September in the Library

Students in the Elementary School are beginning to use our Chromebook lab during library time.  Third and fourth grade students are starting with digital citizenship lessons focused on Creative Commons images.  Second grade will be focused on pioneer times and the differences between fiction and nonfiction.  Kindergarten and TK will be learning about ebook resources and first grade will extend their learning from the classroom exploring information resources on insects.  

Spirit Lake Middle School students are in the midst of their big fundraiser, selling magazines.  The library would welcome the donation of a magazine subscription to one of our libraries.  Please contact Val Sievert if you are interested in donating a subscription.

Spirit Lake High School students are learning to navigate the genre sections of the fiction collection in the library.  New books are being processed every day, so check back often to see the latest and greatest.  Don't forget to check out the Iowa Award book display just inside the door!

A New Look for a New Year!

The Spirit Lake Elementary library has a new roof!  The old leaky skylight is gone.  Although we will miss our sunshine and plants we are looking forward to more comfortable temperatures and drier conditions for our books and students.  Thank you to Dave Dau and his maintenance crew for getting the job done this summer.

Genrefication

That is what happened at the Spirit Lake High School library in July!  The fiction collection was entirely reorganized, recataloged, labeled and reshelved by genres.  Now if you are looking for a good read from the world of fiction, you should find all of your favorites right next to each other in one section. The nonfiction collection is still organized by Dewey numbers keeping books of a similar subject all together.  This was a big project that couldn't have happened as quickly as it did without a lot of help.  Special thanks to Mr. Sievert, Mrs. Jennings, Mrs. Faber and Hannah Jennings for their wonderful help with this project.  As the Spirit Lake High School students and staff  become familiar with the new arrangement they will find that an important piece of the library is no longer there.  Mrs. Bergquist was told in July that her position as library associate no longer existed.  She has accepted the position of Middle School library associate that was offered.  I know the Spirit Lake Middle School students and staff are looking forward to getting to know Mrs. B  and will enjoy her as much as the high school students did.

2013-14 School Year is here!

To start the new school year, students in grades 2-9 will be learning about the books available in the Iowa Award programs. Second graders learn about the Goldfinch Award. Students in grades 3-6 will hear booktalks and view related media linked to the Iowa Children's Choice Award titles. Students in grades 6-9 will have access to the Iowa Teen Award titles and students in Spirit Lake High School will be able to read and vote for their favorite Iowa High School Book Award titles. Many thanks to the Partners In Education in the elementary and middle school buildings who have supported the purchase of these book sets. Information about the Iowa Teen Award and Iowa High School Book Award titles is easily viewed on this Symbaloo page created by a fellow educator, Susan Klett. Check out the link here: 

 http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/itaihbabooktrailers

Information about all of the book award sets is available through the TeachingBooks.net link on the IowaAEAOnline.org home page. Ask your student for login information.

 The book fair is here!  Our student council worked with our parent volunteers after school to decorate our library for the All Star Reader fair.  All students have previewed the book fair, made their wish lists, and made their guesses at how many stars are in the jar.  Sales begin on Monday, November 5th from 4-8 PM.  Parents and community members can shop on Tuesday from 8-12 and Wednesday from 2-4.  The final day of the book fair offers shopping times from 8-12 and 4-8 on Thursday, November 8th.  Hope to see you there!

Banned Books Week

Students at SLHS were invited to submit their favorite quote about censorship via email.  The top 5 quotes selected were shared in the morning announcements at both the high school and middle school during Banned Books Week.  The display above encouraged students at the high school to celebrate their freedom to read!

Author, Renee McCuen Visits SLES

Students in grades 1-3 at Spirit Lake Elementary enjoyed visiting with author Renee McCuen from Worthington, MN about her books Amazing Ants and Slimy Salamanders!  First graders had just completed their study of insects and were able to add a great deal to the discussions.  Check out Renee's website for more information about her next book!  http://reneemccuen.com/

Library Volunteers

Here is one of our high school volunteers, Jessica Sandy, sharing The Library Dragon  by Carmen Agra Deedy with a group of third grade students.   Jessica does such a great job of sharing books with kids, using imaginative voices and actions to animate the stories.  She also helps with shelving books, repairing books and processing new books.  Thanks, Jessica for sharing your time and talents with us. 

My Destiny Quest

My Destiny Quest

     Third and 4th graders this week were introduced to their Destiny Quest accounts during their library checkout time.  For 4th graders, there was a brief review, but third graders were delighted with their first time access to a social networking site all about books.  Students access their accounts by clicking on the Library Catalog link on the school web page and entering their usernames and passwords.  Once logged in, students can check their inbox for messages from friends, send book recommendations to friends, write book reviews, place holds on books they want to read, organize their own shelves of "want to read" and "have read" titles and read ebooks!  Our Destiny Quest site is limited to students and staff at Spirit Lake Community Schools so no messages or contacts from others will appear in a student's inbox.  Students are encouraged to click the "Report Abuse" button if they receive any message that makes them uncomfortable or uses inappropriate language.  Messages exchanged between friends must always start with a book recommendation and the conversations must be focused on reading, books and authors.  All students from grades 3-12 have a Destiny Quest account and are encouraged to use it!

Contest at SLHS concludes

Spirit Lake High School students participated in a contest to start the school year which aimed to garner suggestions of new titles students would like to see added to the library collection.  At the conclusion of the contest, four participants' names were drawn and they received prizes donated by Mrs. Sievert, Hill Avenue Books, and Custom Creations.  Winners of the contest are pictured above.  Now, all we need are the funds to buy all of those wonderful suggested titles!

