A Message from Mrs. Poutre
February
Gong Hay Fa Choy! Happy Chinese New Year to everyone; it’s the Year of the Dragon.
We’ve been celebrating Chinese New Year in the Library this week.
Our TV Turn Off program has registered 78% of our students! Great Work! I’m very proud of everyone who is participating in the challenge this year. Keep up the great reading. The pictures have arrived and we’re cutting and organizing them, so keep an eye out for our bulletin board featuring each participant.
All of our new books have been processed and I was wowed to see that almost all of them have been checked out at least once and some many times already! To me, it’s really exciting to see the students so excited about new books.
February is Black History Month, so come in and checkout wonderful books by African American authors. Don’t forget the biography section in the library. Look for Ruby Bridges, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Jackie Robinson – a few famed African-Americans.
Read Across America Week is the week of February 27 – March 2, and we’ve got lots of fun and exciting things planned: special theme days, a Storytelling night, and a book drive! Keep February 29th penciled in on your calendars; details are forthcoming!
I wish everyone an early spring and a very Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Reading,
Mrs. Poutre
As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me: jpoutre@somsd.k12.nj.us, or 973-378-7698.
December MM Library
We have been incredibly busy in the Library this November and it looks like the trend will continue through the end of the year!
Our TV Turn Off program continues to get new members and we welcome you to join in if you haven’t already! We’re going to be putting up the bulletin board as soon as we get the new school pictures. Keep an eye out!
Our PTA did an incredible job with our Out of This World Book Fair; the library was completely transformed. Everyone who came in just gasped at all of the decorations and books that dazzled the eye!
While the fair was underway, the Bookmobile was too! I’m happy to say that our students were able to continue to check out books during the fair as I traveled to their rooms and shared books and stories. All the classes adapted wonderfully. Many thanks to our super teachers who didn’t blink at the change in plans.
I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season and a New Year filled with only the best!
Happy Reading,
Mrs. Poutre
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How the beginning of the year flew by! The library is a hoppin’ place and our students are doing a great job of choosing Just Right Books and returning materials on time!
TV Turn Off is up and running and we’ve got wonderful participation already! If your child is still interested in joining in, there are forms in the library, jump in at any time! For those students who are participating, the book limit is increased by one, so the first and second grades may check out three (3) books at a time and our kindergarteners may have two (2). It’s so wonderful to see all the enthusiasm about the program; thanks for the encouragement at home as well!
Our Book and Bagel Breakfast was a great success thanks to all who attended and all the wonderful moms who helped make it so! My sincere and heartfelt thanks to Delores May who spearheaded the morning, and to Mary Ellen Dawkins, Dannette McBride, Janice Taylor, Andrea Lloyd, and Zena Hardy for all of their hard work, time and efforts on behalf of Marshall, including being willing to be up so early on a Saturday. (And, for helping me to keep calm throughout!) It was lovely to meet all the parents who attended; thank you for your time. If you have any additional questions about what was presented, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me: jpoutre@somsd.k12.nj.us, or 973-378-7698.
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Happy New Year!
I always think of September as the start of my new year; new faces, new opportunities, and new adventures! This year will give me a lot of opportunities for new adventures as I’m the new Librarian here at Marshall! My name is Janine Guida Poutre and I’m what you’d call a “fixture” here in the district! I grew up in Maplewood and attended Tuscan, Maplewood Junior High, and Columbia High School. I live in the area with my husband, our daughter and our dog so I may see you around! I’ve also taught in the SO-M District for 20 years and obviously love the area and all it has to offer.
I’m excited to have a new beginning at Marshall and to meet all of the people who call this community their home. So many people have come in to say hi and introduce themselves; it’s been so nice to have such a warm welcome.
This year will bring lots of activities and fun in our Secret Garden! September brought a veritable army of volunteers to assist in the library and I have been fortunate to meet many of you during training and during the PTA First Day Tea. I look forward to Back to School Night and meeting more of our Marshall parents. Our Library “officially” opens on September 19th for classes and book check out, so keep your eyes open for those books to come home!
October will bring us to our TV Turn-off Kickoff! Our goal continues to be 100% participation and I hope this comes to fruition this year! Our annual Book and Bagel Breakfast is also in October. This event welcomes our new students to the Marshall Community and gives them and their families a chance to visit our library together.
Thank you all again for such a warm welcome and I look forward to meeting everyone this year!
Warmly,
Mrs. Poutre
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September 2011 – Marshall Library Aides Needed For Some Classes
Wow!
I want to thank 70 and counting volunteers who have signed up to be a Marshall Library Aide! We have many who are returning and many newcomers! Please know that every one of you is very much needed and appreciated.
