Find out what’s happening
                  in the media center!

Features: Pop-up Center, Fermilab’s Safety Tip of the Week, JFK Book Club, Hot Picks, Butterfly Websites and National Library Week Posters.

Come see our new pop-up center!

Tucked into the back corner of the library, our students are eagerly gravitating to our new pop-up center.  We have a small collection of pop-up books that are too delicate for circulation, but ideal for usage in the media center.  Our most popular pop-up at the moment is (what else?) Star Wars!  We also have “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, one of the famed Robert Sabuda creations.  The page that depicts Emerald City even includes green spectacles. 
           

DISTRACTED DRIVING

Behavior                                                Increased Risk Factor

Reaching for an object                                                              9                                                             Drowsiness                                                                                  4   
Looking at external object                                                       3                                                      
Reading while driving                                                                3                
Applying makeup                                                                       3                           
Use of cell phone                                 
     Dialing                                                                                     3                  
     Talking/Listening                                                                                        1

A recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that driver distraction is the leading cause of traffic accidents. Video cameras and sensors monitored 100 automobiles in the Washington, DC metro area. Data collection lasted a year, encompassing two million miles and 42,000 hours of driving. The study recorded a total of 82 crashes, 761 near crashes, and 8,295 critical incidents.

The researchers concluded that "nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event." The tabulated data (above) show that reaching for a moving object or looking at an external object increase the risk by factors of nine and three, respectively. These conclusions are in line with Fermilab's vehicle accident data. Talking or listening on a cell phone, however, does not appear to carry a significant risk, though dialing does increase the hazard. The one behavior that actually reduced the risk was having a passenger in the adjacent seat.

Here are three suggestions to reduce your risk of a crash from distracted driving.

Secure everyone and everything that could be a distraction.

Do not drive when you are tired.

Do not perform tasks that require multiple glances in a short period of time, such as operating a PDA.

 This article was excerpted from Fermilab Today http://www.fnal.gov/pub/today.

JFK Book Club News

Our rookie reviewers,
aka JFK Book Club,
               recommended six good reads              
on Channel 22.

    

 

Samantha, in Mrs. Arcamone’s Class read Davy’s Blue Eyed Frog by Patricia Harrison Easton.

Joey, in Mrs. Bucci’s class, read I was a third grade spy by Mary Jane Auch.

 Maudie, in Mr. Ullman’s class, read Jake Drake, Bully Buster by Andrew Clements.

Kristyn, in Mrs. Sloan’s class, read School trouble for Andy Russell by David A. Adler.

 Gianna, in Mrs. Mooney’s Class, read Third Grade Pet by Judy Cox.

 Jessica in Ms. Gorey’s class, read Mallory vs. Max by Laurie Friedman.

          Please remember that any student who chooses to read one of the JFK Book Club titles, has the opportunity to have his or her photo put on our book club bulletin board.  All they have to do is read the book and fill out a summary sheet.  More information on this process is available at the library.

     Look for another group of Rookie Reviewers on Channel 22 in early June.  They’ll be recommending good titles for summer reading.

LOTS OF HOT PICKS!

ANNE FRANK written by Josephine Poole with illustrations by Angela Barrett is a picture book biography of Anne Frank, who, along with her family and other Jews, hid in the annex of a building during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.  The text is a sensitive and honest portrayal of an extremely sad situation.  The author focuses on the positive impact Anne’s diary has had on its readers.  Over 25 million copies have sold worldwide and it has been translated into more than sixty languages.  Grade 3.

 THE BOY WHO DREW BIRDS, a story of John James Audubon, written by Jacqueline Davies with illustrations by Melissa Sweet is a well-documented picture book biography.  This title describes his youth and how he was inspired to study birds.  It particularly focuses on how he initiated a technique of observing birds that is vital to our understanding of them.  The illustrator’s painting and collages, beautifully reproduced here, perfectly complement the text.  Grades 1-3.

THE BULLY BLOCKERS CLUB, written by Teresa Bateman and illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic.  When Lottie is bothered by a bully at school, she decides to create her own club where everyone is welcome.  This is a useful title for dealing with the ongoing problem of bullying in school situations.  K-3.

CANDY SHOP, written by Jan Wahl with illustrations by Nicole Wong.  This poignant story focuses on a young boy’s courage when he’s confronted with prejudice.  Daniel, goes to the candy store with his aunt. Once they arrive, it is discovered that a bigot has written something malicious on the sidewalk outside the shop owned by an immigrant from Taiwan.  Daniel and his aunt are determined to soothe the owner.  This title would be useful for character education: kindness and tolerance.  K-3.

EATS, SHOOTS, & LEAVES, WHY COMMAS REALLY DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! This title was written by Lynn Truss and illustrated by Bonnie Timmons. It is the children’s version of Truss’ best selling adult book. This text uses comparative illustrations to demonstrate that the meaning of a sentence can depend upon the placement of a comma.  The situations depicting the lack of commas are very amusing.  Students can try coming up with their own situations to show “commas really do make a difference.”  Grades 1-3.

FREEDOM ON THE MENU, the Greensboro sit-ins, written by Carole Boston Weatherford with paintings by Jerome LaGarrigue.

