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Feed(ing) the Mind and Body

March 2021 / Newsletter of the Malden School Librarians

Feed(ing) theMind and Body March 2021 / Newsletter of the Malden SchoolLibrarians

Welcome from your Librarians!

Welcome to the third issue of the Feed(ing) the Body and Mind newsletter. Our mission is to continually promote a life long love of reading for our students, to empower them with the tools to critically examine and evaluate information, and to encourage them to explore our increasingly diverse world with an open and inquisitive mind.


March brings Dr. Suess' birthday and National Read Across America Day; National Reading Month; Women's History Month including International Women's Day; Ides of March; St. Patrick's Day; and of course the first day of Spring on March 20th. We are hoping that you have been getting a chance to get outside and check out some of the local areas we have showcased in our past newsletters. This month takes us to Middlesex Fells Reservation in Malden.

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FEATURED BOOKS

Click on the links below to read a copy of the book through Libby. You will need a library card to access any of these books.
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Ordinary Extraordinary Jane Austen: the Story of Six Novels, Three Notebooks, a Writing Box, and One Clever Girl

Grade K-4 Readers

Ordinary Extraordinary Jane Austen: the Story of Six Novels, Three Notebooks, a Writing Box, and One Clever Girl by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrations by Qin Leng.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that well over 200 years after her death, Jane Austen is more popular now than she has ever been. Her books, the most well known Pride and Prejudice, may be a little beyond K-8 grade students, but it is never too early to introduce her to children. This is the perfect book to do just that. It’s colorful and sweet and accurate in its information about Jane Austen, her family and her life.

Jane loved to read and her family encouraged her, this helped her to write her own stories as she grew up, stories that still fly off bookstore shelves and become hit movies.

The quietly beautiful illustrations add greatly to this picture book biography.

This book is not yet available as an eBook, but you may find it at your local public library or bookstore. Ms. Touet highly recommends it!

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Go With the Flow

Grades 5 and up

Go with the Flow by Karen Schneemann. Graphic novels are about much more than flying and tights. They can also tell very personal stories and tackle important topics. Go with the Flow centers on a group of four high school students who take on the indifference and even outright dismissal by their school administration regarding women’s health issues in general and menstruation specifically. Frustrated with the lack of needed feminine hygiene products in the student bathrooms, they band together to bring attention to the gender and economic inequality of “period poverty” and fight the body shaming inflicted by the ignorant and the malicious. People of all genders and gender identities will find Go with the Flow to be an enjoyable and enlightening read on a subject that is sadly all too often considered taboo.

Click here to access this book through Libby.

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Brazen: Rebel Ladies who Rocked the World

High School/Young Adult

Brazen: Rebel Ladies who Rocked the World by Penelope Bagieu. Throughout history and across the glove, one characteristic connects the daring women of Brazen: their indomitable spirit. Against overwhelming adversity, these remarkable women raised their voices and changed history.

Graphic novelist Penelope Bagieu profiles the lives of these feisty female role models, some world-famous, some little known. From Nellie Bly to Mae Jemison or Josephine Baker to Nazig al-Abid, the stories in this comic biography are sure to inspire the next generation of rebel ladies.

Click here to access this e-book through Libby.

EXPAND YOUR MIND ...

Check out these apps and websites below to read ebooks, watch movies, and play learning games to expand the mind.

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Sora

Sora is the new user-friendly app that lets you access it through your laptop, phone or tablet. The Sora app was designed around the modern student reading experience. It empowers students to discover and enjoy ebooks and audiobooks from their school, for both leisure and class-assigned reading. Click here to access Sora.
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New England Aquarium Live Web Cams

Check out what the inhabitants are doing at The New England Aquarium.

View the Great Ocean tank here.

View the Penquin Colony here.

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Funbrain

Math, reading and online books are just some of the great features of this website. Activities are by grade level.

Click here to access Funbrain

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Google Arts & Culture

Fun activities to learn about art and culture for tweens and teens.

Click here to access this site.

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Celebrate a Moment in History ...

March is Women's History Month. We focus on three famous women, two from Massachusetts.
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Fannie Farmer, Fannie Farmer Cookbook

Fannier Merritt Farmer, was born in Boston and grew up in Medford, MA in the late 1800s. She had a paralytic stroke while in high school and had to end her formal education. She recovered enough to get a job as a mother's helper and this is where she started to show a fondness for cooking. She went to the Boston Cooking School and graduated in 1889. She was asked to stay on as the assistant director and became the director of the Boston Cooking School in 1894. In 1902, Fannie Farmer opened her own school to teach housewives how to cook. She is the creator of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook which is still in print today. Click here to learn more about Fannie Farmer.
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Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author

Lesa Cline-Ransome is an award winning childrens' and middle grade author who was born in Malden. She has written numerous books on figures in Black History, such as Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Ethel Payne and Katherine Johnson; famous women athletes and topics in science like the history of germs and whaling. Lesa Cline-Ransome loves libraries and uses them often when researching for the books she writes and especially loves our own Malden Public Library, just across the street from the Malden High School.

Many of her books are available from the Malden Public Library. A Malden Public LIbrary card also allows you to borrow ebook editions of many of her books through Hoopla Digital and other sources.

