Magazines, Part 2

Greetings!

Last week I talked about magazines and focuses on the secular options which are usually the ones that come into question. This week I will talk about some options for SDA publications.
You are likely associated with a church and can get your name on a list to receive the children’s weekly papers like Little Friend, Primary Treasure, Guide, and Insight. It may be that the church will pay for a copy of each for you. You might think that the children already have read them, but remember that many of our schools also have children from other denominations in them that may not have read them.

Other SDA publications that might work in your library are your local conference paper – North Pacific Union has the Gleaner.
Liberty magazine - information on religious freedom.
Listen and Vibrant Life – focus on health and nutrition.
Winner – health, temperance and focused toward middle grades.
Signs of the Times, The Review, and other publications could also be options for your school library.

It may be that families or church members might sponsor subscriptions to the magazines that you choose or may donate their copy when they are finished reading them.

How you subscribe to your magazines is another option. Your school may have a magazine campaign fundraiser and you get your subscriptions through the school. This is certainly an option. If you only have a few magazines, this is probably the best way to go for you. However, if you have many periodicals each month, you should seriously consider using a subscription service called “EBSCO”. I use EBSCO for these reasons. The price is competitive. It is easy for me to renew all the subscriptions at once rather than one at a time. If I miss an issue, I report it to EBSCO and they handle it for me.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

This is the last post until January. Have a blessed, restful, happy vacation.

Audrey

Magazines

Greetings!
Do you have any magazines in your library for kids to read? I hope so. If not, then here are some that you might consider. All these magazines have either been in my library or are currently in my library.

American Girl – very popular for all ages

The Cricket Group has a number of magazines they publish. Each magazine has a theme and all the articles, activities, and such are focused on that particular theme. These magazines are ones that we keep for reference like a book. We don’t discard them. Note: Not all of these magazines will be appropriate for your school. I really like the Cricket magazine that has stories and poetry, but occasionally the theme will be something like dragons or witches, so I don’t subscribe to this one. Consider writing to Cricket and requesting a packet to preview.
Appleseeds – cultural or historical topics for ages 6 - 9
Ask – science, history, inventors, artists for ages 6 - 9
Cobblestone – American history themes for ages 9 - 14
Dig – archaeology themes for ages 9 - 14
Faces – children and cultures around the world for ages 9 - 14
Odyssey – science for ages 9 – 14

Kids Discover – also has themes for each issue. The themes range from science, history, biography, current events, and more. This magazine is also one that we keep for reference. Appropriate for ages 9 – 14.
Ranger Rick – standard magazine on animals for kids.

Science World – current science topics; our 7th and 8th grades are usually the ones that use this magazine.

Current Health Teens – health and nutrition issues; also usually used by 7th and 8th grades.

Choices – a Scholastic magazine about teen issues and choosing the right thing to do. Our counselor requested this magazine and it has been a good purchase for us.

Kiki – this is a newer magazine that has fashion and design in it. The focus is not on being fashionable, but more on the design aspects of fashion. The clothing is appropriate and modest, without being weird or outlandish. Readers are given ideas on how to sew items, patterns, and much more. Ask for a sample issue if you have questions.

We also subscribe to Model Airplane News, Model Railroader, Motocross Action, Mountain Bike Action, National Geographic Kids, Ski, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Radio Control Car Action, and Ski. I am not sure that all of these are needed any longer and will do a survey of the students to find out which ones they actually read and want.

We have a few magazines for parents such as Consumer Reports, Popular Science, and National Geographic. National Geographic is donated to us by a family after they finish reading theirs.

People ask me how long they should keep magazines. If it is a popular magazine that quickly dates itself, discard it after five years or sooner if you need to. If it is a magazine that kids keep coming to no matter how old the issue is, such as American Girl, then keep them as long as they are still intact. We even do some minor mending on these. Use the needs of your library to help you decide.

I hope you have a great week. We are in the midst of the coldest weather I have ever been in. I hope you keep warm.

Audrey

Book Donations

Greetings!

Can you believe it is December already! I remember my grandparents and my parents talking about how quickly time passes, but it seemed to drag for me. Now I totally understand.

Very soon people will be cleaning and getting rid of things from their homes and sending them to thrift stores. When they come to books that they no longer need or want, they may think of you and bring them for you to use. Some of the books will be real treasures and you will be glad to have them, but some will be old, out of date, and not really useful for your library. So how should you handle this situation? You may have no problem with this, but I have had this happen so many times, that I have a standard speech I give. I am happy to share it with you.

“Thank you so much for the books. I will be happy to look through them and see which ones we need for the library. If I find that there are some that we don’t need, is it OK with you if I find another place for them, such as a classroom or would you rather have them back?”

At this point, the kind soul usually tells us to please keep them, they don’t want them. Now you are at liberty to do what you want with the books.

I look through the donations and see what we need in our library. I process for the library the books that we need. I may notice a book or two that I don’t need, but I know that a particular classroom studies that subject or I feel that it would be better used there than the library. Some duplicate copies are put in my “Sale” shelf or take to a used book store. I have credit at my local used book store and save up to get copies of books that I want or need. You also might sell your donations through an online source such as Amazon or Alibris. If you don’t want to bother with this, do not despair. You might have a parent or church member already doing this and can just add your books to their ‘store’ and sell them for you. Keep an eye out for old reading books as these can be valuable, particularly the Alice and Jerry series books.

I have a few of the old readers that I have processed for the library and encourage students to read. So consider that option, as well.
Good luck with your book donations.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Wish List ideas

Greetings!

I once taught at a school where the Home and School parents provided each teacher with large paper stars to hang on the outside door just before Parent/Teacher conferences. On each star teachers wrote one item that they wished they could have for the classroom. We were told to dream big because you never know what you might get. One teacher wished for a new overhead projector and I believe that a few parents got together and raised the money for one. Another wished for a new desk and one father happened to be upgrading the furniture in his office and gave her his old desk which was still in very good condition.

This might be a good idea for you to add books to your library or your classroom. Parents might be thinking of a gift to give you for Christmas to show their appreciation. If you had a classroom door wish list of books you would like to have in the classroom, parents could take the star of the book they would like to donate.

Another way is to have a wish list on Amazon. Parents can browse the list and when a book from your list is purchased, it disappears from your list so you don’t get more than one copy. I keep a list of books that I want or need for our library here and use it to remind myself what I need to buy. I print the list out and take it to my local book store and they give me a 20% discount very similar to what I would get through Amazon. That way I am supporting my community, but the list is much easier online. I have had a parent or two purchase books for the library from this wish list.

Put a personalized bookplate inside each book to honor the donor. This would also be a great time to display the book and promote it to the children to read.

Please consider a wish list of some kind for your school or classroom. How will parents know what you want or need if you don’t tell them?

Have a great week.
Audrey

Technology Credit Options

Greetings!

Most of my readers are in the North Pacific Union Conference and know that we need technology credit to renew our certification. For many of us it is fairly easy to collect credits and clock hours to renew, but the technology part is difficult for some. If this sounds like you, here are some options for you.

SUMMER CLASSES: Walla Walla University offers classes in the summer and you can usually find one that will take care of your technology requirement. I didn’t take this particular class, but there was one that guided you through putting together your own computer. I put together the computer I use at home with my husband’s guidance and it really is interesting and fun, too. Another summer class that will count for technology is the digital photography class. I took that class and really enjoyed it. It may be that your local community college might offer a digital photography course that would count. Check with the conference or the union to make sure you can get credit.

ON-LINE CLASSES: If you aren’t interested in traveling and staying at WWU, you could take an online class. Avln.org offers a technology class online. You need to sign up and take the class along with a group and a teacher and you get credit at the end of the class. There is a cost of $250.00 for each class. Check the website for more information about the classes and when the next classes begin. Another online class is a self-paced and free. It is a class called “Power Searching with Google” and is taught by a Google representative. The class does not promote Google, but shows you lots of the cool things you can do with Google and how to search more efficiently and effectively. I took this class and had a great time. The whole class took me approximately 10 hours, but that is just my best guess. I didn’t keep track of my time since I didn’t know it would count for technology credit at the time. I did like the self-paced aspect of the class because I could do it as I had time and when I came back, I came back to where I had left off. I checked with the union and they will accept this for technology credit.

WEBINARS: There are hundreds of free webinars available. Do a search by typing in ‘Technology webinars for teachers’ and you will come up with many sites to check out. I like edweb webinars. Others that looked good would include edtechteacher.org, and Simple K12 – Teacher Learning community.

I hope this information has been helpful to you. Check your certification and see when you renew and if you need technology credit and then plan how you will get it. If you ask me what I would do, I would look for a digital photography course. That will be helpful to any teacher.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Cyber Safety

Greetings!

