Quarter 2 Newsletter

BCEMS Library/Media Center Update

The Barre City Elementary and Middle School Library/Media Center is having a “Reading Olympics” con-test for “I Love to Read and Write Month.” Bobsled reading slips called, “Bobsledding Bulldogs” will be handed out to each classroom. Teachers will send home Bobsledding Bulldog Reading slips for students to fill out every time they finish a book. Teachers will decorate their doors and the hallway with Bobsled reading slips. The starting line will begin at the library door near the AV room. The finish line will be at the li-brary doors near the fish tank. We appreciate your sup-port in encouraging/helping students fill out their Bob-sled reading slips with the “Student’s Name”, “Book Title” and “Parent/Teacher Signature”. The students can then hand them in to their teacher. Help us celebrate “I Love to Read and Write Month.” by encouraging your child to read and participate in the “Reading Olympics.

I Love to Read and Write Month January 21, 2014

Picture (left to right) Jen Tosi, Polly Youngblood, Stephanie McMahan, Grace Burke

Bobsledding Bulldogs

1st/2nd Grade Library Classes Students experienced many kinds of stories and related activities. They learned about Library Citi-zenship, differences between fiction and non-fiction, role of author, parts of a book, illustrator, and publisher. They made and supported predictions about the text, compared and contrasted 4 books by the same author, made a fairy tale Good vs. Evil chart and explored the conflict between them. Students have participated in the Red Clover Program (a Vermont State Library Program) where they will vote on their favorite of ten books in the spring.

Kindergarten Library classes focus on being good listeners for stories, caring for books, and return-ing books (Library Citizenship). We read various types of stories and discuss the beginning, middle, and end, main parts of the story, characters of the stories, opposites, predictions, compare and con-trast, comprehension, increase vocabulary, and increase enjoyment of reading. The Red Clover Pro-gram, a Vermont State Library Program, is incorporated into the Kindergarten library classes. The children also have an opportunity to work on projects related to the stories.

1st/2nd Grade Computer Classes

Kindergarten Library Classes

First and second graders have been busy on the computers this year! They have learned the home row keys on the keyboard and frequently practice typing. Students have created posters about fall, typed sentences about themselves, and recreated covers of books they read in Library class. They have worked in Power Point to produce books about different types of weather, including the sun, clouds, tornados, hurricanes, snow, earthquakes, rain, lightning, thunderstorms, volcanoes, and the wind. First and second graders have become competent at selecting, placing, and sizing clip art images.

PAGE 2 BCEMS LIBRARY/MEDIA CENTER UPDATE QUARTER 2

Pre-School Library Classes Pre-school comes to the library every week to listen to a story and pick a book.

This year third graders have practiced many skills on the computer. They have learned about computer safety, used online encyclopedias, edited a word proc-essing document, continued to practice typing, created a graphic organizer using Kidspiration, learned how to create a table in a Word document, and cited where they got a picture from an online source.

3rd Grade Library Class

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Third grade students interacted dynamically with literature and media through discussion, analysis, role-playing, pro-jects and related activities. They explored genres. award-winning books such as Caldecott and Red Clover books, and made bookmarks for the library, used literary terms such character, plot, and setting, reinforced difference be-tween fiction and non-fiction, located resources using the library catalog and were introduced to the Dewey Decimal System. They watched a Cyber bullying prevention video and learned how to recognize and prevent cyber bully us-ing email, chat, text and websites, and analyzed Media Lit-eracy-Evaluated resources, i.e. reading level, bias, and point of view. We explored mystery genres: discussed characters, plot, setting and elements of a mystery, identi-fied elements of a mystery, and discussed characters, plot and settings. Students filled in their concept map worksheet in computer class based on the mystery story. Stu-dents used encyclopedias and atlases in different formats as a reference tool for post-ers in Microsoft Word. Students learned about note taking, graphic organizers, extract-

ing information from print and non-print resources, finding evi-dence to prove a thesis statement, and citing sources when we compared and contrasted two folktales from Russia and China. Then students created sentences from their notes to type in computer class. When we finished finding out why the dragon is important to the Chinese and why Baba Yaga was important to the Russians, we made dragon puppets like the ones the Chinese use in their parades.

