GCS School Library Media News
December 2015
98,896 Books Checked Out in Gaston County in November!
W.A. Bess Hosts First Storytelling Festival
The W.A. Bess library enjoyed their first storytelling festival. Featured tellers were Sara Miller from the Gaston County Public Library and professional storytellers, Melvin Burton (dad to Lowell Elementary librarian Melanie Burton) and Robin Berkman. All 575 students were treated to an hour session of storytelling during the day by grade level.
Lessons in the library will reflect the importance of storytelling in our everyday lives such as giving a presentation or going for a job interview and the ability to articulate well. Storytelling is also useful in education as a way to break down the meaning of text, find important keywords when conducting research or to pontificate on a particular point of view.
Submitted by Julie Shatterly, W.A. Bess Elem SLMC
What's New at Mount Holly Middle!
Middle School Teamwork
Submitted by Audra Pressley, Mt. Holly Middle SLMC
Edie Crook Presents at National Conference
Reader Reviews Rock!
Submitted by Melissa Heilig, Forestview High SLMC
Serafina and the Black Cloak
Sue Bell's 5th grade classes at W.A.Bess have been enjoying Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beaty as a read aloud. It's a historical fiction fantasy story about a young girl who secretly lives in the bowels of the Biltmore House. It's rather scary in a few places but this has served to further snare the students' attention to the piece. They are actually learning about the "behind the scenes" maneuvers that go into maintaining a home on the scale of Biltmore as well as a very entrancing glimpse of time back in the late 1800's and early 1900's.
Young readers who have especially enjoyed The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis or The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood would enjoy this tale but don't discount the possibility of the story drawing in readers who have not tried this genre before!
Here is a great book trailer about Serafina: https://youtu.be/uFZvSzfnm6I
Submitted by Julie Shatterly, W.A. Bess Elementary SLMC
Pleasant Ridge Happenings
Pleasant Ridge's Fall Book Fair (October 30- November 5, 2015) sold $1,861.36!
Golden Ticket Found at Sadler Elementary!
Have you seen this on Pinterest? https://www.pinterest.com/pin/481463016394244948/
I modified this as an AR incentive.
(feel free to save a copy and edit for your own use)
You can make them without the AR stipulations like those shown on Pinterest, but I wanted to make it an incentive to read those less circulated books. I ran a Destiny report of the least circulated books from the past calendar year in Fiction, Easy, and "Nonfiction", and wrote the titles of the book on the back of each Golden Ticket. I tucked the tickets away in each of the books, but had them peeking out the top so students could actually find these "golden ticket" books. The kids love finding them and it gives them an opportunity to read something other than Captain Underpants :)
Submitted by Nicole Pollard, Sadler Elementary SLMC
School Library Journal's Best of 2015
Picture Book Titles
Middle Grade Titles
Young Adult Titles
Nonfiction Titles
Submitted by Julie Shatterly, W.A. Bess Elementary SLMC
World View 2016
Submitted by Ann Davis, Pleasant Ridge Elementary SLMC