Mary Herman's Birthday

Today is Mary Herman's birthday!  Mary adds experience, competence, and excellent teaching skills to the faculty at Hillside.  We are lucky to have her as part of the library program!

J.K. Rowling's New Book

J. K. Rowling's new book was released today.  It's her first book for adults and is called The Casual Vacancy.  Are you planning on reading it?  Do you already have it on hold at your public library?

Rose and Carlynn!

The Fall UELMA Newsletter is out, and our very own Rose Voce and Carlynn Christian are prominently featured.  They both recently received Laura Bush Foundation Library Grants.  It is the second time that Rose has written for and received this grant! 

There were only 4 school libraries in Utah that received the grant, and 2 of them were Jackson and Riley!  

Rose is quoted in the article about the grant recipients, "It’s a wonderful opportunity to help update critical components of our libraries that support the state core and high interest books. The grant application is somewhat lengthy but worth the trouble.”

In the article, Carlyn also gives excellent advice for others who may be interested in applying for this grant in the future.

Congratulations to Rose and Carlynn!

Arches National Park

I think that sometimes I forget how incredible some of our Utah scenic attractions are.  This 1-minute video from the Utah Office of Tourism reminded me how unique some of our national parks are.   This is how the Utah Travel Council is advertising our natural wonders in San Francisco's Montgomery Street BART Station.  Click on the little full screen feature in the bottom right of the video to get the full effect of how awesome the view is.

This is the full screen feature on the video.

Which of Utah's National Parks do you especially like?

Where Do You Like to Read?

There is a series of books by Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom about a little boy who is figuring out his newly acquired reading habits.

In The Best Book to Read, the little boy thinks about the different kinds of books he likes---fairy tales, picture books, chapter books, popup books, etc.  The librarian shows his class books about magicians, about outer space, about animals, about dinosaurs, about cooking, and more. The only thing that is a little unusual about this book is that the students get on a school bus and travel to the public library and choose their books--instead of choosing books in their school library.

In The Best Time to Read, the little boy wants to practice his reading skills and tries to read aloud to his mother, his father, his big sister, his grandparents, and his dog---and they are all too busy.  He finally ends up reading to the stuffed animals in his bedroom.  At the end, though, his entire family comes to his room because they have finished all their busy chores, and the boy reads aloud to all of them.

In The Best Place to Read (which is my favorite), he tries to read in the small chair in his bedroom, in the stuffed chair in the living room that the dog won't vacate, at the kitchen table where his little sister is spilling food, in his grandfather's chair which has hard cushions, in a beanbag chair which springs a leak, in the rocking chair which makes him sea sick, outside where the sprinklers come on, and so forth.  In the end, he finally finds the perfect place to read.

Where is YOUR perfect place to read?  

September is Library Card Sign-up Month

September is Library Card Sign-up Month.  According to the Salt Lake County website, "a library card is the smartest card in your wallet."  

Is there something that you do in your school library to encourage students to visit their neighborhood public library?

Do you have any kind of partnerships or relationships with your school's local public library?

Book Circulation

When I was a librarian, the 743 drawing books were constantly in circulation.  

Which books are in high demand in your library?

That Pigeon!

How fun that Tim won Mo Willems' wild and crazy pigeon!  I heard a few oohs and aahs when Tim picked up his plush, blue pigeon friend.  If you would like, we could get another pigeon that could live at the DMC.  You could contact Elaine whenever you wanted the pigeon to visit your school, and he could arrive through district mail.

You could possibly tell the kindergartners or 1st graders that you made arrangements for the pigeon to visit your library, and they could brainstorm the kinds of things they would have to safeguard against if the pigeon visited them.  





Or you could have a Pigeon Day and read Mo Willems' books with the pigeon overseeing the reading of the books.  




You could have students do a quick art project about the pigeon or do a short writing activity about the whacky bird.

Just let me know if you dare have the pigeon visit your library, and we'll get the arrangements set up.  

Dead Dogs

Sam Quantz came into my office today to discuss a few things about Destiny.  Somehow the discussion changed to books, and we started talking about Where the Red Fern Grows which we both love.  

What is your favorite "dead dog" book?  Old Yeller?  Sounder?  Where the Red Fern Grows?  Something else?

