On
Monday I introduced the 6th graders to the Rebecca Caudill Young
Readers Book Award for 2013. 6th graders will be eligible to vote for
this award in late February by reading or listening to 3 of the 20
nominated books. Using the Mimio technology I booktalked all 20
books within a period. With a separate frame for each title, I used reveal frames to
hide the book cover, genre, main characters, and a one sentence
summary. As I talked about the book, I revealed this information one
at a time to the students. Students had a sheet listing all the books
with a column for notes and were instructed to choose 5 or 6 titles
that sounded interesting as potential books to read. While the IMC
has multiple copies of all the books, it often happens that the
wanted book is not available when a student is ready for it. The next
3 book reports for 6th grader will be books from the Caudill 2013
list, thus making students eligible to vote. For each book students
will take an Accelerated Reader quiz as part of their book report. I
encouraged the students to be educated voters and read as many titles
as they can. We have a 2013 Club in the IMC that honors anyone who
has read all 20 titles from the 2013 list by the end of the school
year. Mrs. Wilson and I are founders of this club (even though we
don't get to vote) as we read all 20 books to better help students in
making selections, but any student in any grade is welcome to join
us. The complete list of nominees can be found with a link on the
Lakeview Library webpage. Mrs. Wilson and I agree that all 2013
nominees are winners.
The
Winter P.T.O. Book Fair starts Wednesday, December 5th, at 8:30 AM.
It continues until 3 PM. Then it reopens on Thursday, December 6th,
at 8:30 AM. With the Winter Concert and the History Fair also
happening that day, the Book Fair will stay open through the day and
night until the end of the concert. The Book Fair is a great place to
shop for holiday gifts. There will be books and book activities for
all ages. Come and support the P.T.O. and reading and enjoy the
special events of the day.
Miss
Trefonas's class returns for another visit on Monday. In addition to
checking out and returning books, I will introduce the class to
NoveList, a database of books that help answer the question "Is
there another another book like the one I just read?" NoveList
allows readers to select the story characteristics they liked the
most and then presents a list of suggested titles. In addition there
are book lists on various topics, book talk presentations, and hot
new books on the home page. This database is a library subscription.
Lakeview has the children's and adult's version since we were
subscribers before the split. Prairieview is currently arranging for
their own subscription.
Today
Miss Trefonas's fifth grade advanced reading class visited the
Lakeview IMC. In this first visit they viewed an abbreviated copy of
the IMC Guide dealing with book checkout -- their mission for this
visit. I gave them a book talk about some of the interesting books
from our collection. Then they had time for book checkout and getting
acquainted with the Lakeview IMC. As they checked out their books,
Mrs. Wilson issued them a temporary library card that they will need
to bring each visit to checkout books. Miss Trefonas e-mailed me
after the visit to say how excited the students are and how they are
looking forward to their next visit sometime before Thanksgiving.
Today
was our first Computer Games Day of the year. Students had the
opportunity to come to the IMC at study to play CD-ROM games already
preloaded on the IMC computers. Students who participated today had a
good time enjoying our wide variety of gaming choices. Computer Games
Day at Study will reoccur every Friday from now on.
On
Halloween I will be visiting the 6th grade LA/Reading classes with a
special Halloween treat. I will present one of the stories from
Patrick Carman's book 3:15 Things That Go Bump in the Night. Each
story starts with an audio introduction online. Then I read the
story. Finally the story ends with an online video conclusion. Three
ways to enjoy the story, 15 minutes total for the whole story = 3:15!
The
7th grade selection was more specific since those classes are reading
and discussing a classroom novel. Their book report would be on a
book related to their class's novel. The teachers had previously
given me a list of themes covered in the novel and I created a list
of books on those themes. One class read After by Francine Prose, a
novel about one high school's severe reaction to a shooting at a
nearby school. Themes of conspiracies, government control,
conformity, and suspense were included in the book report selection.
Another class read The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson, a
CSI-type novel where a teenage girl helps her pathologist father
solve a murder. Their follow up book was a mystery book. The rest of
the 7th grade read Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan
Sonnenblick, about an family with a teenage son dealing with a
younger son who has cancer. Their follow-up included themes of
adolescence, family problems, illness, and sibling relationships.
This
year teachers have the opportunity to reserve computers online from
their classroom or even from home. With the availability of Mrs.
Foellmer's computer lab plus the IMC computer lab plus the laptop
carts, more students have computer access during the school day. In
fact, since Mrs. Foellmer's lab is listed first in the online
reservations, that lab fills up first. Thus this week was rather
quiet in the IMC again giving us time to catch up on projects that
were put aside during MAPs testing. Also since students are using
Google Apps, the old software compatibility issue between school and
home should disappear. Now students don't have to use flash drives to
save schoolwork to complete at home. They can upload and convert any
file to Google Apps and then access those files at home in Google
Apps. This password-protected, school-supervised website truly
connects school and home. By end of next week all grades will have
completed a project using Google Apps.
In addition I had an opportunity to introduce the 6th
grade to Accelerated Reader, a computerized book report program. In
Accelerated Reader students take multiple choice quizzes on books
they have read. Reading the book carefully is essential to success in
AR because the questions in the quiz are not simple one like "Who
is the main character?" or "Where did the story take
place?" AR quizzes ask how did the main character act or react
in a particular scene. The computer prints a TOPS report after each
quiz which students can give to their Reading teacher if the book is
for a classroom book report. Many students like to take more quizzes
to earn points for our motivational reward system. At regular
intervals throughout the year, I take the total points count for each
student and send reward coupons to students who have earned 25 or
multiples of 25 points. Student can then redeem the coupon for a
prize. Getting prizes does not subtract points from the student
total. The computer continues to add points throughout the students
career at Lakeview. 6th grade students will soon finish reading their
first book report book of the year. Then they will take an AR quiz.
They will be well on their way to winning prizes.
MAP
testing is nearly finished, but due to some absences the IMC will be
closed on Monday, September 10th to allow more students to finish in
quiet surroundings of a closed IMC. On Tuesday, September 11th, the
IMC will open for full service including opening before school at
7:35 AM. Just a reminder to 6th graders and our new students -- you
must get an IMC pass from the gym to come to the IMC before school.
There are 40 passes available every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday mornings. If you finish your IMC work before the Homebase
bell, please sign out and take your pass back to the gym for someone
else to use.
The
first week of school has seen a flurry of activity in the IMC as all
grades have come to the IMC to review IMC rules and procedures and
check out a book for their first book report. Unfortunately next week
is MAP testing and the IMC is closed except for the study periods.
The IMC will open for full service on Monday, September 10th. Since
the IMC is open before school only Tuesday through Friday, the first
IMC open before school is Tuesday, September 11th.
The
students are really taking this round of MAP testing seriously! All
the teachers have been counseling students to take their time and do
their best. AND THE STUDENTS LISTENED! After the initial first 2 days
of testing over 300 students needed more time. The IMC was closed a
third day so the majority of those students would have the time they
needed. By Thursday the list of students who were absent or needed
more time was reduced to 120. So testing will continue next week
until all students have completed their reading and math tests. I
think many of the students did very on these tests because I have
seen some very happy faces and heard comments like "I scored 10
points higher" or "I beat my goal by 5 points." Well
done students!
It seems that social studies classes are dominating the IMC computers next week. On Monday and Tuesday 6th grade social classes have reserved the computers along with some of Mrs. Conley's health classes. On Tuesday the 7th grade social studies classes are using laptops and then on Wednesday and Thursday they are using IMC computers. On Friday the 6th grade language arts classes have computers. Tucked in between the 6th grade language arts classes have a mini research project to gain practice in taking notes, researching from print books, and filling out book bibliography worksheets. Soon they will be researching using print and online materials for a major project.
That describes the IMC this week as 7th graders were researching for their career project. It was gratifying to see some many students using Gale Virtual Reference Library, an online database that Downers Grove South shares with us, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, an online source from the federal government, and the Illinois Career Resource Network, a web site providing information about jobs and careers in Illinois. These are all sources that I introduced and recommended to students.
Starting this week the 7th graders are taking over the researching. The project is career speeches. Students have taken an online survey of aptitudes and interests related to careers. Then they selected 3 possibilities for research. Language arts teachers made the final selection to avoid duplication. This past Wednesday I presented the Road Map for Research for this project and students received a copy with all necessary login/password information. Students began their research this week and it continues through next week. We have a wealth of print and online resources for the project, but the public libraries have also been notified.
...is too busy and confusing to keep track of in my mind. I know that 8th grade language arts classes are researching for their persuasive speeches because I gave the Introduction to Research to those classes this Friday. Students will begin their research on Monday at the Reference Tables and continue through the week. IMC computers are being used by 6th grade language arts, 7th grade advanced language arts, and 6th grade health classes at various times throughout the week. Similarly laptops are reserved for 8th grade language arts, 6th grade health, and 7th grade math throughout the week. With all the twists and turns and cross usage, it would be impossible to know what's happening with out the IMC Reservation Books!
