February/March in the Library
2017
DMS Battle of the Books 2017
Mystery Books
Upcoming Author Visit!
March Makerspace: Fabricating and Programming
In March we had a two-part Makerspace, inspired by the Dedham Reads Together book choice, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba. The first makerspace activity was designing a windmill using FAB Studio, a program that allows you to design and then send your design to a fabricating machine which will cut it out. Using the windmills, the next step was using Raspberry Pi to program the windmill to spin and turn on a LED bulb. However, we got a little distracted in the process. While learning to use Raspberry Pi, we ended up programming an audio program to play "Jingle Bells"
The Raspberry Pi
Programming "Jingle Bells"
Programming the Mario theme
Classes in the Library
6th
7th
Ms. Cummings' Reading classes were in after February break for Term III book talks. Many students wrote down books in their reading logs so they would know what to read next.
8th
Book Reviews
You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen by Carole Boston Weatherford
I WANT YOU! says the poster of Uncle Sam. But if you’re a young black man in 1940, he doesn’t want you in the cockpit of a war plane. Yet you are determined not to let that stop your dream of flying.
So when you hear of a civilian pilot training program at Tuskegee Institute, you leap at the chance. Soon you are learning engineering and mechanics, how to communicate in code, how to read a map. At last the day you’ve longed for is here: you are flying!
From training days in Alabama to combat on the front lines in Europe, this is the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the groundbreaking African-American pilots of World War II. In vibrant second-person poems, Carole Boston Weatherford teams up for the first time with her son, artist Jeffery Weatherford, in a powerful and inspiring book that allows readers to fly, too.
- From Goodreads.com
All Heart: My Hard-Fought Journey to the Top of the Soccer World by Carli Lloyd
But there was a time when Carli almost quit soccer. She struggled with doubts and low confidence. In All Heart, adapted from When Nobody Was Watching specifically for younger readers, Carli tells the full inspiring story of her journey to the top of the soccer world--an honest, action-packed account that takes readers inside the mind of a hardworking athlete.
-From Goodreads.com
When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin
Everyone knows that the Emperor wants something called the Luminous Stone That Lights the Night. Determined to have her grandmother returned, Pinmei embarks on a journey to find the Luminous Stone alongside her friend Yishan, a mysterious boy who seems to have his own secrets to hide.
Together, the two must face obstacles usually found only in legends to find the Luminous Stone and save Pinmei's grandmother--before it's too late.
A fast-paced adventure that is extraordinarily written and beautifully illustrated, When the Sea Turned to Silver is a masterpiece companion novel to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky.
- From Goodreads.com
Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart
Because Jonathan has done something terrible. And he's willing to accept whatever punishment he has coming.
Just as he's getting used to his new situation, however, a freak accident leaves the troubled boys of Slabhenge without any adult supervision. Suddenly the kids are free, with an entire island to themselves. But freedom brings unexpected danger. And if Jonathan can't come to terms with the sins of his past and lead his new friends to safety . . . then every boy on the island is doomed.
-From Goodreads.com