Welcome Back!

Greetings Sharks!

Welcome back to school.  This year promises to be a lot of fun and full of challenges.  I can't wait for everyone to get back in the swing of things and start reading!  We have a lot of new books that we got from the Scholastic Book Fair and I'll be putting them out gradually so there will always be something new to read in the library. 

Change, change, change...

You may have already noticed some changes in the library.  Looks great, doesn't it?  Not only has it been redecorated, but I have moved things around to make the library more accessible to all readers.  The non-fiction section has been condensed.  Along the back wall you'll find new non-fiction books and biographies, as well as some collections such as Eyewitness books and Native Americans. 

Additionally, the fiction section has changed a bit too.  We now have five sections in the fiction part of the library.  In the front you will find all the Level 0-1.9 books, after that are picture books then readers.  The collection section has been expanded to include Goosebumps, Harry Potter and Captain Underpants.  Finally, the chapter books can be found in the back of the library near the Reading Garden. 

All of the sections, excluding the collections, have been re-arranged by AR level, sort of.  You'll find all the 1s together, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, etc.  Within each level the books are arranged by the author's last name.  I'm having my library helpers label each book's AR specific label on the colored part of the AR level.  For example, a level 3.7 book has a red 3 label on the spine.  On the red part you will find the number 3.7.  This will make it much easier to find books according to your ZPD. 

The reading lounge has been transformed into the Reading Garden.  Here we will be tracking each class's AR quiz accuracy and number of words read.  Which class will be the first to reach 1 million words read?  I can't wait to find out!

Don't forget to vote in this week's poll "How many books will you read this year?"  I'm going to compare our predictions with the end of year results.  I hope everyone reads as many books as they can this year.  Who will read 25?  50?  100?  I want to read 100 books...who's with me?  Let's grab a good book and "Dive Into Reading!"

Have a great year and Happy Reading~

Miss Henry  :o)