Keep Reading.................................

We are excited to announce:

The Fiction Shelves have moved!!

We now officially have 3 Fiction areas: Fiction Northwest (short picture books); Fiction West (short chapter books); and Fiction Southwest (loooooong chapter books). We are all getting used to the new arrangement, but everybody is finding good fit books and new favorites. Many thanks to our PTO volunteers who moved and shifted almost 6,000 books in one day!

And we are super excited to announce:

Edgewood Night at Homewood Public Library!!

We hope everyone participates in HPL’s Summer Reading Program…books + programs = fun! And be sure to join me and some of your favorite teachers on July 7 at 6:30 pm at the Homewood Public Library. We will enjoy an evening visiting with you and hearing about what you are reading. In addition, Edgewood Readers will be highlighted as the Birmingham Zoo shares some of their special friends. We are looking forward to this big night!

And we are over excited to share:

Little Free Libraries around Homewood!!

You’ve seen them in the park and down the street. Little Free Libraries are popping up everywhere! They are a fun way to pass on you own books and find new books to enjoy. Two of these wonder boxes were started by Edgewood alum Charlie McCalley: one library can be found in front of All Saints’ Church and the other at the Homewood Community Garden.

And finally:

THANKS for a great year in the Library!

Edgewood Readers are awesome. We’ve checked out over 65,000 books this year!!! That’s a lot of reading/learning fun!! And it could not have been done without the help of our fabulous Library Volunteers!! They get the books where the kids can find them. Thank you team!! In your honor, we have added the picture book by Jerry Pinkney: The Grasshopper and the Ant. You are each as busy and dedicated as the Ant, yet as joyful as the Grasshopper!

And as always:

Find GREAT summer reading suggestions…

on Edgewood’s Library Blog!

Mrs. Woodruff’s Ultimate Book List gives a short description of many perfect books as well as suggestions for when you say “I want to read another book like…”

and from the HCS Digital Library.

You can checkout and read ebooks all summer long! Easily download great reads directly to your device or computer. Instructions (from Miss Sloderbeck’s students!!) included on the site.

Happy Reading!!

Mrs. Woodruff

I Love a List: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...

1. Author Day is Friday, March 11.

• Everybody wear yellow! (It's Mike Thaler's favorite color.)
• Autographed books (pre-ordered last month) will be delivered to classrooms Friday afternoon/Monday morning. (Most likely Monday morning.)

2. Add a Book is Monday, March 14-Thursday, March 17.

• Permission slips will go home March 4.
• Students must have a signed permission slip to select a book to donate.
• Click here for Add a Book permission slip.
• Do not send money until you have received the price slip.

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR STUDENTS BY SUPPORTING OUR LIBRARY!

3. Better Basics Book Drive April 4-21.

• Once again, Edgewood will be sharing the love of reading by collecting your old, gently-loved children's books for Better Basics of Birmingham. This wonder-filled organization gets books in the hands of local readers. Send to the Library those children's books you are ready to let go and we will make sure they find excited new readers. Many thanks!!

4.Follow the Library on Social Media!

• Twitter: @EdgewoodBooks
• Goodreads: Edgewood Books
• Goodreads is a Pinterest type website for book lovers. 
• Checkout our Bookshelves to find new favorite books. (iyl = if you like)
• Then find these books here at the  Edgewood Library, the Homewood Public Library, or your local bookstore.

5. The Shelves are moving!!

• Our re-labeling and re-shelving of the Fiction books is moving fast. I'm hoping to have our new Fiction West section ready by mid-April. 

6. Ask your fourth grader about the Iditarod, the last great race...

Author Day from the Black Lagoon!!!!
Want to order some autographed copies of Mike Thaler's books?
Complete this order form, 
attach your check/money, and send to the Library by February 2.

Edgewood's Geographic Bee

The School Geographic Bee

Friday

January 8, 2016

8:30 am

We went around the world and back again!

Congratulations to all of our participants
and our First and Second Place Winners!

THE RUG IS HERE!!!

Yea! We are heading in the right direction in the library!!

Geographic Bee 2016

EDGEWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GEOGRAPHIC BEE 2016

How to Qualify for the School Bee:

Each 4^th or 5^th grader will take the qualifying test

on Tuesday, December 1, 2015.

5^th grade will take the test at 10:30 am.

4^th grade will take the test at 9:30 am.

The top 8 scorers from 4^th grade and 5^th grade will be named

as the 16 participants in the School Bee.

Our School Geographic Bee is Monday, January 8, 2016.

For the Qualifying Test,

You will need to find on a map the Continents and the Major Oceans:

the Seven Continents

Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America

(The National Geographic Society considers Oceania a region rather than a continent;

therefore we will not accept Oceania as a correct answer

for the continent of Australia.)

 the Major Oceans

Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic

You will also need to know the location and major facts of:

these Countries

Germany, Greenland, Syria, Uruguay, and Papua New Guinea

and these States

California, Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Carolina

You can locate information on these topics from the following resources:

*   any general encyclopedia or atlas

*   The Alabama Virtual Library: www.avl.lib.al.us/  

*   National Geographic Bee website:

www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/

*   CIA Factbook website:  

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

*   World Atlas website: http://worldatlas.com

Questions? Ask Mrs. Woodruff, Geo Bee Coordinator.

Heading in the Right Direction in the Library

Big, exciting changes in the Library!!

The Alabama State Department of Education has requested that schools help ensure student privacy by removing reading level indicators from the outside of books.

As we re-label our library books by moving the reading level dots from the spine to the inside back cover, we are also using this opportunity to rearrange our Fiction. The new sections will provide greater choice and make finding books easier for our students.

We will divide our fiction books into three sections:

books with less than 35 pages;

books with 35 to 120 pages;

and books with more than 120 pages.

Within each section, there will be books on a variety of reading levels. Students can select shorter or longer books based on their interest and then check the back of the book to help determine comprehension level.

These three sections will be called by their geographical location in the Library:

Fiction Northwest (the books less than 35 pages)

Fiction West (the books from 35 to 120 pages)

and

Fiction Southwest (the books greater than 120 pages).

By sectioning our fiction books according to length, we believe students will have more choices and have an easier time finding “good fit” reads that match their interests. By naming the sections according to geographic location in the library, we will help students learn another important “directional” skill.

We look to have this project (which impacts over 7,000 books) completed by Spring of 2017…but ambitiously, we are aiming for Spring of 2016. Our PTO Library Volunteers have already helped with Phase I; we are now scheduling/planning Phase II. We will keep you up to date!