Celebrate National Donut Day 

The Center of Everything

by Linda Urban

What better way to start off the day than with a Skype visit from the wonderful Linda Urban?  The creative writing class was so excited to meet a real, live author.  They all anxiously gathered round the computer as we waited for Ms. Urban to Skype call us.  Ready, Set, Go!  She is calling! She is on the screen! We all rush to say hello at once.  There she is...a real, live author.  The students all have their questions ready and anxiously await their turn to talk to her.  

Her first question is,  "Do you have your donuts???"  "Yes, we do!" everyone chanted as we see Ms. Urban hold hers up on the screen.  Ms. Urban's publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has graciously provided donuts for the entire class.  We are so glad the protagonist of The Center of Everything lives in the fictional town of  Bunning, New Hampshire.  Bunning, as it turns out, is the home of the modern day donut. 

Each student had the opportunity to ask questions and personally talk with Ms. Urban.  "Wow", they say after it is over, "she is really nice." Yes, I think, yes, she is really nice. Not only did Ms. Urban take the time to visit with each student and answer their questions, but she told funny stories about her writing. She gave the students more than she knows this morning. She encouraged those high school students to keep on writing and not give up.  As they left, every one of them was excited! How often do high school students get super excited about writing? I think she gave them a wondrous gift that they will have forever.  Thank you, Ms. Urban!  

National Donut Day is June 7, 2013.  Why not celebrate with The Center of Everything and a donut?

Jet Off to Space with a Good Book!

Library Lady rocketed into the lunchroom to check out books to all her amazing high school students. The students love dystopian novels, so I took this opportunity to promote all the cool futuristic books in the library.  What was at the top of the list?  

• The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth is still the most popular series in the library this month. Students are still excited about this series and cannot wait until October for the third installment.  
• Feed by M T Anderson is a popular read set in the future where most people have a computer implant in their head to control their environment.
• Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky has students wondering how they would date in the future. In the year 2060, when people hardly ever leave the security of their houses, and instead do everything online, even dating, Madeline Freeman, the seventeen year old daughter of the man who created the national digital school attended by all citizens, is wooed by a group of radicals who are trying to unplug.

• MILA 2.0  by Debra Driza is a tale of a sixteen year old who discovers she is not who she thinks she is. She is on the run from the CIA and a rogue intelligence group. "Who is she?" or more the more troubling question is "What is she becoming?".
• Frozen by Robin Wasserman is book one in the Cold Awakening Trilogy.  Lia, involved in an accident that should have killed her, wakes to find her wealthy parents have paid for her to have an experimental procedure that makes her a mech, one of a select group of people given mechanical bodies that never die or age, and though she tries to return to her old life, she finds nothing is the same, and is soon drawn into a group of mechs and begins to see the limitless possibilities of her new body.

Nothing is cooler than checking out a futuristic book from your favorite robot librarian!

Do you want to be a crime scene investigator?

John Doe, a frequent library patron, was found at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 30th in the library by Mrs. Cooper.  There is no evidence of foul play, but there is an ongoing investigation into his death.  Come by the library and use your forensic skills to solve our mysterious death. 

In collaboration with our science department, we have created a mock crime scene in the library.  We have QR code clues, book clues, and many other hints for the most observant students.  This all started with a simple idea.  Nikki D. Robertson posted a picture of a forensic book display, and that set my mind to thinking.  One of our creative biology teachers asked, "Why don't you do that?"  I thought, why not?  So we decided to create our own interactive crime scene.  Students received a bookmark with their first QR code clue and are now investigating the mysterious death of John Doe. 

School Lunch Lady Superhero Day!

Jarrett J. Krosoczka is honoring lunch ladies around the nation on May 3, 2013.  Cafeteria workers play an important role in our children's lives and rarely get recognition for their hard work.  Take this opportunity to say, "Thank You!" to your school lunch lady.  For great ideas and free printables visit a special website Krosoczka created just for this event School Lunch Lady Superhero Day!  At our high school, each lunch lady will receive an apron that students, staff, and administrators have signed to show their appreciation.    Let's all show our cafeteria workers that they ROCK!!!

Poem In Your Pocket Day!

April is national poetry month! Let's celebrate with a poem in your pocket on April 18th. My students and I are busy creating gigantic pockets for every language arts classroom. We are going to to stuff the pockets with favorite poems.  The students loved going through the poetry books and picking out great poems to use. They chose poems by Langston Hughes, Gary Soto, Shel Silverstein, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Edna St. Vincent Millay just to name a few.  We are also going to give every teacher on campus a poem pertaining their interests or subject they teach along with some sweets! Our language arts teachers are excited to get their pockets and share great poems with the students. For extra information and poems ready to print check out http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406 

Ready for an App Smackdown?

 

 

On Tech Tuesdays and Thursdays, I share tech tools with the teachers and staff at our high school. Yesterday, was our app smackdown. Have you ever thought there are so many great educational apps, but I have so little time to spend researching them?  I created a list.ly to share our apps.  It is a great site to curate information.   I am always amazed at the great apps that are FREE.  Our science teachers love the Virtual Heart and 3D Cell Stain.  Have you viewed The Raven iPad app? It is well worth your time.  One of our teachers stated that he would have nightmares after seeing it!   The California Science Academy has a virtual Penguins app. It allows you to view their penguin habitat in real time.  TinkerBox is a physics app that allows viewers to use levers  and pulleys to create new inventions. Do you want to control your students' iPads and tablet screens as they view your presentation?  Idea Flight and Xavier allow teachers to show a presentation to students and control the slides at the same time. We have used these apps in an English class, and they worked perfectly. Students could not rush ahead or lag behind.  Need Social Studies apps? National Geographic Today, European Exploration, The Presidency, and History Line are just a few of my favorite apps at the moment. Need math help? Try Algebra Touch and Quick Graph. Next, I have to mention Chirp. Instantly share pictures and links just by putting your device close to another and chirping!  I would be remiss if I did not mention Aurasma as well.  This augmented reality app is extremely cool.  Tag images and have them appear virtually!  There are too many great apps to mention them all here in this short post so please go to my app smackdown list and explore!

ReadBox

Instead of RedBox, how about a ReadBox?  No charge for rental of books!  You can keep them for two weeks, and then you have an option to renew them.  We have the latest bestsellers.  Want to hear a summary of the book or view the booktrailer? Just scan the qr code for the book you are interested in reading!  We have free in library pick up and delivery. Did I mention we have free checkout?  Our books can improve your vocabulary, reading comprehension and creativity. Stop by the library today!

The students have enjoyed scanning the codes and viewing booktrailers. We also recorded students reading summaries of books using Vocaroo. We created a qr code from the link and posted it on the ReadBox beside the corresponding book. Have you tried Vocaroo?  It is so easy to use! Need something new? Make a ReadBox for your school!