3rd Grade Computer Class

4th Grade Library/Media Class

BCEMS LIBRARY/MEDIA CENTER WEB PAGE: HTTP: / /BCEMSVT.ORG/JOOMLA/ INDEX.PHP/BCEMSLIBRARY

Students interacted dynamically with literature and media through discussion, analysis, role-playing, projects and related activities. Topics included fiction, non-fiction, mysteries, Greek Myths and popu-lar myths, Caldecott, Red Clover and DCF (Dorothy Canfield Fisher) award winning books. Students used literary terms such character, plot, and setting to fill out concept maps and create their own graphic organizer using Kidspiration. They explored genres, made bookmarks for the library, located resources using the library catalog, and extracted information from print and non-print resources. They used online encyclopedias as a reference tool for their electronic posters. They created a class essay about “effective effort,” note taking, finding evidence to prove their thesis statement, writing and typing sentences with pictures, and citing sources. Students explored Media Literacy-Evaluated resources, i.e. reading level, bias, and point of view. They watched a Cyber bullying prevention video and learned how to recognize and prevent cyber bully using email, chat, text and websites. Students reviewed the Dewey Decimal System, a method of library organization. Students practiced their typing skills using several programs and activities.

Books donated In

memory of Mr. Taf-

fel's Nephew, Andy,

an avid reader and

life-long learner.

Andy's mother, Meg

Hodge, donated

$5,000 from "Andy's

Books for Kids" to

purchase books for

our school library.

Skype Picture Book Authors for Younger Readers-Google:

David Catrow, Shana Corey, Barbara Kerley, Jean Marzollo, Steve Metzger, Heather Montgomery, Stephen Savage

4th Grade Computer Class

5th and 6th grade students took a Online Safety Course with Mrs. McMahan and Mrs. Tosi. Students learned tips to stop Cyber bullying (http://www.safekids.com/tips-to-stop-cyberbullying/), explored “How Smart Are You?” (http://www.kidsmart.org.uk), watched an Internet Safety video called

“Top Secret” (http://media.commonsensemedia.org/games/top-secret.swf) and had in-depth dis-cussions on Digital Citizenship and how to stay safe on the Internet.

6th Graders used the Computer Lab to study World Geography. 7-8 Math Enrichment PEAK Team is preparing for the computerized SBAC assessment this spring.

Music students used the Computer Lab to study famous composers and create PowerPoint Presentations.

3rd-6th graders have used the Computer Lab to participate in the Young Writer’s Project.

Spanish-7th graders worked on a cultural project revolving around a Spanish speak-ing country of their choice. The idea was to research some historical, cultural and geo-graphical information and then persuade the class as to why they would want to take a trip there.

7th Grade ELA students come every week to check out a book. Recently they have been doing an activity called, “Date a Book.”

Middle Grade Authors (Ages 8-12) to Skype

Jake Bell

Lulu Delacre

Bill Doyle

William Durbin

Ramin Ganeshram

Cambria Gordon

Julia Gran

Dan Gutman

Deborah Hopkinson

Kate Klise

Nancy Krulik

David LaRochelle

Kate Messner

Gregory Mone

Sarah Mlynowski

Jennifer Nielsen

Coleen Murtagh Paratore

Trent Reedy

Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich

Greg Tang

Marcia Thornton Jones

Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Deborah Wiles

Elvira Woodruff

Lisa Yee

Robert Frost

Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Ronald Rood

Howard Frank Mosher

Archer Mayor

Chris Bohjalian

Reeve Lindbergh

Joseph Bruchac

Galway Kinnell

James Hayford

Howard Coffin

Joe Citro

John Irving

Louise Gluck (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Jeffrey Lent

Jay Parini

David Budbill

Katherine Paterson

Tom Slayton

Grace Paley

Kathryn Davis

Howard Norman

Katherine Paterson

The Barre City Elementary and Middle School Library/Media Center is having a “Reading Olympics” contest for “I Love to Read and Write Month.” Middle School grades 5th-8th will be participating in “Bury the TV” Olympic Readathon. “BCEMS Snowboarding Bulldog” reading slips will be handed out to each core classroom. We appreciate your support in encouraging/helping students fill out their snowboarding reading slips with the “Student’s Name”, “Book Title” , TA and “Grade.” The students can “Bury the TV” in the library. A drawing will be held and book prizes will be awarded. Help us celebrate “I Love to Read and Write Month” by encouraging students to read and

participate in the “Reading Olympics for the month of February.

Middle Grade Authors to Skype (Ages 8-12)

Vermont Authors

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Middle School: I Love to Read and Write Month

Kate Messner