Library News
5.19.19 - This past Friday in the Library, 115 1st -5th grade students showed up to celebrate their participation in Arroyo Library’s lunchtime Brown Bag Bog Club program. Students with invitations came to partake in an activity that promoted them to think about where they will will read this summer, which is consistent with the theme of the summer reading challenge. Then they received a Summer Reading Challenge bookmark (on which they wrote down a prediction of how many different places they will read) and a popsicle. This photo of the yellow mural shows all the places where students hope to bring their books! Congratulations to 5th grader Logan Dawes and 2nd grader Marco Miele for winning the raffle and receiving terrific newly released chapter books to begin your summer reading!
Arroyo’s 2019 Summer Reading Challenge will be coming home next week in Friday folders. Please keep an eye out for it and even start talking with your child now about all the great places they can take a book along with them this summer!
4.28.19 - This past Friday, our Library hosted its last Brown Bag Book Club of the school year. Being a chapter book rather than a picture book, we had a smaller turnout than usual; however, we had a FANTASTIC group of lower grade and upper grade readers who came ready and eager to discuss the featured book, Wishtree (by Katherine Applegate). Written from the perspective of a 216 year old tree, this is a terrific and powerful book about kindness, accepting differences, and protecting the environment — and it is appropriate as an independent read or a read-aloud for all elementary school grades. Even if your child missed this book club, we strongly recommend it, perhaps as a way to launch your child’s summer reading! Students discussed important themes and meaningful quotes, and then they wrote down their own wishes to create a “wish tree” out of our own Poet-Tree in the library. Even more fitting given that it’s almost May 1st (which is when “Wish Day” happens in the story)! If your child read this book but did not attend book club, he/she may ask Ms. Keli for a piece of fabric to add a wish to the tree!
The library’s end of year VIP Popsicle Party will be on Friday, May 17th. Students who participated in Brown Bag Book Club this year will receive an invitation the week prior.
Be on the look out for Arroyo’s Summer Reading Challenge 2019, to be distributed prior to the end of the school year!
4.7.19 - The winners of the Library Committee’s Read Across America Bookmark Contest were announced this week at Monday Morning Kickoff. The top winner was third grader Sophia Batarse, and the grade winners were Darin Beaudreau (1st grade), Charlotte Verst (2nd grade), Ella Lee (4th grade), and Caroline O’Neal (5th grade). All winners received a Barnes & Noble gift card, and top winner Sophia’s bookmark will be the design of the Summer Reading Challenge 2019 bookmark that is distributed to all reading challenge participants. Thank you to our winners and all participants for your creative contributions to our bookmark contest! To view all participants’ bookmarks, click on this link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-2nXN2gib57hsx4opS3tIbfcUPNndv4su3ihbYl6WGE.
Last Friday in the multi, twenty Mustang Readers who won “Read2Art” raffle tickets in our Summer Reading Challenge 2018 raffle came together for a fun lunchtime treat with PTA Prez Melissa Weiss. With enthusiasm and a whole lot of creativity, students created art out of vintage books, and their masterpieces turned out amazing! Students also enjoyed lunch while they worked. Thank you Melissa for bringing back this favorite Read2Art activity and offering this fun lunchtime award for our summer readers.
Our next and final Brown Bag Book Club will be held on Friday April 26th, where we will be featuring the chapter book Wishtree (by Katherine Applegate). This is a fantastic chapter book (written from the perspective of a tree!) that can be read aloud to students of all grades or read independently by good readers and older students. Please help your child get the book if you think he/she may want to win us. Several copies of the book will also be in the school library for students to check out. Brown Bag tickets for this book will be available in the library soon.
3.31.19 - We held March’s Brown Bag Book Club this past Friday in the library (actually, it was such a beautiful day, so we met outside in the Reading Ranch). In preparation of National Poetry Month in April, the featured book was BookSpeak (by Laura Purdie Salas), which is a clever collection of whimsical poems about books and stories, written from the perspective of particular aspects of books/stories themselves (e.g., from the perspective of the Index, or the Bookplate, or a Cliffhanger). We had a great turnout of students for both the lower grade group and the upper grade group — students came super eager to share their own poems and artwork about books! As usual, students enjoyed popcorn in their brown bags while sharing their poems and reactions.
