David Sargent Jr. Visits Wacona!

We had so much fun Tuesday when David Sargent Jr. visited Wacona.  He brought his four little doggy friends with him.  The dogs did tricks like dancing, jumping through a hoop, and walking down a teeter totter.  Mr. Sargent read one of his books to the students (Emma!) and we got to meet the real Emma.  After the program, Mr. Sargent came to the Media Center and autographed books and posters for the students.  It was a lot of fun and the students really enjoyed the visit.

The first week of school has come and gone.  It was a really busy week for everyone.  We had many new students register for school this week and our attendance is up to 639.  I don’t think we’ve ever had so many students.  I know this is going to be an exciting and wonderful school year.

In the library, we began orientation on Tuesday.  Most classes in grades 1 -5 came last week to learn about our library program.  The remaining classes will come this week on Monday or Wednesday.  Students will begin checking books out on Thursday.

On Tuesday, we have a special guest coming to our school.  Author David Sargent Jr. will be coming to Wacona to talk to our students about his books and how he writes them.  His books teach a character lesson and the main characters are his dogs.  He is bringing his dogs to Wacona.  I cannot wait to hear what he has to say.

A couple of years ago, I was attending a technology conference where I heard someone speaking about Wikis, Blogs, and Podcasts.  I knew what a blog was, but had not heard of the other two terms.  The speaker made them sound very interesting and I knew that I wanted to learn more about them.  I can now say that I have experimented with all three. 

You are currently reading my experiment in using a blog for the library.  Blog is short for Web Log and it is just like a journal.  We do a lot of journal writing in our elementary school but that occurs primarily in spiral notebooks.  A blog is a journal that is online for anyone to read.  You wouldn’t want to put your deepest, darkest secrets on a public blog but there is a fun aspect of knowing that other people will read what you write.

A wiki is a type of website that allows different people to make changes or add content to the site.  A regular webpage requires you to use a software program (like Composer or Frontpage) to create your page then upload your page to a server on the internet.  A wiki page has an edit button right there on the page.  When you click on the edit button, the page changes and looks much like a page in Word.  You type what you want to say or make changes to what has already been written, then click publish.  The page instantly goes back to being a webpage.  You don’t need any special software.  I’ve just started a wiki for the library as a place to post book reviews, poetry, and creative writing by students and teachers.  If you have something that you want to post on the wiki, let me know and I’ll help you.  To view the wiki, click this link.

My latest experiment has been the hardest but most exciting of the three to learn about- podcasting.  The term podcast is a combination of ipod and broadcast.  There are podcasts available on almost any topic .  The best place to find podcasts is through the podcast directory of the itunes store.  Although many people download podcasts to their ipod or other mp3 player, you don’t have to have an ipod to listen to podcasts on your computer.

Creating podcasts is really very easy if you have the right equipment.  Mrs. Miller and I went to a technology workshop this summer where we learned how to create a podcast using Garage Band on a Mac Book computer.  The problem is that we don’t have access to a Mac Book computer.  So I did some internet research and found a free software program called Audacity that handles the audio part of the podcast.  I created a very simple podcast that you can listen to here.  What I really want to do is learn how to create a video podcast.  I think I have figured out how to do this using Windows Movie Maker.  I hope to have one posted in the very near future.

Our school theme this year is “We’re all on the same team.”  You’ll see decorations all around the school that reflect this sports theme.    When I think about sports, I think about competition and the “you versus me” aspect of sports.  But our theme isn’t really about the competition.  If you really think about it, this theme means that we should all be cheering each other on and helping each other learn.  If you are really good in math and someone in your class is having trouble, you could help them by explaining how to work a problem or helping them to practice their math facts.  The thing about a team is that everyone on the team has different strengths.  What if everyone on a baseball team was good at pitching, but no one was good at fielding the ball?  It wouldn’t be a very good team.  

That leads me to the next point about a team- everyone has a job.  The teacher’s job is to teach.  The student’s job is to learn.  The bus driver’s job is to make sure the students get to school safely and on time.  The job of the ladies in the lunchroom is to make sure we all have something to eat for breakfast and lunch.  Each of us has to do our part, or we let the team down. 

By the way, parents are on the team too so if any parents are reading this, take a moment to think about your job on the team.  Parents have a really important job on the team.  The parents have to make sure that the students have the supplies they need, do their homework, get to bed on time, eat a good breakfast, and get to school on time.  All of these things are crucial to the success of our team.  The parents and the teachers have to work together to make each child the Most Valuable Player on the Wacona team. 

