Innovation Center
May 2019
That's a Wrap!
After many successful interviews at Warrington, eighth grader Adia Payne spent her Good Friday interviewing a veteran during StoryCorps' mobile tour stop in Pensacola this past April. One of StoryCorps' initiatives is Military Voices, and Adia spent forty-five minutes interviewing a veteran about his career with the Air Force. We will continue to record interviews in the StoryLab next school year with new students.
Poetry Month Celebration
April is celebrated annually as poetry month, and Ms. Loerch's ELA class read the book Rhyme Schemer. Rhyme Schemer is written by K.A. Holt and is about a 7th-grade bully, Kevin, who finds solace in writing poetry, specifically blackout poetry. The book is written in free verse and includes many of Kevin's blackout poems. Ms. Loerch's class had the opportunity to Skype with K.A. Holt and ask her questions about her writing. Five students won copies of her book House Arrest. K.A. Holt's free-verse novel Knockout will be on the SSYRA list next year.
Battle of the Books
Eighth graders Savannah Gant and Adia Payne represented Warrington at the annual district Battle of the Books on May 4th at Washington High School. Students were quizzed on questions from the fifteen Sunshine State books. Although they did not win, the two friends had fun competing together.
Full STEAM Ahead
The West Florida Public Library STEAM librarians visited the innovation center recently to showcase some of their STEAM technology. Mr. Loerch's students tried out the Oculus Gos (virtual reality headsets), Cubelets (programmable robots), and WeDo 2.0 (Lego robotics). The STEAM event was a big hit with students, and the STEAM librarians will return next school year for all classes to try different STEAM tools. The West Florida Public Library offers free lunches for students Monday-Friday and has different STEAM programs throughout the summer.
New Technology
Thanks to a STEAM grant from Krystal, new VR and AR tools were recently added to the innovation center. Purchases include an Insta360 One X camera, fifteen iPads with the Logitech Crayon, Merge Cube VR headset with iPod Touch, & an Oculus Go. We look forward to your classes trying virtual and augmented reality next school year.
Year in Review
- 837 new books were added to the library collection this school year.
- 4,901 books circulated this school year which is a 15% increase in circulation from last school year.
- 3,092 students visited the innovation center for various programming.
- 165 classes visited the innovation center throughout the year.
- $8,390 in grant funds were spent towards new technology, books, and programming in the innovation center.
Visit the innovation center!
“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” —Sam Keen
Email: sratliff@escambia.k12.fl.us
Website: https://wms-ecsd-fl.schoolloop.com/MediaCenter
Location: 450 S Old Corry Field Rd, Pensacola, FL, United States
Phone: 850-453-4770 230