The ISG Library promotes and nourishes the development of life-long learners by developing a love of reading in its students. The Library is an educational and cultural environment where community members can extract information through an array of media forms. Our Library is viewed as an integral part of this community, and one that is vital, vibrant, and crucial in the teaching and learning process. We welcome you to our library! Please come and browse through all the wonderful books. Parents are encouraged to check out books and become part of our community!It is my pleasure to help you find books and resources! Ms. Mary Alice Osborne, Librarian |
The ISG Library fosters the development of life-long learning abilities and a love of reading. It also provides teachers with instructional materials and professional resources.ISG LIBRARY NEWS
Summer Reading Lists PreK - Grade 12
Summer is a great time to catch up on reading all the books you wished you could read during the busy school year. We encourage you to read with your children during the summer to help them to retain the learning they have acquired this year and to encourage a passion for reading and learning. You can find some great books in the following 2012 book lists created by HAISLIN, an organization of librarians who compile lists of the best of the year's books for children annually. HAISLN relies on recommendations from standard, professionally prepared evaluation aids and on input from students and teachers, as well as their own expertise. A great effort is made to find books that appeal to the broad range of interests, maturity levels, and reading abilities of students. These excellent booklists can be found at this link: http://www.haisln.org/recommendedreadinglists.html
If you would like to purchase any of these books, you will be able to find them online at http://www.amazon.it or at an international bookstore that stocks English titles. I hope our students will continue to Love 2 Read!
Happy Reading!
In honor of Maurice Sendak, Author of Where The Wild Things Are
On May 8th, author and illustrator Maurice Sendak passed away. He will be remembered as one of the most popular and creative authors of children’s books in the 20th Century. Sendak wrote the classic children’s story Where the Wild Things Are in 1963 and the book broke all the rules for children’s literature at the time. Some critics criticized the book’s “dark and nightmarish undertones.” However, many children and adults loved the new emotional honesty and realism they encountered in the book. Since this game-changing book came on the scene, children’s literature has never been the same. I love the illustrations in Where the Wild Things Are. As an adult, I still enjoy reading and rereading this fantastic book!
Rest in Peace Maurice Sendak!
Puppet Shows in the Library
5th Grade Red performed puppet shows based on Nursery Rhymes and Aesop's Fables for younger students! They did a fantastic job creating scripts, making scenery, practising numerous times and finally performing. Nice Work 5th Grade Red!
We have been reading the wonderful Dr. Seuss book The Lorax during library times this week in the Elementary School. In the book, the Onceler, a character whose face is never seen, arrives in a beautiful fantasy valley covered with the pink, purple, yellow and red Truffalo trees. He decides to stay there so he can set up a factory making Thneads, his new invention, created from the soft, silky tufts of the Truffalo trees.
The Lorax is a strange little man who appears from the stump of a Truffalo tree. He claims to be speaking for the trees and his mission is to try to convince the Onceler to stop ruining the environment and to stop cutting down the Truffalo trees. The pompous Onceler refuses to listen to the annoying Lorax.
Soon, the Onceler has cut down all the beautiful Truffalo trees and his factory has polluted the air and water. Now, all the animals, birds and fish have left the once lovely valley. The factory has shut down and the environment is bleak and dirty.
But there is hope for the future! At the end of the story, a little boy is given the very last Truffalo seed and the Onceler tells him that, unless someone like him cares a lot, nothing is going to get better.
The children have been very interested and responsive to this tale. The Lorax presents the story of how our world has become polluted and forests have been destroyed in a fashion that even very young children can understand and they have responded with empathy and caring for our earth! Students have responded to the question: “What can we do to help the earth?” with ideas such as: Stop cutting the trees if you do not need to. Stop killing animals needlessly. Pick up trash on the ground. Think before you do something. Tell people not to throw things everywhere. Pick up trash when you see it on the floor.
Best in Reading, Mary Alice Osborne, Librarian
Delightful Storybooks by Julia Donaldson
Are you familiar with the wonderful children’s picture books written by British author, Julia Donaldson? Donaldson’s lively, colorful and fun books are especially written for elementary-aged students in PreSchool through Grade 2. The ISG Library recently purchased a set of books by Donaldson and they are so popular with our younger students. Let me tell you a little about a few of the most popular titles!
“The Gruffalo” is a fun tale of courage for the young. A mouse must make his way through a scary forest of animals. He uses his wits to invent a creature called the Gruffalo to scare the other animals away. Little does he know that the Gruffalo really does exist! Children enjoy seeing a tiny mouse, who uses his wits to stand up to the fox, snake and other creatures and even to the Gruffalo!
In “Zog”, a young dragon is learning the skills that dragons need to be able to fulfill their role in fantasy stories, such as roaring, breathing fire, flying and capturing princesses. Zog tries hard to earn a golden star, but in the process, he keeps hurting himself. A kind princess nurses him back to health.
