Media Center

Important End of the Year Dates

The end of the year is rapidly approaching. The Media Center will be closing for student checkout in just a couple of weeks!  Here are some dates you will want to be aware of.

Friday May 2 -- Last day for student checkout

Friday May 9 --All student books are due!
                          Last day to take Accelerated Reader Tests!!

Thursday & Friday --May 8 & 9 -- Scholastic Half-Price Book Fair

     Classes who have all their books returned by the May 9 deadline will be treated to popsicles, compliments of the Media Center.  Please help your child contribute to this goal by having their library book returned on time.  Lost books must be paid for, and refunds will be issued if the book is then found
     Our school goal this year has been to earn 14,000 Accelerated Reader points.   We are just about there!  With 3 weeks to go, we have achieved 90% of that goal.  A schoolwide celebration is planned if we are able to reach 14,000 points.
     Stock up on books for summer reading!  For 2 days only, on May 9 & 10, we will have a Scholastic Book Fair, and all items will be 50% off!  We will be open from 7:30 until 4:00 each day.
     Summer reading suggestion lists will go home in your child's report cards.  These lists provide some great, grade appropriate suggestions to keep your kids reading this summer.  There is also a reading log so that your child can keep track of books read over the summer.  Students returning these lists in the fall will participate in a Reading Celebration.  Summer reading lists will also be available on the Nicholson website.

    

Countdown to CRCT!

     Media Center lessons will continue to focus on research and study skills in preparation for CRCT testing which will take place after Spring Break, beginning on April 23.

     Lessons are designed using our student response system, Beyond Question. Four of these systems were purchased last year by the Nicholson Foundation and are available for use by all classrooms.  Students enjoy the ability to be fully engaged in the learning process using a remote to submit answers to questions. Teachers and students have the ability to see how many correct and incorrect answers were entered for each question.  This then provides the opportunity to provde immediate reinforcement of the concept if several students get the wrong answer.  Ask your child how he or she likes using "the remotes" in the media center!

     We use this system to review the student's knowledge of the various reference resources such as the dictionary, atlas, and encyclopedia.  Incorporated into the lessons are test-taking strategies that are useful in all testing situations.

Get Ready for a Reading Road Trip! The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to Nicholson!

The Scholastic Book Fair will be held at Nicholson next week in the Media Center!  We will be open during the day, Monday through Friday, and will be open Tuesday and Thursday evenings for special family events! 

Hours are as follows:
Monday thru Thursday:
7:30 AM until 4:00 PM
Friday:
7:30 AM until NOON
                     Family Night                  
                 Tuesday, March 4         
                    6:00 - 8:00 PM

Reading Road Trip Family Literacy Night
               Thursday, March 6
              6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

This is a great time to stock up on books for Spring Break reading!  Please come by and checkout the great selection of books!

Taking Notes 101

We have just completed our lessons on note-taking.  Each grade level worked with a non-fiction book practicing how to effectively locate relevant information within the text, and transform that information into brief notes in their own words.  We discussed copyright and the importance of not just copying the author's words.  Students were made aware of the consequences of plagairism in their future school years.  This is a skill that takes a lot of practice!  It isn't always easy to decide which information is important, much less put it into your own words!  In many classrooms, teachers are working on this skill as well in preparation for upcoming research projects.

The Dewey Decimal System --What is it, and why do we need it?

                                   In the classroom, many of our students are learning about Informational Writing--taking information they have acquired from various sources, and restating that information--in their own words--in a variety of literary formats.  When students come to the Media Center to look for a non-fiction book as a source of information, they need to understand how these books are organized on the shelves.  This is when it is important to understand how the Dewey Decimal Classification system works.  Melvil Dewey was a student assistant in the library at Amherst College when he created this method for organizing non-fiction books.  Instead of organizing them on the shelf by the author's last name like the fiction books, he thought it would make much more sense to organize them by subject instead.  This way, when looking for information about a particular subject, all the books would be located together.  He assigned a number to each subject---from .001 through 999.9---so these books are arranged numerically on the shelves according to their subject.  Using actual books from the Media Center, students participated in an activity that demonstrated how the Dewey Decimal system works, focusing on such popular subjects as pets, wild animals, sports, and jokes/riddles.  We also used the computer to look at Destiny, our library catalog, to demonstrate how to effectively search for a non-fiction book.

