What's Happening at the BSS Library?

Because it has been difficult lately for many people to access books, I have been gathering read alouds here on my " Virtual Library ." I will be updating these pages, so check back often!

Click on the image below and choose an activity that you are interested in! Clicking on the links will bring you to different slides or websites. You can make the slides larger by entering full screen mode (click on the square next to the gear at the bottom of the slide). You can always click the "Go Back Home" button to return to the main menu. Have fun!

I thought that this book would be a nice send off as the students head off into summer vacation.  It's a simple and sweet story about the things we hope for those that we love. I hope that everyone has a fantastic summer!

There are many Three Little Pig stories out there, but this one is quite different! There is a Voice that comes out of nowhere, and why are the pigs so pale? It is a very fun story.

My favorite part of this book is looking at all the popular picture books scattered throughout the main character's room.  He has books all over the floor and on shelves, and I liked trying to read what each title was.  This is a very funny story!

Hello BSS Students and Families, As we transition into online learning, I have been gathering links to ebooks, audiobooks, and other virtual activities that students can use at home. I've gathered these resources onto my Online Resources   page so take a look!  I have also created pages for: Read Alouds by Mrs. Ferguson Author's Websites and Social Media Pages Weekly Library Choice Board (choices of activities to try, will be changed every week) March Book Madness Voting (to vote for BSS students' favorite picture book) View the Pages section of this blog to see other material too! Feel free to comment on any of the posts to let me know what you enjoyed or if you have questions.  You can also email me with any photos or your child learning at home so we can post to the BSS social media pages. I will be having virtual Zoom office hours on Wednesdays at 11:30 (information will be provided by the classroom teachers on either Seesaw or Google Classroom)....

No, David! by David Shannon Here is a another book in our Final Four of Picture Books. This book is a classic!

We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins is one of the books in our Final Four!

It seems like everyone loves Mo Willems, and for good reason! His stories are so much fun and make us laugh. This story is very popular with students! I hope you enjoy it. There is also a sequel called Sam, the Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World. Click the box on the bottom right corner for fullscreen.

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.

BSS Library Choice Board #1 Please select at least one of these (hopefully fun!) activities to complete this week. Please 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!”  Choice #1- Read a Book! Read a book you have at your house or an ebook from the list of online resources I posted. Or listen to my read aloud of Mrs. Roopy is Loopy from the My Weird School series here . Check out the list of " Amazing Ways to Read ," and challenge yourself to try as many of these ideas as possible! Choice #2- Wonderopolis Wonderopolis answers all your burning questions! Read one of the Wonders of the Day and then click the Test Your Knowledge button to see how much you remember. What are you wondering? Add your question on the Wonderopolis site here . Choice #3- Write a Book Review Search for a book you loved from the BSS Librar...

Here is a read aloud of Q is for Duck by Mary Elting and Michael Folsom, with illustrations by Jack Kent.  It is a book of riddles where the authors write a letter and an animal. The animal name doesn't start with that letter, but the letter does begin a word that is related to the animal in some way. Just because what you guess isn't what the author wrote, it doesn't mean that your answer is wrong! It's just different. I hope you enjoy it! Click the tool in the right corner of the video to view in full screen. I think it would be fun if you could create your own letter riddles! Be sure to share them in the comments or email them to Mrs. Ferguson!

Click the tool in the right corner of the video to view in full screen. In honor of March's character trait of the month (honesty), I have selected The Honest-to-Goodness Truth by Patricia C. McKissack and illustrated by Giselle Potter.  Temporary permission to post this reading online has been granted by Simon and Schuster.