These and other books by Julia Donaldson are available in the ISG Library for you and your child to read!
Happy Reading,
Mary Alice Osborne
ISG Librarian
New Books in the ISG Library!
I’m very excited to tell you that the library has just received a shipment of new books! For the younger crew, we have the entire series of Geronimo Stilton, by Italian author Elizabetta Dami. We also purchased The Magic Treehouse Series, by Mary Pope Osborne and their Nonfiction companion books, The Captain Underpants Series, by Dav Pilkey, The Wimpy Kid Series, by Jeff Kinney and the A to Z Mystery Series by Rob Roy.
For older students, we now have the Hunger Games Series, The Alex Rider Series, by Anthony Horowitz, The Inkspell Series, by Cornelia Funke and the Percy Jackson Series, by Rick Riordan.
As you can see, we are continuing to improve our book collection! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank parents who have donated so many lovely books to the library. I have almost finished cataloging the books and many have already been added to the ISG collection. Thanks again for your continued support of our library program!
Best in Reading,
Mary Alice Osborne
ISG Librarian
Dear Parents, I have been working on this ISG Library Website with links to information that our student, staff and parents will find helpful. Your feedback and suggestions are welcomed! To find this website just type this into your browser: isglibrary.info
Your ideas and comments are appreciated. Best Regards, Mary Alice Osborne ISG Librarian
Students in Grades PreK through grade 2 learned about the difference between Fiction and Nonfiction books as we explored the theme of “Frogs.” We looked at a nonfiction, factual book about the life cycle of frogs and compared and contrasted it to “Frog and Toad are Friends” by Arnold Lobel and the “Froggy” stories by Jonathan London. (See photo at top). I asked students to tell me how the books were different and the same. Answers included, “Fr ...On the Mediterranean in Italyogs don’t wear clothes!” and “Frogs don’t sleep in beds!” and “Frogs don’t go to school!”
Third to Fifth graders are excited to be working on an individual study of a well-loved author during Library time. They are reading the author’s books and researching their lives on the Internet to create a presentation and a poster. Authors students are studying include: the ever-popular Roald Dahl, Judy Bloom, Jacqueline Wilson, Dav Pilkey of “Captain Underpants” fame, and the Italian author of the 
Geronimo Stilton books, Elizabetta Dami. In the photos above, you can see students deeply engrossed in reading and exploring books, individually and during story-time. We are having a wonderful time in the library
!
Yours in Reading, Mary Alice Osborne ISG Librarian
The Accelerated Reading Program
ISG subscribes to an excellent program called Accelerated Reader. I would like to tell you a little bit about this highly effective reading tool. The AR program helps students advance in their reading abilities by providing data and information to teachers about their reading progress. Teachers may use AR to test student’s reading abilities, creating a baseline for their advancement, and keep track of their progress throughout the year. After reading a book, students take comprehension quizzes about their book. They select their book from the more than 25,000 titles on the AR list. Each book is assigned a point value based on the number of words it contains and its reading difficulty. The results are automatically placed in an online database, which teachers can access to see how each student is doing individually. They can use the information to provide guidance and support to help your child become a better, more fluent reader. Accelerated Reader provides:
- Frequent and detailed assessment in less time and with greater consistency
- Formative feedback for the student and the teacher
- Student development of metacognitive awareness
- Increased student motivation to read more
- Class-wide diagnostic information
ISG is excited to provide this wonderful tool to help your children become better readers!
Yours in Reading! Mary Alice Osborne ISG Library Media Specialist
Elementary library classes have been doing some exciting activities to promote a love for reading and learning in the library. In Preschool, students listened to The Very Clumsy Clickbeetle by Eric Carle. This story helps children understand that it is ok to not be perfect at something, but they must keep trying in order to succeed. Afterwards, they participated in an activity to create their own click beetle. Kindergarteners have designed their own Elmer character after hearing the wonderful story of Elmer the elephant, who learned to celebrate his own individuality by David McKee. 1st and 2nd graders have been reviewing ABC order and listening and participating in fun Alphabet stories. These stories and activities help the children learn how to find books more easily in the library. Older students have been checking out many books and will soon be participating in the Accelerated Reader Program. I will explain the AR program in next week’s newsletter!
Yours in Reading, Mary Alice Osborne ISG Library Media Specialist
Hello!
I would like to introduce myself to you and welcome you to the library
this school year! I am Mary Alice Osborne, the new librarian at ISG. I am coming to ISG
from The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, where,
for the last two years, I helped set up the new libraries for the school. I am very excited to
be here at ISG and I look forward to a wonderful year promoting the love of reading and
learning through the library program!
Right now, we are working on reorganizing the collection to make it more user friendly. You are welcome to visit anytime and I look forward to meeting you and working with your children!
Sincerely, Mary Alice Osborne -- Library Media Specialist
