OH MY GOODNESS!  

Soooo..... I was on Pinterest and ran into a picture of a "Little Free Library".  I've read a story or two about these before, usually in the old back woods where children have never seen a book before.  Having been a children's librarian and a total book "junkie", the wheels started to turn.  This could be a tempting addition to put up on the corner of our preschool/daycare property.  (Only if Bountiful City ordinances allow for it, of course.)  We have other commercial properties all over Davis County that could be options as well

"Little Free Libraries" are made out of every conceivable thing under the sun, but the premise is this:  "Take a book, Leave a Book."  Little Free Libraries are also referred to as community book exchanges, neighborhood book exchanges, book trading posts, pop-up libraries, and micro-libraries.  I could choose to affiliate with this nonprofit organization, "Little Free Library", (see their web site here at https://littlefreelibrary.org/) or simply do my own thing.  The benefit of joining this organization is that the library is put on a GPS map and you become part of a community, all doing the same cool thing.  I have access to lots of inexpensive books and it would be a "unique" and fun way to not only encourage our students at Ready-Set-Grow to read and possibly neighbors as well.  Books for all ages and stages are used!

My 23 year old son loves woodworking and he is jazzed about helping out!  

 Bountiful, Utah has a wonderful library, but sometimes working moms don't find the time to get their children there.  Maybe this will simply benefit our own students, but either way, it is a cool idea to look in to doing!

Here's a bit of history from the Little Free Library website, that I found interesting.   

Little Free Library inOosthuizen, Netherlands

The first Little Free Library in Hudson, Wisconsin

The idea was popularized in Hudson, Wisconsin, in 2009 when Todd Bol mounted a wooden container designed to look like a school house on a post on his lawn as a tribute to his mother, who was a book lover and school teacher. Bol shared his idea with his partner, Rick Brooks, who spread the word, and the idea spread rapidly. 

The original goal was the creation of 2,150 Little Libraries, which would surpass the number of libraries founded by Andrew Carnegie. As of January 2014, there are over 15,000 Little Libraries worldwide. As of February 2013, all 50 U.S. states and 40 countries worldwide have been involved in the program.   An estimated 1,650,000 books were donated and borrowed from 2010 to 2013.

This number now exceeds 36,000 libraries.

THURSDAY - Themes to Grow On - "Bugs"

Bugs

They are creepy, crawly, squirmy, wiggly and are sometimes slimy. There are millions more than us humans. They’re often scary or weird looking.  What am I talking about? Bugs! Read about these sometimes loved and sometimes hated creatures and learn more about them as they slip onto the pages of these "buggy" books.  Recommended below by Amazon and Reading Rockets, for children ages 0-9.

Publication Date: September 18, 2008 | Age Level: 2 and up

Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar is now available in a limited, oversized hardcover edition, along with many other variations and editions. Did you know that this book sells 1 copy every 30 seconds, somewhere in the world?  WOW!

- A caterpillar eats his way through different foods until he is full and weaves a cocoon transforming into a beautiful butterfly. Charming colorful illustrations of foods along with the fat caterpillar and catchy little holes in the foods where the caterpillar "had his snack" make this book a hit with young children.

The Very Lonely Firefly
By:  Eric Carle

Publication Date: June 1, 1995 | Age Level: 1 and up

When a very lonely firefly goes out into the night searching for other fireflies, it sees a lantern, a candle, and the eyes of a dog, cat, and owl all glowing in the darkness. It even sees a surprise celebration of light. But it is not until it discovers other fireflies that it finds exactly what it's looking for.


Read it with a flashlight in the dark or under the table--and watch those fireflies glow!

Ace Lacewing Bug Detective

By: David Biedrzycki

Age Level: 6-9

Reading Level: Independent Reader

Ace Lacewing – whose business is bad bugs – narrates the saga of how he and his trusty sidekick and girlfriend foil the plot to overturn Queenie Bee. The exaggerated illustrations combine with staccato, pun-filled language to create this funny parody of detective stories.