Media Lessons-- Informational Resources

Beginning in January, students will have a series of lessons teaching information seeking skills.  We will cover a wide variety of print sources including encyclopedias, atlases, the thesaurus, dictionaries and almanacs.  During the fall we learned about the various information sources available online through the Cobb Virtual Library.  Now we will focus on print sources.  Although most of us rely on the Internet for information these days, students need to have the basic skills necessary to seek information from print sources as well.  Computers are not always available!  These lessons will also prepare students for questions they may encounter on the CRCT tests in the spring.

Media Lessons December 3 - December 14

We spent the last two weeks doing "Book Talks".  There are so many good books here in our Media Center, and it seems sometimes that students get in a rut checking out the same series or author.  We wanted to introduce them to some favorites that have been around for quite some time, as well as newer titles that they may not be aware of.  The students were also reminded that most of our books have summaries on the cover, and that it is a good idea to read these summaries to determine whether the book is of any interest to them.  This lesson also helped to refresh their minds that our fiction books are shelved in alphabetical order by the author's last name.  It was fun to see their excitement when discovering some of our Media Center's hidden treasures!

Media Center Lessons October 29-November 20

      If you have ever struggled to find appropriate informational websites for your child, the Cobb Virtual Library has a solution for you!  Students in 3rd through 5th are learning about all the wonderful information and fun activities available through this resource.  Our lesson begins with a demonstration about the difficulties students might have finding accurate and age-appropriate websites when searching for information.  We discuss that fact that the Internet is geared toward adults, and that the information found there is not always reliable!  Students discover that information found on Wikipedia may not be entirely accurate because anyone can contribute to the articles. We also visit a couple of very authentic looking websites that are totally bogus! (Ask your child about the Northwestern Tree Octopus!)    
     We then cover the various resources available within the Cobb Virtual Library such as World Book Online, Britannica, and Grolier encyclopedias.   The Cobb Virtual Library is funded through our Nicholson Media budget and can be accessed through the Nicholson website. The site is password protected, so during their lesson, students are receiving an instruction sheet that includes the necessary passwords.  We encourage you to take a look at this valuable resource and explore it with your child.  You will be amazed at not only the information available, but the educational games and activities as well. 
    Passwords are provided through the Media Center. Please contact us if you have any questions!   

Media Center Lessons October 1 - 19

In our last lesson, students learned that our online circulation system, Destiny, can give them information about books they are looking for, including a description, the Accelerated Reading Level, whether the book is checked out, and its location in the Media Center.  This week the students have been testing their ability to actually locate the book on the shelves.   Students in 2nd through 5th grades are participating in a Media Scavenger Hunt.  Classes are divided into two teams who compete relay style to see which team can locate their books first and unscramble the letters found in those books.  It's not the quietest of our lessons!

Kindergarten students have been checking out their first books!  After 3 lessons covering media center rules, procedures, and book care, students headed to the shelves to find a great book!  This is a special moment to check out their first book on their own.  We hope you will have the opportunity to take a moment to read with them and see what they are checking out!  Students may keep their book for up to two weeks, but can return it anytime before that to exchange it for a new book.  Kindergarten classes usually come in weekly for storytime and checkout.

First Grade students have been learning about how books are organized in the library.  In the 'E' section, where they check out most of their books, the books are organized alphabetically by the author's last name.  As we read our weekly stories, students identify where that author's book would be located on the shelf.

Coming October 22-26, the Scholastic Book Fair!  Details to follow soon!

Searching for the perfect Accelerated Reader book? Try Quizlist Interactive!

Now you can help your child find the perfect Accelerated Reader book, right from the comfort of your own home--or anywhere you have Internet access.  Using Quizlist Interactive, you can search through the 4,997 quizzes we have at Nicholson by subject, author, title, reading level, even fiction or non-fiction or any combination of these criteria.  You can print up a list, and your child can then use this list to look for those books in the Media Center.  You can even get a summary of the book and the number of pages!  Click on the link below to connect to Quizlist Interactive--I think you will find it very useful!

http://www.quizlist.net/(olq3nb55kia3fmjxbiy2irud)/search.aspx?id=32889Quizlist Interactive