Monday, December 15, 2014

YES!!! Dorling Kindersley! DK! DK!

I am excited about our recent acquisition of Dorling Kindersley illustrated reference books. A stalwart in informational publishing, these eye-catching, fact-laden texts are available for student perusal, check-out and research.


Friday, October 31, 2014

Book Fair Results!

Thanks to everyone for supporting our Little Shop of Stories book fair earlier this month. With our earnings, we were able to purchase all of these beauties - and more! Students were involved in helping me choose most of the titles. I feel fortunate we are able to provide such great and "new" books for our students!


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Harry Potter Still Going Strong

Since the debut novel's release over 17 years ago, the Harry Potter series still draws die-hard fans. Our media center has several copies of all the volumes, which remain in constant rotation. Yesterday, an interesting moment: a couple of random students found themselves reading HP volumes in our reading area during recess. The conversations began, others joined in, and then "Accio!", an impromptu Harry Potter discussion group was formed. The group plans to meet during recess twice a week to discuss the books and films. 

  

Thursday, October 2, 2014

LSOS Book Fair: Oct 15 - 21

ANCS Middle Campus will host a book fair this month with Little Shop of Stories (click link to check out the impressive upcoming author events).

We had our first book fair with LSOS last spring, and it was a great success. We are proud to partner with this fantastic community bookstore to encourage reading among our students, while earning materials for our shelves. LSOS will provide a diverse selection of books geared to middle-grade readers. Please come out and join us!

Wed/Oct 15 - 8:00 - 2:30
Thu/Oct 16 - 8:00 - 4:30
Fri/Oct 17 - 8:00 - 4:30 *Grandparents & Special Friends Day
Mon/Oct 20 - 8:00 - 6:00
Tue/Oct 21 - 8:00 - 6:00




Monday, September 29, 2014

Little Green Booktruck

The Little Green Booktruck is a fabulous new acquisition to the media center. Handy, rugged and a great multi-tasker, we love it!




Thursday, September 11, 2014

Let's Get Ready to READ!

It is Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl time! Last year, ANCS Middle Campus competed for the second time in this state-wide Jeopardy-like quiz competition for super readers. Preparation is intense, but fun, and the competition is VERY EXCITING!! I would like to extend the invitation to our students to participate in this state-wide event. Here are the details:

    • Sign up in the media center with Ms. Linahan
    • Must read 10 out of the 20 books by Nov 3, 2014
    • Must submit a 10 trivia questions for each of the 10 books you read by Ms. Linahan by Nov 3. (Written or shared via Google Drive)
    • Attend meetings 1x per week with Ms. Linahan and other team members for practice. This will begin in November. Practice days TBD.
    • Commit to becoming an expert on several assigned books and helping create the trivia questions.
    • Commit to attending competition dates. Note to parents: set aside 2 - 5 hours depending on the level of competition we attend:
      • Local: TBD (probably late January 2015)
      • Regional: TBD
      • Divisional: TBD
  • The team consists of 5 players and up to 5 alternates.
  • Final order of the team is determined by attendance, trivia knowledge and sportsmanship.
  • You may purchase your own books, borrow from the local library, or use the copies in the media center.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Great Author Event Nearby


The author of Wonder will be visiting Atlanta soon....and nearby! Join Little Shop of Stories at Renfroe Middle School for this great opportunity to listen to the creator of “Auggie”.

Per LSOS Website:

R.J. Palacio Author Event!!!

Thursday, September 25th | 6:30 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30)
We love Wonder by R.J. Palacio so much that we gave it The Little Award (Little Shop’s annual award for the book we feel gets kids most excited about reading) in 2013. SinceWonder was published, we have sold hundreds of copies, and we know -- based on your stories -- that hundreds of lives have been changed by this beautiful and inspiring book about a boy who looks different and the classmates he interacts with. We are THRILLED that R.J. Palacio is coming to visit us, and we hope the whole community will come out for this special event, so we’re having it at Renfroe Middle School to be able to fit all of you! You don’t want to miss this memorable evening! Renfroe Middle School is located at 220 West College Avenue in Decatur."









Friday, September 5, 2014

Student Google Drive

http://tinyurl.com/driveatlncs

Students now have the ability to access a school-based Google Drive account. Per Mr. Boardman: 

Currently, our school is using Google Apps for Education and have created private, online storage accounts for all students.  This may be more familiar as Google Drive for storing files and creating documents.  However, the resemblance of a student’s username as an email address does not imply that they have a “school” email account, they can not access email through this account.

The link above will get students to the login page. We have discussed the login process with students.

Contact Mr. Boardman or me if you have questions.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Let the Research Begin!