Beetle Bop

By: Denise Fleming

Age Level: 3-6

Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Beetles come in many shapes and sizes — revealed in rhyming text and luminous illustrations. Readers will enjoy the dynamic interplay of words and pictures in this lively book.

Eddie's Garden and How to Make Things Grow

By: Sarah Garland

Age Level: 3-6

Reading Level: Beginning Reader

The garden that Eddie and his Mum plant while his younger sister “helps” grows in the warm earth with the help of sun, rain, and beneficial creatures like worms. Eddie learns that other creatures, like slugs, eat plants. This gentle, engaging family story informs and illuminates many aspects of gardening.

Happy Bees

By: Arthur Yorinks

Age Level: 3-6

Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Bumbling bees are oblivious to the confusion and downright unhappiness they create as they cheerfully cavort and fly around people and animals. The bees’ antics are captured in lighthearted illustrations. A CD of bee tunes with lyrics is included.

Insectlopedia

By: Douglas Florian

Age Level: 3-6

Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Fact and imagination come together in poems and pictures for a lively and memorable exploration of insects. Handsome illustrations, puns, and wordplay introduce the preying mantis, Black Widow spider, whirligig beetle, and other bugs in this clever, highly original collection.

Itsy Bitsy the Smart Spider

By: Charise Mericle Harper

Age Level: 0-3

Reading Level: Beginning Reader

When the spider is washed out, she uses her brain to avoid getting wet again. She obtains a job catching fleas in a dog’s store and buys an umbrella before returning to the spout. Readers will not only laugh at this take-off of the popular tune, but just may create their own version!

Miss Spider’s Family Album

By: David Kirk

Age Level: 0-3

Reading Level: Pre-Reader

Pictures of Miss Spider’s family are presented in an album format on sturdy pages. The Sunny Patch characters continue to engage young children as they learn about family relations.

Mosquito Bite

By: Alexandra Siy & Dennis Kunkel

Age Level: 6-9

Reading Level: Independent Reader

Two children play hide and seek outdoors on a warm night. Little do they know that a culex, a newly matured mosquito, is also looking for them. Bordered, color photographs taken with an electron microscope are inserted on black and white photographs of the playing children. Additional information about mosquitoes, micrographs, and more is appended in this fascinating and informative book.

Spiders and Their Webs

By: Darlyne Murawski

Age Level: 6-9

Reading Level: Independent Reader

A biologist introduces spiders and their webs through stunning full color close-up photographs and a lively text. Spider facts include the arachnids’ common and scientific names, size, where they live, and what they eat. A technique to find webs and additional sources of information conclude this handsome volume.

Ten Little Sleepyheads

By: Elizabeth Provost

Age Level: 0-3

Reading Level: Pre-Reader

From ten to one, little sleepyheads in colorful night clothes count down to sleep; that is, all but one bug who is not sleepy at all. And so begins the countdown again. Actual insects upon which the comical illustrations are drawn are shown and labeled on the end pages.

MONDAY: Meet the Author of "Teaching Children to Read" by Ray Reutzel

This course that I'm taking with Ray Reutzel is absolutely fabulous.  I'm learning about evidence based practices that make a difference in the process of teaching reading to young children.  It is specific enough to take straight into any classroom, knowing I'm using processes that have been studied are are BEST practices for the teaching of reading in the preschool, K, and first grade.  Ray is a phenomenal teacher, researcher, university professor, a member of the...  OK here is his biography.  I'll let it speak for itself.  If you are a teacher or getting your teacher's license-degree, he is a must have professor and the University of Utah and the extensions as well.