There are a few classes that still need volunteers. If you are in the following classes, or if you’re willing to volunteer for a class that needs help and is not “your own”, and would like to work in the library, please contact Hilary Andreini at handreini@gmail.com for more information.
Scates/Konzelman, Kaplus Barr, Wyche/Simandl, Farrell/Wojcio, and White/Garcia’s class.
ARCHIVE 2010-2011
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Check out the On-Line Public Access Catalog (OPAC) for our Marshall Library.
June 2011
Dear Marshall Families,
It’s Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend and I am thinking about all of the wonderful things that make our community and school so meaningful in the lives of all of us. But first, a little business. All books are due in the library on June 10th. I know that some books have refused to come out from their hiding places, so I told the children to don their Safari hats, grab their flashlights and launch a full fledged hunt. Suffice it to say that many articles have been written about where books have eventually been found, so do not think that any place is too absurd or unlikely. Books that you cannot find must be replaced and notes about those will be coming home in your child’s backpacks. Unfortunately, report cards are held for any child who has outstanding books until fines are paid. If you find that you have to pay a fine, it is important to pay the fine in cash. If the book is eventually found, refunds are made. The town librarians will be visiting us on June 9th to tell the children about the summer library programs and a summer reading list will be made available. Remember that there are many websites that address summer reading and in looking them over, I could not really recommend one over another. So, the last act…
There is a reason that schools are built within neighborhoods and that libraries are placed centrally within schools. Here at Marshall, through the work of many, our library has remained a special space where we support the growth of our community’s youngest learners. We must continue to hold our arms open the widest in order to ensure that we gather in all of their hopes and dreams and help them develop their strengths. As the end of the school year approaches, we should reflect upon our accomplishments and growth. This has been a difficult year in many ways, and yet the children have grown and learned, made new friends and have their faces turned to the future. As adults, we must pay attention to their ability to do so, for we often lose sight of our own hopes and dreams. Take a lesson from the children. Having spent more of my life amongst them than not, I know that they have shaped my thinking and kept cynicism at bay. For this I am very grateful, but I have many more people to thank.
First, I want to thank Elaine Doer, who for more than a decade has shown up on Wednesdays to ready books for the library. Working behind the scenes, she has been confidant, teacher and mentor. Elaine has said that this is her last year and she will be missed. Fair warning if you would like her job — those are some really big shoes to fill. To Elena Svitavsky who has kept us organized in spite of ourselves and a tireless cheerleader for the library and its programs. She will be missed but before she goes she will train Hilary Andreini who in turn will be calling on you! To our library volunteers who have supported the library and the children, you make it possible for me to be a better librarian. You gave me the gift of time with the children and that has no price. I hope that you will continue to volunteer at Marshall and Jefferson and that you will encourage the parents of new students to do the same.
Lastly, for the children of Marshall, thank you for sharing your curiosity, enthusiasm and perspective on life. You have enabled me to keep growing, to keep asking questions and to keep believing. You know that there is a big world out there just waiting for the great things you are going to do — and even though I won’t be in the library, I will be paying attention. I hope to hear from you, so write when you can and look for my blog – The Slow Lane, once we settle in. I will take good care of your chickens and most likely anything else that shows at the door.
Cathrine Evans
May 2011
Dear Marshall Community,
May? Really? After a seemingly endless winter, spring has arrived and I hope that all of you are taking advantage of every beautiful day.
Thanks to all of you who supported your children as they readied themselves for our annual Poetry Festival. While we were not all ready to take the stage and recite our poems, we all enjoyed hearing and learning about poetry. Someone asked me why children enjoy poetry so much and I believe it is because poetry is so accessible to young readers. We read and studied all forms of poetry leading up to the festival and while most of it was short and funny, some poems contained more serious messages and the children responded to these as well. As evidenced at the festival, children were able to read the sometimes-painful words of Emily Dickinson. It seemed to me that her simple words reflected many of the children’s own feelings about the complicated world around them. I hope you will encourage your child to continue to read poetry and just maybe take the stage next year.
Coming up are two final events, the TV Turnoff celebration and our annual book exchange. I have been struck this year by the sincerity of the children who took on the TV Turnoff challenge. It seems almost weekly that one of them appears in front of the library desk with a “confession” about having somehow broken their pledge. That’s when I let them know that I only signed up for ‘silver” so that I could continue to watch my two favorite shows (please don’t ask) and tell them how much I admire their commitment. In case you did not know, we have nearly 90% of the children participating – a record.
