Deborah Hopkinson's Magic

In preparing for Deborah Hopkinson's visit, students at Bennett have been introduced to lives of slaves, pioneers, farmers during the Dust Bowl, workers building the Empire State building, stagecoach drivers, bandits, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War.


While her stories seem simple and straight forward, by setting her books so firmly in a historic time period, she is moving Bennett's readers to think deeply about all of these people, places, and times.


Take a look at her website to learn more about this intriguing author. And please join us on March 1st for our family writing night.

Easy to read books online!

This is one website I highly recommend exploring:

We give books.

It is the easiest way I’ve seen to read a book – the complete book- over the web.  No passwords needed.  Most titles are picture books, though a handful of nonfiction offerings are available (mostly from DK). 

I was impressed.  Authors who are included on this site include Ezra Jack Keats, Rosemary Wells, Jan Brett, Judy Schachner, Mark Buehner and many others.

The best part?  Each time a book is read from the site, one is donated to a library in need.  It is sponsored by the Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation.   For more info, check out the F.A.Q. section of the site.

Author Visit: Deborah Hopkinson

Classes are preparing for author *Deborah Hopkinson’s visit to Bennett on March 1^st. The students are loving her books based on moments in U.S. history. Ask your child about Apples to Oregon, Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, or Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt.

 Here’s the schedule for her visit:

Time	Grade
9:10 – 9:30	Kindergarten
9:40 – 10:20	1st & 2nd
10:30 – 11:10	3rd
12:55 – 1:45	4th
2:10 – 3:00	5th
6:30 – 8:00	Family Writing Night

 Keep that night open to attend a Family Writing Night. Deborah Hopkinson will lead our families in writing family.  Please join us.

                                                                                                                            
*Oregon Book Award author Deborah Hopkinson is an award-winning author who works with students on literacy and historical thinking.  Her presentation includes a presentation entitled "History Must Be Seen," which provides intermediate children with insight into how illustrators and writers work to present the details of research.  

Does your family have rules about media use?

"According to a 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study... despite the correlation between heavy media use and lower grades, only three in 10 young people reported having family rules about TV, videos games and the Internet." This article discusses the importance of media limits and some ideas of how to set them. Read the article here.

Social Skills effected by Digital Multitasking.

Girls aged 8 to 12 who frequently multitask between different digital devices, communicate online or watch videos were more likely to face social problems, Stanford University researchers reported in the journal Developmental Psychology. Although the study only involved girls, the findings should apply to boys, too, study researcher Clifford Nass said.


Read the article here.

Even more fun!

Apparently there are bunches of animated bookshelves out there. This link is to an animated book store. I love it. I hope you do too.

Just for fun...

How would you organize your bookshelves? By color? With a banana? No this isn't the start of Dr. Seuss story. Take a peek at these "dancing books".