February Newsletter

Check out what is going on this month in the media center ~

February 2010-PDF

Rules by Cynthia Lord

“No toys in the fish tank.” “A boy takes off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts.” These are some of the many rules 12-year-old Catherine has for her autistic younger brother, David, to help him cope with others. Catherine loves her brother but is frustrated dealing with his autism. His needs always come first in the family. While attending David’s therapy sessions Catherine meets Jason, a boy who can only talk using cards. This opens a whole new world for Catherine and helps her to appreciate her special brother.

Good Book

Black History Month

We have many resources available for Black History Month in the media center.  I have put together a resource list in Destiny, our library catalog.  To access this list, go to Destiny and click on Resource Lists on the left-hand side of the page.  Click the Public Lists tab and then click Black History Resources.   To access appropriate web sites, click the Online Resources tab.

Accelerated Reader Top Ten for December/January

Congratulations to the students who earned the most Accelerated Reader points in each grade for December/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. All names on the list were placed in a drawing for five students to win coupons from Sonic for a free vanilla cone.  Winners are Sabrina V, Landon H, Janae M, Sydney D, and Sampada C.

6th grade                        7th grade                         8th grade

Sampada C	162.1		Ted G	332.4		Mckenzie G	139
Gabriel H	161.6		Chris K	188.8		Andrew W	120.8
John  C	83.3		Whitt V	112.8		George G	89.7
Brenden J	82.9		Hannah S	71.4		Tyler P	75
Timara B	68		Saderrick B	53.9		Stephanie S	71
Sabrina V	60.5		Monisha T	47.6		Loren E	65
Shaye S	59.5		Dallas B	39.3		Sydney D	61
Janae M	46.8		Allie L	36.6		Kristen K	60.7
Macy N	46		Emma G	31		Sara B	60.5
Makenna M	45.5		Landon H	31		Laney C	50

Bulloch County Technology Day

I enjoyed the Bulloch County Technology Day held on January 4th at Southeast Bulloch High School and learned about so many great resources. Over 35 different sessions were held on topics such as podcasting, blogging, file management, computer maintenance, free educational software online, Photo Story 3, and Glogster. I taught the classes on What’s the Big Deal About Blogs? and Book Trailers: Not Your Typical Book Report.  I attended sessions on digital photo editing with GIMP, and using FLIP video cameras with Windows Movie Maker. Resources for the sessions can be found on our school’s Homer server in the Techday directory and RESA’s ETC page. Thanks so much to our county’s technology team for putting together such a great opportunity for faculty.

Class Sessions Offered

January 2010 Media Newsletter

Check out what is going on this month in the media center ~

January 2010 – PDF

New Books from Books-a-Million

We held a Book Fair at Books-a-Million back in October to raise money for library books. A portion of the day’s sales was given to the media center and I went in this week to purchase books with the money. I bought 75 new books including several Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries and many paperbacks for the Accelerated Reader Point Club. I am hoping to have these out on the shelves soon. Thanks so much to parents, faculty, and the Teacher’s Pets group for their generous support.

Advanced Features of PowerPoint

Mrs. Anderson brought her students in this week for a lesson on some of the advanced features of PowerPoint. Some of the tools they learned about
are:

• how to search for pictures on the web to use as background images on their slides and include citation information
• using the picture toolbar to crop images and “dress up” their pictures
• adding fill color and transparency to text boxes so text is easily seen
• adding Custom Animations such as drawing a motion path for pictures and text boxes to add emphasis
• finding background sounds to add to the presentation
• adding voice narration to slides

Everlost by Neal Shusterman

When Nick and Allie are killed in a car accident, they find themselves in Everlost, a limbo for kids somewhere between life and “the light at the end of the tunnel.”  Nick is content to stay in Everlost with Mary Hightower, who looks after the children of Everlost, while Allie searches for a way to see her family.  As they battle terrifying creatures and try to keep from sinking to the center of the earth, they learn that there are some fates that are more frightening than death.    www.nancykeane.com

Very good book

December Newsletter

Check out what’s going on this month in the media center~

December_09-PDF

Accelerated Reader Top Ten for November

Congratulations to the students who earned the most Accelerated Reader points in each grade for November.  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. All names on the list were placed in a drawing for five students to win coupons from Sonic for a free vanilla cone.  Winners are Ted G, John C, Crystina F, Chloe D, and Mallory H.

6th grade                               7th grade                         8th grade

Sabrina V	63.4		Chris K	106.8		Fielding K	61
John C	61		Ted G	88.7		De’Onta M	60
Sampada C	58.5		Whitt V	60.1		Sydney D	52.9
Gabriel H	49.4		Hannah S	53		Loren E	38.5
Crystina F	36.2		Monisha T	50.9		Lexie H	36
Mallory H	27.4		Saderrick B	50		Clay C	34
Alex W	24.6		Allie L	32		Bre’Anna M	34
John J	24		Scarlett S	29.1		Owen H	32.3
Tess N	24		Emma G	28		Harrison B	30.7
Chloe D	23.1		Dallas B	23.2		Andrew W	29

Book Trailers Using Microsoft Photo Story 3

I worked with the 7th grade classes to create book trailers from favorite books the students had read. A book trailer is a video advertisement for a book which employs techniques similar to those of movie trailers.  We used a free program from Microsoft called Photo Story 3 to add pictures, title text, narration, motion, transitions, and music to the video. Once students completed the project, those who had returned permission forms were uploaded to my wiki.