Hello!  Welcome to Wacona's Library Blog.  In the past couple of years, I've used this blog to list new books in the library.  That was helpful, but a bit on the boring side.  This year, I wanted to try some new and different things, so I'm starting with this blog.  I'll still use it to tell you about new books, but you'll also find other information here as well.  So I hope that you will check back often and feel free to leave a comment if you'd like.

The following books are AR books:

Jonathan and His Mommy

Annie Bananie

All By Myself

Eyes, Nose, Fingers, and Toes: A First Book All About You

A Chair for My Mother (A child saves money to buy a new chair for her mother after their house burns down.)

Amelia’s Fantastic Flight

Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride

H is for Horse

From Foal to Horse

Snowmen at Christmas

June 29, 1999

Little Horse

Little Horse on His Own

My Friend and I (A child breaks his friend’s toy and they quit being friends.)

Now One Foot, Now the Other (A little boy helps his grandfather learn how to eat and talk again after a stroke.)

Sports Math

Jan Brett Books:

Beauty and the Beast

Christmas Trolls

Daisy Comes Home

The First Dog

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The Hat

Hedgie Blasts Off! (Not AR yet)

Honey…Honey…Lion!

Trouble with Trolls

The Umbrella

Who’s That Knocking on Christmas Eve?

Books with no AR test:

I have a Horse: Learning the H Sound

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

The Hating Book (A book about 2 friends who get in a fight)

Adoption is for Always

I Like Me

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass: Leader Against Slavery

Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Slavery (picture book)

The U.S. Congress

Government: How Local, State, and Federal Government Works

National Government: Kids’ Guide

State Government: Kids’ Guide

State Government

State and Local Government

Local Government: Kids’ Guide

The City Council

Life on the Equator

Latitude and Longitude

Appalachian Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Mississippi River

The Ohio River

The Hudson River

The Colorado River

The Rio Grande

Conservation and Natural Resources

Natural Resources: Using and Protecting Earth’s Supplies

The Young Zillionaire’s Guide to Producing Goods and Services

The Young Zillionaire’s Guide to Distributing Goods and Services

The Young Zillionaire’s Guide to Buying Goods and Services

Books related to Math:

100^th Day Worries (AR)

Mummy Math: An Adventure in Geometry (AR)

Using Math to Conquer Extreme Sports

Using Math to Design a Roller Coaster

Using Math to Solve a Crime

Using Math to Conquer Extreme Sports

The History of Money

Around the World with Money

All About Money

Making Money

Earning Money

Saving Money

Spending Money

Save, Spend, or Donate? A Book About Managing Money

In the Money: A Book About Banking

Taxes, Taxes! Where the Money Goes

Money Math

Animal Math

Weather Math

Working at the Farmer’s Market: Solving Money Problems Using the Four Math Operations

Math in Our Solar System: Applying Problem-Solving Strategies

Map Math: Learning About Latitude and Longitude Using Coordinate Systems

Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone: A Math Adventure

Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland: A Math Adventure

Sir Cumference and the First Round Table: A Math Adventure

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi: A Math Adventure

What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras?

Math-terpieces: The Art of Problem-Solving

On Beyond a Million: An Amazing Math Journey

ABC Math Riddles

Only One

New Books in the Teacher Resource Room

Marvelous Multiplication: Games and Activities that Make Math Easy and Fun

Fabulous Fraction: Games and Activities that Make Math Easy and Fun

Dazzling Division: Games and Activities that Make Math Easy and Fun

Measurement Mania: Games and Activities that Make Math Easy and Fun

Wacky Word Problems: Games and Activities that Make Math Easy and Fun

Delightful Decimals & Perfect Percents: Games and Activities that Make Math Easy and Fun

Groovy Geometry: Games and Activities that Make Math Easy and Fun

50 Problem-Solving Lessons (Grades 1-6) by Marilyn Burns

A Collection of Math Lessons (Grades 1-3) by Marilyn Burns

A Collection of Math Lessons (Grades 3-6)

180 Think-Aloud Math Word Problems

15 Fun-to-Sing Math Learning Songs & Activities

Alice in Pastaland: A Math Adventure

Covered  Wagons: Hands-On Projects About America’s Westward Expansion

Take Me To Your Liter: Science and Math Jokes

Teaching with Favorite Jan Brett Books

The following books are from the Magic Treehouse series.  These are AR books.

