GCS School Library Media News
February 2018
Teresa Sain, Tryon SLMC
Laura Long, Highland SLMC
Library Makeover
Teresa Sain, Tryon SLMC
Break the Bad Book Habit
Everyone has habits, some are good and some are bad. I have noticed that many of my students have bad book habits. At the beginning of the school year, my new sixth graders are constantly asking me for this book or that series that they read last year. Many students ask for a book "just like this one." Then there are the students who will just not read anything but football or ghost stories. You know the ones. I thought if I sort of "forced" them to look at different genres, maybe something else would grab their attention. Many also just pull a book from the shelf and go so I wanted to give them a little reminder about how to choose a good book for themselves. I decided to do a different activity for each of my grade levels. I did Blind Dates with my sixth grade, Speed Dating with a Book with my seventh graders, and a more formal Book Tasting with my 8th graders. I just had to incorporate a little "love" into the activities in honor of February! They were all a success! I was excited to see students break out and try something new and different for them. My favorite comment was "I would have never picked this book if I had just seen it on the shelf." My favorite funny comment: during the book tasting, one 8th grader said, "this book is only half done." It was a lot of fun and I am glad my students enjoyed it! A free bookmark and a piece of candy goes a long way in making them happy and ready to please!
A shout out to Audra Pressley for sharing ideas and handouts and our GCS Print Shop for their very professional work and very low costs!
These ideas work well when you want to introduce a shipment of new books to your students!
Submitted by:
Terri Hoyle, Chavis SLMC
Lots of Learning at Lingerfeldt
Intermediate students at Lingerfeldt Elementary have been learning about coding online and off. Students have participated in “unplugged” activities that required using a language of arrows to give commands to partners for moving across graph paper. Then, students changed from arrows to a coding language called Blockly to give directions to the computer. Students were able to work independently moving at their own pace through learning modules created by Code.org.
First graders are researching animals in the classroom. They will create digital animal posters and attach voice recordings of their collected facts. The posters will be assembled to create a class book (aka Google Slideshow).
Submitted by:
Lisa Vaughn, Lingerfeldt SLMC
Community Libraries
English students from Forestview High School recently visited the Union Road Branch of the Gaston County Public Library. Branch Manager Rene Crump and her staff spent time with 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students sharing information about the WOW Card program and providing a demonstration of the online sources available through NCWise. Students also toured the library and learned about the local programs provided at the Union Road branch, and new or updated library cards were issued to the students. Mrs. Crump will also be visiting other Forestview English classes at the school this spring to provide information about online resources.
Submitted by:
Melissa Heilig, Forestview SLMC
New Books for CES
Over $8000 in new books have been added to our library over the past 2 months. As a result of fundraising for the media center, books were purchased to enhance our collection. Specifically, I focused on replacing and completing several chapter book series, early chapter book series and favorite character everybody books. Also, I focused on some nonfiction titles that included high interested, often sought after titles: sports, animals and biographies. My students are so excited as I finish processing these books. Hopefully, they will be in circulation after we finishing testing later this month.
Melanie Sherrill, Cherryville SLMC
Read-a-Thon Benefits Media Center
MHMS held their annual read-a-thon last Friday, February 2. Students raised money to help the library buy new couches and books. In return, students who raised money got out of class to read in their pajamas. They also had the chance to go through a hot chocolate bar! It was a huge success, raising over $3,000 for the library.
Submitted by:
Audra Pressley, Mt. Holly Middle SLMC
Upcoming Professional Development
NCCBA Voting in Progress
Ida Rankin students are once again voting for their favorite children’s books. We spent the fall semester reading the nominees for the North Carolina Children’s Book Award 2018. All 10 picture books were read aloud to the younger students. These books are consistently school-wide favorites. If you do not have these titles in your library, most are available online through the Gaston County Public Library.
Read alouds for the older students were chosen from the junior book category. This is the first year Rankin has participated at the junior level. Students were required to read or listen to at least 3 books from this category in order to participate. Classes enjoyed A Poem for Peter by Andrea Pinkney, Whoosh! By Chris Barton, Wish by Barbara O’Connor, and The Terrible Two by Jory John and Mac Barnett.
Rankin’s most popular picture book nominee for 2018 was Lion Lessons by Jon Agee. This is a fun, easy reader in which a boy decides to take lessons on becoming a lion. He does not fare well at pouncing, roaring or baring his teeth. However, when faced with a true test of bravery, his leonine training comes through. Since junior books are longer and require more time, we are still in the process of voting. I can’t wait to see what the students choose.
Submitted by:
Holly Williams, Rankin SLMC
School Alumni Gives Back
We would like to thank Mr. David Beam and Hometrust Bank in Cherryville for giving us funding for many new books about American history. Mr. Beam is an alum of Tryon High School and is very dedicated to helping us improve our resources with which to teach the students about history. Mr. Beam has also secured and is providing funding to make sure our 5th grade students will have the opportunity to visit Hart Square in Vale, NC, a recreated village portraying pioneer life in NC. Thank you Mr. Beam and Hometrust Bank!!
http://www.hartsquare.com/the-village/
Submitted by:
Teresa Sain, Tryon SLMC
The Makerspace Movement
We are gearing up for our Makerspace in the Gardner Park media center! I have been periodically ordering supplies from the Scholastic Rewards Catalog, and Gardner Park PTO donated a couple of big boxes of supplies from Oriental Trading!
At our school staff meeting last week, teachers and staff watched a video about makerspaces. They were given time to ask me questions, and I was able to ask them to start saving me cardboard. We are hoping to start working on a #scrappytown this month!
We had our first makerspace day on Monday, January 29th. We made catapults and learned about force and motion. I got some great action shots and a picture of the catapult directions.
If you are thinking about a makerspace, the Scholastic Dollars Catalog actually has a good bit of makerspace supplies! Check it out!
Submitted by:
Summer Kelly, Gardner Park SLMC