It has been a busy week in the media center! Humanities classes from all grades came in for an "Introduction to Research" class. Students took notes through a presentation (example) and then 6th and 7th participated in a media center research quest (example). Students were also provided a list of tips to help evaluate websites. It was exciting to see students dive in and take ownership of our shared space and resources. I saw quite a bit of peer feedback and guidance, which is a fantastic win-win scenario.

My goal is two-fold: to provide a foundation of critical thinking and research skills that will carry forward throughout the years of higher education, but also to instill a sense of awareness and discernment when navigating the Internet during personal time. Many of our students have grown up with immediate access to online information, but that does not mean they have been taught to navigate the territory responsibly. And even with the tools they acquire, it is important that we - the teachers, the parents, the care-givers - are nearby to guide and advise. But there is the oft-heard comment, "That child knows more about the computer than I do!" As the digital age expands and information becomes even more prevalent in multiple ways, I feel it is important to keep up. It may seem overwhelming - and it is. No one can keep up with all the "tricks" and developments at the rate of change upon us. But I encourage everyone to embrace "lifelong learning" and give technology a chance. Even if just here and there. Even if the idea of a well-worn book and a remote island always win.

This article contains an extremely useful infographic for brushing up on your Google search skills. Be sure to scroll to the bottom and learn to impress your friends with "easter eggs" such as the Google Barrel Roll or an impromptu Atari Breakout game via Google Images.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

New Magazine Rack

Check out our slick-wheeled, fancy magazine display rack! It is a useful addition to the media center. Now students can easily peruse some of the periodicals to which we subscribe:

Boys Life
Cricket
Discover
Faces: People Places & Cultures
Girls Life
International Artist
J-14: Just for Teens
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Teen Vogue
Time Magazine
Wired





Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Welcome Back, ANCS Students and Families!

Welcome back, everyone! I am thrilled to begin my 3rd year at ANCS and am looking forward to seeing all the new and returning families. Some of my goals this year include the acquisition of more informational texts relating to the curriculum, fiction novels on social justice, and as always, the helpful and interesting recommendations from our students.

Book fairs, book clubs, Reading Bowl, and more….I look forward to the best year yet!

Library volunteers are always welcome. There is a perpetual need for shelving, processing materials, book room maintenance, cleaning or minding the circulation desk. Please email me if you would like to help.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Our Students Vote!

The Georgia Children's Book Award votes are in from our students! I love this award as STUDENTS have the voice and make the choice. I submitted our entries and we shall soon see which book is the state-wide winner. These books were our top picks out of over 50 votes:  

Winner: Wonder (21 votes)
2nd place: The Apothecary (13 votes)
3rd place: A Tale Dark and Grimm (7 votes)




Wednesday, April 30, 2014

New Encyclopedias!! Thanks, PTCA!!

Ms. Linahan wants to thank the PTCA for the mini-grant which has provided brand spankin' new, shrink-wrapped 2014 World Book Encyclopedias to the Middle Campus Media Center! Even the students are excited - heartily cracking them open and taking deep sniffs of the new paper. Updated entries provide a valuable addition to our print reference collection.



Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Georgia Children's Book Awards - Time to Vote!

The polls are open for students across Georgia to vote for their favorite book in the GA Children's Book Award nominations. This is one of the few awards chosen by students, which makes it so relevant. If your child has not yet voted or still wants to read some of the nominees, we have until April 25!

Thus far, it seems our students are big fans of The Apothecary and Wonder. I have a hard time choosing, but really loved A Dogs's Way Home, Summer on the Moon, and Wonder.

Who will win?!?!


Google Docs Add-ons

Our 8th graders are digging deep into their Civil Rights research project and I shared with them the directions for using the new thesaurus and EasyBib apps available within Google Drive - really good stuff!! I read constantly on teacher/librarian sites the differing opinions on how much time is spent on the foundations of citation and at what point we take advantage of technology and let students focus on making deeper inquiries with their research. Nevertheless, our 8th graders have experience with the nuances of citation style and are allowed to use EasyBib. We encourage students to utilize Google Docs because of its ease and convenience. These add-ons are just   another way to make work more streamlined.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

I would like to personally thank the six students who read, practiced and studied for another great Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl experience! We participated in both the APS and Metro-area competitions and are looking forward to the announcement of the 2014-15 Georgia Children's Book Award Nominees. Thanks, Reading Wolves (and parents and supportive staff)!!


The team poses with new buzzers (thanks PTCA!) and some of the reading material.



Monday, January 6, 2014

A very heartfelt thanks from Ms. Linahan to the PTCA and community members who supported the Middle Campus Media Center during the Barnes and Noble book fair. I am happy to see some oft-requested and award-winning books on our new arrivals shelf. Here is a sampling of some of our new titles: