One School, One Book: Grades 4 and 5 Read A Long Walk to Water

Our One School, One Book initiative is in full swing. ASD Libraries are encouraging students in Grades 3 through 12, staff and parents to join our shared reading experience of a A Long Walk to Water in anticipation of Linda Sue Park’s visit to ASD in March. The goals for ASD's One School, One Book event are to celebrate literacy, build community, promote our Visiting Author Program, and foster global awareness.

All Grade 5 students just finished A Long Walk to Water in their homeroom classes. And, Grade 4 students are currently reading and buzzing about the the book. Grade 4 student, Naina, said "I can't believe that it is a true story. It is unbelievable that the main characters survived." The students were surprised by the twist at the end of the book when two seemingly separate stories are beautifully woven together. Several students commented on how much they were inspired by the determination of the main character, Salva, and his ability lead others to safety day after day over such a long period of time. Many students asked themselves if they would be able to walk such a distance and face such danger. Our students are asking important questions and experiencing an important story of perseverance and desire to change the world for the better.

Don't forget that the libraries have multiple copies of A Long Walk to Water for check out and for sale for AED 25 at our circulation desks. We plan to offer a range of opportunities to allow our community members to engage in discussion about this powerful story. Stayed tuned for more information on how to participate in our One Book, One School event.

Click here to watch Linda Sue Park’s book trailer about A Long Walk to Water.

Workshops on Wednesdays: An Introduction to ES Library Resources and Services

Join the ES Librarians on November 5 from 8:15 - 9:15 a.m. for the first Workshop Wednesday. Parents will explore ES Library resources and services such as the ES Library website and subscriptions. The ES Library has a wealth of kid-friendly resources. Parents are invited to bring personal devices to the workshop and to set-up technology tools to use with their children at home.

Workshops on Wednesday is a new series of workshops for ES Parents about Information and Technology Literacy. The ES Librarians and the EdTech Coaches invite parents to attend every other Wednesday for a cup of coffee and a hands-on session designed to help parents support their child as a learner. All ES parents, new and returning, are encouraged to attend.

Workshop Wednesday Series Schedule:
November 5 - Welcome to the ES Library: An Introduction to our Resources and Services
November 19 - DreamBox Math
January 14 - Google Apps for Parents
January 28 - eBooks and Electronic Resources
February 11 - A Long Walk to Water Discussion Group
February 25 - Digital Citizenship
March 11 - Visiting Authors Parent Presentation
March 25 - Great apps for home use
May 6 - Safe Internet Searching Tips
May 20 - InFlow: The Research Process K-12
June 3 - Summer Reading

Biblionasium: Discover, Read, Share

Our students in Grades 4 and 5 are connected to an online reading community called Biblionasium. Designed specifically for kids, each student can build a virtual bookshelf, engage with classmates about reading, keep a reading log, write book reviews and access an entire database of books.


The feedback is unanimous, our students love Biblionasium! It's fun, it's visual, it is interactive. Students like to keep track of their personal reading, set goals for future reading and to view their friends shelves for ideas on what to read. Students also like the recommendation feature where they can send a recommendation directly to a friend or to the entire class.

Each class has its own reading community. It is safe and monitored by the teacher. No one outside of the class can join without the teacher's permission. The teacher is also able to make recommendations or set goals for individuals or the whole class.

Kids can search for books and authors. Just by touching the cover of a book, students can read a summary and view other kids' reviews. If they come across a book that looks great, they can tag it as a book they want to read later so they don't forget. Books on students' digital shelves can be organized by favorites and in the order in which they have read them over the school year.

Reading should be a social experience. Biblionasium offers our students an exciting platform to talk about books and to be a part of a reading community. Visit the Biblionasium site to learn more!

Destiny Quest: A Powerful Tool for Readers and Researchers

Our elementary students are savvy searchers! Students are learning to use Destiny Quest as a tool for finding books and other resources. They can view popular and new titles, search for books in a variety of ways, monitor their personal library accounts, flag books to read in the future and also post book reviews. It is our library catalog in an interactive, personalized app.

Grade 4 students have been using Destiny Quest to search for books and websites for their current Social Studies unit about cultures around the world. Students are researching a place that is important to them. After digging in deep about aspects of their culture, students will showcase their learning at a World Expo display next month.

One of the best ways to decide what to read next is to hear from friends. Grade 2 students have been rating books in Destiny Quest and writing reviews to explain why a book is special to them. This way, when students search for a book, they can read what their friends think about it and decide if it might be a good fit.

In Grade 3, students are learning to find books using call numbers. Using Destiny Quest as a portable tool makes finding books a breeze! Students can also learn all kinds of information about a book while standing at the shelf. Is the book in a series? Are their other books related to this topic? Are their other books by this author? Destiny Quests makes browsing more effective and interactive.

If your family has an iPad or other mobile device, make sure to download Destiny Quest from the app store for free. Click here for step by step instructions on setting up the app on your device.

New Books to Explore

It's that exciting time again when we have hundreds of brand new books ready for you to explore! Come take a peek at our new chapter books, series, comics, picture books and information books. We have displays dotted around the library.

Some titles that are already disappearing off our shelves are the Charlie Joe Jackson series by Tom Greenwald, the new Survivors series by Erin Hunter and the 4 For 4 sport series by John Coy. ASD students are also excited about the National Geographic Weird But True books and as well as the Soccer Stars biographies. We can't forget to mention the long awaited episodes of The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein, the new Goddess Girls books by Joan Holub, and brand new to our library, the Captain Awesome series by Stan Kirby.

Take a look at just some of our new titles below and see if anything catches your fancy!