Have you read Gordon Korman's book, No More Dead Dogs? It's about a boy who writes a book report indicating that he's sick of reading books where dogs die in the end, and he gets in trouble for his truthful book report.

Hooray for the Boxcar Children

I was able to get 4 copies of the new prequel to the Boxcar Children series.  The book is called Boxcar Children Beginning : The Aldens of Fairmeadow Farm.  (See the posting from August 3rd on this blog for details about this book). I sent the 4 copies through district mail to Janice, Tim, Phyllis, and Dawn Ann who were the first four library technology teachers to comment on the Boxcar Children posting.  It was fun to read about their memories of the original Boxcar Children.

John Ehrman's Birthday

Today is John Ehrman's birthday.  He is a wonderful addition to the faculty of Washington.  They are lucky to have him!

Mount Everest

On May 18, 2012, after spending six weeks on the mountain, my brother, Tom Burton climbed to the top of Mount Everest.   This had been a lifetime dream for Tom and it became a reality as he turned 50 years old, on the mountain.  We hung Tibetan prayer flags, like this, on our house, our doors and our windows in an effort to send best wishes and positive karma to Tom and his climbing buddies on the mountain.

                                                                                            (This is Tom preparing for the climb)

(This is Tom and  his climbing buddy, Will Calton).

On the day we heard they were going to make a bid for the summit we prayed and sent our best wishes toward the mountain.  We heard that they had summited on May 18, 2012.  We cheered and cried and celebrated!  We also knew that the most dangerous time on the mountain is after climbers get to the top.  We waited and waited to hear that they were safe.

I read blogs from the mountain and saw photos like these that scared me to death. Several people posted that the mountain was extremely crowded and there were just too many people on it.  We received news that six climbers had died on the mountain that night, after they had summited to the top, as they made their way down the mountain.  It was being called the most deadly night since 1996, when eight climbers died on the mountain and the book "Into Thin Air" was written.  

Finally after 24 hours, we received word that the entire team was safe and that Tom and Will were in Kathmandu.  We heard  that Tom's climbing partner, Will Calton, had fallen coming down the mountain and he was severely hurt.  Tom "short-roped" Will to himself (tied a rope from himself to Will) and got them both down the mountain from Camp IV to Camp II. 

Prior to this year, air rescue helicopters could only fly up to base camp (about 17,500 feet) on Mount Everest.  This year a new helicopter was purchased that could go higher than base camp.  Will was in very bad shape and needed to get to a hospital quickly.  Both Will  and Tom were air rescued from up above Camp II (about 22,000 feet)  - the highest elevation air rescue recorded in history. 

When Will arrived at the hospital he had frostbite, a concussion, cerebral edema, pulmonary edema, two broken ribs and a bloody face.  He had short-term memory loss and couldn't remember much of what had happened on the mountain. 

This is Tom's summit photo.  When we asked what he was thinking when he stood on the top of the world, he said that he stood on the mountain "and realized what is important."

Will is recovering from the accident.  His memories are slowly coming back to him.  He still is dealing with very bad frostbite on his toes, but is happy to be alive after the crazy ordeal.

 

I am trying to remember "what is important" as we start another crazy school year and as chaos from my family life tries to overtake me.  

Thanks for all you do each day and for taking care of the important things in life!

27 Year Anniversary

Bryan Atwood and I have been married for 27 years today!  We were married in 1985, when I was 20 years old, which I do not recommend to anyone - although it seems to have worked for us.  We sold his truck for $500 to be able to afford to go on a honeymoon to...Park City, Utah. 

We have three children, Bryan (24), Chelsea (22) and Samantha (20). When I am having a bad day, Bryan always goes and finds this old photo he has hidden somewhere.  It shows me in bright red sweats (from a great elementary school teacher tomato costume I wore on Halloween), looking very pregnant, even though I had Samantha several weeks before the photo was taken.  Samantha is in my arms trying to kiss me with her mouth wide open.  Bryan Jr. is jumping on the couch in the background in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat.  Chelsea is in pajamas chewing on the coffee table leg.  He holds it up and says, "At least you are not dealing with this!"  I always look at this photo and wonder how I did it.

Is there something you look back on and wonder just how you managed to do it and survive?