Most of the parents of our kids have had computers or access to computers nearly all their lives but it is surprising how many of them do not realize that cyberspace is not a safe place for their children.

We had a program this past week for parents on keeping their children safe online and about 20 parents came. Not twenty families, 20 parents. One teacher commented that if it had been a basketball game, they all would have been there. Our principal pointed out that if we want the children to be safe online, we need to be teaching them.

If this sounds like your school, you may need to arm yourself with information. Here are some topics that we need to be teaching our children.
1. Online safety – Facebook, chat rooms, e-mail, Twitter, and more.
2. Cell phone use
3. Netiquette
4. Cyber-bullying
5. Computer safety

If you aren’t teaching or discussing these subjects with your students, please find some time to do this. Materials are available for free from the internet and books. Check with your local public schools and see what is happening there and what materials they are using. You may be able to get in on their order or they may even provide materials for you. Check with the local public library for materials.

I used this website last year when teaching this to grades 5 – 8 during library lessons. http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents I showed a couple of the videos to the kids. One was called “Tracking Teresa” and it showed how quickly and easily one can find out information about a person online. I also showed one called “You Photo Fate” about a girl who sent a ‘hot pic’ to her boyfriend and how quickly and easily the photo can travel especially to places that the girl would not want her photo to travel. We also discussed the fact that the photo was child pornography and the ramifications of having a photo like that on your phone.

I urge you to go to the Netsmartz.org website and look around. There is a ton of age appropriate information there and it is easy to present.

I also hope that if you have school or classroom computers that can access the internet that you have on file an acceptable use policy for each child that uses the computer. If you do not, please consider implementing this as soon as possible. I would be happy to send you a copy of the one we use for our school that you can use as a template.

Let’s keep our children as safe as we can online.

Audrey

Old Books

Greetings!
If you library is anything like mine, you have a bunch of old books. Most of them look old and boring, too.

Question: So what do you do with old books?

Answer: Get them off the shelves and discard them. They aren’t being checked out anyway. They are taking up valuable real estate.

Question: BUT – what if the story is great or the book is an important one that needs to stay in the library? What can you do to promote these books?

Answer: I can think of three ways to promote old books in your classroom or library.

1. Book talk the books. Choose exciting passages and read bits of the book to the class and deliberately leave off at an exciting part. Then put the book out for students to check out.

2. Put a number of old (ugly?) books on a special display shelf or table along with a sign to promote them. Sample ideas for signs might be “Lonely Books” “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover”, etc. Ask students to read a book and let you know if the story is good enough for the book to be kept in the library. Most students are willing to read a book to help out in this way.

3. If a book is a great story, just ugly, do your best to replace the copy with a new copy. If you cannot get a new copy, but really want to keep the book, have students who are artistic make nice book jackets for these books. Another idea is to download a nice cover and put it on a book jacket. Either cover these book jackets with a plastic cover or laminate them and tape them to the book.

Just because a book is old does not mean it should be discarded. But just because it is on your shelves, does not mean it should be kept. Use some common sense and keep what is important to your school and curriculum.

Have a great week!
Audrey

Hobbies and Activities

Greetings!

If you are like me, you have some pretty intelligent students in your school. Their interests run the gamut of activities, sports, and hobbies. If you don’t have books in your library to feed their interests, then why not? This is a great way to know what books and materials to add to your library knowing that they will be used.

Most kids I know love building a fort or hide-out. Check out the books by David Stiles. Even if students don’t actually build them, these are great fun to dream about.

Does your Pathfinder group or another group still build pinewood derby cars? I found a book about how to build one. Even if the students aren’t in Pathfinders, it still might be fun to build one of those little racing cars.

What kid does not like secret codes? Let them learn about codes and ciphers from a book in the library.

One of our teachers is a talented artist and his students love to check out the drawing books. These can be used in all grade levels, too.

Think about model trains, model airplanes, boats, and cars. If you have students that are interested in these things, put books and magazines in your library to draw them in. What about Legos? There are some great Lego books on building things with Legos.

One of our teachers had a parent come and teach crocheting, so we stocked up on books about crocheting, knitting, quilting, weaving, beading, and sewing. I’m sure you can think of other crafts that you’d like to have represented in your library.

Don’t forget other sports and outdoor activities. We have a community park with BMX racing competitions so we have some books on BMX bikes in our library. We also have the BMX magazine in the library. Our junior high students go skiing every winter, so Ski is also another magazine we include in our library.

Ask your students what sports and hobbies they would like to see in the library. Let them be a part of the selection process and they will be much more likely to use the books and magazines you purchase. Let the student who helped choose the books be first to check them out.

Ask students to bring in some of their creations to be used in a display. Put the book beside the article they made or created. Or just make a great display of all your craft and activity books.

Enjoy your hobby section!
Have a great week!

Audrey

Inappropriate Books from Home

Greetings,

This week I want to revisit the issue that some schools (OK, MOST schools) have. The problem of students bringing books from home that aren’t appropriate for your SDA school. I would advise that you have a discussion with your class about what kinds of books would be appropriate and what kinds might not. Let them discuss the issue. When you are satisfied that they probably know appropriate from inappropriate, then guide the class to make a rule/policy/guideline for your class.

So what if a student does bring a book that isn’t appropriate? What do you do?

First, how can you tell if a book isn’t appropriate?
1. Check the cover. Look for things like dragons, witches, vampires, or other worldly appearance. You can pretty much guarantee that the book is not appropriate. But, keep in mind that there may be some books out there that are really OK, but the cover is not.
2. Ask the student if the book is appropriate, but ask in a non-confrontational way. “Hey, I just got a glimpse of the cover of your book and wondered about it. From the cover it looks like it might not be something to bring to school to read. What is it about?” Let the student tell you about the book. You may be surprised.
3. If the book is indeed not something you want to be at school, this is a perfect teachable moment. The student may not have really understood what inappropriate means. But if he or she is testing you, you have not been confrontational. Remind them about the class/school policy, and offer to hold the book until school is out so they can take it home.
4. If you aren’t sure about the book, go to www.amazon.com or http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ and find more information there.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Common Sense Media site, I urge you to take a few minutes to go to the site and see how it works. Type in a book, movie, game, or other media and see how the site rates your choice. I read about a family who used the site to help decide what movie to see. The children wanted to see a particular movie, and the parents thought it was a little too old for them. The parents said, “Let’s see what age level Common Sense Media says the movie is. If they say it is for children your age, then we will see it, but if they say it is for children older, we will see another movie.” I liked that idea to help settle a dispute. It wasn’t just their parents saying a movie was too old for them, but many other parents saying the same thing.

If you have any questions you would like for me to address in this blog, please send them along to me. A few of you have emailed questions to me and I have answered your emails individually , but am always happy to find a question that might be something that others might like to know.

I hope you have a great week. Check out my blog where I post these weekly emails. Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com

Audrey

Spanish Books

Greetings!

This year at Rogers we are working to include Spanish lessons daily. For a number of years we have had a Spanish word or phrase each week through our morning announcement period and the students have had a little practice in the classrooms. But this year we have taken it to a slightly higher level.

In the library I have added quite a number of Spanish books. Where did I find them? Well, I got lucky. My assistant happened to be at a thrift store and saw a lot of Spanish picture books come through and bought the lot of them for about $20.00. I got about 40 – 50 books for that price. Most of them are simple picture books such as the Clifford books, but it would be pretty easy to read them especially with just a few words. I figured that I got a pretty good deal.

I have also just received a box of 30 Spanish books from a preview company called Lookout Books*. I am not sure how many of these I am going to buy, but they are just beautiful books. The photographs illustrate the information given and they are all in Spanish. But wait! These books are also AV media enhanced and gives a fully bilingual book between English and Spanish to help with the vocabulary. When you buy the book, there is a book code on the second page. You go to the website and enter the code. If you have a smart board or a projector connected to your computer, you can display it for the whole class to see.

If you want to add a few Spanish books to your library, try looking at used bookstores or thrift stores in your area. Make friends with someone at the thrift store and ask them to let you know if any arrive.

Have a great week.

Audrey

*Preview boxes come from a number of different companies. The boxes arrive filled with books. You open the box and look at the books and decide which books you want for your library. You keep the books you want and return the rest of the books to the company. Usually a sales rep contacts you to make arrangements to send the box out to you and then to arrange for returning the box. If you don’t purchase any books, there is no charge to you. Usually there is a small shipping/handling fee if you do make a purchase. You can also get processing information for a fee.

Christmas Books

Greetings!
Merry Christmas! Yes, I know it isn’t Christmas yet, but it very well may be time to order any new Christmas books to add to your library. I have some ideas for books for you.
The Nutcracker Ballet is a Christmas classic. Becoming a Ballerina by Lise Friedman and Mary Dowdle is the story of real dancers as they practice for this performance. Photographs help to tell the story of the preparation and performance.

