Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Science books

Question: What are some interesting science books to purchase?

Response: I pulled some great titles of new books off my cart of books waiting to be processed.

SPORTS SCIENCE by Jim Wiese ISBN 0471442585
Full of interesting experiments such as why a Frisbee flies, what makes a curve ball curve, why ice skates have metal blades, and more.

SCIENCE WARRIORS: THE BATTLE AGAINST INVASIVE SPECIES by Sneed B. Collard III ISBN 0618756361 or ISBN 9780618756360
This one deals with brown tree snakes and how they have invaded Guam and what can be done about it. Also deals with the problem of red fire ants in the South, Melaleuca plants and more.

ALL ABOUT SLEEP FROM A TO ZZZZZ by Elaine Scott ISBN 9780670061884
The title says it all. Cartoon drawings, only 55 pages. A good choice for reluctant readers.


WRITTEN IN BONE: BURIED LIVES OF JAMESTOWN AND COLONIAL MARYLAND. By Sally M. Walker. ISBN 9780822571353
This book tells the story of the grave inside the remains of James Fort in Jamestown, VA and the forensic research being done to solve long ago mysteries. This is a beautiful book with colorful photos and illustrations on every page.


THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF DINOAURS. By Paul Dowswell, John Malam, Paul mason, Steve Parker. ISBN 07550020x
I really am not a fan of dinosaur books, but there are so many children who love them and devour them. This is a nice, thick book with two pages dedicated to each type of dinosaur, lots of color and other information. The main problem with this book is the same as most all dinosaur books – the “millions of years ago” part. I have a small label I made to put inside all books that disagree with our Adventist belief that says something like “Please note that this book does not follow the Bible teaching.” You can say something like that or use your own judgment. If you don’t feel comfortable having that kind of book in your library, there are two dinosaur books we have from a creationist point of view. Elaine Graham-Kennedy wrote DINOSAURS: WHERE DID THEY COME FROM AND WHERE DID THEY GO? Another one is DINOSAURS BY DESIGN by Duane T. Gish.


WHEN IS A PLANET NOT A PLANET? THE STORY OF PLUTO by Elaine Scott. ISBN 9780618898329
This could help update your astronomy section.


ONE WELL: THE STORY OF WATER ON EARTH. By Rochelle Strauss. ISBN 9781553379546


THE STORY OF SALT. By Mark Kurlansky ISBN 0399239987
Based on the New York Times adult best seller “Salt: A World History“.


THE BROOK BOOK: EXPLORING THE SMALLEST STREAMS. By James Arnosky. ISBN 9780525477167


EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK by Frieda Wishinsky. ISBN 9780545003988
The subtitle says “Weird Stuff You Didn’t Know About Food”. A real kid-pleaser.

PROJECTS FOR A HEALTHY PLANET by Shar Levine and Allison Grafton. ISBN 9780471554844
Simple environmental experiments for kids.


That should get you started. If you have a great new title, please share it with us. Click on the section on my blog to leave comments.

Have a great week and a great spring vacation. I’ll be back in two weeks.
Audrey

Monday, March 9, 2009

What are some conferences or workshops that I can attend?

Question: What are some conferences or workshops I can attend?

Response: I love going to conferences and workshops. A number of years ago someone recommended that all teachers belong to a professional organization and I have ever since. Here are some organizations that I belong to now or have belonged to in the past. Below are some of the conferences and workshops I have attended that pertain to libraries and books and reading.

IRA – International Reading Association – Yearly conferences, local chapters, monthly journal.
At the conferences authors are brought in to speak by the IRA, and some of the exhibitors also bring in authors to autograph books. Usually you have to purchase their book to get an autograph. I enjoy hearing authors speak, but there are many other sessions to choose from as well. One year I decided to focus on poetry, another year I went to a lot of Reader’s Theatre sessions. There are many sessions to choose from and if you don’t like one, you can leave and find another one. I make out a schedule for each day for myself listing the time slots and the sessions that I like during those time slots. I use this as a quick reference for the day and can quickly go from session to session. If you have attended the NAD Teacher’s Convention, you will have a glimpse of an idea of what an IRA is like. The NAD convention had about 6000 people in attendance and an IRA usually has an attendance of about 15,000 – 18,000.

ALA – American Library Association – yearly conferences, local chapters, monthly journal.
Very similar to the IRA, but geared more toward librarians. In fact, geared toward public libraries more than school libraries. Similar in size and attendance to IRA. One difference I noticed was that there were many many free books from publishers. The books were advanced reading copies. Most of the books were not for a school library. (One example: I did pick up one book that looked interesting for our school. It was titled “Brooklyn Bridge” and was by Karen Hesse. We have a number of her books in our library; you very possible have as well. I am glad I read the book first because even though the history part is wonderful, there are short incidental chapters that have a ghost child living under the bridge. Needless to say, I did not purchase the book for our library.)

ASDAL – Association of Seventh-day Adventist Librarians – Yearly conferences, held just before the ALA and in a spot nearby. Last year ALA was held in Anaheim, CA and ASDAL was held the week before in Loma Linda, CA. This year ALA will be in Chicago, IL and ASDAL will be at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI. Most members are college or university librarians, but they are encouraging elementary school librarians and academy librarians to join also.


I also have found that the workshops offered by BER – Bureau of Education and Research are excellent. The information I receive is timely, the workshops are small enough to get personal attention or to have questions answered, the presenters are qualified and entertaining, and I leave with a booklet that I can refer to for years.

Have a great week,
Audrey

Monday, March 2, 2009

How do I promote old books?

Question: How do I promote some of the “Old books” that are in my library?

Response
: This is a very good question. We all have some wonderful stories in our libraries, but the covers are worn, or the book jackets are worn out, faded, and just not as attractive as new books can be. Here are some ideas that I have used.

1. Set up a shelf or a special display area and put up a sign that proclaims this to be the “Lonely Books shelf”. Pull out some of the older books that have not been checked out for a while. The books are lonely because no one has checked them out for a long time.

2. Ask the students to read an old book and design a new book jacket for the book. This could even be their book report.

3. Read the book aloud or read parts of different books to stimulate interest.

4. Tell the students that it is time to weed the books to make room for newer books. Ask for their help since you cannot read all of the books. Ask them to read some of the older books and give you their opinion of the book as to whether it is a book that others would like or if it isn’t worthy of a place on the shelves any longer. When the student(s) have read the book, they will report to you their opinion. Remember, just because a student doesn’t like it doesn’t mean you HAVE to get rid of it. If they liked it, they may promote it themselves.

5. Usually minor repairs can be done to keep books looking less tattered and torn.


Have a great week,
Audrey