Friday Games Days Return

After several false starts the IMC has resumed its Computer Games Days on Fridays during study. On Fridays students, individually or with a partner, are invited to play CD-ROM games provided by the IMC. This year we have expanded to all 30 computers in the IMC computer lab with new games like FIFA Soccer, NHL Hockey, Top Spin 2 (tennis), Wheel of Fortune, Jewel Labyrinth, 3 - I Spy games, and Mysteryville 2. We look forward to see lots of gamers in the IMC on Friday trying out these new games in 2011.

What a Week!

The P.T.O. Book Fair has come and gone in a flurry of purchases, many as holiday gifts. In my rough estimate of sales we double the amount of sales from last spring's Book Fair. Thank you to all who helped with the selling and setup and purchasing. The P.T.O. will the profits to enhance the student experience here at Lakeview.
Next week appears to be calmer. Mrs. Maass's 6th grade social studies classes will continue to work on their Greek mythology projects. Since some groups may need more time and other groups will be finishing up, Mrs. Maass reminded me that I had gathered a list of Ancient Greece websites and linked them to the Lakeview Library webpage. This sites have many interactive activities as well as information about Greek history and culture. To find this list students go to the Lakeview Library webpage and scroll down until they find the table for IMC Links. In the lower right corner is a link called Student Links. Double check to connect to the website where I keep folders of links for school projects. Open the Ancient Greece folder and have fun!

Business As Usual

The IMC is definitely back to business as usual. The computers have been in used by 8th grade science and social studies. There has been 7th grade book checkout. And the librarians are franticly preparing the 2011 Rebecca Caudill nominated books for checkout.

Even though next week is very short the IMC will be busy. The 8th grade social studies classes will continue their research on various political systems and philosophies. 6th grade Reading classes will be introduced to the new Caudill nominees through a booktalk of all twenty books and make their first selection for their next book report. All 6th graders will participate in the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award, a statewide program where students in grades 4-8 vote for the winner. To be eligible to vote in February each 6th grader will read at least 3 of the nominated books. The IMC has multiple copies of each title so that there are enough books for every student to have one at a time. I have read all twenty and predict that voting this time will center around two fantastic nominees -- Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. While all 20 books are great stories, these two have already captured the interest of most of our students in any grade.

Open for Business

It felt good to be open for library business this week. Students were able to checkout and return books again. The IMC was open before school (Tuesdays - Fridays) and at study for students to read or work on school projects. And now for the best news --
In celebration of National Gaming Day, November 13th, the IMC will launch its Computer Games Day on Friday, November 12th. Starting that Friday and continuing on school Fridays through the rest of the school year, the IMC will open its CD-ROM game library for students during study. Students can individually or with a partner enjoy games like Jeopardy, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Wheel of Fortune, The Sims, SIM City, Clue, and Battleship. We also have many CD-ROMs from the Tycoon series (Rollercoaster, Monopoly, School, Zoo, etc.), the Zoombini series, and sports like NBA Live, Madden Football, and more. A complete list of possibilities will be posted in the IMC by next Thursday. Study teachers will be provided with special passes for Computer Game Days. While the beginning of each study period is a bit wild as the students select their game and get their computers going, it is amazing how focused everyone becomes once the gaming starts. Visitors are always welcome to observe our gamers at work!

Nearly Done

MAP testing in the IMC is nearly over. There are only a few students who were absent who need to take one or two of the tests. As soon as these students return to school, their tests will be scheduled. For the IMC (and its staff), next week we go back to library business. The 8th grade LA/Reading classes are already signed up for book checkout with a booktalk. And Health and Spanish are using the computers. For Mrs. Wilson and myself it will be nice to get back to business as usual -- library business!

Strange Week

Since last Friday students have been taking their Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) tests for math, language usage, and reading in the IMC. Mrs. Wilson and I set up each computer with the proper test and student login. Students come with their math or LA/reading classes for the tests. Mrs. Wilson and I keep track of students who do not complete a test within their class period and Mrs. Liles arranges for more time. The MAP tests are not timed so students may have as much time as they need. Many of our students finish their tests within the class period or with one extra session. During this testing time the IMC is closed to all other business, so it has felt very strange for us librarians. This past Wednesday was an early dismissal day so the IMC was open for regular business as no testing was scheduled. We librarians really enjoyed a return to normal.

