MCDS LRC

Tacky and I visited Craigievar Castle in Scotland.  The castle was completed way back in 1626–almost 400 years ago!

Tacky and me in the castle courtyard

The castle still had many of the original items that the family collected.  There was even a sculpture of the owl and the pussycat that the last child to live in the castle got as a reward when she stopped biting her fingernails.

Tacky and me in front of the castle

Going through all the rooms of the castle was like time traveling.  It was a lot of fun.  One of the rooms is even said to be haunted!  The castle also had a secret staircase that only the laird of the castle was allowed to use.  It had a trick step to trip people up and hidden entrances disguised as cupboards throughout the castle.  Tacky and I had a great time listening to the tour and learning about history during our trip to Scotland.  We hope you’re learning some cool facts during your summer to share with us when you return to MCDS in the fall.

-Tacky and Erica

Tacky and I had a great time in Amsterdam.  There are lots of wonderful museums and sights to see.  Amsterdam is famous for its canals, which are strips of water like rivers, but made by humans. There are also a lot of people who ride bicycles in Amsterdam; you can see a couple parked on the bridge in the picture below.

Tacky and I pose on a bridge over a canal

While we were there, Tacky and I went on a tour of the canals in a boat.  When Tacky saw the way these bridges lined up, he dove right in to get a picture.

Tacky dove right in to the action

One of my favorite places I visited in Amsterdam was the public library.  It was a huge structure with ten floors, but Tacky’s favorite spot was the children’s library. Can you spot Tacky in the picture below?

Where's Tacky?

Tacky and I are in Scotland now, where we’re enjoying visiting friends, exploring the area, and of course reading.  We’ll post pictures of our time here soon.

-Erica & Tacky

Over the last couple of weeks, Tessa and I have been reading grades K-2 books starring 6 different characters: Strega Nona, Skippyjon Jones, Gilbert (from the series by Diane DeGroat), Knuffle Bunny, Tacky the penguin, and Charlie & Lola.  We have asked each class to vote for their favorite and the winner, with 38% of the vote, is…..

Tacky gives me a high flipper to celebrate his victory

Tacky the penguin. You might be asking yourself what is the prize for the winner of such a prestigious award.  Well, this lucky penguin has just won a fabulous summer vacation in the best of company…the employees of the LRC.  That’s right, this summer Tacky will be accompanying us wherever our summer takes us from events around town to trips out of the country.

Look out for a display of Tacky’s adventures when we return in the fall.  I’ll be posting updates here as well so you can follow him on his progress.  Tacky and I are looking forward to our trip to Scotland where Tacky will probably have better luck staying warm than this California girl will.

Tacky would like to thank the MCDS students for voting for him and is looking forward to a summer of adventure. He wishes everyone a happy summer full of their own adventures both inside the pages of a book and out.

Tessa and I just finished our last puppet show of the year.  The shows we did this time around were based on three folk tales: The Monkey and the Crocodile, The Three Wishes, and Tops and Bottoms.  As I listened to the children laugh at the clever monkey as he outwits the crocodile, it struck me that this story has been around for thousands of years and children can still connect to it.  At this time of the year, when the children seem so changed from September, it’s comforting to think that as much as things may change, there are some things that remain the same.

While we presented an old-fashioned puppet show in one of our library classes today, in another we engaged with much newer technology.  To get kids excited about summer reading, we presented book trailers for some of the books from this year’s lists.  Book trailers are basically movie trailers, but for books.  Publishers and authors sometimes make book trailers now to advertise new books and fans including librarians, students, and teachers make them as well to promote reading.

I’ve gathered book trailers for books on the summer reading list and added them to the Book Trailer Cinema pages on the LRC website. To view all the summer reading trailers, go to the page for a grade and click on the Summer Reading 2011 tag on the right.   The full lists can be picked up in the LRC, or viewed online at the MCDS website in the What’s Up section for lower and upper school.

One of the aspects I love most about my job is the way it spans the ages so that I can be working with new technology at one moment and taking a trip to the past in the next.  Whether it’s through new technology or old though, my favorite part is still the smiles on the kids’ faces.  I’ll miss seeing them this summer, but I know that they’ll be waiting to greet me again in fall.

Thanks to Barbara Cohen for the pictures!

Spring is here and with it comes the month to carry a poem in your pocket and your heart.  Time to work poetry into your classrooms and your lives.  You may think that poetry is just for literature units, but we have poetry books at the LRC on a wide range of topics.  So consider checking out one of these themed collections:

A collection of poems about germs from Clostridium Tetani (tetanus) to Streptococcus Pneumoniae (pneumonia).  The poems are written by Arthur Kornberg, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine in 1959.  Kornberg originally wrote them to inform and entertain his grandchildren.  This poems are illustrated with large cartoon-like drawings in addition to photographs of the germs.

Germ Stories by Arthur Kornberg with illustrations by Adam Alaniz and photography by Roberto Kolter; 616.01 KO

Star Walk is a collection of poems and photographs about space.  The poems and photographs provide different perspectives on the same topics and both will fill you with wonder.  Relevant facts on the topics are peppered throughout to go along with the pictures and text.

Star Walk edited by Seymour Simon; 811.08 SI

This collection of poems follows a family from their departure in Kentucky as they travel along the Oregon trail.  There are poems told from the perspective of three different kids and they cover the range of emotions and hardships from leaving home to the threat of cholera.

Mississippi Mud by Ann Turner, illustrated by Robert J. Blake; 811 TU

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Each poem in Trailblazers follows the lives of explorers, conquerers, scientists, and adventurers of all sorts throughout history.  Each poem includes in a brief introduction to who the person was and longer biographical sketches of each historical figure can be found at the back.

Trailblazers: Poems of Exploration by Bobbi Katz, illustrated by Carin Berger; 811 KA

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Check out these books for poems to read during your next half-time or 7th inning stretch.

Hoop Kings by Charles R. Smith Jr.; 811 SM

At the Crack of the Bat compiled by Lillian Morrison, illustrated by Steve Cieslawski; 811.08 MO

Sweethearts of Rhythm tells the true story of an all-girls, interracial swing group that rose to fame in the 1940s.  Told through engaging poems and rich, colorful illustrations this story will inspire and entertain while capturing an era in American history.

Sweethearts of Rhythm by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated b Jerry Pinkney; 811 NE

The poems in this collection correspond to various yoga poses with illustrations depicting the literal and figurative meanings of the pose accompanying each poem.

Twist: Yoga Poems by Janet S. Wong, illustrated by Julie Paschkis; 811 WO

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Spice up your next math lesson with a poem from one of these collections.

Marvelous Math compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Karen Barbour; 808.81 HO

Mathematickles! by Betsy Franco, illustrated by Steven Slaerno; 811 FR

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There are poems for every subject and occasion and I’ll be reading them and enjoying the variety this art form provides all month.  Of course, after reading about a variety of subjects it’s always nice to come back to your favorite and there’s one collection that I’ll be particularly enjoying…

Please Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Kyle M. Stone; 811 LE