The Phoenix 411
It's About Information...
Time to Renovate!
Pike Township middle school media programs, including NAPA, have been busy this fall with the early stages of media center renovations. When finished, our media center will feature a more "open" design, with less shelving, more technology, MakerSpace areas, and collaborative student work spaces.
Unfamiliar with MakerSpaces? Check this out:
http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/a-librarians-guide-to-makerspaces/
Over the summer, carpet was replaced and walls were painted. Old furniture was removed, including the circulation desk and the tables housing computers. Sometime in 2016, we will have a new circulation desk and other furniture in place.
Even though we are currently in a transition phase, all our normal student and teacher services are available. Students were checking out books on day 1 in August and every day since. We have computers available for research and other student work. In addition, we continue to collaborate with teachers on all sorts of research projects.
Everyone is eager to see and utilize the "new" media center, scheduled to debut in August 2016.
Infographics - Not Your Parents' Posterboard Project
What are infographics? In one concise sentence, "infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge". This sentence, and much more information about infographics, can be found here: http://mashable.com/category/infographics/
The process of creating infographics starts with locating and gathering information from a variety of print and electronic resources. Students must analyze and select the "best", most interesting knowledge to feature in their infographic. Finally, students use an online tool (Piktochart usually) to create a visually appealing infographic that tells an engaging story about their topic.
Sixth grade social studies teacher Mrs. Traphagan was the first NAPA teacher to experiment with infographics last year. This year, her pre-AP students, as well as Mr. Mickens' pre AP students, created infographics comparing and contrasting U.S. and Canadian governments.
Currently, 6th grade English Language Arts students in Miss Montgomery, Miss Lundin, Mrs. Jackson, and Mrs. Thompson's classes are creating infographics about natural and man-made disasters.
If you haven't done so already, take a few minutes to check out your 6th grader's infographic project to see some of the innovative things happening at New Augusta!
Three Early Leaders
With that said, here are the three most popular titles at NAN so far in 2015-16:
A Child Called It - Dave Pelzer - 29 circulations
Sisters - Raina Telgemeier - 21 circulations
Divergent - Veronica Roth - 20 circulations
Nothing against Dave Pelzer, but I would LOVE to see someone take the most popular title away from him one year. How about this year?
Keep promoting the love of reading with our students and have a terrific Thanksgiving!