International Dot Day Celebration

Fourth grade students celebrated International Dot Day this week during their library checkout time with Mrs. Jennings.  They watched a video presentation of the book The Dot written by Peter H. Reynolds.  The author invites us all to "make a mark and see where it takes us".  Students shared their ideas about the book's theme of encouragement and discussed how characters in the story "filled buckets".  Fourth graders then made their own Dot creations using the Tux Paint software and enjoyed a Dot treat, one for themselves and one to share.

Happy Birthday Books!

A new tradition has begun at Spirit Lake Elementary.  When a student celebrates a birthday they may choose to donate a book to the library instead of bringing candy to their classmates.  Donating a book is a healthier alternative and is a gift that can be shared with hundreds of students for years to come.  Pictured here is our first birthday gift of the year.  Thank you!

New Library Book Bags!

Watch for your students' library books coming home in new book bags.  Library books should travel to and from school in these bags.  Using these bags to protect the books inside your students' backpacks should help keep the books from being damaged by wet snowpants, boots, water bottles and spilled lunches.  Please remember to return library books inside the bags on your child's library checkout day.  If a library book bag becomes lost, you will be asked to pay $1.00 for a replacement.

Summer Travels

What does a librarian do on her summer vacation? Why... visit libraries, of course! This summer I traveled to Greece and Turkey and had the opportunity to visit the ruins and archaeological sites of many different ancient libraries. Pictured above is one of the most beautiful ones I visited in the ancient city of Ephesus near the port of Izmir in Turkey.

QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) are starting to appear throughout the SLES building .  You can also find them in the library.  Use the codes here to discover the titles that are the winners of the Iowa Children's Choice Award and Goldfinch Award for 2012!

SLES Library Panorama

Check out the link above to see a 360 degree panoramic photo of our SLES library in action taken by Mr. Huebner on his new Ipad using the Dermandar App!

Get Fired Up for Reading!

Spirit Lake Elementary has BIG NEWS----Reading Month is coming!!!  Beginning January 23rd, and continuing for 4 weeks, we will be promoting reading even more than usual.  With the theme of “Get Fired Up for Reading” in recognition of the Chinese New Year (2012 is the Year of the Dragon) we have a number of fun celebrations planned.  Students will be forming a Great Wall of Readers, participating in a dragon parade around our building, enjoying special foods and treats, making fortune cookies and bookmarks and hearing about life in China today from local celebrities who have recently visited China. The elementary staff will be challenging all students to turn off the TV/electronics and spend a few extra minutes each day reading.  To go along with this month long celebration, we will also be holding a service project which will support our US Troops in Afghanistan.  Below is a list of items that are good examples of things the troops need and use on a daily basis.  We encourage all items to be dropped off in one of the boxes located by the Elementary Office, Elementary Media Center, or the Fourth Grade Pod by Thursday, February 16, 2012.  Cash donations will also be accepted to go toward postage.  If you have additional questions, you may contact Dana in the office, Mrs. Sievert in the media center, or Mrs. Vugteveen (4th grade).

Suggested items:

candy that doesn’t melt (no chocolate, please)

gatorade pouches

gum

magazines/books

snack stuff: jerky, crackers, nuts, popcorn, etc.

toothbrush/toothpaste

chapstick

fruit snacks

DVD’s/CD’s (personalized CD’s are a favorite!)

Personal notes/letters

Thank you for supporting our students in their quest to “Get Fired Up For Reading!”

Free Ebooks!

Please click on the link below to access a variety of links to free Ebooks that are available to the students at SLES in addition to those featured in the "EBook List" on our Library Catalog page.

http://sqworl.com/ndwmfu

September 2011 Internet Safety

My time with students will be scheduled a little differently this year.  I won't see the students on a regular schedule as one of their Specials.  I will be integrating the information skills needed with the classroom curriculum and teaming with the homeroom teachers to teach these skills.  Our focus this month will be internet safety and responsible use of technology as I meet with classes.  The following resources will be used:        http://sqworl.com/dk7pg4

  Information in a print format will be available at Open House.  We are striving to teach students to be responsible and respectful users of technology by introducing them to a variety of tools that will be needed for their future.  If you have questions or concerns about the skills being taught or resources available please feel free to contact me.

May Library IS Class Plans

Kindergarten:  We will finish up with Letter of the week stories and our technology skill lessons on Learning.com.  Some time will be spent practicing with the Tux Paint program.

First Grade:  We are enjoying reading the animal reports we wrote on Tar Heel Reader in preparation for the field trip to the zoo.  We will be finishing up our lessons on Learning.com to acquire a few more new technology skills.  We will also be learning a little about the Dewey Decimal system and the location of the animal books on the shelves of our library.

Second Grade:  We have been watching our YouTube videos of our photography project and will next take a look at next year's nominated titles for the Goldfinch Award books.  We will end the month with a look at poetry books and some technology skill lessons on Learning.com.

Third Grade:  We will be previewing the books nominated for next year's Iowa Children's Choice Award, playing some Book Spine Bingo to review call letters and numbers, and learning about email.

Fourth Grade:  We will be meeting Ms. Sherrill the MS Librarian who will teach students about the care of their laptops they will receive as 5th graders.  Our month will end with some fun Bingo games in between field days, concerts, field trips, and graduation!