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!