forgotten it, you can take a photo of the answers and email it to fleur.doornberg-puglisi@staff.isgr.se. 64 students participated! This means we need to figure out how to accommodate us all (we won’t fit in the library!) and still be covid-smart! We will get back to you about the Matilda Movie Night ASAP!

PYP Library Times

Last week, we got back in our routines. We played a game, reminded ourselves of the library rules, and shared our book discoveries. This week, we will move on to new read alouds! In the Foundation and First Grade classes we will continue to read one picture book a week. This week in the Foundation classes, we will read There’s no Dragon in this Story by Lou Carter, which connects to their overarching unit of inquiry focused on stories. In the First Grade classes, we will read Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller, which is connected to their overarching unit of inquiry focused on choices.

In PYP 2, we will read The Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny, by John Himmelman. In PYP 3, we will read the first book in The Lost World Circus series; The Last Elephant, by Justin D’Ath. In PYP 4, we will read The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate. In PYP 5, we will read Holes, by Louis Sachar. All excellent books, that are perfect for read aloud and connected to many aspects of our IB curriculum: the IB Learner Profiles Attributes and Key Concepts for example. We will take our time before or after the read aloud sessions to discuss what we’ve read and how we can connect it to our lives and learning in the classroom. We’ve already had a few exciting scorpion stories shared today!

In the next few weeks, we will also review our library learning goals we came up with in the beginning of the year. (The students laminated them into bookmarks. So please remind your child to bring their bookmark if they usually don’t!). While students are looking for books and reading during the library lesson, I will have a check-in with each student about their library goal. We’ll take a minute to reflect and see if they want to adjust/change your goal. Questions I might ask: Did you achieve your goal? Rate on a scale of 0 – 10. What helped you achieve your goal? What stood in the way of achieving your goal? Would you like to keep your goal, adjust your goal or create a new one? What will help to achieve your goa? I’ll take notes, and record all the (adjusted) goals. The idea is that having a library learning goal, gives us a sense of overall purpose during library lessons and a way of staying focused on what your reasons are to make the best of our library time.

Happy Reading!

Fleur

p.s. Sophie will be back this week. Hurray!

Dear Readers,

Welcome back to school, welcome back to your school library! We hope you had a restful and fun break, with lots of reading and book discoveries!

General Library News

We hope many students have answered the ten questions for the ISGR Winter Reading Challenge 21 – 22! Students hand in their answer sheets during their first library lesson of this term. This means Monday 17/1 is the last day to give your forms to us! By the end of next week, we will then know how many students have participated, if we can have the Matilda Movie Night (or if we need to postpone it due to the new regulations), and if we can – how many Matilda Movie Nights we will need to organize! We will keep you posted, of course!

We’re a bit behind with the Storytime magazine, but number 88 is out (as well as 89, but that one is still on its way to us from England) and soon available in our library! Check out THIS resource pack, with lots of information on different festivals.

We’ve got a trial subscription to the Storytime Hub. There, you can read and listen to all the stories from the Storytime Magazine. A wonderful reading resource!   If you’d like to to try it out, email me at fleur.doornberg-puglisi@staff.isgr.se and I’ll make you an account which will be accessible until 28/2. Update 10/1, 7.17 PM: All 20 accounts have been given out now. I will contact Storytime Hub to see if we can get more trial accounts.

PYP Library Times

This week, during our library lesson, we will start with playing the conductor’s game and we will have a moment of check-in after the holidays. We will remind ourselves of the library lesson rules and routines. We will also share a book you’ve discovered or read (but not Matilda, please). So students can bring any new book discoveries to their library lesson this week! All genres and languages welcome, of course! If they’d like, they can tell us about their book and why they were excited to read it. I will share the book discovery I did during these past holidays: Treasury of Magical Tales From Around the World by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrated by Christina Balit. For each class, I will read a different story – depending on their current unit of inquiry.

We’ve got some new books on our displays!

We are looking forward to a readingful term!

See you soon!

Dear Readers,

This is the last blog post of this term! Poof! The term went like that. Very fast.

We wish you a wonderful, restorative and joyful winter break. We are looking forward to seeing you all in January again!

General Library News

Join our ISGR Winter Reading Challenge 21 – 22! Read all the information you need HERE. To find detailed information about how to get a hold of the book Matilda, read THIS blogpost.

Sophie is covering and cataloging our new Scholastic Books we have acquired through our rewards (thanks to your purchases!). Here are a few more we can add to our library collection:

PYP Library Times

Today and tomorrow, I will read a few classic Christmas stories I brought from home to share with the students:

Students are welcome to check out books and read them over the holidays. If students are traveling, and would rather not check out books in fear of losing their library books, we understand that too.

Students can use their library time this week to color in a winter-themed bookmark, if they’d like. We’re looking forward to some cozy quiet reading time as well. We’re winding down these last two (PYP) days, ready for our winter break.

Happy Reading!

Fleur & Sophie