Okay, sixth graders... You will be studying rocks (and minerals) soon. This is the first day I've had a chance to really look at the book fair cases and I'm finding some very cool books in there! Do you know there are at least three different book kits that contain rock samples? Yes! I know! Real rocks! Metamorphic, Sedimentary, Igneous... all there. I especially find the "Deadly Rocks" kit intriguing. Samples include Tektite, Pyrite, Obsidian, Coal, Limestone, Halite, Granite, Selenite, Chalcopyrite. (I'm gonna really have to look at that last one. Chal-copyrite?) Ha! Why are those rocks deadly? You'll just have to look at the stories in that kit! Then, there's a kit called "Rock Stars" with Gypsum, Pumice, Raw Ruby, Shale, Magnetite. Did you know that Calcite bends light rays and makes objects invisible? 
Seventh and eighth graders wish they'd had these rock/mineral kits back when they were in Mrs. Noles' sixth grade science class. 
All language arts classes have visited the fair and now individuals shop with teacher permission. The book fair continues through Friday morning. Rock/Mineral kits: something I'd want if I were a sixth grader -- or someone (like me) who likes to hunt and collect rocks!
Til next time... 
--GS

Subtract 50 from the low number and add 100 to the high number. What does that mean? Well, that gives the leveled range for books in Lexile language for students who have tested on the Scholastic Reading Inventory.  (SRI is a research-based, adaptive assessment that measures reading skills and longitudinal progress from Kindergarten through college readiness. It can be administered in a group setting in around 30 minutes, up to three times per year.)
Today, Teacher Donna Smith and I are showing her students how to use the media center's website, Surpass Safari, and the Dewey Decimal System to search for books by Lexile Range. She created a "scavenger hunt" handout and I created a graphic guide to help students maneuver Surpass Safari. We used Plotagon avatars to talk to students on the Smart Board about the process, going over how to locate items in the media center. 
We also demonstrated the scanner on the Media 12 Station so students can scan ISBNs at Lexile.com on books they own -- or on books we own that do not have Lexile labels yet. Lexile is dynamic; new titles are added by Metametrics frequently. This information is updated automatically in Surpass and I scan to add labels to the top of book spines accordingly.
Students are using Mrs. Smith's handouts to get hands-on experience using the system. We hope this will help them the next time they visit the media center to search for books within a specific Lexile range. 
Walking around, I've taken note of a few titles they've written down. They don't know it yet, (shhhhhhhhh!) but I secretly placed a few prize notifications in some of the books they are about to search. They will get to choose from the Prize Box when they pull those books out and say, "I found it!"
Reading is so much fun!
Til next time... -- GSouth (with Donna Smith)


Click or scan the qr code for information on checking out -- and downloading -- digital books to personal digital reading devices.

Visual images are -- and have been -- important throughout the Ages. Images tell stories, promote businesses on billboards, advertise products on TV, websites and in retail stores. Primitive images in caves tell stories of how life used to be long ago. Today, in library media centers and book stores, images illustrate stories and cover books.  
Sometimes, a vendor will send the original book cover with the imprinted library-bound version. I never throw these away. Never! They are beautiful works of art and they entice readers to read. I revisited my book cover collection in the storage room this week to re-do the glass case near the media center's entrance. Some of these covers have been with me since the school opened in 2002. So, I dug down into the pile and pulled out Harry Potter, Larten Crepsley, M.C. Higgins and the Great and Powerful Oz. I visited Wayside School, the Little House on the Prairie, and Middle Earth. I felt a chill when I came across The Ghost in Room 11 and The House of Dies Drear. I worried again about the great coon dog, Sounder, and about White Fang, the half dog, half wolf. 
I will get to the glass case in a few days. After all, I like what's in there now: photos of last year's Shelf Managers in "shelf label poses." I laminated the old book covers and put them together with clear book tape. Then, in a Pinterest kind of frenzy, I decorated an ugly cart no one ever wants to borrow. I impressed myself so much that I created "Chair Talkers" (book covers taped to the back of the computer chairs). 
Of course, these spurts of creation came between checking in, checking out, answering questions, shelving books, updating shelf lists... and getting a scanner connected to a computer so students may scan ISBNs for Lexile codes on the books not yet labeled. (Thanks Mike Robbins, Technologist Extraordinaire!) And, I had to finish the script for the Plot on Plotagon for orientations. (Don't you just love Text To Speech -- TTS programs?) 
The photos are here. I'll keep you posted!
--# GS
"Images often function as information, but they are also aesthetic and creative objects that require additional levels of interpretation and analysis. Finding visual materials in text-based environments requires specific types of research skills." --ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education