The Bears' Den
William Chrisman High School - Fall 2014
Teen Read Week - October 13-17
Who do you think will win the World Series? That was the question we posed to our students during Teen Read Week, October 13-17. The national theme for Teen Read Week was “Turn Dreams into Reality,” so we thought it appropriate to bring the World Series into that theme, because who doesn't want their team to win the World Series?
We put baseball and World Series books in our display case and decorated it with baseball paraphernalia, including baseball bat, baseball, peanuts and Cracker Jacks (yes, they still make them!). Balloons and banners showed the names of the four remaining teams in the playoffs—Royals, Orioles, Cardinals and Giants. Every time students checked out a book, renewed a book, turned in a book or paid an outstanding library obligation, they got to cast a ballot for the team they believed would win the Series.
Voting ended at the end of the week. The Giants received a few votes; the Cardinals received quite a few; the Royals received most of the votes; and the poor Orioles received none. Once the Series is over and we have an official winner, we will draw for prizes from the ballots that were cast for the winning team.
So, now we just have to wait to find out the winner. Who knows? Maybe your dreams will come true!
Library Hours
Monday - Friday
6:50am - 3:30pm
Librarian: Karen Burch
Library Clerk: Lisa Chiles
Confused about All of the Usernames and Passwords?
This is such an online world, it can be confusing keeping all of the usernames and passwords straight. Here is some help for the school log-ins.
Student log-in for a school computer - Username: student number Password: student decides a password of six or more digits, but the default password for most students is their six-digit birth date (example: May 4, 1998 would be 050498).
PowerSchool access for students—exact username and password as their student computer log-in (as described above).
PowerSchool access for parents—assigned through the office. If you do not know yours, contact the WCHS office. Any changes a student makes to his computer log-in/PowerSchool access will not affect the parent’s access--they are totally different usernames and passwords.
Student email address —assigned through the office. Teachers have their students’ email addresses if the students do not know them. They are made up of two numbers, their first and last initials, and two numbers, plus @isdschoolsmail.org.
Example: 22kb94@isdschoolsmail.org.
Student email password—default is “g” plus their student number. Example: g1234567
If any of these are not working correctly, have your student stop by the library for help.
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Need help with research?
Every class in school is required to do some type of research project this year, so it is important to be able to find reliable sources for that research. Teachers may suggest certain websites or places to find information, but it is always important to remember that there are free computerized resources that are accessible to students not only from school, but also away from school.
It is not cost-effective for our library to subscribe to hundreds of newspapers and magazines or to purchase thousands of encyclopedias and reference works for our students to use, but wouldn't it be great if we could? Well, we do, in a way, because all of those items are available to the students in a digitized online format.
If you go to the WCHS library webpage, there are links to databases that have all of these resources. On the Chrisman webpage (http://sites.isdschools.org/williamchrisman), click on “Library Media Center” on the left side of the page, and then look under “Online Resources” in the middle column. The first two links, EBSCO and Discovering, are the best for finding reliable and trustworthy information that can be useful for educational reports and projects.
A search in these resources is very much like a search in Google or other search engines, but the difference is in the results. The Google search results in a list of various websites or blogs, many of which were written by unknown people or were based on inaccurate information; the search results from the databases come directly from previously published books, newspapers and magazines. That means they have built-in reliability and accuracy, both of which are important when conducting educational research.
If students access these databases from a school computer, they can access them directly. If they access these databases away from school, they will need this password: isdschools. Since these are subscription databases that are not available to the general public, it is important that this password not be shared with anyone except the ISD District’s students, staff and parents.
So the next time your student is working on a research project, please encourage him or her to access our databases, instead of trying to plow through the millions of hits from a Google search. The resources will not only be more accurate and reliable, but the project will probably be completed much quicker and result in a better grade.
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Gateway Reader Awards* - Help choose the winner!
TITLE
Article 5 by: Kristen Simmons
Boy 21 by: Matthew Quick
Breaking Beautiful by: Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Burning Blue by: Paul Griffin
Croak by: Gina Damico
Dark Eyes by: William Richter
Don’t Turn Around by: Michelle Gagnon
Every Day by: David Levithan
The Fault in Our Stars by: John Green
The Night She Disappeared by: April Henry
Of Poseidon by: Anna Banks
Revived by: Cat Patrick
Something Like Normal by: Trish Doller
Starters by: Lissa Price
Trafficked by: Kim Purcell
Read at least 3 books from this list by March 1st, 2015 to be eligible to VOTE for your favorite.
Voting Party – March 2015
* Each year, Missouri students in grades 9-12 choose the winner of the award by reading and voting for their favorite book from the list of nominated titles.