Next week is also a MAP testing so the IMC is closed except for Monday when no testing is scheduled due to the Red Ribbon Week assembly. MAP testing is scheduled to end on October 29th. The IMC will resume its regular schedule in November. The nice feature of this testing week for us is that while the students are testing, we have the opportunity to work on new books. Please check my other blog, What's New on the Book Shelves," to see what new books are now ready for checkout.

Timelines in World Book Online

This week 6th grade Social Studies classes have been working on a timeline project using World Book Online. Mrs. Maass and I collaborated in utilizing this special feature of our online encyclopedia. Students researched 5 events from specific years of the 21st century (2000-2010). World Book Online allowed them to search by year. Most of the encyclopedia articles were about people, so we also encouraged students to try the Back in Time Articles listed in the Results List. The Back in Time Articles gave an overview of events in certain categories like Literature, Sports, Television, Automobile, and Education, or in certain countries or continents. Using these articles it was easy for students to pick an event and get enough information to note the Who, What , Where, and Why. Then all they had to do was type a one sentence description and use pull-down menus to specify the date. World Book Online put their events in chronological order and made the timeline. Students printed their timeline in color for the final product.
Since this was the first time anyone used the timeline feature, Mrs. Maass and I learned a lot as the students worked through their project. I thank Mrs. Maass for being flexible when we ran into problems along the way that we did not anticipate. I am happy to report that the timeline feature was successful enough for Mrs. Maass to agree to use it again later this year.
World Book Online is a District 66 subscription and is linked to the district webpage.

Are There Any Books Left?

For the first time ever, all three grade levels checked out books this week and all classes were selecting free choice Accelerated Reader titles. Many of the IMC fiction bookshelves are very empty. Fortunately, with over 1200 AR quizzes there were plenty of choices for the students. And some great books were checked out!

Next week the computers take over. Classes using the IMC computer lab include 8th grade accelerated LA and music. The laptops will be in use in 6th grade accelerated LA and 6th grade Social Studies. Mrs. Maass and I have been exploring the timeline feature in World Book Online. 6th grade students will be using that feature for a social studies project.

Busy Computers

This week the IMC computers and laptops have been shared between classes and Mrs. Kucera, our technology coordinator, as she sets up our computers to handle the new MAPS testing program. Though somewhat confusing for us at times, the process is nearly completed and IMC computer use can go back to normal next week. In addition next week will see book check-out in both 7th and 8th grade -- the second round of book reports is starting.

Business as Usual

The first part of the week was busy with 7th grade social studies researching and working on projects about native Americans. Then the rest of the week was quiet enough for the librarians to get some behind-the-scenes work done. While Miss Hagensee worked on new books and sorted through the returned summer paperbacks, Mrs. Wilson has been getting ID cards changed into library cards by adding the client barcodes to the back of each ID card. ID cards will be ready next week to distribute to students. Then every student will have received 2 library cards - a temporary one on a white card and their student ID card. Students are welcome to use either card, but a library card is necessary to check out books from the IMC.

Next week computers will be busy with Health and 6th grade science classes. Also the laptops will be in use for 7th grade science and Mrs. Mixon's classes.

Back to Business as Usual

After completing a computer review with 7th and 8th grade last week that covered network logins, searching the I.P.A.C. using MultiSeek to combine terms, logging in the I.P.A.C. to place reserves, and printing out student lists of the Accelerated Reader quizzes they have taken, the IMC has returned to normal business. This week the IMC computers have been in use by Health classes, 6th grade advanced LA/Reading , and 7th grade Social Studies. AND the new laptop computers had their first use with students. The IMC now has 56 brand-new HP laptops, enough for 2 classes to be using laptops at the same time with the district wireless system. There were a few bumps in the road with the new computers, but the new login procedures are just fine. All IMC computers are in demand for next week, too.

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a great summer. For me, it was too hot but I was still able to read a lot of great books, even I didn't sit on my patio as I planned. The IMC is back in full swing. This week 7th and 8th grade language arts classes came to the IMC for their first book checkout. Next Monday 6th grade comes for their first checkout. For each class I present a book talk of new or interesting, grade-appropriate books from the wide range of materials we have in the IMC. Then students have an opportunity to find and check out a book for their first book report.

Next week Monday, the IMC will also be open at study for student use. Starting next week Tuesday, the IMC will be open before school Tuesdays through Fridays for student use. Also next week 7th and 8th graders will come to the IMC computer lab for a review of using the I.P.A.C. (IMC online catalog) and using the Accelerated Reader software program.

The IMC is back in business!