A Christmas Tree for Pyn by Olivier Dunrea is the story of a little girl named Pyn who wants to decorate her first Christmas tree. Her father says no, but over the course of the story, he eventually softens and she does get her tree. Father is very gruff, but Pyn remains sweet and cheerful.

Ruthie and her family will have the honor of giving a tree to Pine Grove for the Christmas pageant. Ruthie’s father chose the tree in the spring, but had to go to war. Now Christmas is nearly here and even though the town is busy with preparations for the holiday and practicing the pageant, Ruthie and her mother are hoping that Papa will be home soon. After the pageant is over and the gifts from the tree are handed out, Ruthie and her mother have yet another wonderful surprise just in time for Christmas. I hope you enjoy The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston set in Appalachia in the early 1900’s. Barbara Cooney’s illustrations are wonderful.

What is Christmas like for a family who lives on a lighthouse? In The Lighthouse Christmas by Toni Buzzeo Frances and Peter wonder if Santa will know how to find them so far way on their tiny island off the coast of Maine. The supply boat has not been able to get to their island because of wild weather and supplies are getting low. The weather keeps the children from visiting their aunt on the mainland, it deposits a stranger on their doorstep but Frances and Peter try their best to keep up as many of their traditions as possible. Later on that day a small plane circles the lighthouse and drops a package at the edge of the water. Inside are some small gifts from the Flying Santa. It may be that you choose not to purchase this book because Santa is mentioned, but please know that the story is inspired by a true Christmas tradition known as the Flying Santa Service which honors the many lighthouse keepers on the islands of Maine. The Flying Santa service has been active continually since 1920 with the exception of the years during the war. Now it visits Coast Guard families. You can go to www.flyingsanta.com to learn more.

You may have been fortunate enough to visit Rockefeller Center at Christmas time and have seen the famous Christmas tree there. Have you wondered how it gets there? The Christmas Tugboat by George Matteson and Adele Ursone gives us the story. George Matteson was a tugboat captain for years and one year got the assignment to carry the special Christmas tree to New York City. The job was an easy one and he took his wife, Adele, and his young daughter along. Adele realized that this was a great children’s book idea and the two of them wrote the story. James Ransome illustrated it with his paintings. He wanted to capture the chill of winter and the cozy feeling of the family working together. It’s a great book to share at Christmas time.

I hope you have the opportunity to take a look at some of these books and maybe even purchase one or more for your school.
If you have a favorite Christmas book or story that you like to read to your students, please share these with me and I will in turn pass them along to the group.
Have a great week.
Audrey

Greetings!

We participate in a program each year here at Rogers called Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award. I go to the website and find the list of nominations for the coming year. I then go to Amazon.com and look up information on each book and decide which of them I feel are appropriate for our school. I purchase them and I read one each week during library class. All students in public and private schools, from kindergarten through third grade in Washington State may vote on their favorite. I do a different program with Kindergarten and since our school has multigrade classrooms, I don’t include the third grade. At our school this program is only for our first and second graders. After all the books are read, I line them up along a counter and do a very quick booktalk for each to remind students about the story. Then each student votes on his or her favorite book. I count the votes and send them in to the award committee.

Last year the winner was one of my favorites. It was called “Little Pink Pup” and was about a runt piglet who was adopted by a dachshund mother and nursed to health. The illustrations are photographs and at the end of the book, there is information about the pig after it is grown. I accessed the author’s blog during library class and we got to see more photos about “Little Pink Pup”.

This year there are 20 nominations for the 2014 Washington Children’s Choice Picture book Award. I immediately eliminated three of them, have questions about six of them and have chosen eleven of them to purchase. I try to purchase them through the Scholastic Book Fair. This way I can buy hardbacks with points instead of spending cash for them. I usually only have to purchase one or two through our local bookstore or Amazon.

I have found some wonderful books through the Washington Children’s Choice award and have shared many with you already. If you don’t live in Washington, I am sure that your state has a similar program. I suggest that you see what is on the lists and do a little research to find some great ideas for books. Be warned that the awards for books for older students may be unsuitable for your library.

You can google Washington Children’s Choice or go to http://childrenschoiceaward.wikispaces.com for information.

Have a wonderful week!
Audrey

Finding a Dewey Number

Greetings!

I hope you are getting settled into a routine and may soon have some time to work on your library. One of the questions I get most is about how to find the Dewey number in order to catalog books. I have put this information on previous posts, but it is certainly good to be reminded on occasion.

There are a number of ways to find the Dewey number.

1. For most newer books, the publisher will have a suggestion for where the book will fit and give a Dewey number accordingly. This is found on the imprint page – the page with all the tiny print and publisher information. You will likely see a small section with the author’s name, a short summary, ISBN number, Library of Congress number, and the Dewey number. Sometimes you might see an apostrophe in the Dewey number. This usually occurs when there are three or more decimal places. The apostrophe signifies that you could stop the Dewey number there if you like. I have found that usually the publisher gives a number that I can live with and not have to change it.

2. You can go to the Library of Congress website and type in the title of your book and find the Dewey number there. Go to http://catalog.loc.gov, type in the title of your book and press “Search”. A list of titles should come up. Find the specific title you are looking for and double click your book. Some information on the book will come up, but you will probably not find the Dewey number there. You then need to click “Full Record” and in that part you will probably find the Dewey number. I say ‘probably’ because at times you may not find it there. This website is usually very helpful, but it is possible you might not find success here.

3. You may be able to borrow a set of DDC books from your local public library in order to find a Dewey number. I would not recommend this unless you have had some experience using these books since it can be complicated and frustrating to the novice. (Believe me, I know!)

4. You might be lucky enough to find a librarian who will volunteer to help put your library in order. This is the best option as it takes most of the work off you!

5. You can skip looking for it and purchase books already cataloged. This is a great help, BUT it costs something per book. Usually the cost is between $1.00 and $2.00 or maybe even more. It would depend on your supplier. If you purchase your books from a local bookstore, this might not be an option anyway. You might decide that the extra cost is worth your time and hassle, but there are a couple of other things to think about first. If your library is cataloged fairly simply meaning you use very few decimals, you might get a book that is cataloged with three or four decimals. Vegetarian cookbooks have the Dewey number of 641.5636 but you might have chosen to go with a simpler 641 for all cookbooks. Another thing to consider is the placement of a book. I bought a book a few years ago about whale scientists. I thought it would be a great addition to our section on whales and show how people work to help them. The Dewey number for whales is in the 599’s. We wondered if it might work in the career section which is in the 300’s, but decided to go ahead and keep it in with the whales since that was my original intention on purchasing the book.

6. If your public library is online, check their catalog and see if you can find your book or books that are similar. My library at Rogers is online and you can check to see where I have put books. Go to library.rschool.org and you can search for what you want. You can also go to our school website, click “Meet Us”, then click “Student Support”, and click “Library”. The link is on that page.

7. Last but not least, you can email me and I’ll give you some suggestions, too.

The bottom line is to make sure the book fits with your library and is placed where the kids can easily find the book so they can use it. If the kids can’t find it, they won’t be able to read it.

Have a great week. Access my blog at sdalibrarian.blogspot.com for previous posts.

Audrey

Weeding the Library

Greetings!
It is time to begin to wind down the school year. Don’t forget to take a look at the library and see where those needs are for next year. Yes, I know we have three weeks left of school, but here’s where you can put some responsible students to work for you and help make your life a bit easier. More on that in a little bit.

It is time to weed the library. I know it is hard to throw out books, so I am going to try to make this easier for you. Think about why you have a library. I would guess that you have a library so students can choose reading material and so you have supplementary material for your curriculum. That would be the main function of a school library. You may have noticed that our SDA curriculum changes as the years go by. It may be that some of the books and materials in your library do not fit the curriculum now or they may even be outdated. If so, then they may not be needed any longer.
Here is a short list of weeding criteria for you to use as you begin to improve your library.

1. BATTERED BOOKS - Weed out any books that are torn, taped, yellowed, missing pages, damaged, shabby, mutilated, marked up, warped covers, or dilapidated in any way. If these books are valuable to you or the school, replace them with newer better copies.

2. OLD BOOKS - Look carefully at the old books in your library.
a. If there are any that aren’t useful to your school, or don’t fit the curriculum, then consider weeding it out. Watch for books that may be valuable to someone else. Those can be sold online or at a used bookstore. BUT – just because a book is old doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good story or a good resource. Think about sending some of these home with students over the summer for them to evaluate. Make out a simple form they can fill out for each book they read.
b. Weed out books with very small print or poor quality pictures.
c. Some books may be old but the information is still valid. Keep these.
d. “Old” is difficult to determine. A science or astronomy book can be ‘old’ after only 5 – 8 years, but information on a career may still be current after 15 years. You get to decide if a book is too old or not.

3. OUTDATED INFORMATION – Repeat after me: “It is better to have NO information rather than FALSE information.” Think technology, science, health, medicine, computers, and space. Enough said.

4. DUPLICATE COPIES –
a. How many copies of “Little House on the Prairie” do you need in your library? Is one or two enough? If so, then keep the best one and discard the extra copies. Keep in mind that duplicate copies can also be great to have. Some kids like to read the same book and if each can have his or her own copy, then it’s a good thing.
b. E. G. WHITE BOOKS – Do you need multiple copies of each title? If your school is like many other schools, you likely have many of these. Consider paring down to one good set of the Conflict of the Ages, and Testimonies plus other titles that are useful to your school. Donate the rest to the church library. Keep what you need for your curriculum.

5. ENCYCLOPEDIA – How old is yours? Do you even have one? Encyclopedias are considered outdated if they are more than five years old. Very likely most of your students ‘google’ the information they need or you may use an online encyclopedia which is much cheaper. Consider keeping the newest set for the library and using an online encyclopedia for current information.

6. DONATED BOOKS – These can be tricky. If the donor is in your community and would be offended if you weeded ‘their’ book, then keep it until they leave. It is not worth making an enemy just to have a few inches of shelf space. However, if the book is in bad shape or has incorrect information in it, then you might try to find a way to dispose of the book. (Maybe it can be shelved in a closet!)

Keep in mind that the library should be useful to you and to your students. Keep what works and weed what doesn’t. What doesn’t work for one school might very well be great for another.
Here’s where your students can help. Enlist students to go through the library shelf by shelf and ask them to pull books that look battered and or old and put them in a box for you to check over.

You will still make the decision, but they have helped with the first part of weeding. This will also have the added benefit of giving them a little bit of ‘ownership’ in the library.
If you have books that need repair, don’t forget that there will be a hands on book mending session at the ASDAL School Librarians’ workshop. You will learn how to do some simple repairs then.

Best of luck in your weeding process. Now I need to get busy and do some myself!

Audrey

Virtual Field Trips

Greetings,

Wouldn’t it be great to take your kids to some of the most famous museums? As we are winding down this school year, why not try a virtual field trip? Scholastic has some great ones. Go to http://www.scholastic.com/livewebcasts/webcast_tips.htm and look on the right sidebar for a list of places you can ‘go’ with your class. If you have a smartboard or a computer connected to a projector, just show it like you would a movie. Another way is to let the students bring it up on the computers and watch it individually or in small groups.

Decoding History with The 39 Clues: A Virtual Field Trip to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History for grades 3 and up is the most recent one. It is hosted by David Baldacci who began the 39 Clues books and the reading club. Even if you aren’t interested in the books themselves, it is pretty cool to have the author take you behind the scenes. You can watch the full program which lasts just over 22 minutes, or in segments. Items shown are Lewis and Clark’s compass, restoration of the Star-Spangled Banner, David Drake pottery, and Lincoln’s pocket watch. The whole thing is really very cool.

Immigration (1892 – 1924): A Virtual Field Trip to Ellis Island for grades 3 – 8 shows photographs, maps, and video of items related to Ellis Island. This field trip lasts just over 30 minutes.

Wonderstruck: a Virtual Field Trip to the American Museum of Natural History is narrated by Brian Selznick. Brian Selznick wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck, both enormous sized books, but mostly illustrated rather than text to read. Three parts of the museum are visited – the Wolf Diorama, the Giant Anopheles Mosquito, and the Ahnighito Meteorite. Activities for each of these are included on the website. This presentation lasts for about 15 minutes.

The First Thanksgiving: A Virtual Field Trip to Plimoth Plantation for grades K – 8 lasts almost 20 minutes, but you might want to allow more time to see the other ones listed there. There are virtual field trips for the Mayflower, Pilgrim Village, Wampanoag Homesite, and lots of other videos about Miles Standish and Pilgrim life. This could be a part of a longer unit and bits shown every day.

The Magic School Bus: A Virtual Field Trip to Liberty Science Center for grades 2 – 8 is about the climate challenge. The video lasts for 27 minutes and begins with the cartoons you may be used to seeing in other videos about the Magic School Bus. Then “Mrs. Frizzle” comes on to host the show and it is live action. They use Google Earth to show where the museum is located. There is an activity pack that you can download. This particular presentation was made to celebrate Earth Day on April 20, 2013.

Winter’s Tail: A Virtual Field Trip to Clearwater Marine Aquarium for grades K – 6 is one that we were able to watch live in October of 2009. This is the story of the baby dolphin that lost the end of its tail after it was damaged in a trap. The people who rescued Winter were able to work with specialists to have a prosthetic tail made for her and she learned to swim again. A movie was made in 2011 titled “Dolphin Tale” about Winter and her story. The webcast lasts 35 minutes. If you go to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium you might even get a glimpse of Winter in the webcam. (Note: I tried, but the webcams are being maintenance at this writing. I’ll try later.)

All of these webcasts have Common Core information and are wonderful to watch and share with your students. Below the Virtual Field Trips sidebar are Virtual Author Visits. You might want to watch these ahead of time to decide if any of them are items you want to share. I watched the Dear America one with Lois Lowry, Andrea Pinkney, and Kirby Larson. All three are authors that have written a Dear America book for Scholastic. (Personally, I would avoid the webcasts with Goosebumps and R. L. Stine.)

I hope you have a great week.

Audrey

PS. Just for your information, I checked out the first Kindles this morning. The students are excited. Last Thursday and Friday I let them play on them during their library class period, then I put the parental lock on them to block all but the books. One student was heard commenting, “Where are the games?” I reminded him that they were for reading, not games.

Books Boys Like

Greetings!

This week I will send out some titles of books that boys tend to like. It’s funny that girls will usually read most kinds of books, but boys will almost never pick up a book about a girl.

Roland Smith is an author that lives in the Portland, OR area and his books appeal to boys and girls. Tentacles, Peak, the Storm Runner series, Jack’s Run, and Zach’s Lie are a few of the books he has written. I have not found any language problem in his books and they are exciting stories. He also has one book called Legwork that is only available for the Kindle. It is a bit shorter than his other books, but is also a great read.

Carl Hiaasen has written a number of books all with one-word titles. Hoot, Flush,and Scat are three that boys and girls like.

Will Hobbs is a wonderful source for historical fiction and adventure. Crossing the Wire, Far North, Jason’s Gold, Take Me to the River, River Thunder and Leaving Protection are just some of his books that boys will enjoy.

If your boys like reading about war, here are two SDA stories that they might like. The Seventh Escape by Jan Doward and Flee the Captor by Herbert Ford. Both of these books are higher level reading and would be good through high school.

Farley Mowat writes great stories, some for young people and others that are really more appropriate for adults. Owls in the Family (one of my favorites), The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be, and Lost in the Barrens are all great choices for boys.

As a child I read North to Freedom by Anne Holm and was frightened by it. It was my first introduction to war and prison camps. I reread it again as an adult and was not bothered by it like I had been years ago. The book has been republished with the title I Am David. You may be able to find it with either title.

Don’t forget Swift Arrow by Josephine Cunnington Edwards or Spotted Boy and the Comanches by Mabel Earp Cason. Both of these books are about boys who were captured by Indians and both can be found in the ABC bookstore.

If you have some geeky boys who like experiments, look for The Mad Scientists’ Club, The New Adventures of the Mad Scientist’s Club, The Big Kerplop!, and The Big Chunk of Ice: The Last Known Adventure of the Mad Scientists’ Club. These books were originally published in the early 1960’s and the science stuff is kind of low tech for today, but these stories are great fun to read. They can be found through Amazon.com, your local bookstore can order them for you, or you may find them at an online used bookstore.

So I have given you nearly thirty titles of books that boys like. I’m sure lots of you have other ideas, too. If you have ideas to share, I’ll compile them and send it out to everyone.
Thanks to you who help with this project. Get your boys involved, too. Ask them what titles they think other boys would enjoy. You might want to talk to them about what kind of books are appropriate for SDA schools and enlist their help in compiling titles for boys in grades 4 – 8 or above.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Kindles

Greetings!

This week I am thrilled to tell you that I am, I mean Rogers Adventist School is the proud owner of 12 new Kindle Fire devices. Here’s what I did to make this happen.

