Thursday, November 19, 2015

Nightfall Luncheon

On September 28th, the entire middle school thoroughly enjoyed an author visit from Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski, creators of Nightfall, which has since debuted at #7 on the Independent Bookseller Bestseller List. Students were rapt as the authors performed acrobat feats of storytelling. Peter Kujawinski tweeted that Stone Scholastic Academy was the best school he has ever visited! All the cliffhangers had students chomping at the bit to start reading, and that's what it's all about! To celebrate this fever, all middle schoolers who finished the book (some bought, some borrowed) were invited to a special Nightfall Book Club luncheon, sponsored and hosted by the library. Over sixty middle-schoolers read, attended, discussed and ate!

Thanks to the marvelous Ms. Suzy at The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square for organizing the author visit and to the superhuman parent Lori Switzer for all of her help, including but not limited to pizza delivery!








 

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Family Reading Night and Pumpkin Museum a A Success!

Thanks to everyone who made this year's Family Reading Night a success! On Tuesday, October 27th, the community gathered to celebrate this year's theme, a World of Stories. How appropriate for our diverse and vibrant community! Headlining was a performance from the Fehinty African Theater Ensemble featuring our very own Stone parent, Olateju Adesida, who kept the audience enraptured with live storytelling magic. Later, we enjoyed special sessions featuring story times from Asia, Ireland, and Bosnia; a primary teacher reader's theater with a Spanish flavor (and special appearance by Ms. Demonte!), and the Storybook Pumpkin Museum in the library which showcased 144 book-themed pumpkins made by our talented and creative students across grade levels (thank you to Ms. Bramble for the lovely photos, below).

The children also enjoyed getting reading passports stamped at every stop. We hope this is just the start of a lifelong reading journey. Special thanks to Ms. Sanchez, Mr. O'Boyle, the Naherovic and Gutosic families, Ms. Phelps, Ms. Yee, Ms. Switzer, Ms. Norwood, FATE, the Reading Committee and their families.