Timber Trace ES Sets Summer Camp Reading Record

Rhonda Heide, Director of Timber Trace Elementary Afterschool & Camp Program, reports that the TTES summer campers have broken their all-time summer camp record with an astounding 5,530,074 combined words!

This broke their previous camp record of just over 4.5 million words set two summers ago. She took the occasion to extend a super-special summer-camp ‘shout-out’ to the Timber Trace Elementary School library media specialist, Amy Armbruster who opens the media center to afterschoolers and summer camp each and every day, and to the many TTES teachers who volunteered their time in the media center over the summer to assist summer readers with their book selections and check out.

Ms. Heide said, “without Ms. Armbruster’s help and that of the other teachers the readers couldn’t achieve their incredible summer reading goals!”

Marsh Pointe Elementary’s first grade students have published an eBook! Linda Nadrawski, library media specialist, collaborated with first grade teachers as they facilitated a multi-week research project about animals. The students researched animals, wrote their animal facts, drew a picture of the animal, videotaped themselves reading their animal facts and then created their own page for the eBook. The culminating activity was the animal zoo. The media center tables became cages and the invited guests and classes came in to view facts on the iPads and see the premier of the eBook titled “Animal Zoo.” Visitors were allowed to feed the animals; you guessed it, animal crackers. It was a huge success. Students commented, “This is the best school day ever.”  The students are looking forward to creating another eBook and the library media specialist and teachers are looking forward to facilitating that project.

You can see the 1^st grade Animal Zoo video by clicking here.

1728 students in grades 3-12 made up 404 teams who battled online for the opportunity to represent their school in the 2011 Grand Battle of the Books. This battle of the Books competition is sponsored by the School District of Palm Beach Count with incentive programs provided by the Departments of K-12 Instructional Materials and Library Media Services, Educational Technology and The Education Network.

Book titles for the SDPBC Battle of the Books come from the Sunshine State Young Readers Award and the Florida Teens Read lists. Titles for these state-sponsored reading programs are selected annually by a state-wide committee of professionals for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.

Only two schools at each of the three levels earned the right to represent their school in the Grand Battle of the Books on April 29, 2011.  We proudly salute all the teams who competed online and the two teams at each level who represented their school at the Grand Battle.

Sunset Palms Elementary Super Stars won the 3-5 Grand Battle by a narrow margin over the South Olive Elementary Cicada Dragons. Roosevelt Middle School Dementors edged out Boca Raton Community Pickleface Organization 1491 and the Park Vista High School Cobras emerged victorious over Jupiter High School Warrior B.

The 2011 Battle of the Books was a success because of all the library media specialists, teachers and parents who encouraged students to read and study the Florida Sunshine State Young Reader and Florida Teens Read books.

Voting for the Sunshine State Young Readers Award is now open. For instructions go to http://www.myssyra.org/. Voting will remain open until April 15, 2011.

Meet the people of NASA and look over their shoulders as they make NASA’s goals a reality. Whether in the area of aerospace design or training for space walks, NASA Quest is a rich resource for educators, kids and space enthusiasts who are interested in meeting and learning about NASA people and the national space program. NASA Quest allows the public to share the excitement of NASA’s authentic scientific and engineering pursuits like flying in the Shuttle and the International Space Station, exploring distant planets with amazing spacecraft, and building the aircraft of the future.

NASA Quest offers a wide range of FREE online tools and resources for teachers, students, parents and others including Web and print lesson plans, educator guides and workbooks.

Share this site with the teachers at your school. There are resources for elementary through high school. Share the site with students and encourage them to participate in the interactive explorations of authentic scientific and engineering processes.

I have had an opportunity to explore a website that was recommended by a member of the LM_NET list serve and would like to share that website with you. It is the American Academy of Achievement’s collection of exclusive first-person interviews with its honorees. The mission of the Academy of Achievement is to bring the life stories of eminent achievers to students, teachers, and parents. There are written transcripts, video footage of discussions with Academy members, photo galleries and an interactive museum of living history that includes curriculum materials and broadcast highlights.

To learn more about the Academy and its website take a minute or two to view their tutorial at http://www.achievement.org/tutorial/player.html.

(The American Academy of Achievement, 2010)

The American Academy of Achievement. (2010). Retrieved December 15, 2010, from Academy of Achievement: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pagegen/index.htm

The American Association of School Librarians recently sent out a kit about “NetCetera” the online safety program sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission- “a guide for librarians, teachers, parents and others to help kids navigate the online world safely and responsibly.” Click on the icon below to see the site. 

OnGuardOnline.gov provides practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry to help you be on guard against internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.

Families Reading Together is a Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade county-wide reading initiative being celebrated the entire month of November. This year’s book is I Love Our Earth written by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson with photographs by Dan Lipow.

A new Gale database is now available through the Florida Electronic Library. Books & Authors  is a  reader’s advisory tool for children’s, young adult, and adult fiction and non-fiction. To learn how to use this tool and assist your students visit Florida Electronic Library Resource List  and select Books & Authors.

To register for a free Webinar about Books& Authors see the information below:

Course Title: Reader’s Advisory Using the Florida Electronic Library
This course will provide attendees with an overview of FEL’s new resource – Books & Authors, which provides reader’s advisory for children’s, young adult, and adult fiction and non-fiction.   Books & Authors is specially designed to complement the browsing habits of today’s Web user, integrating easy-to-follow menus that allow users to broaden and narrow their searches according to author, title, series, awards and other criteria. At the same time, its meticulously edited database — developed by a team of genre experts – delivers up-to-date, reliable information. The instructor will demonstrate how to efficiently and effectively get the most out of Books & Authors.

This session is ideal for all library staff.
·         Live webinar Wednesday, October 13 at 9:00 a.m.
·         Live webinar Tuesday, October 19 at 11:00 a.m.
·         Live webinar Monday, October 25 at 9:00 a.m.

Register online at http://www.flelibrary.org/training/.  Hint: click on Course Offerings in the upper left hand corner.

Plumosa School of the Arts Digital Art students helped celebrate Read for the Record by creating a Read-Aloud using Kid Pix software. Take a look!

http://palmbeachschooltalk.com/plumosadigitalmedia/Digital_Media_Center/Projects_2010-11/Entries/2010/10/12_snowyday_with_text.html