What a Good Library Needs

Check out these creative suggestions from one of our library aides, Aaron B.

HMS Dream Library

Our library aides are creating Prezis on their dream library. Here is a great one, designed by our very own Lizzy B.!

HMS Library: November Newsletter

Change is coming!

I have had the honor of attending the American Association of School Librarians for the past few days and am so excited to bring back new ideas to use in improving our school library program at HMS. Stay tuned!

Book trailer bonanza!

HMS Library aides have been working very hard over the past few weeks to design and produce creative book trailers, which are short videos created to persuade someone to read a book.

It was a project on which we collaborated with students from Rock Quarry Middle School. RQMS designed a rubric which served as the guide for both schools' book trailer projects. The end result we are working toward is building a nice selection of book trailers that can be used to enhance the school libraries of both schools.

It has been an awesome learning experience in which we have learned about everything from the realities of local network filtering, using video equipment, converting video files to another format required by our production software, and fighting learning/working with video streaming resources. The students have learned an awful lot about video production, and I am so very proud of them!

One highlight of this project was that students were able to have a video conference session via Skype. They talked about their books and some tips they learned while working on the project, which made it even more real and meaningful for the kids at both HMS and RQMS. We hope to work on more projects in the future with Rock Quarry Middle School!

Posted below are some of the students' books trailers. We hope you enjoy them!

Braydie - Big Nate
Lizzie and Erica - Divergent
Andrew and Chandler - Guiness Book of World Records
Seth - 39 Clues
Bryant - Among the Free
Raylen - The Outsiders
Aaron - The Giver
JT - Percy Jackson
Kyle and Steven - Graceling
Kaylin and Roxie - Hunger Games
Casey, Dallas, and Emma - Letters from Rifka (sources are cited in the description of the video)

Teen Read Week

Students at Hueytown Middle School are working hard to get ready for Teen Read Week 2013! Be on the lookout for posts written by students explaining the significance of Teen Read Week as well as digital resources created by library aides to promote this library event.

Check out our Tackks!

Library aides have been using Tackk to create digital posters on a book of their choice. I am so proud of their work, attention to detail, and creativity. Library aides ROCK!

*We are going to work on updating these with proper citations. :)

Erica: The Pretties

Lizzy: Divergent

Bryant: Among the Free

Ashlyn: Out of My Mind

Raylen: Catching Fire

Bailey: Criss Cross

Aaron: Out of My Mind

JT: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Dallas: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Emma: Hunger Games

Steven: Saving Zasha

Casey: The Hobbit

Kyle: Hatchet

Kaylin: A Christmas Carol

Roxie: Hunger Games

Luke: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Seth: Killer Pizza by the Slice

McKenzie: The Giver

Book Fair Week

It has been Fall Book Fair week at Hueytown Middle. For those of you who have visited and purchased items (especially parents who shopped on Tuesday night!), thank you so much! Every cent we are able to raise through book fair helps purchase much-needed print and electronic resources for our students and teachers.

I've received better feedback from students on this book fair than any other I've had! There have been numerous award-winning books available as well as several super popular new series. I love knowing what you guys like, so please keep the feedback coming!

Welcome back!

Summer has come and gone, and we are cracking the new school year wide open! It has been so much fun to see old friends, meet new ones, and kick off the new year.

We have 23 student library aides, and I am going to rely on them quite a bit to help the library program run smoothly this year! The blog will be used quite a bit for various assignments and activities. Library aides, please comment below (first name OR initials only plus your class period, please!) with one reason you wanted to become a library aide this year. This will be good practice for using the blog comment features.

All HMS students and parents, we are eager to serve you. Please don't hesitate to come by!

Poetry Slam

Thursday is POETRY SLAM day for 7th grade! We are so excited to host this very cool event.

Your assignment for this week (due THURSDAY) is to answer these questions. Each question is worth 25 points. I'll provide you a sample at the bottom of this post. Follow every detail to get your 100 points!

First name, Period
1. Google poetry slam and share a link to information about what poetry slams are.
*CANNOT be a link someone else has already posted.

