LC News for March
2016
And the Monarch winner for McAuliffe School is...
Bluestem Award Program Ending Soon...
Drop-in Voting: March 4 between 8:05 and 11:00 a.m.
This is for students who have read at least four of the current year’s Bluestem books. Please check the list that will magically appear in your mailbox. If there is a question, please send the student to see Karen. The state winner will be announced on March 18.
Your students can keep reading and earning cheesy prizes through April 29. Students who have read all twenty Bluestem titles get to pick out 2 paperbacks or 1 hard cover from next year's list in May.
PARCC Testing - March 17-31
Teacher To Do List:
- Test your login now. Bookmark the website.
- Sign up in one of the labs so students can practice navigating in a sample testing session. During the actual test, you cannot share how to navigate or use the tools.
- Read the manual. Learn how the test works. Check out this video that someone put together to see it in action (although you will be on the "blue" PARCC page, not the brown training page): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0eJVmpQmiM
- Testing: Bring your laptop, script/manual, student test tickets, pencils, and headphones. Students can also bring a book.
- Makeups: These will be limited (to the empty spaces in the schedule - below). Students you sign up to take a makeup should come with their test ticket. Be sure to collect it when they return.
- Please give Karen a list of any students who will be testing in the Read 180 room and/or need to be at a table on a laptop (whether you are scheduled for the upstairs or downstairs lab).
**The iPads may be needed for PARCC testing.**
If you have extra kleenex and wipes, we could use them.
Battle of the Books!
Teams will be announced on March 11. Who gets to be on the teams? It goes by how many Bluestem books each student reads. We take the top 12 Bluestem readers from each grade level. In the case of a tie, we will draw a name. The Battle will take place on April 12 at 12:45 p.m.
Learning Center Events/Closures
This list will be updated through the end of the year.
March 8 - Deadline for students to be considered for Battle of the Books
March 11 - Battle of the Books teams announced
March 17-31 - PARCC testing - LC CLOSED
April 4-8 - Spring Break
April 11-14 National Library Week
April 12 - Battle of the Books Assembly (grades 3-5), 12:45 p.m. - Commons
April 15-22 - Buy One, Get One Free Book Fair
April 27 - Birthday Books
May 2-6 - Last week of checkouts
May 9-13 - MAP testing - LC CLOSED
May 20 - Deadline to return all books
May ? - 5th grade Science Assessment - LC CLOSED
May 23-27 - No checkouts; computer labs open; Karen & Debi do inventory
May 31-June 2 - LC Closed
Team-Up Calendar
- Please consider your iPad needs and book the bare minimum so everyone gets their fair share.
- During PARCC, we may need the iPads.
- If you have signed up for recurring iPad use and are able to share occasionally, please change your calendar color to dark green.
- Computer lab time will be limited for the rest of the year due to testing.
- Lab priority must be in support of research/information literacy projects and keyboarding. If we need to fit them in, you may be asked to give up some of the sessions where students practice drills (for example, math or spelling).
- Normally, the lab is available to book 6 weeks out, but if you are trying to fit in research projects, go ahead and book through the rest of the year.
Upgrade Woes
With the "upgrade" to our computer labs to ready them for PARCC, many apps that were on the dock before are no longer there, but that doesn't mean they are unavailable. Here's how to direct your students to find them and install them on the dock:
- Click on "Go".
- Click on "Applications".
- Scroll down until you find the app you are looking for.
- Click and drag it to the dock. Wait until it settles into place before you release the click.
If you are unable to position the app you need on the dock, you can always look it up each time by clicking on the magnifying glass in the top right corner of the computer and type in its name.
Printing
Every single student login will need to have the printers set up when they try to print the first time.
- Select "print". You'll see the message, "No printer selected".
- Click the arrows to the right.
- Choose "Nearby Printers"
- Color Printing: Add K.Siwak.
- Black Ink Printing: CM Loft Lab P2055dn (upstairs) or CM Media Center Lab P2055dn (downstairs).
EMGames are no longer available.
SumDog: It looks like students can now login using Safari.