2013 - 2014 DCF List for Grades 4 - 8

Applegate, Katherine, The One and Only Ivan
Bardugo, Leigh, Shadow and Bone
Bauer, Marion Dane, Little Dog, Lost
Burg, Shana, Laugh with the Moon
Curtis, Christopher Paul, The Mighty Miss Malone
Cushman, Karen, Will Sparrow’s Road
Hiaasen, Carl, Chomp 
Hiranandani, Veera, The Whole Story of Half a Girl
House, Silas & Neela Vaswani, Same Sun Here
Hunt, Lynda Mullaly, One for the Murphys
Key, Watt, Fourmile
Knowles, Jo, See You At Harry’s
Korman, Gordon, Ungifted 
Legrand, Claire, The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls
Montgomery, Sy, Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and 
                                              Changed the World
Nielsen, Jennifer, The False Prince
Palacio, R.J., Wonder
Patterson, James & Chris Grabenstein, I Funny
Pennypacker, Sara, Summer of the Gypsy Moths
Preus, Margi, Shadow on the Mountain
Pyron, Bobbie, Dogs of Winter
Rocklin, Joanne, The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook
Rose, Caroline Starr, May B.
Rupp, Rebecca, After Eli

For more information on the books including discussion questions please visit this site:
http://libraries.vermont.gov/sites/libraries/files/cbec/DCFBookReviews%26Questions13-14.pdf

2013-2014 Red Clover Nominees

This year's Red Clover nominees are in the library.
 One Cool Friend written by Toni Buzzeo
The World’s Greatest Lion - Ralph Helfer
Infinity and Me - Kat Hosford
Lemonade in Winter - Emily Jenkins 
Looking at Lincoln -  Maira Kalman
The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau - Michelle Markel 
Monsieur Marceau: Actor Without Words - Leda Schubert 
Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team - Audrey Vernick
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs - Mo Willems
Each Kindness - Jacqueline Woodson 

For more information about the Red Clover program you can visit this link:
http://www.mothergooseprograms.org/lit_red_clover_overview.php

2012 - 2013 Red Clover Program Winner

The winner of the 2012 - 2013 Red Clover Program is "The Princess and the Pig" by Jonathan Emmett. 

"The Princess and the Pig" - Jonathan Emmett

There are a total of 10 Red Clover Program books from which K - 4th grade Vermont students vote their favorite.  The total tally for "The Princess and the Pig" was 4,928.  "Three by the Sea" came in second with a vote of 4,811.  

According to the Red Clover Program (http://www.mothergooseprograms.org/lit_red_clover_overview.php) this is the closest vote they have seen.

"All the Water in the World" - George Ella Lyon

"Balloons Over Broadway:  The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade" - Melissa Sweet

"Blackout" - John Rocco     

"Grandpa Green" - Lane Smith                          

 

"Me...Jane" - Patrick McDonnell

"Neville" - Norton Juster

"Swirl by Swirl" - Joyce Sidman

"Three by the Sea" - Mini Grey

"Tia Isa Wants a Car" - Meg Medina

Free Sites That Teach Literacy

These sites are great practice for students learning how to read.

Starfall’s Learn to Read Site   (K – 1^st grade)

http://www.starfall.com/

This site contains an easy way to access letters and letter sounds by moving the cursor over the block.  There are 4 different activities listed on the left hand side of the page with music and/or sound.  A number of other activities or videos are available on the right hand side of the page and include these concepts:  calendar, 100^th day, and holidays.

Gameaquarium   (K– 4^th grade)

http://www.gamequarium.com/

http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/Gamequarium_Junior/Beginning_Sounds/

There are many games on Gameaquarium that are educational.  The second web address listed is helps with beginning sounds of letters.

Family Learning (K-2nd grade)

http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html

This site contains many games that give students a place to practice phonics.  They tend to be at a medium level or higher.

Soft Schools  (K-8th grade)

http://www.softschools.com/language_arts/phonics/

This site has no sound.  It contains many games that include spelling.  There are grammar games for older students.

Game Goo Learning That Sticks  (K-4th grade)

http://www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html

A more advanced game for alphabetizing the alphabet and such.

Between the Lions (K-2nd grade)

http://pbskids.org/lions/games/

http://pbskids.org/lions/stories/

Good for practicing phonics, can be used with the younger kids.