Our next and final Brown Bag Book Club will be held on Friday April 26th, where we will be featuring the chapter book Wishtree (by Katherine Applegate). This is a fantastic chapter book (written from the perspective of a tree!) that can be read aloud to students of all grades or read independently by good readers and older students. Please help your child get the book if you think he/she may want to win us. Several copies of the book will also be in the school library for students to check out. Brown Bag tickets for this book will be available in the library soon.
Thank you to all students who participated in the library’s Read Across America Bookmark Contest! We had a great response, and we received many creative bookmarks! Winners will be announced at Monday Morning Kick Off on Monday, April 1st.
3.24.19 - Thank you to all students who participated in the library’s Read Across America Bookmark Contest! We had a great response, and we received many creative bookmarks! Winners will be announced after Spring Break!
Our next Brown Bag Book Club is scheduled for Friday March 29th. In preparation of National Poetry Month in April, the featured book is BookSpeak! (by Laura Purdie Salas). This is a clever collection of whimsical poems about books and stories, and all the treasures they contain. Brown Bag tickets are available in the library. If your child is interested in attending, please help him/her get access to the book through the school library, public library, or the bookstore/Amazon.
Also, this is an early head’s up regarding the second (of two) chapter book Brown Bag Book Clubs that we are holding this year. On Friday April 26th, BBBC will be featuring the chapter book Wishtree (by Katherine Applegate). This is a fantastic chapter book that can be read aloud to students of all grades or read independently by good readers and older students. Please help your child get the book if you think he/she may want to win us for our our next chapter book BBBC in April. Several copies of the book will also be in the school library for students to check out.
3.3.19 - Last week, we began collecting bookmarks for the library’s Read Across America BOOKMARK CONTEST. We are looking for creative and unique bookmarks about books and reading, and the winning bookmark will become our design for the Summer Reading Challenge bookmark in Fall 2019! We will be accepting bookmarks for one more week, and students who want to participate can pick up a blank bookmark in the library. Please see the flyer in this blast or in your Friday Folders for rules and more details.
Our next Brown Bag Book Club is scheduled for Friday March 29th. In preparation of National Poetry Month in April, the featured book is BookSpeak! (by Laura Purdie Salas). This is a clever collection of whimsical poems about books and stories, and all the treasures they contain. Brown Bag tickets will be available in the library soon. If your child is interested in attending, please help him/her get access to the book through the school library, public library, or the bookstore/Amazon.
Also, this is an early head’s up regarding the second (of two) chapter book Brown Bag Book Clubs that we are holding this year. On Friday April 26th, BBBC will be featuring the chapter book Wishtree (by Katherine Applegate). This is a fantastic chapter book that can be read aloud to students of all grades or read independently by good readers and older students. Please help your child get the book if you think he/she may want to win us for our our next chapter book BBBC in April. Several copies of the book will also be in the school library for students to check out.
2.24.19 - This past Friday, we had super fun Brown Bag Book Club (BBBC) meeting in the library at lunch recess! Many 1st through 5th grade students joined us to discuss the picture book Rubio and Julienne (by Dan Paley) — a Romeo and Juliet-ish tale with a fun food twist. We discussed themes of trying new foods and embracing differences, and kids were especially eager to share their own fruit and cheese menu item ideas. As usual, brown bag tickets were filled with popcorn for kids to enjoy as we discussed the book. And, older students enjoyed tasting fruit/cheese pastries from 85 Degrees Bakery!
Read Across America week is this week, and the Arroyo Library Committee is hosting its annual art contest!! This year, we’re switching it up a little. Rather than a poster contest, we are holding a BOOKMARK CONTEST. We will be looking for creative and unique bookmarks about books and reading, and the winning bookmark will become our design for the Summer Reading Challenge bookmark in Fall 2019! Students who want to participate can pick up the blank bookmarks in the library. Please see the flyer in this blast or in your Friday Folders for rules and more details.
Also, this is an early head’s up regarding the second (of two) chapter book Brown Bag Book Clubs that we are holding this year. On Friday April 26th, BBBC will be featuring the chapter book Wishtree (by Katherine Applegate). This is a fantastic chapter book that can be read aloud to students of all grades or read independently by good readers and older students. Please help your child get the book if you think he/she may want to win us for our our next chapter book BBBC in April. Several copies of the book will also be in the school library for students to check out.