ISAT Testing for this year will finish Monday, March 12th, with make-up testing throughout the rest of the week. The IMC returns to a busy schedule with computers reserved on Tuesday for 6th grade language arts, on Wednesday for P.E., on Thursday for 7th grade advance language arts, and Friday for 6th grade language arts and 7th grade advanced language arts. Laptops will be used by 7th grade social studies on Monday and Wednesday, and by 8th grade language arts on Wednesday also. There is 8th grade book checkout on Thursday. The table area has been reserved for 8th grade social studies Monday through Wednesday. On Friday I will give 8th grade language arts students an introduction to research for their persuasive speech project.
The week ahead is very short -- only Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. During that time all grades will be taking the ISAT tests, the Illinois Standard Achievement Tests. Testing occurs during the first three periods of the day. Then the rest of the day will occur in a rotation that ensures that the same periods are not missed every day. So far the IMC has a very quiet schedule -- computers are only reserved on Thursday for the 8th grade math classes. Laptops will be used in 7th grade social studies to continue work on the History Fair projects. This should leave time for Mrs. Wilson to scan the library collection for inventory and for me to continue working on new books. After the very busy schedule this week both on computers and with book checkout (everyone seemed to need a book to read during testing), we librarians will definitely appreciate the quiet of next week.
and/or laptops are: 6th grade Consumer Ed -- 6th & 8th grade Health -- 7 grade Language Arts -- 7th grade Social Studies -- 7th grade Science -- 8th grade Science.
Voting for the 2012 Rebecca Caudill Book Award takes place during the week of February 21st at Lakeview. 6th graders will vote online on Tuesday in their LA/Reading classes. 7th and 8th graders who qualify may vote any time during the week by seeing Miss Hagensee for a ballot. To be eligible to vote students must have read or listened to at least 3 of the 20 nominated book
s. Each student gets to vote for one and only one book -- the book they think is the best. Students do not have to have read the book they vote for. Often students will hear about a great book, but not have had a chance to read it before the voting week. Since we use a secret ballot, no one knows who voted for which book. Friday afternoon the Lakeview top 3 voter-getters will be posted Then the Lakeview tally of all votes will be sent to the state committee and by early March we should know who has won the 2012 Caudill Award.
NoodleBib is a free online bibliography maker, the same one that Downers South uses. With NoodleBib no longer do you spend hours typing a bibliography. Now you fill in the appropriate date fields and the program generates the bibliography with the proper punctuation. Of course you are responsible for correct spelling and capitalization. There is a link to NoodleBib on the Lakeview Library web page and students are welcome to create their own account.
Be careful what you wish for!!! Now that we're back to library business, we are also back to a busy schedule. On Monday 8th grade Language Arts classes begin their Sixties Debates Project with an Introduction to Research and then spend the rest of the week in research mode using print and online resources. Also on Monday 7th grade music classes are using the IMC computers. Monday and Tuesday 8th grade Science has the laptop computers and on Friday 7th grade Social Studies is using the laptops. Meanwhile 7th grade Reading classes have split their book check-out over Monday and Friday. Like I said -- it's busy again!
After several busy weeks with MAP testing and other special projects, next week the IMC gets back to library business again. Computers are reserved for 6th grade Science on Wednesday and 7th grade Social Studies on Friday. The laptops are reserved on Tuesday for 7th grade Social Studies. On Thursday, 6th grade Reading classes will come to select and checkout their third Caudill nominated book. When finished reading that book, 6th graders will be eligible to vote for the 2012 Caudill Award. The IMC will host online voting in late February using the I.P.A.C. system. The tally from that voting will be sent to the state committee and the winner will be announced in early March.
MAP testing has occupied the IMC and the IMC staff all week. With 42 questions in the Reading test and 52 questions in the Math test, it takes many students more than the 40 minutes of a regular class. Also a number of absences delayed some students from finishing their tests. So makeups and students needing more time extended the testing beyond the scheduled 3 days. Checking students schedules and coordinating testing periods took time. Now there are only a very few students who still need to finish and they should be done on Tuesday. That means that next week the IMC gets back to regular business. The computers will be used next week by 8th grade Science, 7th grade Advanced LA/Reading, and 7th grade Social Studies. Yep, it sounds like we're back to normal.
social studies classes. They are beginning research for a Chicago Project that will be entered in the History Fair. These students now have a road map to research which covers the variety of materials Lakeview has that can help with their Chicago project. Starting with a general encyclopedia like World Book Online, students follow that with an I.P.A.C. search for library books, use of the database Gale Virtual Reference Library for reference materials, and then to our two magazine/newspaper databases, EBSCOhost and eLibrary. These various databases are used to stress the importance of accurate information to build a research foundation. Based on some of the sample topics we explored in the presentation, 7th graders have an interesting project to prepare.