This piece of historical fiction is told from the point of view of a young African American child.  It is a compelling portrayal of the 1960’s civil rights sit-ins at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.  This would be useful for civil rights lessons or to tie-in with a lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Grades 2-3.

GRANDMA’S PRIDE, written by Becky Birtha and illustrated by Colin Bootman.  Here’s another excellent piece of historical fiction that does a fine job comparing the African American experience in the North versus the South during the 1950’s.  While visiting her grandmother, six-year-old Sarah Marie is exposed to segregation for the first time, but learns that things are different when she returns the next year.  This extremely honest and sensitive portrayal of a difficult topic is multi-layered in its educational uses.  Grades 2-3.

GUJI GUJI written and illustrated by Chih-Yuan Chen.  In this inspiring story, a crocodile hatched and raised by a mother duck, must devise a plan to save his family when three bad crocodiles try to convince him to serve them his family for dinner.  Themes of loyalty, identity and what it means to be a family are explored in this charming and extremely original text.  Grades K-3.

HENRY AND THE KITE DRAGON written by Bruce Edward Hall with illustrations by William Low.  This book is based on a true event in the life of the author’s father when he was growing up in Chinatown in the 1920’s.  Two competing groups of children from different cultures find that they do have something in common and learn to appreciate the differences between them as well.  This is a compelling text that would work well in a lesson on tolerance. Grades 2-3. 

I COULD DO THAT! ESTHER MORRIS GETS WOMEN THE VOTE written by Linda Arms White with pictures by Nancy Carpenter.  This picture book biography about Esther Morris, depicts a determined woman whose positive, upbeat approach to getting things done has an important impact on making Wyoming the first territory to allow women to vote.  She then became the first woman to hold public office.  This title is a good choice for a biography lesson as well as for a social studies unit.  Grades 2-3.

IF NOT FOR THE CAT, Haiku by Jack Prelutsky with paintings by Ted Rand.  This marvelous and extremely imaginative collection of haiku poems focuses on a wide variety of animals.  It would be useful in a poetry lesson on haiku or an animal unit.  Grades K-3.

JOHN, PAUL, GEORGE & BEN, written and illustrated by Lane Smith.  This clever text takes an amusing look at the early lives of five of the founding fathers of the United States: George Washington, John Hancock, Paul Revere, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.  Use this as an introduction to a biography unit or tie it in with a patriotic holiday lesson.  Grades 1-3.

In LITTLE RABBIT GOES TO SCHOOL written and illustrated by Harry Horse, Little Rabbit takes his favorite toy along for the first day of school and when there is trouble, he blames it all on Charlie Horse.  This delightful school story stands on its own, but it’s a particularly good example of inference.  Grades 1-3.

POLAR BEAR NIGHT, written by Lauren Thompson with illustrations by Stephen Savage.  After wandering out at night to watch a magical star shower, a polar bear cub returns home to cuddle with her mother in their cozy den.  This lovely story would be useful as an example of visualization.  Grades K-3.

SAVING SAMANTHA, a true story written by Robbyn Smith van Frankenbuyzen with illustrations by Gijsbert van Frankenbuyzen. This beautifully written book is the true story of the authors’ experiences rescuing and caring for an injured red fox on their forty- acre farm in Bath, Michigan.  Not only is it readable and informative as a book on wildlife, but the authors’ approach to writing this story would be very useful for a writing lesson: They kept a journal of the red fox’s progress and how they gradually released it back into the wild.  The book has the journal entries next to the text that evolved from these original observations.  Grades 1-3.

This illustration is from the website, Butterflies: http://www.abc.net.au/schoolstv/animals/BUTTERFLIES.htm

BUTTERFLY WEBSITES:

Poetic butterflies:

        The butterfly, a cabbage-white, (His honest idiocy of flight).
               Will never now, it is too late, Master the art of flying straight.

                                                                   Robert Grave, “Flying Crooked”

Thought-provoking butterflies:

        We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes
                it has gone through to achieve beauty.

                                                                   Maya Angelou

These snippets of poetry and the websites listed below are from “School Library Activities Monthly”, April, 2007.

Butterflies, http://www.abc.net.au/schoolstv/animals/BUTTERFLIES.htm

This site is a good one for primary grades.  There are excellent photographs, colorful illustrations and concise, readable facts about butterflies.  There is a dictionary as well.  This website is very user friendly.

Butterflies in the Field Museum, http://www.fieldmuseum.ogr/butterfly/

There are examples of over 200,000 specimens of butterflies and moths around the world.  The site includes information on collecting butterflies, butterfly habitats as well as essential things to know about butterflies and moths (including the difference between them).

This site is connected to the Florida Museum of Natural History.  It has over 4 million specimens and is one of the biggest butterfly collections in the world.  There is a downloadable pdf “Butterflies and Moths: Teacher’s Guide and Classroom Activities”.

National Library Week Author Posters

Be sure to take a look at the wonderful posters our JFK students have created for our National Library Week Celebration, (April 16 to April 20). Each student has done a poster depicting his or her favorite author.  It’s interesting to note how many of our artists used the Internet as a resource.  This was a voluntary project and the response was extremely enthusiastic.

AND JUST FOR FUN . . .

 “The New Yorker” April 2, 2007 (One of the three Caption Contest Finalists)