2. Use the Library OPAC to locate the title of one book of poetry. Include Title, Author, and Copyright.
CANNOT be a title someone else has already posted.

3. Using the Literature Resources database on Alabama Virtual Library, locate the name of one poet from the 21st century.

4. Describe one way you will support the HMS Poetry Slam!

Example:
Michelle, 1st Period
1. Poetry slam rules: http://my.poetryslam.com/nps-rules
2. A Poetry Sampler by Donald Hall, Copyright 1962
3. Anatoly Kudryavitsky
4. By planning the Poetry Slam with Mrs. Fraley and Mrs. Porter and hosting it in the HMS Libary!

Book Fair!

It's book fair week! Your assignment this week is to find 3 books at the book fair that you would like to read. List their titles and tell why you want to read it (Cover? Recommendation from a friend?)

April is National Poetry Month! Your displays (poetry/poets is our theme, but do not use a song) are due this Thursday!

Elvira and Melody

Read Chapters 16-20 (pages 139-184) of Out of My Mind and comment with your responses to these questions:

1. Who (or what) is Elvira?

2. How do Melody's classmates begin to treat her differently after she gets Elvira?

3. What huge mistake did Mr. Dimming make about Melody?

4. What's your prediction...do you think Melody will make the team?

Back to Melody

Read Chapters 14 and 15 (pages 122-138) in Out of My Mind. Comment below telling your favorite moment in these two chapters and how that made you feel.

Break Time!

In lieu of a blog post this week about Out of My Mind, your assignments for the week are simply to help us get all yearbook pages completed. We have to turn them in Friday!

Happy spring break!

This week's blog assignment

You have all drawn topics for your March display in the library. You should be using library time to conduct research on your topic, and begin building your display. Use one book or web resource from your research and comment below with a summary. To receive full credit for your post, copy and paste the items below and complete all fields. Use Citation Machine to format your source citation.

Name (First name, Last initial only):
Period:
Title:
Summary:
Source (Use Citation Machine, then copy and paste in your source):

Interpreting the author's symbolism

I have loved reading all your posts! Your thoughts about Out of My Mind have been solid, and I hope you are continuing to enjoy the book. Your assignment for this week includes two parts.

1. How is Melody like Ollie?
(If you don't know who Ollie is, read Chapter 8.)

2. We all know what happened to Ollie. Do you think this is the author's way of foreshadowing? Why or why not?

Sweet Melody

Time for a talk-back. Comment with your answers below! There is no length limit on this assignment.
*Due by Thursday, February 24th. 

*Remember, use the first name, last initial, class period format. (ex: Michelle W., 7th period)

1. What do you think of Out of My Mind so far?

2. What is Melody's best feature?

3. Which one of Melody's classmates do you like best and why?

Out of My Mind

Starting next week, we are going to read Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind. Each week during your library class period, we will read portions of this book together and complete activities to help us better understand this exceptional work of literature.

Your blog post for this week is an easy assignment. In just one sentence, tell me what you think this book might be about. No googling! All I want is your guess, based on the title of the book. If you have already read Out of My Mind, just post a sentence saying that.

February book displays

It's that time again, guys...have you selected your book for your February display yet?

Leave a comment below and tell me (in at least four sentences) why you chose the book and how you plan to decorate with it.

*Remember to select Anonymous, then post with your first name, last initial, and class period. Example: Michelle W., 7th period.

If you could change the world...

Okay, maybe not the world (not that we don't believe you are ALL very capable of changing the world!), but let's dial it in to a littler closer to home.

What would you change about our library space?  By this I mean the main library room.

Looking forward to your responses!

*Make sure you choose "Anonymous" and then sign with your first name, last initial, period. Example: Michelle W., 6th period.

New books!

This post is for library aides!

You guys have already seen all the new books we have received this week. Choose one that looks the most interesting and read it. Post a quick synopsis (up to 5 sentences) in the comments section below. Use this format:

Title:
Author:
Synopsis:


Make sure you have completed this AND your reflection log for this week by Thursday!