Welcome to the STA library

Library Schedule 
Monday:  KB, 4B, 2B, PreK3
Tuesday:  5A, KA, PreK3, K-Centers
Wednesday: 5B, 2A, 3A, 1A, 3B
Thursday:  4A 
Friday:  PreK4, K-Centers
Students K-5 will be bringing home books.Please help remind your cherubs to bring the books back on library day so they can check out a new book.
PictureMiss Ruth and Miss Teagan teach a Kindergarten class on Leadership Day! What great librarians!
March 27, 2018: What was the saying about the the month of March?  "In like a lion, out like a lamb." I am waiting for the "lamb part." Is this it? These snow days and cold weather have played with our regular library visits, but it seems our readers cannot be stopped! Our students love to read.Each week I check out the teacher Weebly's and the curriculum outlines to see how I can connect our library work to the classroom activities. For example, the Pre-K is studying chickens and wow, do I have a lot of chicken books.  The 4th grade is doing a novel study on differences so we read picture books about children that feel different. They loved them, and this novel study is sure to get them thinking about others. I cannot believe our fifth graders are finishing up the year. One said today that the time was going by too fast. I agree. I remember working in the Kindergarten with these students. My, they have grown into beautiful young people! Happy Reading!
​March 2, 2018: Happy Dr. Seuss Day! What a blessing Dr. Seuss was to us! His books really instill in students a love of reading! February 8, 2018: What weather! What ice! What cold! Want to warm up? Just come to the STA library! We are reading and learning and growing in here. Pre-K just finished units on polar animals while Kindergarten learned about adventures. First grade read boods about change and money, and second grade is enjoying folk tales from Appalachia. Third grade is finishing their Judy Blume novel while fourth grade just finished a great realistic fiction novel. And finally, our fifth grade leaders have just begun my favorite, Tuck Everlasting. What fun it was to have my fifth grade librarians helping on leadership day. Thanks Ruth and Teagan!

​January 17, 2018: Snowy, grey weather cannot get in our way. We have been reading up a storm in the library. I have especially noticed that some of our Kindergarten friends are beginning to read on their own! What fun! It is amazing watching our students grow!
​December 12, 2017: What a great week at STA! Students have done an amazing job preparing for the Christmas Pageant. It doesn't get better than this... children's beautiful voices raised in joyful celebration about the birth of King. It is equally as joyful in the library. Students are reading and listening and praying together. May the peace of the newborn child be with you this season.
​November 28, 2017: Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is always great to be with family and friends. I had to post today to compliment our Fifth Grade classes. We are reading a short story called Last Cover (Click here to read). I was so impressed by the thoughtful responses the students offered. Wow! They have grown. Keep up the great work, leaders!
November 16, 2017: Pre-K3 did a wonderful job listening to stories about families this week too! We read in small groups, and the children especially loved the story of noisy Mortimer. Tomorrow our Pre-K4 students will hear stories about manners and Thanksgiving. Kindergarten is studying bears and loved the nonfiction selection, Backyard Bear. First grade liked the picture books we read this week, but really enjoys the short chapter books we read at the end of class. Yesterday we started Mr. Klutz is Nuts by Dan Gutman. As our young readers begin challenging themselves with chapter books, it is good for them to have lots of choices.  Have you asked the second grade students about the Native American tribes they are studying? Wow! They are researching and learning so much. We extended their studies by reading Native American legends. What a hit! Fourth grade is working on their realistic fiction novel studies. So, this week we read Patricia Polocco picture books. Click here to listen! And finally, our fifth graders! To go along with their survival themed novel study, we read a picture book by William Steig. (Click to listen!)
November 9, 2017: It may be getting cold and dark outside but our library is full of warmth and light! Students in PreK 3 this week heard stories about families. They especially loved Little Critter. Pre-K 4 students listened to stories abou this great country of ours. Kindergarten is studying animals that live in the grasslands. Ask your student about A Giraffe and a Half. (Click the title to listen to the story and read along.) First grade read stories to complement their classroom learning about animal communities. We talked about the Plover, the toothbrush for Crocodiles. Second grade students loved the Native American legends we read to go along with their classroom research on different tribes. And, third grade finally reached the climax of the novel, Chocolate Fever. They didn't want me to stop reading.  The fourth grade is listening to picture book realistic fiction to complement their great new novel study. Last but certainly not least, our fifth graders are working on tales of survival.
October 31, 2017: It has been a great Halloween week! I loved seeing all the STA families at the Trunk or Treat last weekend. And now here we are on the cusp of daylight savings. Days may be getting shorter, but we are making the best out of our reading time. STA students are wild for books!
​October 24, 2017: What a great week in the library! Kindergarteners read books about how flowers are unique. There is nothing like a Mr. Putter and Tabby Cat book. The first graders are discussing how school communities work together. The second graders heard a story from Texas about a hungry ghost haunting for food, while third grade can't get enough of Chocolate Fever. Fourth grade is finishing a short novel by their author study author, Margaret Peterson Haddix. Finally, our fifth graders just finished a wonderful short story entitled, Nancy. It is a joy to read with our STA students.
October 16, 2017: We did another paired reading session today. This time with fifth grade and Kindergarten. And then, we read a fifth grade favorite, Don't Fidget a Feather. Click on the title to listen!
​October 11, 2017:  I am so glad to be back in the library. I was away participating in a NEASC re-accreditation visit in Providence last week so I missed library classes on Monday and Tuesday. I was able to squeeze in a few make-up classes later in the week. Check out the buddy reading we did with 4B and KA! Sometimes the Kindergarteners were reading to the 4th graders, and sometimes the 4th graders were reading to the Kindergarteners. What fun!
September 28, 2017:  What fun we have had a the book fair this week! The children have been so polite! What a joy! Still though, it will be great to be back in our comfy STA library. The children are in to the swing of things...checking out books and returning them. Great work! Please continue to remind your student to tuck their books in their backpacks when they are finished, so they won't be disappointed on library day.
August 30, 2017: What a great first day! Many classes visited the library for the first time this year. It was great to be back with my readers! I just ordered many new selections with the points we earned fromt the spring book fair. What fun it will be to share those with the students! 