Afternoon on the Amazon

Buffalo Before Breakfast

Civil War on Sunday

Day of the Dragon King

Dingoes at Dinnertime

Dinosaurs Before Dark

Dolphins at Daybreak

Earthquake in the Early Morning

Ghost Town at Sundown

Good Morning, Gorillas

High Tide in Hawaii

Hour of the Olympics

The Knight at Dawn

Midnight on the Moon

Mummies in the Morning

Night of the Ninjas

Pirates Past Noon

Polar Bears Past Bedtime

Revolutionary War on Wednesday

Stage Fright on a Summer Night

Thanksgiving on Thursday

Tigers at Twilight

Tonight on the Titanic

Twister on Tuesday

Vacation Under the Volcano

Viking Ships at Sunrise

The following books correspond to Georgia Performance Standards and do not have AR tests.

Ancient Greece: 40 Hands-On Activities to Experience this Wondrous Age

Clean Planet

Dirt

Dirt: The Scoop on Soil

Down to Earth

Environment at Risk: The Effects of Pollution

Environmental Awareness: Land Pollution

Environmental Awareness: Air Pollution

Environmental Awareness: Water Pollution

Everybody Needs A Rock

Exploring Mountain Habitats

Fight Air Pollution

Habitats

Heat

Heat

Magnets (First Science)

Magnets (Compass Point Phonics Readers)

Magnets: Pulling Together, Pushing Apart

Magnets (First Step)

Poisoned Planet:  Pollution in our World

Pollution and Conservation

Protect Natural Habitats

Soil

Stories in Stone: Rock Art Pictures by Early Americans

We now have the following set of videos available for checkout in the Teacher Resource Room.

The following books are AR:

The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia Book 1) AR: 5.4

Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia Book 4) AR: 5.7

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia Book 5) AR: 5.9

The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia Book 6) AR: 5.7

A Secret Party in Boston Harbor AR: 5.2

Young Patriots: Inspiring Stories of the American Revolution AR: 5.5

Sunset of the Sabertooth (Magic Treehouse #7) AR: 3.0

The following books are not AR:

King George III

Where was Patrick Henry on the 29^th of May?

Benedict Arnold: Patriot or Traitor

John Cabot and the Rediscovery of North America

Thomas Jefferson: Author of the Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson: Let Freedom Ring

The Battles of Lexington and Concord (We the People)

The Boston Tea Party

The Battle of Trenton

George Washington: Discover the Life of an American Legend

The Declaration of Independence: The Story Behind America’s Founding Document

Vasco Nunez de Balboa: Explorer of the Pacific

How to Draw Hanukkah Symbols

How to Draw Christmas Symbols

Who’s Who in a Public Housing Community

Crispus Attucks: Hero of the Boston Massacre

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

A Time Line of the American Revolution

King George III: English Monarch

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Photo-Illustrated Biographies)

The Hopi

John Cabot

Juan Ponce de Leon

John Adams

Benjamin Franklin: American Inventor

The French and Indian War: A MyReportLinks.com Book

If You Were There in 1776

Land Ho! Fifty Glorious Years in the Age of Exploration

Let It Begin Here! Lexington and Concord: First Battles of the American Revolution

The Louisiana Purchase

John Adams (Profiles of the Presidents)

The Woodworkers (Colonial People)

Benjamin Franklin (Heroes of the American Revolution)

The Blacksmith (Colonial People)

Valley Forge

Explorers of North America

Patriots in Petticoats (Heroines of the American Revolution)

Juan Ponce de Leon (Famous Explorers)

John Adams: Second U.S. President (Revolutionary War Leaders)

Inuit (Native American Peoples)

America in the Time of Pocahontas (The story of our nation from coast to coast from 1590 to 1754)

Liberty! How the Revolutionary War Began

John Adams (Photo-Illustrated Biographies)

Cartier (Exploring the World)

The French and Indian War (We the People)

The Battle of Monmouth

Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase

Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence

Colonial Life (Historic Communities)

Henry Hudson

The Revolutionary John Adams

Thomas Jefferson

The Battle of Yorktown

The French and Indian War (A Primary Source History of the Fight for Territory in North America)

...If you lived with the Indians of the Northwest Coast

(The books listed above are not AR books.  They correspond with Georgia Performance Standards)