READ ALOUD OF BIG RED LOLLIPOP Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan and illustrated by Sophie Blackall is a great story about sibling rivalry and about a family getting used to the customs of a new country. After watching my read aloud, I recommend that you watch the video below of the author discussing how this book was inspired by an incident from her childhood. Students should make sure they ask permission from their parents before going on You Tube to watch the author video. Click the tool in the right corner of the video to view in full screen. AUTHOR RUKHSANA KHAN VIDEO LEARN MORE ABOUT PAKISTAN There are several online resources and books to help you learn more about the country of Pakistan, which is where the author Rukhsana Khan was born. EPIC. There are several books about Pakistan in the EPIC collection. Many are nonfiction books about Pakistan, a couple are stories where the setting is in Pakistan, and several books are about one ...

If you are in need of some entertainment, here's a video I created earlier in the year featuring all the things that BSS does so well. It is one way to see some familiar faces!  I had to make it low quality to upload it here (the original file with better quality can be found here on Facebook ). Enjoy!

Because many of you might be at home without any books to read, many authors have been posting videos of themselves reading their books or sharing an activity you can try at home.  I will be updating this page, so check back! Let me know if you watch any of these videos and what you think! B. J. Novak.   Author of the very popular The Book With No Pictures , B. J. Novak will be reading this book on Facebook live on Friday 3/27 at 3:00 followed by a Q & A for kids. (@BJNovak on FB).  Jarrett J. Krosoczka.  Author/Illustrator of the Lunch Lady series.  He has been posting videos at 2:00 every day on You Tube called "Draw Every Day with JJK (old ones are archived to view):  https://www.youtube.com/studiojjk Aaron Reynolds   (author of Creepy Carrots and Creepy Pair of Underwear) is posting "The Aaron Reynolds Stay-at-Home Show" videos on You Tube.  Click on the link to see the first one he posted.  He said he will be posting a couple...

While I'd much prefer to be reading you a story in person, I thought you might enjoy this reading of Bear Feels Scared, written by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Jane Chapman. Scholastic has given permission to record the reading of this book. If you enjoyed this book, there are a couple of audiobooks from this series on EPIC! You can't see the pages but you hear the story being read. https://www.getepic.com Visit my post on how to log into EPIC  . Ask me or your teacher if you need any help. There are also other stories about bears and lots of non-fiction books too.  Just type in "bears" in the EPIC search bar and you will see lots of audiobooks and ebooks to choose from. You can narrow it down to just fiction (stories) or non-fiction (facts). I posted a screen shot below of some of the bear books available.

FEATURED RESOURCE Here is a sampling of some videos from BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. ***use this login information to get full access to all the videos: username: bsswalpolemass password: bss123 BrainPOP Videos (geared towards Grades 3+) For students who have questions about the Coronavirus, here is a 4 minute video from BrainPOP that does a great job explaining it for children:  https://www.brainpop.com/health/diseasesinjuriesandconditions/coronavirus/ In honor of Women's History Month, learn about Ada Lovelace, whom many historians credit as being the first computer programmer:  https://www.brainpop.com/technology/computerscience/adalovelace/ Forces of Nature:   https://www.brainpop.com/science/forcesofnature/ Space:  https://www.brainpop.com/science/space/ Arts and Music:  https://www.brainpop.com/artsandmusic/seeall/ BrainPOP Jr. Videos (PreK-2) Washing hands:  https://jr.brainpop.com/health/bewell/washinghan...

One of the greatest resources for reading is EPIC, which provides ebooks and audiobooks that you can read on your computer or device. ***EPIC is free for use in schools, so it is ONLY available Monday-Friday during school hours. They are offering free 30 day trials to parents which would allow students to log in any time, so if you are interested in the free trial, visit  https://www.getepic.com/promo  and click "Join Free for 30 Days." During school hours, visit  http://getepic.com/students  and enter your classroom code provided by your teacher.   Classrooms in grades 1-5 already have EPIC accounts but require a classroom code. Logging into your own classroom allows you to save books you are reading and create lists of your favorites. Just comment here if you need your code, or feel free to email me at  kferguson@blessedsacrament.org . Once you enter your classroom code, find your name on the list and click on it. There are tons of ebooks, videos,...