Our book exchange is how we bring the library year to a close and its success depends in part on how diligently you clean our your bookshelves! Over the course of the year we have been collecting books and weeding our own collection to be able to offer 2 or more books to each Marshall child to take home and launch their summer reading. We are looking to collect approximately 1500 books to put out for the exchange and extras will go to the Newark Salvation Army reading room where we have donated in the past. Whether I am successful in cleaning out my personal collection remains to be seen – but I promise to give it a good try.
It is not too early to begin to thank the many volunteers who have supported our library this year. There is absolutely no way that the library could run as well as it does and more to the point, that I would have the luxury of time I have with the children but for these volunteers. Ours is a quirky kind of library and I have often said that Mr. Dewey would “roll over in his grave” if he got wind of the way we organize some parts of our collection. Mrs. Lambert and I believed that part of the library’s role was to build independence in our patrons, to make the library respond to them and their thinking. I believe we have accomplished that, but it sometimes makes our volunteers slightly crazy. Know that the children and I have appreciated your understanding of this philosophy, and just think, when you move on to Jefferson, your life as a library aide will only be easier.
So, a few weeks to go and I hope to see you often – take time to examine the new books that have arrived and please always let us know what you think we can add to our collection.
Mrs. Evans
April 2011
Dear Marshall Community,
It is hard to believe that we are but a couple of weeks away from our Spring break! April will hopefully bring a nice break in the weather that would be welcomed by most of us.
This month we will hold our annual Marshall School Poetry Festival. This event, scheduled for Friday, April 15th, will feature our students reciting poems of their own creation or poems that are favorites of theirs in front of an audience of classmates, families and teachers. As a child growing up in Illinois I clearly remember having to recite the Gettysburg Address, how much I practiced, and how my shyness proved to be my undoing. Perhaps you have a story of your own – an encouraging one – to share with your child (if not, please wait to share until after the festival J.) We hope to see as many of you there as possible. You will be receiving a sheet letting you know the time your child will be reading.
We have two more events in the remaining, our TV Turnoff Awards Ceremony and our Book Exchange. This year we have more than 85% of our students participating at one of the TV Turnoff levels. This is a new record and if the stories I hear from the children (“My sister was being bad in the car and so my mom put in a movie and I tried not to watch it but I couldn’t help it.”) are any indication, they are keeping up their end of the commitment. Awards will be given out during regular library periods and for those children who did not participate,, there is always a consolation award.
Many of you have been cleaning bookshelves and bringing in donations for the Book Exchange. We hold the book exchange because the library closes ahead of the school year to gather in the books and equipment. The students will not be checking books out after the first week of June, so we the exchange gives them a chance to choose books “to keep”. During their regular library time, children browse through and choose a number of books. How many each child gets to choose depends upon how many books are donated to the exchange and that’s where you come in.
By now all of the second and first graders have learned to use the OPAC, our online library catalog. We have practiced in the computer room and in every class it seems a student comes in with a spine label on an itty bitty piece of paper and they hunt for their book. This is a big achievement and gives the children a sense of empowerment and independence. Of course, I am forever picking up all those itty bitty pieces of paper, but such is the price of learning! Please allow your child to show you how to access the OPAC – it’s a powerful tool and gives the children more time to find a just right book.
At the end of the school year we always need extra hands to straighten out our shelves and to do some “weeding” of old titles or books that are beyond repair. If you have an hour or two during those last weeks, we can always find a job for you even if you were not a regular library volunteer.
See you at the Poetry Festival,
Mrs. Evans
March 2011
Dear Marshall Community,
- First, congratulations to all of the participants in our recent “Marshall Reads Across America at Sparkhouse” event. All grade levels and most classes were represented, with an especially strong showing by our youngest readers, the kindergartners. Several of our students read poems and stories that they had written and all of the students read with confidence. The folks at Sparkhouse have asked us to return next year so I hope many more children will turn out to read.
- Our next big event and opportunity for our students is our annual Poetry Festival to be held just before spring break. April is poetry month and we will begin to learn about some styles of poetry by examining some classic and some recent poets. The children who choose to participate in the festival may write their own poems or recite a favorite poet’s piece. These pieces are memorized and will be presented during the day in a number of assemblies. If your child would like to participate, I am happy to help them find a poem from our very large poetry collection.
- We continue to collect books for our end of the year book exchange, and those can be brought to the library at any time. With a student body numbering more than 500, we will need 1,000 to 1,500 books to make sure everyone goes home for the summer with “new” books under their arms.
