You Can’t Believe Everything You See – Photo Editing

Did you know that up to 99% of images in magazines are retouched? Mrs. Prince brought her students in this week for a lesson on the false messages the media sends with retouched photos. Students viewed before and after shots of celebrities to see just how much digital editing is done. In addition, they viewed a video which shows the audience a magazine cover photo shoot from start to finish. It starts with the model with no make-up, make-up is applied, hair is done, pictures are taken, the final photo is digitally retouched on the computer, and we see the completed billboard ad. So how do the experts do it? They use digital editors to “fix” all those flaws. I taught the classes how to use FotoFlexer, a free online image editor. They were able to see just how easy it is for the experts to change the original photos. Highlights included smoothing out wrinkles and shrinking that waistline.

Book Club Receives Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

Before the holidays, Book Club members met to receive their next book. During the meeting students were challenged to figure out the next selection by unscrambling words that were clues. Since this was a timed event with a prize for the winner, they enjoyed the competition. After revealing the answers, students were still unsure about the book title described by keywords such as Winnie the Pooh, state fair , and hula hoop. The final step in solving the mystery involved Googling combinations of the keywords to figure out the title of second book was Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass. I read a selection of the book to them and showed them the movie trailer. They were excited to hear the movie starring Mira Sorvino will be released directly to DVD in March.

In one month Jeremy Fink will turn thirteen. But does he have what it takes to be a teenager? He collects mutant candy, he won’t venture more than four blocks from his apartment if he can help it, and he definitely doesn’t like surprises. On the other hand, his best friend, Lizzy, isn’t afraid of anything, even if that might get her into trouble now and then. Jeremy’s summer takes an unexpected turn when a mysterious wooden box arrives in the mail. According to the writing on the box, it holds the meaning of life! Jeremy is supposed to open it on his thirteenth birthday. The problem is, the keys are missing, and the box is made so that only the keys will open it without destroying what’s inside. Jeremy and Lizzy set off to find the keys, but when one of their efforts goes very wrong, Jeremy starts to lose hope that he’ll ever be able to open the box. But he soon discovers that when you’re meeting people named Oswald Oswald and using a private limo to deliver unusual objects to strangers all over the city, there might be other ways of finding out the meaning of life.

Excellent Book

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Super excited to see the new movie coming out in March!

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games.” The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat’s sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

Excellent Book

M.H. Herlong Visits WJMS Book Club Via Skype

Our Skype session with M.H. Herlong was wonderful and the kids were fantastic. Since they read the book at the same time, we were able to video conference with Southeast Bulloch Middle School’s Book Club too.  Students were able to ask her questions about The Great, Wide, Sea that the group had wondered about since reading the book. Being able to incorporate technology in the meeting enabled us to get up close and personal with her as well. We even found out about her family and her pets…and got to see the room where she writes! Huge thanks to the author for working with us to make the event happen. I could not sum up the event better than a student’s comment to me after the meeting, “Awesome, Mrs. Borck!”

Author Virtual Visit Via Skype

 

Using Biographies to Create Facebook Pages

I enjoyed working with Jennifer Prosser’s language arts classes to create a “faux” Facebook page on the subject of a biography each had chosen. Students came in for a lesson on social networks and were introduced to the term digital footprint. Each was able to Google their name to check their own digital footprint online. Online safety and netiquette were also topics discussed. Students downloaded the PowerPoint Facebook template and I showed students how to edit them to reflect the subject of their biography. I can’t wait to see the finished products!

Facebook Template – PowerPoint

Social Networks Lesson

Book Club Receives First Book

I had a great time with Book Club members using QR codes as clues to find out the name of our first book. We are reading The Great, Wide, Sea by M.H. Herlong. The kids were excited to find out we would be talking with the author via Skype too! Our next meeting will be Wednesday, November 2nd until 4:30. We will be discussing the book and gathering questions for our author. Our Skype visit with her will be on Wednesday, November 16th.

Soon after their mother’s death, 15-year-old Ben and his two younger brothers are stunned when their father sells their home, buys a sailboat, and announces that they will live on board and cruise the Bahamas for the next year. Wrenched from everything he knows and forced to obey his father-captain’s orders, Ben starts out angry and finds no escape. As he says, “We were always together.” When their father sets a course for Bermuda and disappears overboard one night, the boys have little time to wonder if he jumped or fell before they’re struggling to stay afloat in a fierce Atlantic storm. Lost at sea in a damaged boat, they find their way to an island where they are stranded with little food, little water, and little hope of rescue.

Excellent Book

Game Day a Success in the Library

Our first Game Day was a great success in the library. Students had a great time using some of our ancient gaming technology (the original Playstations!). To participate, students had to meet their reading goal for the 1st nine weeks. Get busy reading so that you can participate in our next Game Day coming up in January!

Fall Scholastic Book Fair Scheduled

We will have a “Bonus Buck” drawing for every class that visits the book fair.  Each of the chairs in the media center is numbered.  I will draw a number and the student in the winning seat will win a free “Bonus Buck” to spend in the book fair.

