Twilight Trivia Contest

Attention Twilight book and movie fans. The media center is having a Twilight trivia contest. Stop by and pick up a question sheet. Students with correct answers will be eligible to win one of 2 Twilight posters. Winners will be announced on Monday, Dec 1.

Cool new tool

Here is a sample of a new tool that I just tried out. It is called wordle. You can create word clouds with this tool. You can print them or save them to a gallery. It's fun and really easy to use.

Happy Halloween

Come visit our "Ghostly" Book display. Check out a book on superstitions, witchcraft, or the occult. We also have tales of haunted houses and horror. The display includes authors such as Stephen King, Alfred Hitchcock and Chris Wooding.

Banned Books Week

Celebrate your freedom to read. Stop by the media center this week to see our display and check out a challenged book.

They're here!!!

Our new book order has just arrived. Please stop by and check out the new additions to our fiction section. All of these new books can be found on top of the reference shelves in the center of the library.

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read.

We will be celebrating Banned Books Week in the media center with a display of the most frequently challenged book. Please stop by and to see the display and check out a challenged book.

Welcome Back

Welcome Back to the Hopewell Valley Central High School Media Center. There have been a lot of changes over the summer. All of our new shelving is in and the books have been unpacked and re-shelved. Please stop by next week and take a look. We also have 32 new computers.

New Books

We just received a new shipment of fiction books. Here is a sample of some of the titles.

Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian
New Moon Special
Amnesia Clinic
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
At First Sight
Nineteen Minutes A Novel
Baltimore Or The Steadfast Tin Soldier
La Perdida
Beautiful Miscellaneous
Petropolis
Choice
Poison
Crackback
Red Spikes
Elsewhere
River Secrets
Essex County Tales From The Farm
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
Keeper
Specials Swim To Me A Novel
Kite Runner
True Believer
Maximum Ride: Angel Experiment
Truth About Forever
Maximum Ride: Final Warning
Twilight
Maximum Ride: Saving The World …
Twisted
Maximum Ride: Schools Out Forever
We Are On Our Own A Memoir
My Sisters Keeper

Imperialism Assignment: Bello/Tkacs

We began the research project on Imperialism on Thursday in the Media Center. I instructed Mr. Bello’s and Mr. Tkacs’s 9th grade history classes on the following topics:
1. The use of our subscription databases (ProQuest, Facts on File, ABC-CLIO, and EBSCO).
2. Social bookmarking –  del.icio.us account to access websites on Imperialism.
3. Online citation generator - NoodleBib Express.
4. Works Consulted page - tips on formatting and features in Microsoft Word.

On Friday, students worked with their groups to find the information that they needed for their presentations. Mr. Bello, Mr. Tkacs and I decided that the students would utilize the database resources more effectively, if they didn’t have access to Wikipedia and Google. After the initial shock and withdrawal, I am happy to report that the students made it through their class period using the research databases and website links that were given to them. They found reliable and authoritative information for their research presentations. The last three days in the Media Center, students were finishing up their research using all database and internet resources.

To the students:
Now that you’ve finished researching, I would like to get some feedback from you on this research process. I’ve added a poll to the sidebar of this blog regarding the databases that you were introduced to for this assignment. Please vote for the databases that were most helpful to you. In addition, I would like you to comment on the entire research process. What was most helpful to you? Did you find the information that you needed in the databases, books and selected internet sites? How did you feel about not using Google or Wikipedia?

RSS Feeds

I am now learning about RSS feeds. I've added a couple of RSS feeds to the sidebar of this blog. I also use Bloglines.com as my reader for blogs and news. If you are not sure about RSS, here is another simple explanation from the commoncraft guys.

What's a Blog?

If you're not sure what a blog is, watch this video by the Commoncraft guys for a simple explanation.

“….The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

I just created my first blog for a URI online class - “Using Blogs and Wikis to Foster Literacy”. This is my first post. I’m not quite sure where I am going with this blog, but I have a lot to learn.