In Episode 1 of the "Aaron Reynolds Stay at Home Show," Aaron Reynolds recommended that you read The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller. Well, Ms. Cahill thinks that all of Laurie Keller's books are pretty fabulous. And there are some pretty great recordings of her books.

If you drag your cursor over each book cover, you will get a box which tells you who is reading each book. Click on each book cover to take to a video recording of the story. Which one is your favorite? Please leave a comment below. Don't just list the title, but tell us why it's your favorite!

​Switching to remote learning has been hard for Ms. Cahill. She really misses the interaction with her students in the library.

Which version do you prefer? Please tell why in the comments below. Maybe you don't like either version. You can comment about that, too. Please use elements from the reading to support your position.

Ms. Cahill will be using the library blog as well as the Carrie Busey Library Facebook page to post videos of stories read by her as well as guest readers. 

Today's book is the delightful My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza. My Lucky Day was the 2006 winner of the Illinois Monarch Award. Ms. Cahill was lucky enough to attend the Award ceremony and hear Ms. Kasza talk about her writing process. 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Ms. Cahill doesn't really remember the first Earth Day in 1970, but she does remember making a batik banner with the Earth Day symbol in her 8th grade Art class in 1971. Her banner had the green Earth Day symbol on a bright blue background.

​Click on the link below to see a short, animated history of Earth Day.

​ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6LUaGy1ChA

Because of the global coronavirus pandemic, there will not be the traditional gathering of people involved in service projects around the globe. Ms. Cahill hopes to celebrate Earth Day this year by working  in the garden after her school work is done on Wednesday, April 22nd. 

Since we are all at home anyway, this is a great time to start a garden. It doesn't have to be big. Many flowers, fruits, and vegetables can be successfully grown in containers. Find a sunny spot and start growing. Seeds seedlings are readily available at local stores and on the internet. Ms. Cahill's backyard garden is shown below. The picture on the left was taken this morning and the picture on the right is from last summer. We had LOTS of raspberries last summer. This year we are harvesting our first asparagus after a long 3 year wait. It takes awhile for asparagus to get established, but it is worth the wait. The freshly picked stalks are so tender!
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Here is a short video on how to start a garden. Start small with easy to grow plants like radishes, leaf lettuces, and peas. If you live in Prairie Fields, the soil is very heavy clay, but the Landscape Recycling Center in Urbana has soil, compost and mulch. They deliver, too! Happy gardening!

Science fiction is one of my favorite genres, but I don't get a chance to read much of it, since not a lot of middle grade science fiction is published. I was thrilled to see a science fiction title on the Rebecca Caudill list this year. I just finished Space Case by Stuart Gibbs and can't wait to read the two sequels. The series is called Moon Base Alpha.

I have shared the first of our 2020 Bluestem Award books with 4th and 5th grade students. Here is a book trailer for Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle.

 ​I am sharing the book Hoop Genius: How a Desperate Gym Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball by John Coy with my students this week. What a great story! It isn't often that we can see up close the birth and evolution of a game. 

I was delighted to find an interview with James Naismith where he discusses what drove him to invent the game. It is rare to find such a wonderful primary source of information. Check out the other tabs on the interview page. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

For more information about how this interview came to light, check out this article from the University of Kansas. Not only do we have the rare recording available, but we have the story of its discovery!

 It's Sunday afternoon and I am planning my lessons for this week. The first quarter of school ends on October 16 and I can't believe how the time has flown by...

I am finishing up How Do You Burp in Space? And Other Tips Space Tourists Should Know by Susan E. Goodman with our 5th graders and introducing it to our 4th graders. I had downloaded the extensive teacher's guide at the beginning of the year, but today I took a look at her website and you should too! 

I knew that Ms. Goodman had written several books about various topics in science, but it was the inclusion of her book, The Truth About Poop, on last year's Bluestem list, that really hooked the students at Carrie Busey. I will be ordering several more of her books this week and look forward to sharing them with students soon. I am especially interested in See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House. 

Ms. Goodman seems like so much fun, I would love to sit down with her and have a chat. I did just send an email to her inquiring about school visits, but for now we have to settle for her books and her website. I especially liked the project she did which she called "My Other Writing Life." a living book for the Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. 

I hope you have as much fun exploring her website as I did. Now I need to quit playing and go back to writing those lesson plans! If you do look at the website, take a few minutes and click on comments to let others know about what you found.
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               Jan Greenberg                               Keiko Kasza