Each of the 20 posters will be prizes in another drawing.  Each student that visits the book fair will be given a slip of paper.  They will need to put their name and homeroom teacher’s name on the paper and place it in the box in the media center.  For every $1 they spend in the book fair, they will receive an additional slip of paper.  At the end of the book fair I will draw 20 names from all the slips of paper for the winners of the posters.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

When scientists predict that an asteroid will collide with the moon, Miranda and her neighbors break out their lawn chairs to watch the spectacular show.  But when the collision pushes the moon closer to the Earth, it sets off devastating tsunamis, earthquakes, and storms.  Through her daily journal entries, Miranda recounts her family’s struggle to survive. www.nancykeane.com

Very good book

Discussion Guide

Questions

Discussion Module

Can’t see the video below? Try this link.

9/11 Ten Years Later: America Remembers

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when the tragic events of September 11, 2001 occurred? I was in the library shelving books when my principal hurried in the door and asked me to turn on the television. Over the course of the school day, I watched the horrifying reality of those terrorist attacks unfold. Those images will be forever locked in my memories. For the middle school students we are teaching in our schools today, the impact of 9/11 has been a part of their lives as long as they can remember. Since they were babies when the events occurred, our students do not fully understand how all our lives changed that day. As the ten-year anniversary approaches, it is our job to educate them on the events of September 11, 2001 and its impact on America. Below are some resources for teachers to assist with their instruction:

http://www.gpb.org/education/september-11-theme-page

http://www.tolerance.org/blog/bringing-911-classroom-10-years-later

http://www.teachhub.com/september-11-teaching-resources?to-do-today-tips

http://teachinghistory.org/spotlight/september11

http://www.history.com/9-11-anniversary

http://www.teachablemoment.org/images/9-11teachingguide.pdf – page 17 has middle school lessons

http://www.911memorial.org/

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

In a burst of panic about a nuclear attack, nine-year-old Eli, his sisters, and his parents move into an underground bunker built by Eli’s billionaire father. It’s an enormous complex, with rooms similar to those in the family’s Seattle mansion. Only his grandmother and twin brother don’t make it in. The first six years of the planned 15 have been fairly routine, but now some food has spoiled, and certain things just don’t seem right, or even possible. Eli is starting to have doubts about his father’s motives, explanations, and sanity. Readers might find the first third of the novel to be slow as a lot of time is spent developing Eli’s character as a spoiled, self-centered child. There is considerable foreshadowing, and astute readers will likely figure out the ending. As the years pass, Eli is full of teen angst and anger that develops into a realization of what he must do in order to help his family survive.

Excellent Book

 

Copyright Law and Avoiding Plagiarism

Think you know everything about copyright law and avoiding plagiarism? Let’s put it to the test. Take my online quiz so I can see how much you know. WJMS 6th graders recently visited the media center for a crash course in copyright law and learned techniques on how to avoid plagiarism.

Copyright Law & Avoiding Plagiarism-PowerPoint

picture:http://www.relationship-economy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/copyright.jpg

Create a Facebook Page with your Students

Want to create a Facebook page with your students but it’s blocked at your school? Below is a Facebook template created in PowerPoint that students can customize. Have them read a biography and create a page with pictures they find on the web. Just show kids the template below and let them create!

Facebook Template #1

Facebook Template

Facebook Instructions

Media Center Received Mini-Makeover

The media center has received a mini-makeover! To make room for more books we rearranged all the shelves and added new signs. In addition, we have added a reading lounge. Make sure to stop by to check it out.

April is National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets. The concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic heritage, and to poetry books and journals. It was created to increase the visibility and availability of poetry in popular culture while acknowledging and celebrating poetry’s ability to sustain itself in the many places where it is practiced and appreciated.

Sign up for Poem-a-Day and receive a poem emailed to you each day.

Poets.org
Resources from Scholastic
ReadWriteThink Activities

Book Spine Poetry

Bio Poems

Teaching Poetry Through Rap

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words”. Robert Frost

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would “unwind” them Connor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family’s strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can’t be harmed — but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

Author’s site including book trailer: Neal Shusterman’s Site

Excellent Book

April is National Library Month

In celebration, WJMS will host a Book Academy Awards with the student body voting on the winners. Book club members helped with the categories and nominations.

Ballot including categories and nominees

We are also promoting reading through a skittles contest.

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there’s no delete button. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school – but no one knows it. Most people – her teachers and doctors included – don’t think she’s capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again.
If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows… but she can’t, because Melody can’t talk. She can’t walk. She can’t write.
Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind – that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice… but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

http://www.goodreads.com

Excellent Book

Accelerated Reader Top Ten for February

Congratulations to the students who earned the most Accelerated Reader points in each grade for January.  Students must maintain an 85 average on their quizzes to be included.  I have the top ten lists posted on the wall in the media center and the PowerPoint news. All names on the list were placed in a drawing for five students to win coupons for a free fountain drink from Gate. Winners are Tess, Sam, Bishop, Billy, and Mallory.

Cameron R	89.6		Sampada C	132.5		Ted G	216.8
Leanna M	74.7		Janae M	94.7		Hannah S	69.1
Billy G	64.9		Crystina F	63.6		Keyoshinae M	14.9
Richard J	52		Gabe H	62.2		Sam S	13
Jameson O	38.6		Mallory H	52		Landon H	10
Angela Z	38		Pierce L	47.7		Dallas B	9
Mercer T	32		Hasaan W	34		Bishop D	8.5
Brooke H	31.5		Tess N	33.2		Briauna K	7.6
Alex B	27		Shaye S	29.1		Shoya E	5
T’Ana R	26.9		Colleen H	27.3		Amy P	5