Friday, January 25, 2013

RESEARCH HEATING UP


This past week saw a variety of classes in the IMC using the computers ending with the beginning of the 8th grade Political Spectrum project. I presented the 8th grade Social Studies classes with a Road Map for Research progressing from a general encyclopedia to a book search on the I.P.A.C. to online databases for reference materials and magazines and newspapers to a general Internet search. Each stop on the Road Map builds the student's knowledge about their topics.
Next week the 8th grade Social Studies classes continue their research. Miss Trefonas's 5th grade class will come for another visit consisting of a Research Road Map presentation and book checkout. Also 7th and 8th grade Language Arts classes come in Wednesday and Friday for book checkout. A busy week ahead!

Friday, January 11, 2013

WELCOME BACK


On Monday, our first day back after winter break, book check-outs were planned for all of 7th grade and a third or 8th grade. I guess teachers wanted to be sure students had a silent reading book at hand for MAP testing. For the 8th grade advanced LA classes I had the opportunity to booktalk several titles that I thought they would like. There is such a wealth of great novels available to young adults these days that I had a hard time limiting myself.
Now the rest of the week students have been engaged in MAP testing as well as other benchmarking tests. The IMC handles MAP testing for all absent students and for students who need more time as this is not a timed test. Scheduling, gathering students, and keeping track of who has finished has been keeping us quite busy. After we finish all the testing next week, the IMC will go back to being a library again.