Synthetic Phonics (K-3rd grade)

http://genkienglish.net/phonics.htm

There are two free sites that can be reached from the blue box in the top section of the page.  At this time only the first site is available.  The letters are listed as well as different vowel sounds.  If you move the cursor over the letter then you hear the phonemic sound of that letter. 

Sesame Street (K-2grade)

http://www.sesamestreet.org/

Red Clover Award Nominees for 2011 - 2012

Each year a committee comprised of teachers, librarians and sponsers choose 10 nominees for the Red Clover Award Program from both fiction and non-fiction picture books published in the previous year.  More information about the program can be found at Red Clover Program website,
http://www.mothergooseprograms.org/lit_red_clover_overview.php

This year's nominees are as follows:

A Pig Parade Is a Terrible Idea

Michael Ian Black

 

 

Art & Max

David Wiesner

Bink & Gollie

Kate DiCammillo and Alison McGhee

Born Yesterday:  The Diary of a Young Journalist

James Solheim

I Know Here

Laurel Crozea

                                                                                                                                                 

Mirror, Mirror

Marilyn Singer

Nabeel’s New Pants: An Eid Tale

Fawzia Gilani-Williams

Stand Straight Ella Kate

Kate Klise

Who Stole Mona Lisa?

Ruthie  Knapp     

Wonder Horse

Emily Arnold McCully,

                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

DCF Books 2001 - 2012

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Nominees
A list of the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Nominees with summaries of each book can be found at
http://www.dcfaward.org/lists/dcfmasterlist11-12.pdf.

More information about the DCF Award as well as previous winners and nominees can be seen at the Dorothy Canfield Fisher site located at http://www.dcfaward.org/.

Here are the Dorothy Canfield Fisher 2011 - 2012 DCF nominees:

AUTHOR	TITLE	PUBLISHER	GRADE
Angleberger, Tom	The Strange Case of Origami Yoda	Amulet	4 up
Balliett, Blue	The Danger Box	Scholastic	5 up
Conly, Jane	Murder Afloat	Hyperion	5 up
Couloumbis, Audrey	Jake	Random House	4 up
Draper, Sharon M.	Out of My Mind	Atheneum	5 up
Erskine, Kathryn	Mockingbird	Philomel	5 up
Falls, Kat	Dark Life	Scholastic	6 up
Gibbs, Stuart	Belly Up	S & S	5 up
Henson, Heather	Dream of Night	Atheneum	6 up
Holm, Jennifer	Turtle in Paradise	Random House	5 up
Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody	The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt	Dial	5 up
Klass, David	Stuck on Earth	FSG	7 up
Klise, Kate	Grounded	Feiwel & Friends	6 up
Levy, Debbie	The Year of Goodbyes	Hyperion	6 up
Lord, Cynthia	Touch Blue	Scholastic	5 up
Lupica, Mike	Hero	Philomel	5 up
McMullan, Margaret	Sources of Light	Houghton Harcourt	7 up
Messner, Kate	Sugar and Ice	Walker	5 up
Mitchell, Don	Driven: A Photobiography of Henry Ford	National Geographic	5 up
Montgomery, Sy	Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot	Houghton Harcourt	5 up
O’Connor, Barbara	The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester	FSG	4 up
Oppel, Kenneth	Half Brother	Scholastic	7 up
Resau, Laura	Star in the Forest	Delacorte	4 up
Rhodes, Jewell Parker	Ninth Ward	Little, Brown	4 up
Shulman, Polly	The Grimm Legacy	Putnam	7 up
Silberberg, Alan	Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze	Aladdin	5 up
Sonnenblick, Jordan	After Ever After	Scholastic	6 up
Telgemeier, Raina	Smile	Graphix	5 up
Williams-Garcia, Rita	One Crazy Summer	Amistad	5 up
Zafon, Carlos Ruiz	The Prince of Mist	Little, Brown	7 up

Media Literacy Games

There are a number of online games that are fun and teach media literacy - online safety, false advertising and cyberbulling.

Games for older students:
Media Awarness Network Games
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/games/index.cfm

On Guard Online
http://onguardonline.gov/media

A collection of games for students of all ages.
Google's Cybersafety Games
http://sites.google.com/site/cybersafetygames/

From the Open Directory Project
http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/Computers/Internet/Safety/

Online Safety for Younger Students
Bad Guy Patrol
http://www.badguypatrol.ca/

Benson Village School also has a publication from On Guard Online titled
Net Cetera:  Chatting with Kids About Being Online which 7th and 8th grade students have been reading.