What's Happening at the BSS Library?

Overdrive has an app for students called Sora, and the company is giving our school free access to some of their ebooks and audiobooks until June 30th.  Here's how to access them: Visit this link:  https://soraapp.com/library/ blesssacma .  (There is also a Sora app you could download.) For Grades 3-8 and for faculty: Where it says Select your School, choose "Google (Grades 3+)." Then click on the green button that says "Sign in Using Google Grades 3+." You will then log in with the same credentials that you do for your BSS Google account. For Grades PreK-2: Where it says Select Your School, choose "User ID." I will be sending you your usernames and passwords.  You will enter your username where it says "Library Card," and then click the green Sign In button. Once you are logged in, you can browse ebooks and audiobooks.  There are some great ebooks and/or audiobook chapter books like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, In...

The results are in! We are down to 8 books! Here were the results for the first round: Legend of Rock Paper Scissors (55%) beat Where the Wild Things Are (45%) Creepy Carrots (76%) beat Chrysanthemum (24%) The Day the Crayons Quit (51%) BARELY beat If I Built a House (49%) Scaredy Squirrel (60%) beat Make Way for Ducklings (40%) Sam and Dave Dig a Hole (60%) beat Today I Will Fly (40%) We Don't Eat Our Classmates (77%) beat Harold and the Purple Crayon (23%) Knuffle Bunny (55%) beat Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (45%) No, David (60%) beat Blue (40%) Now we need to narrow down to the Final Four of our favorite books! Go to the Google Form to vote .  Please only vote once!  You will have another chance to vote when the results are in for  the Final 4.

BSS Library Choice Board #3 Select at least one of these (hopefully fun!) activities to complete this week. Feel free to comment below or  email me  if you have questions, if you'd like to share a photo or a description of what you chose, or if you just want to say, “Hi!” READ A BOOK! Hopefully you all have had some time to read a book for fun! If you don't have any books at home (or you already read them all!), I have lots of places you can find ebooks on my Online Resources page.   Try EPIC, Tumblebooks, Capstone, BSS collection on Follett, JLG, Abdo, Bookflix, MackinVia or your public library's collection. Take a picture of yourself reading and email it to me! I'd love to know what books you have enjoyed, so email me or post in the comments below some of the books you are reading. One benefit of being home is lots of extra time to read! PEBBLEGO BINGO 1.  Visit PebbleGo from Capstone .   2. Log in with this information: Us...

Wednesday, April 22 is Earth Day. Here are some ebooks, songs, and activities from Capstone.  Visit the Capstone link and note the log in information below. Then click on any resources below to be taken directly to them. Be sure to take note of the Capstone log in information: _______________________________________________________ EPIC EARTH DAY RESOURCES Here is a link to some resources on EPIC. If you ever need help with logging into and using EPIC, just ask me or your homeroom teacher. 

Potato Pants is a fun story about a potato who is super excited to go to a special sale for pants made just for potatoes.  But why is there an eggplant at the store? Will he ruin everything? If anyone would like to design their own potato pants, I'd love to see them! Just email them to me. Enjoy the story! Click the tool in the right corner of the video to view in full screen.

Here's my read aloud of Coronavirus, written by Elizabeth Jenner, Kate Wilson and Nia Roberts, with Consulting by Graham Medley (Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling),  and Illustrated by Axel Scheffler. This is a great resource explaining all the details of the coronavirus in language that children can understand.   I have added audio to this book, but if you would prefer to view or download the pdf file (without my voice), visit this link .

Ben's Dream is another great story by Chris Van Allsburg, the author of The Polar Express, Jumanji, The Widow's Broom, Two Bad Ants , and many others. Click on the play button to hear me reading it out loud.  If you are interested in learning more about landmarks, check out the collection I created in EPIC . Click the tool in the right corner to view the video in full screen.

Click the tool in the right corner for full screen. People are talking an awful lot about germs these days.  It is on our minds constantly just how easy it is for germs to spread.  Told in a very entertaining way by Microbiologist Ben Barak, this story serves as an important reminder of how easily germs can spread from a book to your finger to your mouth. Everyone might be tired of being constantly reminded to keep hands clean (and to avoid licking things like books!), but this story does so in a way that is not too preachy. Here is a great BrainPOP, Jr. video about the importance of washing our hands: SEE MORE OF MRS. FERGUSON'S READ ALOUDS HERE!

Click the tool in the right corner for full screen. Jan Thomas writes some really funny books! I really enjoyed The Doghouse, A Birthday for Cow, and Rhyming Dust Bunnies.  Here is another silly one called The Easter Bunny's Assistant.  There is even instructions for decorating hard boiled Easter eggs at the end of the story.  It might be fun to try it!

Click the tool in the right corner for full screen. Because today is Palm Sunday, it seemed fitting that I read Humphrey's First Palm Sunday by Carol Heyer.  Some students might remember Heyer's other story called Humphrey's First Christmas .  In that story, Humphrey gives baby Jesus his only possession--his blanket--as Jesus is lying in the chilly manger.  I wish you all a blessed Easter! View more of Mrs. Ferguson's read alouds here.

Click the tool in the right corner for full screen viewing. I am a huge fan of this book! The premise, the history, the illustrations--all revolving around the oldest dessert in Western civilization. This dessert is called Blackberry Fool, made from fresh berries and cream. The book describes families from four generation (1710 in Lyme, England, 1810 in Charleston, South Carolina, 1910 in Boston, and 2010 in San Diego, California) preparing this dessert. The word “fool” originated from the French word “fouler” which means “to mash” or “to press,” which is what you must do to the berries in this recipe. The video I posted below is a fascinating look at the research that went into the making of this book. It was fun to watch them actually make the dessert. They even tried whipping the cream using a homemade twig whisk! I found it to be fascinating that Sophie Blackall used actual blackberries as paint to decorate the endpapers of this book (see the photo below). B...

April is National Poetry Month! Read a poem out loud each day. Practice it a few times and you will find it sounds better each time you read it! If the page isn't loading correctly, use this link instead.