Author Visit: Annie Barrows!

On November 17th, the second, third and fourth grades enjoyed a special visit with author Annie Barrows, on tour for her nationally best-selling Ivy and Bean series. Two hundred Stone booklovers were rapt with both attention and admiration as the author read aloud from her latest, Ivy and Bean No News is Good News, shared many funny stories about her own growing up and her inspirations for writing, and answered student questions. She then autographed about a hundred copies of her books for children who had ordered her titles, and the pages are still turning! Fans can continue their author visit in cyberspace at www.anniebarrows.com. Thank you to Chronicle Books and The Book Cellar for making this visit possible!

Shadow Puppet Plays Starring Middle Schoolers!

The seventh graders did an extraordinary job performing shadow puppet shows that they designed based on folklore from around the world inspired from our collection and from the "1001 Stories" site at the Oxford Story Museum.  Teamwork, narration, puppet design and higher level synthesizing skills merged and manifested in delightful performances for each other, and several of the more exceptional ones had encores as a special Halloween treat for the kindergarten.  Some of the puppets had moving parts, and some of the shows incorporated music!  We were inspired by the Indonesian shadow puppets on loan to us from one of our Stone families (thank you!). What a wonderful chance to experience "story" as a gift to one another, both as part of the global oral tradition and within our own wonderful school.  Great job, seventh grade!