2.3.19 - This past Friday, we had super fun Brown Bag Book Club (BBBC) meeting in the library at lunch recess! A wonderful group of 1st through 5th grade students chose to spend their recess discussing the featured picture book biography, Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain (by Cheryl Bardoe). Students engaged in an animated discussion that had themes of perseverance, growth mindset, bravery, and gender stereotypes — and like the acclaimed illustrator of the book did of Sophie, they drew visual metaphors to represent their own inner thoughts about math. As usual, brown bag tickets were filled with popcorn for kids to enjoy as we discussed the book
Our next Brown Bag Book Club is scheduled for Friday February 22nd. The featured book is Rubio and Julienne: A Sweet and Cheesy Tale (by Dan Paley), which is a modern and fun Romeo and Juliet-ish tale that will appeal to students of all grades. Brown Bag tickets will be available in the library soon. If your child is interested in attending, please help him/her get access to the book through the school library, public library, or the bookstore/Amazon.
Also, this is an early head’s up regarding the second (of two) chapter book Brown Bag Book Clubs that we are holding this year. On Friday April 26th, BBBC will be featuring the chapter book Wishtree (by Katherine Applegate). This is a fantastic chapter book that can be read aloud to students of all grades or read independently by good readers and older students. Please help your child get the book if you think he/she may want to win us for our our next chapter book BBBC in April. Several copies of the book will also be in the school library for students to check out.,
1.20.19 - This past Friday, we had a fantastic Brown Bag Book Club (BBBC) meeting in the library at lunch recess! We had a great turnout of first through third grade students, and a smaller group of 4th and 5th graders, who chose to spend their lunch recess discussing a book. We featured our first ever chapter book, The Wild Robot (by Peter Brown) — and kids were more excited about this book than at any Brown Bag Book Club we’ve held in the past seven years! Many of the students said it was their “favorite book ever”, so if your child hasn’t yet read this book, it’s a must to get into their hands! As usual, brown bag tickets were filled with popcorn for kids to enjoy as we discussed the book. Thank you Mrs. Lukkes for reading this book aloud to your class over the past month and inspiring so many of your students to attend!!
Our next Brown Bag Book Club, scheduled for January 25th, has been pushed back a week — so this meeting will be held on Friday, February 1st at lunch recess. The featured book is the picture book Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain (by Cheryl Bardoe). This is a compelling and inspiring story of a woman who made a significant contribution to knowledge, against all odds and with remarkable perseverance. Boasting beautiful artwork, this book is also a contender for the 2019 Caldecott Award, the most prestigious distinction that an American picture book can receive. Brown Bag tickets will be available in the library this week. If your child is interested in attending, please help him/her get access to the book through the school library, public library, or the bookstore/Amazon.
1.13.19 - December’s Brown Bag Book Club (BBBC) has been re-scheduled for next Friday, January 18th. The featured book is the terrific chapter book,The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown. Please remind your child of this re-scheduled date if he/she read/listened to the book and completed the brown bag ticket for December’s club. Also, if your child recently read or listened to the book, tickets are still available for pick up in the library.The Wild Robotis a fantastic independent read or read aloud for ALL elementary grades, so even if your child doesn’t read it for BBBC, its a must-read title to get into their hands! As usual, this BBBC meeting will happen at the recess part of lunch (after kids eat), and their brown bag tickets will be filled with popcorn to enjoy as we discuss the book.
The regularly scheduled BBBC for January will be held on Friday, January 25th, also at lunch recess. The featured book is the picture book Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain(by Cheryl Bardoe). This is a compelling and inspiring story of a woman made a significant contribution to knowledge, against all odds and with remarkable perseverance.
Boasting beautiful artwork, this book is also a contender for the 2019 Caldecott Award, the most prestigious distinction that an American picture book can receive. Brown Bag tickets will be available in the library this week. If your child is interested in attending, please help him/her get access to the book through the school library, public library, or the bookstore/Amazon.
12.9.18 - Our first CHAPTER BOOK for the Brown Bag Book Club - The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown. This is a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide, and it is a fantastic story for all grades (either as a read aloud or read independently). If your child wants to join us for this special chapter book BBBC, please help him/her get the book ahead of time to start reading! Brown bag tickets for this book now available and in the library. Meeting date to be announced but likely after the Winter break.
11.4.18 - The next Brown Bag Book Club is Friday,November 16th. The featured book will be the picture book A House That Once Was(by Julie Fogliano), a story told in verse about the mysteries of others and the wonderfulness of home. Brown bag tickets are now available in the library.