D. Ray Reutzel
D. Ray Reutzel, Emma Eccles Jones Endowed Chair Professor of Early Childhood Education at Utah State University in Logan, will serve on the Board of Directors of the International Reading 
Association until 2010. Reutzel currently serves on IRA’s Early Literacy Commission, and has served on a number of IRA committees, including the Basal Adoption and Review Committee, Comprehension and Learning Committee, Nominating Committee, and both Annual Convention and World 
Congress Program Review Committees. He was an editor of The Reading Teacher from 2002–2007. In Utah, he served as state reading coordinator and is a past president of the Utah Council of the IRA. Reutzel is the 2007 recipient of IRA’s John Chorlton Manning Public Schools Service Award. He works closely with public school teachers and children as a technical assistant for several federal reading reform 
projects, from Goals 2000 to Reading First. While a professor, he took his first sabbatical leave
to return to teach first grade in a local public school classroom.
Reutzel received his BA from the University of Wyoming in Laramie in early childhood and
elementary education and his MA in elementary education, with an emphasis on reading
instruction, from Utah State University. After teaching kindergarten, first, third, and sixth grades
in Wyoming and Utah public schools, he returned to the University of Wyoming in Laramie
where he completed his PhD in curriculum and instruction.

Reutzel’s research focuses on young children’s literacy development, especially on those
children living in poverty and attending at-risk schools. He has published numerous articles and
chapters in academic journals and professional books. He has also authored or coauthored
several books including Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference, 6th Edition; Strategies for Reading Assessment and Instruction: Helping Every Child Succeed, 3rd Edition, and Your Classroom Library: New Ways for Giving It  More Teaching Power. He is currently studying grade 1-3 teacher knowledge of reading and writing instruction under the Teacher Quality Research Program of the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Statement of philosophy:
“First, IRA should help to provide every child in every nation the opportunity to learn to read and have access to quality books. Second, IRA must continue to walk a fine line giving the
organization a seat at the table of policymaking discussions at the national and international level. The tent of IRA must be big enough for everyone to feel that his or her views can be
respectfully expressed and considered. Finally, IRA needs to go back to its roots and aggressively cultivate a new core of future IRA leaders by reinvesting in state, provincial and
local councils.”

Presentation topics
Evidence-based early literacy instruction
Effective fluency instruction and practice for young learners
Explicit teaching of literacy essentials in at-risk schools
Comprehension instruction in the primary grades
Creating and sustaining print rich literacy classroom
Effective schools and effective reading instruction

BONUS: "Literacy in the Early Years" a Grad Course by Ray Reutzel & Discovering Draper City Library

I'm in Draper all week taking a class from an amazing professor, Ray Ruetzel, called Literacy in the Early Years.  It's one of the classes I'm taking to get my Reading Endorsement License for the state of Utah.  I'll be done in May of next year and have 3 more classes.  This particular class has been sooooo informative.  Dr. Ruetzel is engaging and is virtually a walking library of research and statistic on reading.

Talking about libraries, while in Draper, I had 45 minutes for lunch and so I searched out the local library. WOW!  I wish this one was in my town!  Take a look at the Draper, Utah Public Library!  The children's area is FABULOUS!!!

Draper Library, located at 1136 Pioneer Road  Draper, UT 84020 (801) 943-4636

Child-sized doors, holes and pathways.

Great Displays

Kid's magazines!

Lyle the Crocodile!

I like this idea!  "Author of the Day" display.

Dream Big, Read!

These holes are for sitting in to read!

Curious George rules!

Our friend Arthur!

"Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak

Books on trains!!!

Beehive Book Winners in Utah!

Just for Teens!

Comfy cushions!

AT THE RETURNS AREA IS SAYS:  "FEED THE DRAGON, ONE BOOK AT A TIME!"

Now you can watch the book sorting machine... 

the books are sorted to go to the correct library branch.  I have now seen these sorting machines in 3 libraries.  They are becoming quite popular!!!

MONDAY: Meet the Author Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan

San Antonio, Texas, United States

Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many books, including the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, the Tres Navarre mysteries, and 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones.

View my complete profile



     

Rick Riordan

Richard Russell "Rick" Riordan (/ˈraɪərˌdɛn/), Jr. (born June 5, 1964)^[1] is an 
American author best known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians  series. 
He also wrote the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults^[2] and helped to edit 
Demigods and Monsters , a collection of essays on the topic of his Percy Jackson series. 
He helped develop the ten books in The 39 Clues  series, published by Scholastic 
Corporation, and wrote the first book in the series, The Maze of Bones .^[3]He recently 
completed a trilogy that focuses on Egyptian mythology, The Kane Chronicles , and is 
working on The Heroes of Olympus , which is the sequel to the Percy Jackson series 
and focuses on Greek and Roman mythology.