I applied for the Don R. Keele grant. If you don’t happen to be in the NPUC, you may not be aware of this award. It is a grant that supports innovation in the classroom or school. I thought that having e-readers would be interesting and fun and would be another tool to motivate reading. I filled out the grant application and then presented it to our school board for approval.
I won an award of $3000.00 from the Keele Foundation and another $1000.00 from the NPUC to support my work as the Resource Librarian for the NPUC. Of course I was thrilled!

I chose Kindles because I am already very familiar with Amazon.com and own two Kindles of my own. I wanted to have the “read to me” feature and only two of the devices have that feature – the Kindle Keyboard and the Kindle Fire. Both of these options were priced similarly so I decided to go with the Fire because it has color and the picture books on the devices would look beautiful. I also looked to the future and thought that it might be important at some point to have them used in the classrooms as a computer.

In my research I found that Amazon.com has made provision for schools to connect multiple devices to one account that can be controlled by one administrator. This was important to me since we don’t want students to be downloading items to the Kindles on their own. I have all of them registered through WhisperCAST. It can be confusing because Amazon also has WhisperNET and WhisperSYNC. (The capitals are mine.) I called Amazon and got tech support throughout the process of registering. They can also help you decide which Kindle to choose.

I opted to pay the extra money to get Kindles without ads. I figured that our students are bombarded every day with advertisements and this would be one place that was ad-free. My school board members agreed with me on that. I also purchased chargers, an extra sturdy Otter Box case rather than the leather one, and the two year warranty. So each Kindle cost in the neighborhood of $315.00 with everything included. I have also put about 30 books on them, a number of which were free. I’m glad I had library funds to help with book purchases because I did go over my $4000.00 grant.

We will be using the Kindles for student check-out. (I will admit that I woke up in the middle of the night worrying about that and wondering if I would actually be able to let a kid take one of my expensive toys!) I have also talked to teachers and let them know that if they want to use them in the classroom, they need to reserve them well ahead of time. I will be taking them around next week to each classroom and sharing them with the students and talking about how to use them and care for them.

If you are interested in more information, I will be happy to share my experience.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Books for Older Readers

Greetings!

This week I’m going to give you some ideas of titles that are appropriate for older students. I will define ‘older’ as 7th and 8th grades or higher. I’ll also try to remember to indicate which ones that boys might enjoy.

I teach a group of junior high students, boys and girls, and this year we have been studying two books by Terri Fivash. Dahveed and Ruth and Boaz. Both books are written for adults, kids like the stories, and they aren’t babyish. I insist that students read the material at the beginning of the books since the cultural notes really help in the understanding of the historical time period. These books and more by Terri can be found in your ABC bookstore. Be warned! If you purchase the first book of Dahveed, you might as well just get all that are in publication. I promise that you will be bugged for them until you do.

Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby is the story of a chimpanzee who communicates through sign language and a deaf girl who hasn’t been allowed to learn sign language. This novel was inspired by the true story of a chimpanzee who was raised as a human child.

From Baghdad, With Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth is the story of a Marine stationed in Iraq and a puppy named Lava. This book was donated by a parent who read it and decided that it would be a great book for our library.

Jennie Hodgers put on boys’ clothes because she had to help earn money for the family in Ireland during the 1860s by becoming a shepherd. Once she discovers the freedom she can have as a boy, she decides to continue the charade when she emigrates to America. She even enlists to serve in the Civil War. My Last Skirt by Lynda Durrant is the real life story of Jennie Hodgers aka Private Albert Cashier lives as a man until she is discovered fifty years later.

Rachel’s Tears by Beth Nimmo and Darrell Scott is the story of the Columbine shooting and the people who were part of the drama. Rachel Scott’s story of standing for her Christian beliefs is told through the writings and drawings in her journal. This book was used in our junior high to supplement a presentation, but is really more appropriate for high school.

Kay Kuzma and Brenda Walsh have written stories of survival from Hurricane Katrina called Between Hell and High Water. The stories in here are miraculous and wonderful. The book is published by Pacific Press and is a 3ABN book. There is also an audio book version. (Please consider adding a few audio books to your library. We process them like a book and put them on the shelf beside the print copy of the book.) (Funny note: some younger children have come to me and told me very seriously that there is a book in the library that is not appropriate for Rogers. It has the word “HELL” on it!)

Ann Jaramillo has written a moving novel of fifteen-year-old Miguel who decided to migrate to California across the border. He knew it was very risky, but he also had confidence that he could make it even through there were many who did not. What he didn’t count on was his younger sister, Elena coming along. Boys and girls both will enjoy La Linea. Look for many Spanish words and phrases in the text of the book.

It’s the Civil War. Two families related to each other. One family sympathizes with the South and one to the North. But this book is about two girls instead of boys. Two Girls of Gettysburg by Lisa Klein is a historical novel about the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg and the people who lived it.

Have a great week. Please let me know if you have any library needs that I might be able to help with.
Audrey

Christian Fiction, part 2

Greetings,

Last week I started a post with titles you might find in a Christian book store. I cut the post short so that I would not overwhelm you with information. So let’s continue where I left off last week.

Lois Walfrid Johnson has written a series titles “The Adventures of the Northwoods” about a family and life at the turn of the century in 1906. The children who like mystery and adventure will enjoy this award-winning series. This is appropriate for boys and girls as a read aloud and students in middle grades and up will be able to read it independently.

Another early 1900’s series is the Mandie series by Lois Gladys Leppard. It is the story of a young girl and her Southern roots and Cherokee background. There are a few dozen in the series. If you can’t find them in print, check a used bookstore. These are still quite popular with students at my school.

Beverly Lewis is a machine as far as it comes to writing books. She writes for all ages. Your middle and upper grade girls will enjoy the Girls Only series and Holly’s Heart series. We actually have younger girls wanting to check these out. We try to dissuade them from this as the girls in these books are high school age girls and have boyfriends and experiences that the younger girls may not be ready for yet. Beverly is also famous for her Amish stories which are also popular with our students and even some of our parents! I have not found any book written by Beverly Lewis that would be inappropriate for our schools.

If your older girls want romance books, consider getting a few Christian romance books by Grace Livingston Hill. I have a friend who lent me a couple of her collection years ago and I started a collection of my own. My friend had two young daughters and was saving them for her girls to read when they got old enough to want to read romance books. Grace Livingston Hill’s characters study the Bible and stand strong in their faith or return to their faith.

Robin Jones Gunn has written a series of books about a girl named Christy Miller. These also are similar to the Holly’s Heart books by Beverly Lewis in that they are geared for older elementary students or high school students. The series is published by Focus on the Family.

Camp Club Girls is a series written by various authors. The series is about a group of girls that end up as roommates at camp and find a mystery going on. Each book focuses on a different girl. You don’t have to have the whole set, because each book stands alone.

I would suspect that most of you have the Sam Campbell nature books. If you don’t, they have been published again in paperback with colorful covers. These should be standard in our libraries. You may not know, but you can also get a DVD of some of his home movies (no sound) that you can show to the kids.

For the horse lovers out there, check out the Heartland series by Laruen Brooke.

Shirley Brinkerhoff has written a series about Nikki Sheldon. These are also similar to the Christy Miller and Holly’s Heart books.

One of my readers sent this information along to me last week.

“I just ordered some books from Lighthouse Trails Publishing and I think they have great selections for the older kids. Not all the books are fiction but they are good reads and warnings for the present time. Some recent releases of books by Corrie TenBoom. "In My Father's House" is a great book. There are other books "For Many Shall Come in My Name" and "Another Jesus" "Castles in the Sand" are great also for the high school kids.”

Many of the books I have mentioned are older books and some may not be in print. However, if you are interested in obtaining them, there are a number of great sources for out-of-print books. I’ll send those along in another email some day.

I hope you have a great week.

Audrey

Christian Fiction, Part 1

Greetings!

I received two requests a couple of weeks ago asking for ideas for books. One wanted books for the 7th and 8th graders and one wanted ideas for books they could get from the local Christian Book Store.

This week I will begin on titles you might find in your local Christian book store or even a thrift store. I will also note which books or series of books might appeal to the junior high level.

Our local Christian book store closed about a year ago, so we have only the Adventist Book Center as a source for Christian authors. There are plenty of choices available there. I doubt you will go wrong with any titles from the ABC. However, it can be a challenge to find books that the junior high student might want to read. If I could, I would take along a couple of kids to browse around and give them an amount they can ‘spend’ for books that look good to them. This way they will have ownership and the books might get read.

Another idea is to have students read the book; then write their name inside the front or back cover and the date they read the book. They could also write a short or a one word review so other kids can look at it and see what their classmates thought of the book.
You can also have your junior high students (or other ages, too) set up a display of books they like (from YOUR school library!) Call it “Jennifer’s Picks” and see what happens. This is a great idea for a small school. Larger ones might not be able to implement this idea as easily as a small school.

