HHCS LIBRARY BLOG
Support our school by ordering your child’s new books from the Scholastic Digi-Flyer! Enter in class code- RC391237.
Check out this helpful article from Growing Book by Book! 
We will be hosting a used book sale soon! Proceeds will go towards a student-led project – a school Time Capsule for the HHCS 60th anniversary, coming up in September! 
Happy New Year HHCS! We have a guest blog post this week! Our mascot Bruce the Moose is here to talk about what he is reading these days!
Bruce the Moose’s Book Nook: January Recommendations!
Hi, friends! It’s Bruce the Moose here, your friendly school mascot, with some moose-tastic book recommendations to kick off your January reading adventure. Whether you’re looking for a story to warm your antlers or a thrilling read to keep you on the edge of your log, I’ve got something for everyone. Let’s dive in!
For the Adventurer:
“Fortunately, the Milk” by Neil Gaiman
Looking for a hilarious and wild ride? Follow a dad who just wanted to get some milk but ends up saving the world instead. This story has pirates, time travel, and even aliens—perfect for anyone who loves a laugh and a bit of chaos.
Why Bruce Loves It: “I can’t resist a story with so many twists and turns! Plus, I’d totally want to time travel if moose could do that.”
For the Animal Lover:
“The One and Only Ivan” by Katherine Applegate
Meet Ivan, a gorilla who lives at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. This touching story about friendship, freedom, and art will have you cheering for Ivan and his friends.
Why Bruce Loves It: “Ivan reminds me of my forest friends—loyal, creative, and always there for each other.”
For the Mystery Solver:
“The Westing Game” by Ellen Raskin
Think you’ve got what it takes to solve a millionaire’s mystery? This classic whodunit is packed with puzzles, quirky characters, and unexpected twists.
Why Bruce Loves It: “I’m a curious moose by nature, and this book keeps me guessing every time I read it!”
For the Fantasy Fan:
“The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan
Dive into the first book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, where a modern-day demigod battles Greek monsters and uncovers ancient secrets. It’s an epic tale of heroism and humor.
Why Bruce Loves It: “I may not be a demigod, but I’d love to have some of Percy’s powers—especially controlling water. Imagine how great that would be in a hot summer!”
For the Poet-at-Heart:
“Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein
This classic collection of playful and profound poems will make you laugh, think, and maybe even write a poem of your own.
Why Bruce Loves It: “I’m not much of a poet, but these poems make me want to try…‘Bruce the Moose, loose on the spruce!’ How did I do?”
Your Turn!
What are you reading this month? Stop by the library and let me know, or leave a comment below! I’m always on the lookout for new books to browse while I’m hanging out in the library.
Happy reading, and remember: life’s an adventure when you’ve got a book by your side!
Antlers up,
Bruce the Moose
My Class Code
RC391237
My Class Code
RC391237
A new Storywalk is up! Enjoy Our School is a Family as you walk by our school wetlands at the back of the property! Each Storywalk stop has a discussion question and an action activity to go with the pages of the book that have just been read.
Thank you to all students who entered the Tissue Box Book Character contest! The results were so cute! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.
I hope everyone has had a great start to the school year! This weekend the movie Wild Robot was released! My grade 4 class and I are really enjoying reading this book as a novel study. Check out the book trailer and the movie trailer:
See the above link for Peter Brown’s website. There are also 2 sequels to The Wild Robot.
You can have your child do some educational activities related to the movie here:
Peter Brown is also the author of picture books, as you can see in his video above.
Here are the Scholastic digi-flyers for September/October. You can order with my class code RC391237. Our library will receive 20% back in Scholastic rewards when you ship to the school.
Scholastic digi-flyers for May-June are here! May-June- English
My class code is RC391237.
We had an amazing Celebration of Learning night at school last week! It was so amazing to see what all the classes have been learning about and how they came up with ways to teach our community about these important topics. The inspiration for this week’s blog post is books about our Project-Based Learning topics! There are too many to do all the topics for the whole school so I have chosen a few to highlight.
The kindergarten classes did a project about ponds and a rain garden! Enjoy these book recommendations here:
Pond Books for Little Learners
Next up we have books about worms! Grade 1 had a great time becoming worm experts this spring!
The Grade 7 classes did a novel study about the book ‘Refugee’ by Alan Gratz and then put themselves to work to help a refugee family moving to our area!
https://www.globetrottinkids.com/10-books-to-help-kids-understand-the-refugee-experience/
The grade 3 classes surveyed the families in our school to find out the cultural backgrounds. They then compiled their data and collected artifacts for an ‘around the world’ type of gallery.
75 Best Picture Books From Around the World: Read Around the World!
My class code is RC391237.
We are excited to present the HHCS Usborne Read-a-Thon for the second year! Your child received a package on Friday for this amazing opportunity. Blast into reading and support the HHCS library while building your child’s personal home library as well! Usborne has an amazing selection of fiction and non-fiction as well as activity books and puzzles.
Just before the Christmas break we had a wonderful and cozy day to celebrate Jolabokaflod- the Icelandic tradition of the ‘Christmas book flood’. We enjoyed lots of reading and yummy hot chocolate. Thank you to all the guest readers who volunteered as well as those who helped to serve the drinks!
I am looking for volunteers! Do you like to read? Do you like Christmas? Do you like kids? We are looking for parent volunteers to guest read to classes on Thursday, Dec. 21 for a special celebration of JOLABOKAFLOD- the Icelandic tradition of ‘flooding’ with books on Christmas Eve! We will be reading in different ways and enjoying hot chocolate and pajamas. Please email Mrs. B. if you can help out- L.Baillargeon@hh-cs.org. Check out this article to learn more about Jolabokaflod! 
Scholastic holiday flyers are here!
Leanne Baillargeon’s classroom will earn 20% in Classroom Rewards on rewardable items when you Ship to School.
Welcome back everyone! It was so nice to see so many smiling faces this past week at school! I hope you all had a restful and fun summer. Don’t forget to submit the Summer Reading Challenge for the students that completed it! I hope that you had fun with that! I am looking forward to seeing you all at the Back to School Event on Friday evening. I encourage you to take your family on a walk through our wetlands to enjoy our school Storywalk! This fall I am featuring the book “School is More than a Building.” As you go through, you will read a couple of pages at each stop and can do the activity suggestions together. You will also be able to enjoy God’s beautiful nature at the same time! If you don’t see me outside or in the library then I will be in the Grade 6A room – come and say hi!
GROWING READERS TIP- OPEN AND CLOSED
There are two types of questions we can ask. They are open and closed questions. Closed questions generally have only one right answer and are a short one word response. For example- “Is an apple a fruit?” Open questions/prompts encourage kids to talk and generally have lengthier responses. For example- “Describe an apple.”
Try open type questions when asking your child about their day or a question about a story they are enjoying. You will get your child thinking and talking.
Take away- Open questions encourage my child to think and talk.