Thinking ahead…for those whose kids might be interested in attending our first CHAPTER BOOK Brown Bag Book Club on December 7th — the featured book will be The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown. This is a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide, and it is a fantastic story for all grades (either as a read aloud or read independently). If your child wants to join us for this special chapter book BBBC, please help him/her get the book ahead of time to start reading!
10.21.18 - We had our first Brown Bag Book Club (BBBC) meeting in the library last Friday at lunch recess, and it was a terrific success! Turnout was tremendous — approximately 75 1st through 5th graders showed up and enthusiastically shared their ideas about the beautiful and thought-provoking picture book The Visitor (by Antje Damm). Students enjoyed the popcorn-in-the-bag part as well (thank goodness for a decent vacuum cleaner!). This was our largest BBBC group in seven years of BBBC, and I think the most energy we’ve had in library at lunch as well!
The next Brown Bag Book Club is Friday, November 16th. The featured book will be the picture book A House That Once Was (by Julie Fogliano), a story told in verse about the mysteries of others and the wonderfulness of home. Brown bag tickets will be available in the library in November. Also, for those whose kids might be interested in attending our first CHAPTER BOOK Brown Bag Book Club on December 7th — the featured book will be The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown. This is a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide, and it is a fantastic story for all grades (either as a read aloud or read independently).
10.14.18 - One final summer reading award was delivered this week to Kindergarten teacher Ms. Duff — Honorary Summer Reader! Ms Duff submitted two awesome photos of her reading with a tortoise in the Galápagos Islands and reading on the equator in Ecuador (reading in two hemispheres!). Thank you Ms. Duff for showing Arroyo students that teachers “read everywhere” too and for your ongoing support of the summer reading challenge program.
Our first Brown Bag Book Club (BBBC) meeting is this coming Friday, October 19th, and the featured book is The Visitor (by Antje Damm). This book tells a heartwarming story about the transformative power of companionship and can spark great conversation -- and the 3D illustrations are intriguing and gorgeous!! Some students may hear this book read aloud in class or in the library or the book can be purchased on Amazon or at a local bookstore. Brown bag tickets are available in the library for students to pick up. Students must bring their completed ticket to Brown Bag Book Club to attend.
10.7.18 - On Monday, we celebrated our 165 amazing summer readers for the 378,204 pages they read this past summer! Students were acknowledged at Motivational Monday with trophy-quality medals, and then they attended a special celebration with Principal Sheyka. At the celebration, students enjoyed “gummy bookworm donuts” with fruit, and a raffle was held with every summer reader receiving a prize (mostly reading-related, such as recently published picture books, gift cards to bookstores, book-themed puzzles and games, reading lights, word games). Five lucky students received the raffle prize of “Librarian Assistant” certificates (to be arranged with our librarian Ms. Keli), and 20 more students received the awesome raffle prize of a certificate to attend a special Read2Art Pizza and book-crafting party with our PTA president, Melissa Weiss (date to be determined). Special recognition prizes were also given to the 32 students who read 3X the minimum number of pages (3,000 pages or more) as well as to the 43 students who read in three times the minimum number of places (30 places or more). The top three students in each grade (most pages) were also acknowledged (with a new book from Ms Keli), and Ms Keli selected her favorite summer reading photos to show off at the celebration (photo winners will receive a popsicle party with Ms. Keli). THANK YOU to the amazing library committee volunteers for all your hard, and thank you to everyone who donated prizes towards the raffle. And, a final thank you to all the parents of our summer readers for supporting your kids’ participation in this program — you're helping us to create a growing community of summer readers at Arroyo which greatly benefits the academic development of our students!
Brown Bag Book Club (BBBC) is back again this year, starting in October! Please click here to learn more, and click here to see the BBBC Calendar with dates and featured books. We can't wait for a fun year of lunchtime literature discussions (and popcorn)! Our first BBBC meeting is Friday, October 19th, and the featured book is The Visitor(by Antje Damm). This book tells a heartwarming story about the transformative power of companionship and can spark great conversation -- and the 3D illustrations are intriguing and gorgeous!! Some students may hear this book read aloud in class or in the library or the book can be purchased on Amazon or at a local bookstore. Brown bag tickets are now available in the library for students to pick up. Students must bring their completed ticket to Brown Bag Book Club to attend.