Well, on to the book ideas.

Nancy Rue is very prolific and writes a lot of series books. One favorite series at my school is the Lily series. Here’s Lily, Ask Lily, and Lily in London are just a few of the titles in the series. Nancy also wrote the historical fiction series The Charleston Years, The Chicago Years, The Santa Fe Years, The Salem Years, and The Williamsburg Years. If you happen across any of her books, you could assume that they are appropriate for your school. I have not found any of her books that aren’t. The Lily books are great for grades 5 and up and the other sets for grades 6 and up.

Sisters in Time is a series written by various authors. It is historical fiction for different time periods. Sarah’s New World is a Mayflower adventure, and Anna’s Fight for Hope is set in the Great Depression time period. There are a number of other titles, too. In a way, it is similar to the Dear America series, but with a Christian focus. These books are good for grades 5 and up. (Shelving Note: We shelve these books together as a series rather than shelving them individually by author.)

A number of years ago, Jeanette Oke turned out book after book. The books were meant for Christian adult readers, but older students began reading them from their parents’ libraries and we got them in the library. The series Love Comes Softly has been also turned into TV movies which come on fairly regularly. (Side note – The movies have little to do with the books. I have tried to watch them, but give up when they leave out my favorite parts of the books!) This series is about a family and their experiences in covered wagon days. Oke also wrote a series called The Canadian West (my personal favorite), a four-book series about a boy named Joshua – Once Upon a Summer, The Winds of Autumn, Winter is not Forever, and Spring’s Gentle Promise. Oke also wrote a number of stand-alone books that do not have sequels. All of these are appropriate for junior high and above.

Kay D. Rizzo is an Adventist author who has also written a number of books. One very popular series is the Serenity series which may still be in the ABC stores. This would be good for junior high and up. Most of her books are written for high school age students.

Gilbert Morris began writing the House of Winslow series and just kept on writing sequel after sequel. I THINK the last one was # 40, but there may be even more. On top of that, he writes other historical fiction as well and has other series books. A few years ago someone donated about 30 of these books to our library. We weren’t sure if the students would read these or not, so we just put them out on a table to see what would happen. The books were just the thing for our higher readers in junior high and we eventually did process them for the library. These books are adult reading level.

I’ll continue this theme next week. If you have any ideas for books from a local Christian book store, I would be happy to consider including your ideas in here, too.

Have a great week.
Audrey

Great New Titles

Greetings!
I have a few new wonderful titles to share with you this week.

The first book is a true story about the American Revolution titled Henry and the Cannons by Don Brown. In the winter of 1775, the British held the city of Boston and the Americans were none too happy about this. General Washington wanted cannons, but he didn’t have any. However, Fort Ticonderoga had some cannons Colonel Benedict Arnold had captured from the British. The problem was that they were 300 miles away from Boston and the terrain was difficult and it was winter. Henry Knox said he could bring the cannons to Boston and Washington believed him. I really like the vocabulary in parts of the story. One part says “the modest American army had scant chance against the world’s best soldiers.” What a great opportunity to discuss the meanings of the words “modest” and “scant”. The simple illustrations help make this a book to span the younger elementary grades while the story will be very appropriate for the older students when studying the Revolutionary War.





Red Kite, Blue Kite by Ji-li Jiang, illustrated by Greg Ruth is a story of a small boy and his father who are living during the Cultural Revolution in China. They love to fly kites together and when Baba, the father, is taken away to work in a labor camp, the small boy is sent to live with a friend, Granny Wang. Each week Baba travels many hours to visit his son and they continue to fly their kites. One day Baba tells his son that he won’t be able to visit for a long time because he would be very busy and they come up with a plan. Each morning the son will fly his red kite and Baba will see it from the other hill. Each evening Baba will fly his blue kite and the son will see it. They will have a secret signal and be able to see each other every day. One day the small boy does not see the blue kite and after three days he wants to go find his father. In the night Baba comes to see him. Baba had escaped and run to see his son before being sent to another labor camp much farther away. Baba hurriedly gives his blue kite to his son and asks him to fly it for him because he wouldn’t be able to fly it for a long time. One day Baba does return and the father and son are reunited.
Many books like this have an author’s note that really helps to flesh out a story and give more meaning to it. The author is telling the story of a family friend who had to follow his father to a labor farm during the Cultural Revolution.




Too Hot? Too Cold? By Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Annie Patterson. This book helps explain body temperature, warm-blooded, cold-blooded, fever, sweating, sweat glands, goose bumps, hibernation, migration, and ways to keep warm or cool in just 32 pages! There is so much information in this book. Many small watercolor paintings help to illustrate each bit. This book also is appropriate for nearly all grades. Younger children will enjoy just looking at the pictures and older children will appreciate that the text is not too large and childish. Also, there are inset illustrations to further explain things like sweat glands.



I hope you enjoy these books. I also hope you have a great spring vacation and come back refreshed and ready to finish the school year with a bang.
Audrey

Bookmarks

I don’t know if you have priced bookmarks lately, but they can be quite expensive. I like to put bookmarks out for the students to take and even purchasing them from Demco or another library source can still run in to some money.
One of our classroom teachers had her students make bookmarks for a project a couple of years ago using Powerpoint. I watched, took notes, and have made a number of bookmarks for the library since then. The cost to you will be mostly your time, plus a little paper and printer ink.

Here’s how to do it.

Step 1 - Open up Powerpoint and choose a blank slide. If you don’t know how to do this, click “Layout” and choose “Blank”.

Step 2 – Draw vertical lines at the zero mark, and also at the 2 ½” mark on either side of the zero mark. Now you have four evenly spaced bookmarks.

Step 3 – Design the bookmark. Insert text boxes, clip art, or other images. Don’t forget to cite your sources if you get any images from the internet. Either print the sources on the back of the bookmark, or have students hand in their sources along with the bookmark.

Step 4 – Print on cardstock or your choice of paper. I find that cardstock works well, goes through the printer well, and holds up for quite a while.

If you don’t have Powerpoint, you can do this in Microsoft Word also. It takes a little more math, but it can be done. Just choose a “Landscape” layout and draw the vertical lines at the 2 ¾ mark, the 5 ½ mark, and the 8 ¼ mark. Then design the bookmark and print.

Wouldn’t this be a nice book report idea? Students can make either one bookmark and copy it on the other spaces or make four different bookmarks. Kids like getting bookmarks that other kids have made. This also makes the bookmark look more professional. I’m sure you will find other uses for this great bookmark idea.

Have a great week.
Audrey

Dewey Classification Question

Greetings!
I had a good question from a reader recently and I thought it might be something that many of you would find helpful.

The question was regarding the Chicken Soup type of books. These are inspirational short stories or stories of encouragement. They are similar to a devotional type book. You likely have seen Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Heart, Chicken Soup for the Golfer, Chicken Soup for the Teen and the list goes on and on. Other similar books include Taste Berries for Teens, Stories for a Teen’s Heart. If you look on the imprint page, you can find Dewey numbers from the publisher. (Get out your magnifying glass!)

My reader found that there were vastly different Dewey numbers for some of the books. Taste Berries for Teens - says 248.8'3; many of the Chicken Soup books say 158.1; and Stories for a Teen's Heart says 242.63. So where do we put these books? She would like to keep the books together so her kids can find them more easily.

I looked up each Dewey classification and found that the 158.1 section is for books about personal improvement or successful living. The 242 section is for devotional literature and the subheading of 242.6 is for prayers and meditations for specific classes of persons. 242.634 is for college students. I am guessing that the publisher left off the ‘4’ and designated 242.63 for teens. The 248 section is for Christian experience, practice, life. By adding the ‘8’ after the decimal it subdivides the category to Christian experience for specific persons and the ‘3’ means young people.

So if you want to keep these kinds of books together in the library, where should you put them? If you were going to choose one of the above suggestions, you might pick the one that seems to fit best, then give each of them the same Dewey number.

However, I have another option for you. They are basically a collection of stories, so why not put these books in the collected stories under the Dewey number of 808.8? This is what I suggested to my reader. That is where we have them in our library.

Do you have any Chicken Soup books or any books like this? Where do you put them in your library? I’m curious.

I have an announcement. I got some money from the Don Keele Award to add e-readers to our school. I just found out a few days ago and have been doing more research on what to add. I plan to add Kindles from Amazon. So which Kindle should I get? What are the pros and cons of each? I have been researching them to decide and will be talking with our faculty to get their input.

As we go further along, I will update you on my progress on the Kindle project.

I hope you have a great week.
Audrey

Use Common Sense (Media)

Greetings!

