Newbery Club is about to begin!

What: Newbery Club

When: Informational meetings Thursday, September 4 and September 11 during lunch periods

Where: DRMS Media Center

Who: 6th, 7th and 8th grade students are invited

Why? Because it's fun!

We've been busy behind the scenes preparing this year's collection of Newbery Club books. These are newly published (2008) titles that are exclusively available for Newbery Club members. Students can choose to read those books that most interest them, write a review of the book and determine if it's worthy of receiving the Newbery Medal. The REAL Newbery Medal is awarded in January, so there's still a lot of time to read some of these great contenders!

The DRMS media staff is reading along with students, and have already previewed several of these great titles. Waiting for Normal is our current favorite. Stay tuned for future reviews . . . .

-Ms. Z

good to Great!

Today was such a Great! day in the media center. With all of their belongings in tow, sixth-grade science students headed straight for the media center at the very beginning of each class period. Mrs. Myers and I were ready and waiting (in our matching blue inquiry t-shirts) to guide students from good question writing to developing Great! questions that they will choose from during this collaborative project. After students took Cornell Notes on the definition and examples of inquiry and project requirements and expectations, they dove into brainstorming everything that came to their minds about plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes onto large sheets of paper. These ideas became their guides as they wrote good questions about the topic that most interested them. Allowing students choice in an assignment or project is such a powerful motivation tool!

After writing several questions, Mrs. Myers and I showed several "good" question examples and explored how to make them Great! By the end of the class period, many students had transformed their own good questions into Great! higher-level questions that will challenge them as they research the answers as this project progresses.

I'm eager to read each student's reflection from today's lesson detailing what they learned and what new questions they have. This is a journey not just for these students, but for me as well!

-Ms. Z

Alternate Definitions

Today, I worked with Mrs. Myers and her 6th grade science classes. Students completed a pre-assessment before starting a collaborative unit on earthquakes, volcanoes and plate tectonics. Can you answer the following question?

What is a wiki?
a. something small or tiny
b. a fruit
c. small creatures with big hair
d. crazy

Do you have a guess? Actually, the answer is "none of the above," but each of the above answer choices were DRMS student answers submitted on today's pre-assessment. The correct answer is: a collaborative collection of webpages that can be viewed or editted.

Other questions asked students about inquiry, Cornell note-taking, Internet website vs. electronic database distinction and basic science-specific questions on this unit of study. On Thursday, students will begin working on this project in the media center and will journey through inquiry on their quest for Great! questions. Look for future blog entries on this exciting project!

-Ms. Z

Olympics

Goodness! It's been awhile since we've posted to the blog. As many of you know, readers will stop visiting a "stale" blog, so we will be sure to keep updating often! Our media calendar is quickly filling up with dynamic lessons and projects through the rest of August and into September. We'll be sure to detail them in future blog posts.

Wednesdays are "Dolphin Day." As DRMS students and staff know, this time allows an extra class period for remediation and enrichment. Classes that come to the media center during their Dolphin period are often involved in creative, enriching research assignments. Today, two of our three classes worked on projects having an Olympic theme. There are so many great Olympics websites, some of which are searchable. Check this one out: www.olympic.org . You can actually search specific athletes from Olympic Games of the past and read biographical information on them, as well as see which medals they won. More detailed profiles of over 300 athletes are also available on this great site. Go team USA!!

-Ms. Z

A flurry of activity!

The media center has been a flurry of activity today! Of course, you'd never guess that since, at the moment, there's not a soul in here except me. It's truly "feast or famine" around this place - either a bustling place with lots of students researching and looking for books, or no one in sight.

Today we've had 6th grade science students exploring plate tectonics video clips, including online animations of plate movements and where earthquakes have occurred. The website they used is http://www.teachersdomain.org/. It's a wonderful resource with a variety of science-related topics.

Several classes came through for circulation and even stayed a bit for some quiet reading time. I've been very impressed with how well many of our students have caught on to using the new library catalog. They're successfully finding books and are excited to check them out.

Lunchtime brings students carrying blue media center passes in search of books . These students enjoy visiting the MC during their Team Time (right after their lunch period). For our sixth graders, it's their introduction to "free library time" in middle school. Upon arrival, students stamp their blue pass into the "stamper clock." This imprints the date and time onto the pass and makes a loud noise when it stamps. Some students appear frightened to use it for the first time!

Today, lunchtime also brought several 8th grade Social Studies students who are busy working on their Colonial Newspaper project. Mrs. M was able to help a small group of students by giving them more individualized attention on their specific project.

Every day = something new. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?!

-Ms. Z

"Media Center savior"

"Thank you! You're a media center savior!" -a quote from a 7th grade student upon being told that the book he reserved had come in and was ready for him to check out.

The media staff is still learning new tricks and features of Destiny. We're now confident in our abilities to place holds on items. Students, if a book you're interested in happens to be checked out, come to the circulation desk and we'll put a hold on it for you. That way, you'll be next in line for checkout once it's returned.

-Ms. Z

MTAC

Tuesday afternoon was the first meeting of the DRMS Media and Technology Advisory Committee (MTAC). This committee consists of educational technology visionaries who see technology as a daily learning and teaching necessity, not just a bunch of cool "gadgets" to show-off once in awhile. The majority of the meeting was spent reviewing our current Technology Plan. This document contains goals and a timeline to introduce and implement 21st century learning tools. We're excited about the many updates to the plan and look forward to sharing it with the rest of the staff!

The committee is excited about the addition of new tools, such as StarBoards, document cameras and student response systems. A sales rep will be at Durant to present to MTAC and other interested staff on Thursday, August 21 at 3:00pm in the media center. Mark your calendars now! I saw his presentation on 21st century tech tools earlier this week and it's so exciting to think of these types of resources being implemented here. You don't want to miss it!

-Ms. Z