This monthly report will provide Hawthorne families and teachers with a summary of what we've been up to during weekly instruction in the library. I appreciate you taking the time to review the content, and I welcome any questions you may have!

During December, the Kindergarteners enjoyed stories about warm and cozy winter wear. We shared classics like The Snowy Day and newer stories such as Mountains of Mittens. For our final lesson before the winter holidays, we compared and contrasted two versions of the Ukrainian folktale "The Mitten" - one adapted by Jan Brett and the other adapted by Jim Aylesworth.

We started the new year kicking off our Montana Treasure State Award program. Read more about it below!

It was all things GINGERBREAD for our first grade classes! We learned about the history of gingerbread, tried our hand at building digital gingerbread houses, and shared lots of stories about gingerbread boys and girls.

We started the new year kicking off our Montana Treasure State Award program. Read more about it below!

Our second and third grade students finished up their Adopt-a-Species research in early December with a to-be-unveiled community art project. I was SO impressed with their research skills and with the many things they learned through this unit.

The rest of December the library transformed into a MAKERSPACE! Each week, the students had the opportunity to learn and grow through hands-on experiences, painting, building, engineering, and creating through a series of high and low tech challenges set out at different centers.

We started the new year kicking off our Montana Treasure State Award program. Read more about it below!

Each year, we spend time during library instruction learning about the five books that have been nominated for the Montana Treasure State Award. This statewide program allows students the opportunity to reflect and think critically about a selection of picture books. After reading the five nominated books, our Kindergarten, first, second, and third grade students will vote for their favorite, and I'll submit their votes to the Montana Literacy Association to be added in with votes from K-3 students across the state. We have read several books already and will vote sometime in February. Be sure to ask your students about the stories we have read so far!

The 4th and 5th grade students spent most of December researching traditions around winter holidays in different parts of the world using World Book Online. Their research findings were then organized and presented in a Buncee. It was fun to learn about how different countries celebrate Christmas and New Years and to see the creative efforts that the students put into their Buncees!

Since returning from winter break, these students have been using a new research resource - PebbleGo Next. Students used classtime to dig into each of the modules (see below) to write trivia questions. I work really hard with the upper elementary students to ensure they have the requisite research skills to set them up for success in middle school and beyond, and Pebble Go Next is a wonderful addition to our collection!

I continue to catalog and add new books into our collection as time allows; many of these are books that I purchased with the money we earned at our November fundraiser at Montana Book Company. Connecting your students with books is a joy and a privilege, and it has been a lot of fun to get these new titles out into the collection. Click on the picture below to read about some of our latest additions!