The Last Week of School and Our Summer Reading List Revealed

Wow! I am posting the last week of school, with my friends...I feel excited and sad. With this mixed set of emotions, I promise to get through this blog without shedding a tear (I hope). I always find it bittersweet when my first grade friends move on to McKinley. I will miss them but I feel excited for all they will learn and how much they will grow and have grown (Sniff, Sniff).

This week in the library I really wanted my first grade friends to always remember what we did here at Kennedy. The fun they had and how capable they are as they leave. So, we have been reading the book Memoirs of a Goldfish By Devin Scillian.

First Graders created their own book reflecting on things like Me, Favorite School Activity, Favorite Book(come on you know I had to throw that in there) Recess, Specials, Lunchtime,
My Friends, I'm Happy..., I'm Grumpy..., When I grow up...

As we worked on this lesson, I found myself smiling, laughing and tearing up. These kiddo's are so awesome and I am so lucky to share assignments like this with them. Something that they can keep forever. I told them that when they get as old as I am it won't be so easy to remember things from first grade. Make sure to write down all of the things you don't want to forget. This set them off on a writing frenzy! I absolutely loved it.


Kindergarten friends and I shared the stories of Miss Bindergarten celebrates the last day of Kindergarten by Joseph Slate and The Last Day Blues by Julie Dannenberg. We then created a poem and all signed our names for an end of the year teacher gift. They were so excited to share it with their teachers. Lots of hugs, high fives, smiles and well wishes for Summer break. It is such a bittersweet time of year. I am going to miss these kiddo's over the next few months, that is to be sure.


Free 2014 Summer Reading Programs for Kids

• Junie B Jones Reading Club – Sign up and get a FREE starter Kit that includes a copy of Junie B Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, Activity sheets and a membership ID card while supplies last.
• Book Adventure – Sylvan offers this FREE reading incentive program. Basically your child reads books and then takes a simple comprehension quiz to make sure they understood what they read. The quiz is usually about 10 questions long. They earn points based on how much they remember from reading the book.
• There are hundreds of books to choose from in all reading levels. These are common books that can be found at your local library. Once they have earned enough points they can trade them in for some really neat prizes!
• Barnes & Noble Imagination Destination - This summer reading program through Barnes & Noble gives your child the ability to earn a FREE book after reading 8 books and keeping track of them in a reading log.
• Local Public Library - Don’t forget to check out The Abilene Public Library and other local libraries. Salina Public Library has a wonderful summer program as well. check them out to find out which programs they’ll be offering this summer. My kids have participated in several Summer reading Programs through the library and it always includes FREE books & prizes.
• Chuck E. Cheese - Earn 10 FREE tokens every time your child reads for 2 weeks in a row. Just fill out the form and bring it in to claim your free token.
• Scholastic Summer Challenge - Log in your reading minutes to the Scholastic site and your child will be able to participate in a World Record challenge as well as earn digital prizes!
• Pottery Barn Summer Reading Challenge – Open only to children under 10 years of age on any day during the promotion period. Must present completed Award-Winning or Early Reader book list to receive a free book at participating Pottery Barn Kids stores.

We love these kinds of programs.  They are free and keep the kids busy and excited about reading until school starts again.

You will need to register and sign up for these programs. Click the links

http://www.bookitprogram.com/summer/default.asp

http://www.scholastic.com/ups/campaigns/src-2014

Another fun activity I am doing that I shared with the students is my photo a day challenge.
I will post another one each month of the summer. You can take these photo's in any order. I will
be posting mine on instagram and also here on my blog. Please share a link with me on my blog and I will check out your photo's too. I would love to see what you are up to this summer.

Drumroll Please....I know many of you have been waiting for this list for sometime. I hope you enjoy it. It took a long time to pick and choose I hope you find some good books through this list.

Aliki. My Hands or My five Senses

Allen, Kathy and Tom Sperling. The First Independence Day Celebration
Tedd Arnold, Tedd.Fly Guy series

Boyton, Sandra.  Going to Bed Book

Brown, Marc. Arthur's Off to School Or Any of the Arthur or other D.W. titles

Brown, Rick. Hooray for the 4th of July

 Brown, Margaret Wise. Summer Noisy Book

Carle, Eric. Do You Want to Be My Friend? 

Carlson, Nancy Look Out First Grade Here I Come!

Christelow, Eileen. Five Little Monkeys series

Cosby, Bill.   Little Bill series

Crews, Donald. Bigmama’s; School Bus; or other titles

Cronin, Doreen.Thump, Quack, Moo  or Diary of series

Davis, Katie. Kindergarten Rocks!

de la Casas, Diane. The Gigantic Sweet Potato

Eastman, P. D. Sam and the Firefly

Fleming, Denise.The Cow Who Clucked 

Fowler, Alan. Inside an Ant Colony or any in Rookie Read Aloud series

Fox, Mem. Whoever You Are or Possum Magic 

Franco, Betsy. Summer Beat

Freeman, Don. Corduroy stories

Galdone, Paul. Jack and the Beanstalk 

Gevry, Claudine. Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer

Gibbons, Gail. Fire! Fire!

