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End of the year reminder All library books are due on Tuesday, May 27th. Thank you for helping your child return their books on time. Have a great summer! Check out the South School suggested reading list by clicking the link on the left sidebar. Happy summer reading! Author Jim Aylesworth Visits South School    In conjunction with National Library Week, author Jim Aylesworth visited the students of South School on Monday, April 14th. He has written 31 children's picture books and is completing two additional books. The children and teachers thoroughly enjoyed his visit as he shared stories about when he was a first grade teacher and how his students helped him become a children's author. A special thank you to PTO author representatives, Stephanie Pearce and Monique Parsons for bringing this popular author to South School. For a complete list of his books click here. Dr. Seuss Day Celebration On Friday, February 29th, students at South School celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday. The day began with Mrs.Wang leading the children in our "Reader's Oath". The Cat in the Hat delivered book marks to each classroom and saw the students enjoying a day filled with exciting learning actiivities based on themes from many of Dr. Seuss' books. Students were busily engaged in reading, writing and math activities. More... Second Graders learning about the Dewey Decimal System During the month of March the second grade students have been learning how a library is organized by the Dewey Decimal System. They have participated in several activities to help them understand this system which will assist them in becoming more independent library users. Ask your child how fiction and non-fiction books are arranged in a library. Here are some photos of the children sorting "call numbers" in Dewey order. More... Monarch Election! All of the South School students voted electronically on the computer for their favorite Monarch book during the third week of February. The votes have been tallied and the South School winners are as follows:  First Place: If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen Second Place: Traction Man is Here! by Mini Grey Third Place: Bad Kitty by Nick BruelThe children thoroughly enjoyed reading these books and especially enjoyed casting their votes!    The winners for the entire State of Illinois were: First Place: If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen Second Place: Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel Third Place: Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor For more information on the Monarch Award, see the story below which explains the program in detail. Caldecott Award Announced This year's winner is:  The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures written and illustrated by Brian Selznick When 12-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized. The honor award was given to the following four books: First the Egg written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger Henry's Freedom Box illustrated by Kadir Nelson and written by Ellen Levine Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity illustrated and written by Mo Willems The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain illustrated by Kadir Nelson and written by Peter Sis Click Caldecott Award to learn more about this year's winners. The Monarch Book Reading Award For the fourth year the state of Illinois is launching THE MONARCH AWARD ILLINOIS K-3 CHILDREN'S CHOICE AWARD. The Monarch Award is presented annually to the author and/or illustrator of the book voted as a favorite by students in kindergarten through grade three throughout the state of Illinois. Participating schools or public libraries will cast their votes in late Februray. The Monarch is sponsored by the Illinois School Library Media Association. The purposes of the Monarch Award are: to encourage children and adults to read children�s books for personal enjoyment. to help children become familiar with books, authors and illustrators. to encourage children to read critically. to develop a statewide awareness of outstanding literature for children. to promote cooperation among agencies providing educational and library service to children. During library class all students at South will read together from the list of twenty nominated books. In late February each student will vote electronically for their favorite book. These votes will be sent to Springfield to be tallied and a state winner will be announced in late March. Click the more link for a list of the 2007 - 2008 nominees. More... Library Program All students at South School have library class one time per week. In addition to this weekly class, all students have access to the Library Learning Center throughout the day as their schedule allows. In kindergarten, the children follow their 15 minute library class with a half hour computer lab experience. First and second graders have a longer library class in which literature and library skills are introduced. In first grade, students become familiar with parts of a book, how to use an index, glossary and table of contents. In addition, they are introduced to different book genre's and the concept that books are organized and have specific locations in a library collection. In second grade the Dewey Decimal System is introduced and students learn how to search for books on the computer catalog and locate them in the collection. Many activities are planned throughout the year to reinforce these skills to enable students to become independent library users. Click to view photos of the children during their first library visit of the school year. More... When are my child's library books due? Library books are checked out for one week. Each library class children return and check out books. Your child will be sent home with a laminated reminder notice of their library day. Please post this in your home where you and your child can see it. The library class schedule for this year is as follows: Kindergarten: Ms. K. Karas AM - Monday all PM classes - Monday Ms. L. Karas, AM - Tuesday Ms. Schultz, AM - Tuesday Mrs. Cohen AM - Friday 1st Grade: Mr. Ferguson - Wednesday Mrs. Hintz - Tuesday Ms. Kooi - Wednesday Mrs. Krakowsky - Thursday Mr. Oberlander - Thursday Mrs. Smith - Tuesday Mrs. Wagner - Thursday 2nd Grade: Mrs. Cimino - Wednesday Mrs. Healy - Friday Mrs. Holaday - Tuesday Ms. Leavitt - Friday Ms. Leeds - Friday Ms. Miller - Monday Ms. Rose - Monday Library Volunteers  Parent library volunteers are an integral part of the South School Library Learning Center program. Thank you in advance for the many hours you dedicate to our program. Click on more to view and download the monthly LLC volunteer schedule. 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