SUmmer reading celebration
9.30.18 - This coming Monday, October 1st, our 165 Summer Reading Challenge participants will be celebrated for their awesome efforts this past summer — reading a total of 378,204 pages (a Summer Reading Challenge record)!! Students will receive medals and be acknowledged at the end of our Motivational Monday assembly, so parents of summer readers, please attend if you can! After the assembly, summer readers will enjoy special celebration that includes a “bookworm donut” treat with fruit, special awards, and a raffle with prizes. Thank you to all the parents who donated (mostly reading/book-related) prizes towards our raffle!! We can't wait to celebrate our amazing summer readers!
Check out the SUMMER READING SLIDESHOW of Arroyo students literally "reading everywhere” this summer. This is also a disclaimer that every effort was made to include as many kids and pictures as possible — but we received a TON (a good problem!) and many that were duplicates of the same photo, so some readers may have been inadvertently left out in the weeding process. Thank you to everyone who captured your kiddos reading and sent in pictures!
Our library opened this week and students had their first classroom visit! Our awesome librarian Ms. Keli shared a wonderful picture book called The Day You Begin (by Jacqueline Woodson), which tells a beautful story of diversity, acceptance, and the friendships that emerge when you are yourself. It’s such a perfect beginning of the school year book for all students!
Brown Bag Book Club (BBBC) is back again this year, starting in October! Please click here to learn more, and click here to see the BBBC Calendar with dates and featured books. We can't wait for a fun year of lunchtime literature discussions (and popcorn)! Our first BBBC meeting is Friday, October 19th, and the featured book is The Visitor (by Antje Damm). This book tells a heartwarming story about the transformative power of companionship and can spark great conversation -- and the 3D illustrations are intriguing and gorgeous!! Brown bag tickets are now available in the library for students to pick up.
9.16.18 - The 2018 Summer Reading Challenge was a HUGE success — with 165 students reading a total of 387,204 pages!! That’s more participants and more pages than any of our past years! Our summer readers will be celebrated on Monday, October 1st at Monday Morning Kickoff and then after with some special treats. PLEASE HELP US collect reading/book-themed prizes so we can have a fun raffle at our celebration! All purchased items will be sent directly to the Library Committee. We can't wait to celebrate our amazing summer readers!
Our wonderful librarian Ms. Keli and the Library Committee are working hard to get the library ready for the students. Classes will start to visit the library on September 25, and in October our library will be ready to fully celebrate reading with thematic and interactive displays that invite student response to literature, our Reading Ranch with a Book Swap Cart for students to donate and take books, and Brown Bag Book Club (optional monthly library lunch club). If you'd like to join the Library Committee please email Ali Posner, or if you'd like to be a Library Volunteer with tasks and events as needed, please email Tracy Reith.
Brown Bag Book Club(BBBC) is back again this year, starting in October! Please click here to learn more, and click here to see the BBBC Calendar with dates and featured books. We can't wait for a fun year of lunchtime literature discussions (and popcorn)!
9.9.18 - We had the most AWESOME response to our Summer Reading Challenge in the six years that we have been offering this to our students! 165 Kindergarten through 5th Grade Students turned in evidence that qualified them to attend our annual summer reading celebration — reading at least 1000 pages and in at least ten different places! That’s one quarter of our school and more than we’ve ever had participate! And even more impressive, participating Students read a total of 378,204 pages, which is about 68,000 pages more than last year’s record number of pages. Not only did we have more students participate this year, but students read a ton more, with the average number of pages read per student being more than double the 1000 page minimum. A huge thank you to all the parents of our summer readers for supporting your kids’ participation in this program - you’re helping us to create a growing community of summer readers at Arroyo which greatly benefits the short-and long-term academic development of our students!
Our summer readers will be celebrated on Monday, October 1st at Monday Flag and then after with some special treats. PLEASE HELP US collect reading/book-themed prizes so we can have a fun raffle at our celebration! You can click here to access the Raffle Wish List, and all purchased items will be sent directly to the Library Committee. We can't wait to celebrate our amazing summer readers!
Our wonderful librarian Ms. Keli and the Library Committee are working hard to get the library ready for the students. Classes will start to visit the library soon, and in October our library will be ready to fully celebrate reading with thematic/seasonal book displays, interactive displays that invite student response to literature, cozy seating indoors and outside in our Reading Ranch, our outdoor Book Swap cart for students to donate and take books, and Brown Bag Book Club (our optional monthly library lunch club). If you'd like to join the Library Committee please email Ali Posner (aliposner@me.com), or if you'd like to be a Library Volunteer with tasks and events as needed, please email Tracy Reith.
