Saturday, January 30, 2010
Van Meter Elementary Kids GO WILD!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Snow Day Web 2.0 Fun!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Van Meter NEWS Heard at VOICE!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
And the Winner is.......
As a little girl I was surrounded by a wonderful collection of books. My Mom taught my sister Heather and I what the bright, gold and silver circles were on the beautiful picture books that we read with her. When Heather and I were in college at the University of Northern Iowa we looked forward to adding these Caldecott Medal books to our growing collections to use in our classrooms and read to our own children someday. And now as a teacher librarian I love hearing the books that were awarded special honors at the beginning of each year and sharing them with the students at Van Meter and my three children.
Going Bovine by Libba Bray Sixteen year old slacker, Cameron, sets off on a madcap road trip along with a punk angel, a dwarf sidekick, a yard gnome and a mad scientist, to save the world and perhaps his own life. This wildly imaginative modern day take on Don Quixote is complex, hilarious and stunning. The hero’s journey will never be the same after “Going Bovine.” |
2010 Honor(s)
Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman, published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group | |
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing | |
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp and published by Candlewick Press | |
Tales from the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes and published by Viking Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Young Reader’s Grou |
Sunday, January 17, 2010
I Have a Dream...
And then I show the students his amazing I Have a Dream speech and watch their faces as these listen to these words...
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2