Book Trailer Project

Photo Story Directions

Permission Form for Uploading to Web

Download Photo Story 3

Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech

Having suffered through a string of appalling foster homes (the spitting Cranbepps; scary, toothless Mr. Dreep who locked them in his cellar; and the mean Burgerton boys), 13-year-old orphan Dallas and his twin sister, Florida, have pretty much given up on ever finding a happy home. So when an eccentric older couple enters their lives, providing such adventures as a river expedition, a treasure hunt (of sorts), and a whole lot of remarkable meals: “beat-the-blues broccoli,” “anti-cranky crumpets,” and “getting-used-to-kids- again stew,” the twins take a while to warm up. Florida’s language teems with outrageous, telling negativity–everything is “putrid”–and even dreamy Dallas is inclined to bouts of doubt. But warm up they do, to the continual delight of readers of all ages.   www.amazon.com

Very Good Book

Fall Book Fair a Huge Success

Thanks so much to everyone for helping to make this book fair the most successful one we have ever had! We had record-breaking sales for this fair with fantastic participation from our students and faculty. The media center made over $725 and received over $425 in books.

Andre’as W. won the skittles contest. He guessed there were 100,001 words in Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. The actual number of words is 101,564. The poster winners are listed below. These students will be called throughout the day to come pick up their poster.

Accelerated Reader Top Ten for October

Congratulations to the students who earned the most Accelerated Reader points in each grade for October.  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. All names on the list were placed in a drawing for five students to win coupons from Sonic for a free vanilla cone.  Winners are Tess N, Dymond C, Gabriel H, Whitt V, and Sydney D.  Coupons will be delivered soon.

Gabriel H	86.8		Ted G	111.5		Weibo F	62.5
Sampada C	76.4		Emma G	97.1		Fielding K	61.7
Hasaan W	42.8		Whitt V	94.3		Andrew W	61.5
Alex W	38.1		Chris K	78.3		Kristen K	59.9
Sabrina V	33		Sadderick B	44.6		Faith J	58.2
Tess N	30.4		Landon H	44		Sydney D	52.4
Crystina F	24.8		Emma H	32		Loren E	51.2
Chloe D	23.5		Hannah S	26		Bailey H	45.6
Annalise	21		Dymond C	23.5		Lexie H	45.4
Pierce L	17.7		Kevin L	23		Sara B	45

November Newsletter

Check out what’s going on this month in the media center~

November-PDF

Formatting Formal Papers in Microsoft Word

The sixth graders came in this week for a lesson in the correct way to format formal papers in Microsoft Word. Students learned how to double space, indent, use spell check, and format font. In addition, they created title pages. For their title pages, students learned how to center text, create borders, and insert pictures from clip art and the web. They were reminded that pictures copied from the web must have a citation.

Fall Book Fair Scheduled

Book Fair Schedule

Book Fair Promotions:

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.

Guess the correct number of words in the new book Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and students can win a jar full of skittles. Each guess is $.25.

WJMS Bookworms discuss Life As We Knew It

 

The WJMS Book Club met Thursday afternoon to discuss Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It. The group has been blogging about the book since they received it last month and the general consensus has been they loved it. Since survival is a big part of the book, I challenged the kids to put together a survival kit that would fit in a shoebox. The rationale for the small size was that in the event of an emergency, you may only have time to grab one thing. I then divided the large group into smaller groups to talk about the discussion questions. Since the one item students didn’t like about the book was the ending, I also had students to participate in a poll to predict what happened to Miranda’s family. I showed the students the author’s blog, gave a summary of the companion novel The Dead and the Gone, and talked about the last book in the trilogy coming out in April called This World We Live In. The group was very surprised to learn I had received an email response from the author about her new book. I told the club we may receive an ARC (Advance Reader’s Copy) of her new book before it comes out so that we will be able to find out Miranda’s fate before everyone else. She closed her email with a special hello to the Bookworms. To close the meeting I revealed our next book club selection would be Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements and showed them the book trailer. They are all looking forward to receiving the next novel.

Gallows Hill by Lois Duncan

I brought in a paperweight to use as a prop.  It was supposed to be merely a paperweight.  A paperweight I used to tell fortunes at the Halloween Carnival.  Simply a prop while Kyra fed me information via her walkie-talkie and my earphones.  It was all just a lark until Charlie came for his fortune.  But as I’m telling Charlie about going on a cruise to Hawaii it’s as if the paperweight was filling up with smoke.  In the smoke I see Charlie at the top of a flight of steps.  A foot snags his ankle and he pitches down the steps.  It’s just a paperweight.  I can’t tell Charlie he’s going to fall down a flight of steps.  When I look back into the globe, it’s clear.  No smoke, no visions.  I rush Charlie out of the booth and close down for the night.   On Monday Charlie comes to school with a cast on his right arm.  He had fallen down a flight of stairs.  It was just a coincidence.  I couldn’t have predicted it.  But after Eric convinces me to set up a fortune telling business, it happens again, and again.  What sort of force is working through something that should be just a paperweight?  www.nancykeane.com