Click here to learn more about Lesa Cline-Ransome.

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Katherine Johnson, NASA Research Mathematician

Katherine Johnson, who recently passed away (Feb. 24, 2020) was an American mathematician who helped send astronauts to the moon. She belonged to a group of African American women called "The West Computers" who analyzed test data and provided mathematical computations that helped with the success of the early U.S. Space Program. Katherine was the person who helped put the first U.S. astronaut in space with her calculations for the Freedom 7 spaceship. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and was featured in the book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race . Click here to watch a short video about Katherine Johnson.
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Get Inside!

Massachusetts has so many museums to explore! Some of the most popular museums are geared towards children. Visitors can check with the Malden Public Library to get either free or reduced rate passes for some of these museums. Click here for a list of museums that have free or reduced passes that can be obtained through the Malden Public Library. Please check with the Malden Public Library to see if the pandemic has impacted the musuem pass program. Other cities or towns may offer different museum pass programs.


This month's featured museum is The New England Aquarium located in Boston. This museum features hands-on marine displays and exhibits to learn about the various animals that make the sea their home and how they depend on the ocean to survive. Check out the giant ocean tank and watch the inhabitants mingle with each other. Watch the penguins as they swim, dive and waddle around their habitat at the bottom of the four story high Great Ocean Tank. Click here to learn more about The New England Aquarium.

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Get Outside!

Each month we will feature a local outdoor area where you can get away from the computer screen and explore nature. This month takes us to Middlesex Fells Reservation in Malden. Middlesex Fells Reservation is a public recreation area that covers more than 2,200 acres in Malden and the surrounding towns of Melrose, Stoneham, Winchester and Medford. With its' many hiking trails, it is a good place to take yourself or the kids to experience nature. Outdoor activities to the Fells include hiking, cross country skiing, mountain biking, rock climbing and horseback riding. There is an area to fish at Dark Hollow Pond and you can rent kayaks, canoes, row boats and pedal boats to cruise around Spot Pond. There is an observation tower to explore and picnic tables to enjoy lunch outside. There is also a tot lot.

Click here to check out the hiking trails located in Middlesex Fells Reservation.

Click here for information about what Middlesex Fells Reservation has to offer.

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Recipe of the Month

Like to dip your fruit into something sweet? Check out this recipe for Bee My Honey Fruit Dip here. It uses cream cheese and marshmallow creme with a hint of orange flavor. Yum!

Click here for more fun recipes
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Craft of the Month

Spring brings warmer, windier weather and would be a good time to fly a kite. To celebrate the first day of Spring on March 20, check out this link to make your own kite.

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We Love To Read!

This section features some of our teachers, administrators and staff with their either their favorite book or what they are currently reading. Teachers, staff and administration: please keep sending us your selfies so that we may continue to showcase you in future newsletters.
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Christina Terranova, Grades 5-8 ESL Teacher, Salemwood School

Mrs. Terranova is currently reading The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh with her book club.
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Tachaline Jeune, Grade 1 Teacher, Linden School

Ms. Jeune likes to read the book I'm New Here by Anne Sibley O'Brien to her first grade students.
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Nicole Cole, Grades K-4 Reading Specialist, Ferryway School

Mrs. Cole loves reading Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney to her students to inspire them to make the world more beautiful.
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Jessica Matrone, CCC-SLP Speech Language Pathologist, Forestdale

Ms. Matrone is reading Becoming by Michele Obama.
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Brian Wong, ELA Teacher, Malden High School

Mr. Wong is currently reading The Butterfly Effect : How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America by Marcus J. Moore.
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Vincenza Sakhtah, Title 1 Reading Specialist, Beebe School

Ms. Sakhtah enjoys reading the book Frederick by Leo Lionni to her students.

Your Librarians

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Mary Liberge, High School Librarian

Mary Liberge is the Librarian at the High School. She has worked in Malden for sixteen years as a school librarian. She has been working at the high school since August of 2014 and was the K-8 Librarian at the Ferryway School from 2004-2014. Mrs. Liberge likes reading, camping, traveling, gardening and doing crafts.


mliberge@maldenps.org

Twitter: @librarygirl0727


Google Classroom:

Malden High School Library 2020-21

Code: prx3ixj

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Stephen Nedell, K-8 Librarian

Stephen Nedell is the librarian for the Salemwood School and the Linden STEAM Academy and has been a librarian in the Malden Public Schools since 2017. Before that, he was the Reference, IT and Local History Librarian at the Malden Public Library for over ten years. snedell@maldenps.org

He is a huge fan of the Simpsons and can quote from almost any episode. Check out his read aloud stories on his Youtube channel by clicking here.


Google Classroom:

K-8 School Librarians 2020-2021 Nedell/Touet

Code: 75ar5qc

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Maria Touet, K-8 Librarian

Maria Touet is the Librarian at the Beebe, Ferryway and Forestdale Schools. She has been working with MPS since August of 2019. Ms Touet has worked in school libraries for over 25 years. Besides reading, she likes photography, working in the garden, and she visits the ocean as often as she can.

mtouet@maldenps.org

Twitter: @BFFLibrarian


Google Classsroom:

K-8 School Librarians 2020-2021 Nedell/Touet

Code: 75ar5qc