Dewey on vacation!!!

Dewey & I are excited to be back!  Thanks to the Deaton family who took Dewey on a nice vacation over track out!!!  We might have to change Dewey's name to Dewey Deaton Decimal!  We can't wait to have everyone come to library the first week for orientation.  Our orientation will cover HOWLing in the library and computer lab, library and computer lab procedures, internet safety and CHECKING OUT BOOKS!  YEAH!   Thanks again to the Deaton's for taking care of him and providing him with a new filter and supplies.  There is a library wishlist under my profile, but we always need Clorox Wipes and tissues.  Parents, you are welcome to volunteer in the library anytime.  We need help with shelving books, helping students check out, decorating, and much more. Welcome back!

2012-2013 Battle of the Books list

Here is the Battle of the Books list for students for the coming year.  Battle of the Books is open to all 4th and 5th graders.  Students meet during their lunch time in the library.  There are multiple copies of these books available in the library.  Students can listen to audio books from the public library as well.  We will meet about once every 3 weeks.  As the competition gets closer, we will meet more often.  Students will need to read the books from the list and take a test at some point during the year to show that they have read the books.  Students will receive a sign up form during orientation with more details.

North Carolina Elementary Battle of the Books List

2012 - 2013 Title	Author
A Dog’s Life: The Autobiography of a Stray	Ann M. Martin
Because of Winn-Dixie	Kate DiCamillo
Becoming Naomi Leόn	Pam Muñoz Ryan
*Found  - *The Missing Series - Book 1	Margaret Peterson Haddix
How to Steal a Dog	Barbara O'Connor
Lawn Boy	Gary Paulsen
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH	Robert C. O'Brien
The Mystery of the Lost Colony	Carole Marsh
Peace, Locomotion	Jacqueline Woodson
Poppy	Avi
Ruby Holler	Sharon Creech
Runaway Twin	Peg Kehret
Savvy	Ingrid Law
The Last Holiday Concert	Andrew Clements
The Lemonade War	Jacqueline Davies
Tuck Everlasting	Natalie Babbitt

I'm back!! Come see me in the library!

Hey everyone, this is my last day in Denmark and it rained, rained, and rained.

The Danish have a saying, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices."

We started the day at the National Museum.  It was absolutely fabulous.  I honestly thought it was better than some of the Smithsonian museums.  It was a great learning experiences.  They have whole classes come visit and they have a whole section set up as hands on exhibits for kids.  This room is set up as an old classroom.

If you remember Hans Christian Anderson's story, The Princess and the Pea.  The Prince's mother wants to test all the princes prospective brides to see if they are real princess.  She does this by putting a pea under a whole bunch of mattresses to see how the princess sleeps...

 Read the story in the library if you want to know the whole story, but in the end the prince puts the pea in his treasure room.  This is the pea that has been saved for several hundred years in the treasure room.

Students work together to build a brick wall in the children's museum.

In the afternoon, we went to Sweden on the train over the Oresund bridge.  We found out that it is Midsummer's Night.  Everyone wears a flower crown and they dance around a Maypole.  They eat Herring, potatoes, and a thickened cream.  This holiday is as big as Christmas. Almost everything in the town was closed except the train station.

Pippi Longstockings was born in Sweden.  We have several Pippi books in the library.  I was always jealous of Pippi who got to live by herself and had a very exciting life!

This is Malmo, Sweden.  It was only sprinkling at this point.

 Here is a Pippi Longstocking Statue and fountain.

The entire town has beautiful flowers in the same color as the girls' crown.  We tried to get a flower crown, but you have to order them ahead of time from the florist.

This is the castle in Malmo that we hiked through the pouring rain to see.  Notice the moat that went around the castle.  This was built around 1500.

We finally found an old fashioned windmill in the park. Windmills now are really wind turbines used to create electricity.  This windmill was probably used to pump water.

Well, I will be living Sweden tomorrow about 7:30am in about 7 hours.  We lose 6 hours flying home.  It will be Saturday night before I get home.  See everyone next week at school.

Hey everyone, we started the day with  a trip to the Vestforbraending Recycling & Waste Treatment Plant.  Notice the motto is, One man's trash is another man's treasure.  Denmark really thinks of the big picture and takes their role in the environment seriously.

Denmark recycles 70% of its garbage, 23% goes to the incinerator to create electricity to heat water for the city. and only 6% goes into the landfill.  If you wonder how Denmark achieved this, companies and citizens can recycle for free.  They then charge a fee per ton of garbage that can be incinerated and  an even high fee for garbage that must go to the landfill.

 As we toured the Waste Treatment Plant, we learned about the hidden cost of buying goods.  If you buy an iPad, the elements that go into that iPad have been around the world 8 times to be created.  What does that do to the environment?   Denmark is trying to get it citizens to think about how much is enough?

 Did you know how much you can help the environment by recycling?

 One ton of recycled aluminum saves 10 tons of CO2.  How - By using recycled aluminum we do not have to mine and use the many chemicals, and energy that is involved in creating aluminum.

 Denmark have really cool trashcans for recycling.  There is  a section for cans, paper, plastic and bottles.

 I would really like to challenge all of you to look at your garbage and see what you can do to recycle more and produce less garbage.

After this we went to the Science Center and Hostel in Soro to tour the camp and to learn what Denmark is doing to promote talent and innovation in science and to learn more about modern technology.

  

Denmark select about 2 gifted students from every classroom to go to Science Camp to learn more about innovation and creativity in science.  They are challenged and have use of some of the most amazing science equipment I have ever seen.

This is  3-D imaging equipment.  Students come several times over a  two to three year period to work on projects.

We got back to the Hotel late so several of us went to Tivoli Gardens for dinner and to see the oldest amusement park in the world.

The place was very beautiful.  We didn't ride any rides, because it cost too much, but the place was very beautiful.  They had a really cute Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale ride.  Most of the other rides were way too crazy for me.  Airplane that swung around upside down and swings 200 feet up in the air!

 Anyway, it is late so I hope everyone had a good day today.  Tomorrow, I am off to the National Museum and hopefully Sweden.

It was a very busy day.  We started at the Energy and Water Workshop.  This was a wonderful place.  It teaches students how environmental factors are connected and how our everyday actions affects the environment.  This is a hands on machine were students pump water from the spring into the sand box where other students have created farms.  They try to protect their farms from the water and learn about erosion.

The entire place was a hands on workshop.  They even had an enlarged sewer system.  Students can crawl down a toilet and follow the path of the sewer. 

We also worked on renewable energy and conservation.  I got to ride an electric bicycle. This is definitely what we need on North Carolina hills.  You pedal, but you can give it a boost when needed.

This is a typical bike for a parent in Denmark.  Parents put their kids in the trailor in front.

After the workshop, we went to work on individual projects.  Stopped by the Hans Christian Andersen statue.  Timber Drive students should check out some of his fairytales in the library.

Lunch was a typical Danish lunch called Smorgasbrod.  They are open faced sandwiches with lamb, or potatoes or cheese.  It was fabulous.

On our research tour, we went to the Copenhagen Public Library.  It reminded me more of a University Library then our normal public library.

There is a library law in Copenhagen that all residents should have free access to books, movies and music.  After this we went to Rosenberg Castle.  My first castle!

Here are some of the crown jewels.

The long hall - the Silver lions are at all coronations.

The round tower - Oldest observatory in Europe.

Walking up to round tower

What a view!

You can see all the way to Sweden from the top!

We were so tired after 13 hours of walking we got a rickshaw driver to take us back to the hotel!

I've got to go - I'm late because of internet problems.