I know that many parents have concerns about the amount of inappropriate stuff that children are exposed to day after day through books, television, movies, games, and other things. How can parents and teacher keep up with everything that comes out and know if it is appropriate for our children?

There is a website called Common Sense Media - www.commonsensemedia.org . A parent, teacher, or caring adult can log on to the website and check out reviews of books, television shows, movies, games, and apps which can help parents make informed choices. Not only are the books reviewed, they also give ratings. A Green Circle means that the content is age appropriate; Yellow Circle is the caution button. This says, “Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids”. The Red Circle means that the material is not age appropriate for kids that age.

One way to search is to click on your child’s age, and then use the other filters to find good choices. For example, I set the age level filter to eight years old, then I filtered movies. I wondered what would come up. Not far down the list the animated movie “Brave” was listed. The review says “Mother-daughter princess tale has some very scary scenes”. The movie has a green circle and the age recommendation is 8 years old and older and there are four out five stars. There is a video clip of the movie which includes a longer review also. I could also have filtered even more, but stopped at just the age and media for this demonstration.

Parents can also type in the name of a movie or other media and get instant information without having to scroll multiple pages. I typed in the name of a movie that is playing now in theaters called “Identity Thief”. The previews that are shown on television depict this as a comedy that could even be a family movie. The review from Common Sense Media gives it two stars out of five with a yellow circle and an age level of 16 years. The one line review says “Great stars can’t rescue uneven, sometimes violent comedy.” This one also has a video clip review with it.

There is much more on this site. Click on the top bar to find reviews, top picks, best for learning, videos, blog, educators, and About Us. The videos section has videos to educate parents about a multitude of subject areas. A few titles I saw are “Violence in Media Really Matters”, “Boys and Body Image”, “Girls and Body Image”, “Texting Tips for Parents”, “Protecting Kids’ Privacy Online”, and other advice videos. The videos are also available in Spanish.

When I first heard of Common Sense Media, I heard that many families use the website to make decisions about the media they purchase or view. If a child wants a particular game for his or her handheld device or if he wants to go see a particular movie, the parents say, “Let’s see what Common Sense Media says about it.” They look it up and use the age recommendations to help decide if the material is appropriate. I think this is a smart way to go.

Check out Common Sense Media and then let the parents of your students know about it.
I hope you have a great week.

Audrey

Magazines

Greetings!
It’s been a while since I talked about magazines. I know they can be quite expensive, but if you choose carefully, they can be as good as or better than a book in the library.

It is a good idea to have magazines that help support your curriculum such as science, history, and health. It also is great if you can have magazines that support the interests of the students in your school. For example, if you have a number of boys that all ride bikes or are interested in model airplanes; find a biking magazine or a model airplane magazine. If I were choosing magazines to fit the interests of my students, I would talk with them and let them have a say in what magazines they would like to read at school.

If I had to choose only five magazines for my library I would choose the following ones.

Kids Discover - $26.95 for a year (12 issues)– Each issue tackles one subject and the entire issue (approximately 20 pages) focuses on the one subject. The current issue is all about Simple Machines. Sample subjects include Cells, Roman Empire, Ancient Greece, immigration, American Revolution, Ecology, How America Works. The magazine is appropriate for students in grades 4 – 8. Issues can also be downloaded on the iPad. Keep back issues to use in the future.

Cobblestone – $33.95 for a year (9 issues) - This one bills itself as a history magazine for children in grades 5 – 9, but they also say ages 9 – 14. Which is it? I guess probably both depending on your students. Cobblestone is from the Cricket Group and they also choose a theme for each issue. The latest issue is on March on Washington, and other themes include Thomas Jefferson, War of 1812, The White House’s Historic Neighbors, The Manhattan Project, The Great American Road Trip, A Look at the Library of Congress, becoming American: The New Face of Immigration. This is also one to keep for future use.

Faces – $33.95 for a year (9 issues)- Faces is another magazine from the Cricket Group and is similar to Cobblestone, but the main themes are about People and Places or world culture rather than history. Sample themes are China in a Day, Vietnam, Ghosts and the Spirit World (I just don’t put in appropriate issues in the library), How Religion Rules the World, Australian Aborigines, Texas and the Southwest, Nigeria, Top 20 Cities of the World. Even though there is one issue that is listed in this year’s themes, this happens so seldom. I think this is the only issue in the past 12 years that has not been appropriate for our school. This is also a keeper for the future.

National Geographic Kids - $15.00 for a year (10 issues) This is a nature magazine for kids ages 6 – 14 which likely cover your whole school. Since it is from National Geographic, you know the photography is superb and the information is trustworthy. Again, keep back issues for reference.

American Girl - $22.95 for a year (6 issues) – I like that the magazine is for girls ages 8 and up and is also age appropriate. Girls dress like girls not high fashion and the focus is on friendship, crafts, stories and more. We actually keep these for years and our girls pour over them no matter what year they are. I only discard them when they fall apart!

For an out lay of about $130.00 you have 46 issues all of which can be kept for many years. The information is timely and current. I put them in the computer like I do the books and it is easy for us to find the particular subject we want. When a teacher needs materials on the Civil War, the books and any magazines appear in the list.

You may have noticed that I have not included Listen or Winner. I assume you already know about those and receive them. I also did not include National Geographic. This can be quite pricey, but still great for schools. However, I would imagine that there are parents or other people in your school or church community who get this and would be happy to donate it to the school when they are finished reading it. That is how we got our subscription for a few years. I did not get the magazine right as it was printed, but that was not a problem for me. Unfortunately, that family has moved away, so I need to find another person who would be happy to donate their issues when they are finished.

There are still plenty of other options for magazines that you might use in school. These are just my top five.

Money is a problem for you?! You aren’t alone in this. We all could use more money in our schools and libraries. See if you have any parents or church members that might be willing to donate a subscription or money towards one of the more expensive ones. Have a list of the magazines you would like to have and the cost of each. If you include any of the ones above, make sure to include the fact that they will be kept for years in the future as if they were a book.

One small issue we have had in the past is with some of the magazines such as Motocross Action, Mountain Bike Action, and Model Airplane News. These magazines are really geared more toward adults and some of the advertisements in the magazine have scantily clad women in them. We noticed small groups of boys huddled around one now and then and we would find the issue and quietly remove the offending page or pages later. We usually page through each issue ahead of time to check and pull out anything that might be inappropriate before putting it out for students to check out. I will say that this has not been quite as much a problem as it was a few years ago.

I hope this information has been helpful to you.
Have a great week.
Audrey

Biography Club Idea and More

Greetings!
I enjoy getting emails from you and I enjoy learning about what some of you do in your libraries and classrooms to motivate reading.
Jan mentioned casually to me about the Biography Club she runs at her school. It sounded really interesting, so I asked her for the details of her program.

Students are encouraged to read biographies. Each biography they read is recorded in a notebook that Jan keeps for each grade level. The title and number of pages are recorded. At the end of the semester, the two students in each class that read the most pages are invited to a party in the library. Jan serves root beer floats and homemade cookies. One party is held in December and the other one is held at the end of the school year, thus giving the students plenty of time to read. Jan saves up prizes such as posters, books, and other items that come her way and each student at the party gets to choose a prize.

The program has become wildly popular and Jan did some tweaking of her original rules. Students in grades 2 and 3 need to read at least 300 pages to qualify and students in fourth grade need to read 500 pages to qualify. Students in grades 5 – 8 must read at least 1000 pages to qualify for the party invitation. Students have approximately 4 or 5 months to get the reading done in order to qualify for the party. Jan says that if more than two students read enough to qualify, she includes them anyway. Her club has gotten to be more than the 24 or so she intended, but the students are reading biographies and Jan is happy.

Because of the popularity of the Biography Club, the Buena Vista students do very well in history.

Thanks, Jan for your great idea. This could work for any school of any size.

I am doing something else to encourage reading across the library. I decided to focus on the 3rd and 4th grades this year. I made a card with their name on it and a space for each Dewey hundreds number plus other specific sections in our library. Our picture books are organized in a modified Dewey arrangement, so I included the picture books along with a couple of magazines and a biography. This card is intended to last for the school year. If the whole class finishes their cards, then the class will earn a celebration. I have many smaller easy books in the Dewey hundreds section so students won’t be intimidated by the thick books and I help students find books that they can read. They tell me a little about each book (What did you learn that you didn’t know? or What parts did you like best?) and I write the title on the card.

I’m a little discouraged with the results so far. I thought that I would have more participation and that classes would encourage each other to work on their cards, but it hasn’t happened that way yet. I have one student finished already and a couple more who will soon be done, but I think I will have to change my plan. Instead of having a party for the whole class after everyone completes his or her card, I will probably have one party for the students who have completed their cards and the students who have not completed their cards will have to miss out. Oh, well. I guess I can’t win them all.

