Wow! Met new friends @ open house...

We had such a wonderful day yesterday at open house! I met so many new friends, who I hope to see again at conferences, meetings or online. It was truly a learning experience for me and I hope it was for everyone who came to visit. Ben Meyers, our Follett representative, stayed for the entire day to answer questions about Follett programs and Follett Shelf. He and one of our system technology experts, Mike Robbins, worked together to set up the Follett Shelf for our students. What does this mean? It means our students can now check out digital electronic books through Follett Shelf. I will post the link for them today and get the word out next week! We have 22 eBooks in our collection and these can be viewed on iPads with the Follett Shelf App. Wow...
J.C. Barb, our Barnes and Noble representative from Newnan, also stayed all day to answer questions about electronic reading devices and to explain how schools can use B&N for Nook purchases. He's been such a great resource for us! He comes to the school if we have a problem with a device (which is rare) and he helped me record serial numbers for inventory. Wow... Congratulations to Dawn Lanca, from Pike County, who won the Barnes and Noble Gift Basket yesterday!
Courtney McGough brought bookmarks, pens, posters and stayed to answer questions about Galileo, which is the go-to resource for Georgians. If you haven't tried the resources in Galileo, it's time you did. Full text journal articles, primary source documents, current Georgia codes and laws, links to history, encyclopedias, biographies, reliable web sources, book recommendations and reviews... and so much more! Galileo is online and resources are always available to help students and parents with research and information. You won't need the password at school, but stop by the circulation desk to pick up the current password to keep by your computer or electronic device at home.
Sara and Julie, representatives at Surpass, sent items to give away for prizes and shared our award with the Surpass listserv. Surpass is such a great company with a 21st century product. Students can look up books in our collection any time from home and reserve a book (with an individual code). Safari shows book covers, reviews and allows instant/constant access to our resources. Another wow... Congratulations to our staff winners: Nikki Barnes, Jen Walston, Christy Hume, Stacey Walker for winning Surpass/Galileo/B&N prizes yesterday!
Lynn Flaum, our Scholastic representative, sent an autographed copy of The Invention of Hugo Cabretby Brian Selznick. We will announce a student winner on Monday's news show at 7:45. Thanks, Lynn!
Renaissance Learning Regional Account Reprsentative (South/East/Central Georgia) Ellen Gadberry shared resources about Renaissance Learning products (Accelerated Reader, Renaissance Place). Though she couldn't be here, she has offered to visit later for a F2F mini seminar on how to use Renaissance Place. If we can coordinate that, I'll let everyone know. This would be for anyone interested in how to correctly use RP products to track and increase reading comprehension.
Our superintendent, Jerry Prince, came to the event and learned how to play Words With Friends! So did Rep. Randy Nix, who sat down and played on Team Admin at the WWF Table. Students were excited to play our principal, Mike Roberts, who IMO should be the National "Principal of the Year!"
Donna Haralson, editor/reporter for The News and Banner, our local newspaper, covered the event and took photos. The N&B has always been a great supporter for all our schools and I will always miss "Mr. Mac" (McCutchen), a true Southern journalist.
Though Governor Deal and Dr. Barge weren't able to attend, we had several VIPs throughout the day. I learned so much from the professional educators who came to our humble event from so far away (Forsyth, Pike County, Auburn, Alabama, Cordele, Harris County... and locally, LaGrange, Coweta Coweta, Newnan, Carroll County...) Donita Hinckley, Instructional Coordinator from Thomasville, visited with us one day last week. So glad you could visit with us, Donna! I know some media specialists couldn't be here because they are without media clerks and couldn't leave their media centers. I missed you.
Sabrina Thompson, my daughter and LMS at Temple High School was a tremendous help! She helped with the WWF tournament, refreshment set-up and helped monitor students who came in and out to check out books, participate in the WWF Tournament and talk about our news show. (Thanks, Sabrina -- love you... proud of you!)                                                                                                                              
Janet Scott, my assistant/clerk, brought in tons of food and made punch. Our program would not be what it is without her. (Thanks, Janet!)
We have the BEST staff at HCMS! The beautiful flowers were arranged by Mrs. Betty Barber, a bus driver and assistant! Thanks Mrs. Betty!
For those who wonder what all the fuss was about, this link gives information about the Georgia Department of Education Exceptional/Exemplary Media Program, which is awarded each year to programs that meet/exceed the expectations on the program's award rubric.