- Our latest book order has arrived, and I will be introducing some of them to the children over the next few weeks. We have expanded our collection of wordless books and our collection of nonfiction. Wordless books build comprehension as readers’ build a story in their head using the pictures as support. Our students have always showed a huge interest in nonfiction (our library volunteers can attest to this since those shelves are usually in need of straightening up) and we have tried to fill in where the children have expressed the most interest – animals, science topics, particularly how things work, and of course, dinosaurs.
- Lastly, overdue book notices will be coming home more frequently as we work to make sure all of our books are returned. Anytime you have a question about an overdue notice, remember to write on the notice itself and send it back to me so that I can investigate further. Since our oldest “patrons” are eight, we find books in the strangest of places, sometimes far from their “address” and a bit of detective work is needed. We appreciate your efforts as you search at home and I am sure, based on last year’s end of the year roundup, that most books will make it back home to Marshall ready for next year.
Happy Spring,
cathrine evans
February 2011
Dear Marshall Families,
Can you say S-N-O-W? It’s beautiful, it’s fun, it’s good for this spring’s flowers, but enough already! While out shoveling, I’ve been thinking about upcoming library events and thought I would use this Mirror edition to fill you in.
The first week of March brings Read Across America, a weeklong celebration at Marshall marked by two major events. The first event will be our second public read aloud at Sparkhouse Toys and Books in South Orange. This event will be held in the afternoon and evening of March 4th and showcases our children who volunteer to read aloud in Sparkhouse’s public space. Last year’s event was such a success that other South Orange and Maplewood Schools will also be reading aloud during the week. The second is an author visit with Wendy Pfeffer, a New Jersey nonfiction writer who will be bringing her process and product to Marshall during several presentations on March 5th. In addition, we will get on our reading train, wear red, black and white on Dr. Seuss’ birthday, March 2nd, and visit our gallery of photographs showing, “The Places We Read.”
Please take photographs of your child reading anywhere, anyplace, and send them in to be included in our exhibit. Photographs can be sent in with your child through the end of February. We will be posting the exhibit on the windows surrounding the library and hope that you will come in for a viewing. Upcoming events include our annual Poetry Festival in April and information will be heading your way.
On another note, the Caldecott and Newberry Awards have been announced and the kindergarten and first grades have listened to, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, this year’s Caldecott winner, while the second graders and I have read the first chapter of Moon Over Manifest, winner of the Newberry. Each book was a first effort for its author and I used this information to remind the children that there is a story inside each of us!
We have begun to collect new and gently used books for our end of the year Book Exchange. As your child’s reading abilities and tastes evolve and you need to make room for all of their new choices, send the old ones to us. At the end of the year we hold a book exchange for each class with the goal of sending each child home with at least two “new” books of their very own read over the summer. This is a much-anticipated event and with over 500 students, we are going to need a lot of books.
Lastly, many thanks to our volunteers and welcome to our new volunteers. I could not devote the time needed to help children to choose books if I did not have all of you. Your children clearly get the message that reading is important when they see you give your time to the library.
Enjoy the snow and Happy Valentine’s Day to all,
Cathrine Evans
December 2010 – January 2011
Dear Marshall Community,
First, let me add my voice in saying that this year’s book fair was a total reflection of the hard work and dedication of our parent volunteers and their committee chairs, Christina Waldon and Carol Fardin. While the book fair is a fund raising event, it is really so much more. Over the course of the week so many of you stopped in to browse, purchase or just to chat with other community members and there was just a great feeling in the air.
Speaking of in the air, the winter holidays are approaching and I would like you to know that we have many books in our holiday section that help to explain the history and customs of these holidays. In the library we read these and other books (some downright silly) as we learn about the “neighborhoods” of a library and how books and materials are arranged. Be sure to ask your kindergartner what a spine label is and does and your first and second graders about the sections of the library and how they know what section they are in.
Our TV Turnoff program is amazingly successful this year and if your child has not yet signed up the LAST DAY for this year is Tuesday, November 30th. We have more than 80% of the students taking part in this program, an all time high for Marshall, but we are aiming for 100% as this is the program’s Tenth Anniversary. Most school districts hold a one or two week TV Turnoff event, but in our district we make it a practice and the enthusiasm keeps growing. I can’t tell you the number of serious children who want to tell me how well they are doing . . . or let me know they might have “slipped” – they take this seriously and we will honor their commitment.
Please, please begin to send in photographs of your child reading. The plan is to “paper” the windows of the library. The banners are up, now all we need are your photographs.
Lastly, I wish each and every one of you a safe, enjoyable and family filled holiday season. Gather those you love and who love you together and enjoy. Family is a great gift and our community of families is a great gift to us at Marshall.
Cathrine Evans