If you have some kind of reading program or motivating program and would be willing to share with us, please let me know. I’ll be happy to include it in one of my weekly emails.

I hope you have a great week.

Audrey

E-Readers at School

Greetings!
Last week a teacher contacted me to ask about the use of e-Readers at school. She wondered what other teachers do about this and if it has been a problem. It got me thinking about our school.

Last year Rogers had less than ten students with e-readers that came to school. Most of them were in our junior high. I know that one of the students had dyslexia and her parents bought her a Kindle with ‘read-to-me’ capabilities so she could follow along and be able to read her assignments more quickly.

At Rogers I am working this year to put e-books (electronic or digital books) in our library for student and teacher use and I am hoping to get some Kindles for student and teacher use. But along with the new technology, I also need some user guidelines or policies.

I researched to see what other schools use for their e-Reader Acceptable Use Policy and found policies from six different schools, public and private Christian. I was quite surprised at the rules these schools have made regarding the use of personal e-Readers. The numbers after the rule indicate how many schools had the same rule.

Some of the rules listed were:
1. Materials on and the use of the e-Reader must be in full compliance of the (Name of school). (2)
2. E-Readers will only be used for reading appropriate books (approved by teachers) and accessing programs to assist students in reading (dictionary assistance, highlighting, note-taking, etc.) (4)
3. E-Readers must only be used at appropriate times in accordance with teacher instructions. (4)
4. The e-Reader must not be a distraction for the student or those around him/her nor be a source of any classroom disruption. (4)
5. The e-Reader must not be used for other purposes such as communication, entertainment, music, gaming, etc.
6. E–Readers may not be used at school for audio books. (Personally, I actually like the idea of using them for audio books.)
7. All e-readers must have cellular and network capabilities disabled (turned off) while the device is at school. This means that books must be downloaded prior to coming to school. (4)
8. Students will follow all school guidelines concerning the appropriate use of an electronic device as explained in the Technology Honor Agreement Code.
9. All e-readers must be labeled with the student’s first and last name.
10. Each student is responsible for his/her own e-reader and is not allowed to lend it to another student while at school.
11. The e-reader must be charged prior to bringing it to school. Students will not be allowed to charge their e-reader at school.
12. The student is responsible for knowing how to properly and effectively use their e-Reader; students may not ask teachers to assist with the use of the device. (l) (another rule said it was not to be a burden to the teacher)
13. (Name of school) is not responsible for any damage or loss associated with a student’s e-reader.
14. The school reserves the right to review the contents of the reader if needed.
15. The school reserves the right to deny use of certain devices that have e-Reading capabilities on a case-to-case basis. (Smart phones, etc.)
16. The privilege to use an e-reader can be revoked at any time. (2)
17. Students may bring their e-Reader on campus once the Parent/Student agreement form has been signed and returned.
18. All e-Readers must be registered with the (Name of school) Media Specialist and accompanied by the Acceptable Use Agreement Form signed both by the parents and the student.

Basically the first eight rules discuss when and how the e-Reader may be used at school and what materials can be on it. I thought it was interesting that two schools specifically stated that only materials that are appropriate for the school could be on the device.

Rules nine through thirteen have to do with the device itself and the last five or six rules cover the school’s responsibility.

For the most part, I thought you might simply be interested in what other schools do regarding the e-Readers and you also might decide that your school could benefit from your own policy.

I am interested in whether you allow e-Readers at your school and if you have a policy or rules for them. Please let me know and I will give a quick update next week.

I hope you have a great week.
Audrey

Selection Policy and Reconsideration Policy

Greetings!

I have had a few requests lately for policies for the library. Some of you are getting ready for school evaluations. I feel your pain! I have sent this in past years, but it is always good to be reminded of this point.

I just looked up the word ‘policy’ in the dictionary and found that it means ‘a plan or course of action’. That is exactly why we all need policies in our schools. You all have policies for your school and having a policy in place for the library is also a wise move. You may not ever use it, but it is there in the event you need it. You won’t have to scramble to quickly make up something and then be accused of showing partiality toward or against a student or parent. The policy is there and in place already.

I have a policy for the selection of books, the maintenance of the collection (weeding), and a reconsideration policy.

My Reconsideration Policy is important because there are times that someone may challenge a book that you have in the library. The policy gives you time to reevaluate the material and also time for the person who has challenged the book to also explain why he or she feels the book is inappropriate. I heard of a person who searched a school library catalog online and sent a list of books that he felt should be removed from the library. He had searched the terms “witch” and “magic” and found books on optical illusions and a historical novel titled “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” about a woman who was accused of being a witch but was not. He had not read the books and did not know what was in them, but immediately jumped to the conclusion that the books were inappropriate by simply reading the titles.

There is a Reconsideration Form that the person who has challenged material in the library must fill out explaining what is inappropriate about the book. This gives you time to reevaluate the book and also gives assurance to the challenger that he or she will be heard and given respect for his or her opinions.

I have had books challenged in the past and most of the time, I immediately realized that the book was not worth fighting for and removed it from the collection. Later I put the Reconsideration Policy in place so I have it ready just in case I need it.

I will attach both the Selection Policy and the Reconsideration Form to this email. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Silent Reading

Greetings!

When I began teaching in a two-teacher classroom, I had 15 students in grades 5 – 8 and only about 3 of them enjoyed reading for pleasure. All of them could read, but they just didn’t. I don’t remember when I learned of Sustained Silent Reading (at that time it was called Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading or USSR for short), but it sounded like a time where I could read silently in school without feeling guilty! I began to implement this with the guidelines I learned about. The students each had self-selected reading material and when everyone was settled in their chairs, I set a timer and we began. I began with 10 minutes and we worked up to 20 minutes a day. It was on the schedule and we very seldom skipped the time slot. At first, students reluctantly pulled out their books, but soon they started looking forward to this time slot. “Time for Russia!” one boy would call out jokingly. By the end of the school year, 14 out of 15 of my students enjoyed reading for pleasure.

A few years later I taught a self-contained third grade class and implemented Sustained Silent Reading there. (I left off the “Uninterrupted” word.) I began in third grade with 5 minutes a day for about a week until they had the hang of it, then increased the time to 10 minutes for a few weeks, and finally went to 15 minutes a day. Again I set a timer and we all read our books. When students left my third grade classroom they were all reading well above grade level. The only thing I did that the other teachers did not do was to have the silent reading period daily.

A daily silent reading period helps students learn to enjoy reading. Think about it. All the other reading students do in school is for schoolwork , but this is the one time that THEY can choose what to read and they don’t have to do a report on it. Some teachers ask students to read for a certain amount of time at home, and this is good, but they most likely don’t see the modeling they see at school.

The following guidelines are the ones I used.

1. Explain what silent reading is. Explain what sustained means. During this time no one is talking or moving around the room. Everyone has a book or enough reading material to last for the time without having to get up and distract everyone in order to find another book. If you have a multigrade classroom or non-readers, consider having baskets for younger students to fill with enough books to browse through silently.

2. During the silent reading time, everyone is reading silently. This includes the teacher and any visitors to the room. I have had adult observers or guests in our room and we explain that everyone reads. Since I tend to lose track of time while reading, I set a timer for the time period. I quietly ask if everyone is ready and start the timer. We all are settled and all are reading. At first you may need to gently instruct those who whisper or get up to get another book. I stop the timer and remind everyone that this reading time is silent. I also stop the timer if someone gets up and moves around. Then the next day, I double check to make sure that everyone has enough to read for the time period before we begin. Make sure that students have had bathroom breaks before you start.

3. This program must be regular. Daily is best. If you have it sporadically, it will not have the impact on reading it should have. Think about having math once in a while. What kind of math skills will the students learn? You need to make time for this.

It generally takes a few days, but they catch on very quickly and within a week or two, we are quickly settled and ready to read. After a week or so, I tell the students that we are now going to read for 10 minutes, then later increase it to 15 minutes.

After a couple of months of SSR, I plan a Read-In. I tell students they can bring a healthy snack and a pillow or blanket and we will settle in on the floor and have SSR for 30 minutes. They love this! After a few weeks, they are begging to do it again. Sometimes the class is working toward a reward and we vote to have a Read-In for our class treat. I usually have a Read-In only about about 4 – 5 times during the year and always choose a Friday for it. It is a great way to end the week.

So to sum up my guidelines for SSR:
1. DAILY
2. SUSTAINED
3. SILENT
4. Teacher modeling reading.
5. Call it what you want: SSR, DEAR time, etc., just DO it!

I believe you will be surprised and pleased with the results after even a fairly short time. I’d love to hear about your Silent Reading Plan.

Have a great week.

Audrey