​August 22, 2017: Welcome back, readers! This will be an amazing year of learning and fun! New books and the 2018 Nutmeg nominees are in! ​
And don't forget! The book fair will be at our school the last week in September!!!
March 27, 2018: Last night I read the first in the follow-up series from Mercy Watson called Tales from Deckawoo Drive. This one featured the reformed thief, Leroy Ninker. I loved it! I cannot wait to read it to Pre-K4 next week. They LOVE Mercy Watson, and I think they will love this just as much! Today a fifth grade student let me borrow President of the Whole Sixth Grade by Sherri Winston. I am excited to get reading.
March 8, 2018: I have read two amazing books over the last few weeks. The first is Rain Reign by Ann Martin. It is about a girl on the autism spectrum and her relationship with her dog. I was sad to get to the end of it. And then, I read Sugar by Jewell Rhodes. It was so interesting to learn about the Chinese workers that came to work the plantations after the end of slavery. It was a piece of history that I hadn't learned about before. In my book bag, I have Little Wolf's Book of Badness by Ian Whybrow. I have looked at it a few times, so I thought I would give it a try.
February 8, 2018: I am finishing The Tapper Twins right now as an idea for book club. It isn't my favorite but some third grade friends who have started it really seem to like it. I'm not sure yet it will be my book club choice. Going to get through it first.
​January 17, 2018: Well, it has been a busy month. I finished Ratscalibur, another of the Nutmeg Nominees. It was a mash-up of The Lord of the Rings and The Secret of Nihm. I actually liked it more than I thought I would. I picked up Candymakers by Wendy Mass as my next read, though I am taking School Law so my reading time has been truncated.
December 12, 2017: I went hunting to the public library to get the second book The War I Finally Won. It is equally as beautiful as the first. What a joy!  A second grader mentioned her sadness about finishing our chapter book read aloud. She said, "I don't want it to end." This is just how I felt reading these two books.  ​I was sad to see them end. I am on to a new recommedation from a new fifth grade friend. She suggested The Keeper of the Lost Cities series. I will be checking it out over break.
 November 28, 2017:I just read the best book ever!! Thanks 4th and 5th graders and Mr. Hadyka for recommending. The War that Saved my Life is a beautiful story of loss, friendship and hope. I actually brought the book to my parents on Thanksgiving Day and read it! Parents and students alike will enjoy this read. I also finished Sun and Spoon by Kevin Henkes. You might know Henkes from his picture books, but he also rights novels. This one is a sweet story about a boy who is dealing with the death of his Gram. It's a great story about memory and family.
November 16, 2017: I am reading Zoe in Wonderland by Brenda Woods - a recommendation by a fifth grade student. So far, I really like it! I also just packed The War that Changed my Life into my backpack. That is the next one on  my list. November 9, 2017: I loved Upside Down Magic. To be honest it was a perfect example of the phrase "Don't judge a book by its cover." I would never have picked up this book if it wasn't for book club. I thought it was a book about cats, because a cat is on the cover. Instead, it's about magic and tolerance and friendship.
October 31, 2017: I am looking for high interest series to enchance the choices for our STA students. During my trip to the Bloomfield Library, I picked out five new series to try.  October 24, 2017: I am working on a book for our next book club called Upside Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski. And I need to catch up with this month's book club book, Saving Lilly by Peg Kehert because I had to give my copy away to a student. Luckily, I have some super readers that have already finished even though our meeting isn't until November 14th. ​
October 11, 2017: I am almost finished with No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. It was recommended by son, Joseph who is in seventh grade at St. Timothy. I like that the story is told from many different perspectives. Next on my list is Saving Lily by Peg Kehert. I wonder if it will be a good book club book?
September 29, 2017:  I have been doing a lot of reading recently. I finished the book club book, Saving Arm Pit. What a great book about the power to effect change! Then, I read A Whole New Game by Phil Bildner. It is story of a non-traditional fifth grade teacher and his divers class. It is the first of the series and an 2018 Nutmeg Nominee.  Finally, I read Ghosts, a book fair gift from a Kindergarten friend. It is a graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier. It was interesting and powerful. While the topic seems scary, it really emphasizes the importance of remembering our family and friends that are in heaven - that keeping their memory alive can be healing and powerful.
August 22, 2017: What an amazing summer of reading! Mrs. Klingman inspired me to read Jane Austen. After years of children's literature, I had a lovely summer of Austen. Don't worry though! I read some great STA books too. The first is a graphic novel by Ben Hatke - Mighty Jack. A quick and exciting read with a cliff hanger ending. I also started a new series by Patricia McKissack called Miami Jackson. And, right now I am in the middle of an Eddie Red mystery, sequel to the Nutmeg Nominee from last year. Can't wait for your suggestions, readers!
 
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The books we read during library always go deeper than just a story! Ask your children what the book teaches us about our faith.