Havill, Juanita.  Jamaica and Brianna 

Henkes, Kevin.Owen; Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse; or other title

Heine, Helme. Friends Go Adventuring

Henkes, Kevin. Chrysanthemum or Sheila Rae, the Brave

Holabird, Katharine. Angelina Ballerina or any other Angelina title

Hudson, Wade. Jamal’s Busy Day 

Hutchins, Pat. The Doorbell Rang 

Isadora, Rachel.123 Pop; ABC Pop; Hansel and Gretel or any other title

Ives, Penny. Celestine, Drama Queen 

Johnson, Angela. Lilly Brown’s Paintings

Jonas, Ann. Round Trip; Splash! orWatch William Walk 

Joy, N. The Secret Olivia Told Me 

Kann, Victoria. Pinkalicious ; Purplicious; Emeraldlicious or Goldilicious

Kannenberg, Stacey. Let's Get Ready for First Grade 

Keats, Ezra Jack. Pet Show! or titles in the Peter series 

Kimmelman, Leslie and Nancy Cote Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeney!

Kirk, Daniel. Library Mouse

Lata, Sara L. What Happens in Summer?

Leedy, Loreen. Mission: Addition or Subtraction Action 

Lionni, Leo. Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse or other titles 

Litwin, Eric. Pete the Cat Series

London, Jonathan. Froggy series 

Lyon, George. The Pirate of Kindergarten 

Marzollo, Jean. I’m a Seed

Mayer, Mercer. Little Critter Series

McKissack, Patricia. Flossie and the Fox 

Numeroff, Laura. If You Give a Cat a Cupcake or other titles 

Piper, Watty. The Little Engine That Could 

Pingry, Patricia.The Story of America's Birthday

Provensen, Alice and Martin. The Year at Maple Hill Farm

Rathmann, Peggy. Officer Buckle and Gloria or Goodnight Gorilla 

Roberts, Bethany. Fourth of July Mice! 

Rosenthal, Amy. Duck, Rabbit 

Rauzon, Mark, Water, Water Everywhere

Rylant, Cynthia. Mr. Putter and Tabby or The Relatives Came

Saltzberg. Barney. Crazy Hair Day  

Scarborough, Sheryl. We Read about Bugs or other in series

Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are or Chicken Soup with Rice

Seuss, Dr. Hop on Pop; The Foot Book; or any other title

Simon, Seymour. Snakes 

Slate, Joseph. Miss Bindergarten series

Taulbert, Clifton. Little Cliff and the Porch People or other title

Teague, Mark. How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Thomas, Shelley M. Good Night, Good Knight 

Walsh, Ellen. Mouse Count or Mouse Paint 

Wells, Rosemary. Timothy Goes to School 

Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Summertime in the Big Woods
Williams, Vera B. A Chair for My Mother 

Wing,Natahsa. The Night before Summer Vacation 

 Zion, Gene. Harry the Dirty Dog

 Series Read A Loud For The Family

I have had several families with older siblings come into the library
requesting suggestions on read a loud stories and series for the family.
I have been getting my reading on so to speak.

Here is a list of some of our favorite chapter books we can’t wait to read:

1.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
by Roald Dahl
2. The BFG
by Roald Dahl
3. Charlotte’s Web
by E.B. White
4. Stuart Little
by E.B. White
5. The Mouse and the Motorcycle
by Beverly Cleary
6. Mr. Popper’s Penguins
by Richard Atwater
7. Magic Tree House series
by Mary Pope Osborne
8. Hank the Cowdog series
by John R. Erickson
9. Sideways Stories from Wayside School
by Louis Sachar
10 .Chronicles of Narnia series
by C.S. Lewis
11. The Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling
12. The Great Brain
by John D. Fitzgerald
13. The Borrowers
by Mary Norton
14. Toys Go Out
by Emily Jenkins
15. The Moffats
by Eleanor Estes
16. Matilda
by Roald Dahl
17. How to Train Your Dragon
by Cressida Cowell
18.  Holes
by Louis Sachar
19. The Indian in the Cupboard
by Lynne Reid Banks
20. The Boxcar Children series
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
21. The Tale of Despereaux
by Kate DiCamillo
22. The Little House Collection
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
23. The Spiderwick Chronicles
by Tony DiTerlizzi
24. Danny the Champion of the World
by Roald Dahl
25.James and the Giant Peach
by Roald Dahl
26. Fantastic Mr. Fox
by Roald Dahl
27. Junie B. Jones
by Barbara Park
28. The Family Under the Bridge
by Natalie Savage Carlson
29. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
by Robert C. O’Brien
30. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E.L. Konigsburg
31. Shiloh
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
32. Harriet the Spy
by Louise Fitzhugh
33. Ivy & Bean series
by Annie Barrows
34. The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh
by A. A. Milne
35. Peter Pan
by Bobby Driscoll
36. The Doll People 
by Ann M. Martin
37. The One and Only Ivan
by Katherine Applegate
38. Choose Your Own Adventure books
39. Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen
40. Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O’Dell
41. Nancy Drew
by Carolyn Keene
42. Pippi Longstocking
by Astrid Lindgren
43. The Trumpet of the Swan
by E. B. White
44. Freckle Juice
by Judy Blume
45. The Judy Moody
by Megan McDonald
46. Beezus and Ramona
by Beverly Cleary
47. Rufus M.
by Eleanor Estes
48. How to Eat Fried Worms
by Thomas Rockwell
49. Fat Men From Space
by Daniel Manus Pinkwater
50. Secret Agent Jack Stalwart
by Elizabeth Singer Hunt

 

I expect this is what I will be doing for most of my 

summer.

Enjoy your summer!
Happy Reading,
Mrs. Shamhart