Biography

Riordan has created many successful book series. The multi-award-winning^[7] Tres Navarre 
mystery series for adults follows the fast-paced adventures of an erudite Texan private eye. 
Riordan also helped create the children's book series The 39 Clues ; he authored several 
of its books, including The Maze of Bones , which topped the New York Times Best Seller 
list on September 28, 2008.^[8] His Percy Jackson and the Olympians series  features a
 twelve-year-old who discovers he is the modern-day son of an ancient Greek god. Twentieth 
Century Fox purchased the film rights and released a feature film February 12, 2010. 
Following the success of Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan created The Kane Chronicles , 
which features a modern-day Egyptian pantheon and two new sibling protagonists. 
Its first book, The Red Pyramid , was released May 4, 2010; the sequel, The Throne Of 
Fire , was released May 3, 2011.^[9] The third book in the Kane Chronicles, 
The Serpent's Shadow , was released May 1, 2012. Riordan also created a sequel 
series to the Percy Jackson books, The Heroes of Olympus . Its first book, The Lost Hero , 
was released in the U.S. October 12, 2010; the sequel,The Son of Neptune , was released 
October 4, 2011. 
Riordan expanded both series simultaneously. He has completed The Kane Chronicles , 
a trilogy, and continues to write The Heroes of Olympus , which will have five books.

The San Diego Comic-Con International 2010 featured Riordan as a guest.^[10] 
Rick Riordan lives in San Antonio with his wife and their two sons Patrick and Haley, 
who inspired his Percy Jackson series.

Published books

Olympian Demigod Series

Series One: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

• The Lightning Thief  (2005)
• The Sea of Monsters  (2006)
• The Titan's Curse  (2007)
• The Battle of the Labyrinth  (2008)
• The Demigod Files  (2009)^[11]
• The Last Olympian  (2009)
• The Ultimate Guide (2010)
• The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel (2010)
• The Sea of Monsters: The Graphic Novel (2013)

Series Two: The Heroes of Olympus

• The Lost Hero  (2010)
• The Son of Neptune  (2011)
• The Demigod Diaries  – August 14, 2012^[12]
• The Mark of Athena  – October 2, 2012
• Book 4 – Fall 2013
• Book 5 – Fall 2014

The 39 Clues Series

• The Maze of Bones  (2008)^[13]
• Introduction to The Black Book of Buried Secrets  (2010)
• Vespers Rising  (2011)

Tres Navarre Series

• Big Red Tequila  (1997)
• Widower's Two-Step (1998)
• The Last King of Texas  (2000)
• The Devil Went Down to Austin  (2001)
• Southtown  (2004)
• Mission Road  (2005)
• Rebel Island  (2007)

The Kane Chronicles

• The Red Pyramid  (2010)^[14]
• The Throne of Fire  (2011)^[15]
• The Serpent's Shadow  (May 1, 2012)^[16]
• The Kane Chronicles Survival Guide  – March 20, 2012^[17]
• The Red Pyramid: The Graphic Novel – October 2, 2012

Stand alone novels

• Cold Springs  (2004)^[18]

Untitled Norse Series

• Book 1 (2015)^[19][20]

Awards

• 1998 Shamus Award and Anthony Award for Big Red Tequila ^[7]
• 1999 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original for The Widower's Two-Step ^[21]
• 2008 Mark Twain Award for The Lightning Thief ^[22]
• 2009 Mark Twain Award for The Sea of Monsters ^22]
• 2009 Rebecca Caudill Award for The Lightning Thief ^[23]
• 2010 School Library Journal's Best Book for The Red Pyramid  ^[24]
• 2011 Children's Choice Book Awards: Author of the Year^[25]
• 2011 Children's Choice Book Awards: Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year 
• for The Red Pyramid ^[25]
• 2011 Wyoming Soaring Eagle Book Award for The Last Olympian ^[26]
• 2011 Milner Award for Percy Jackson and the Olympians series^[27]