by

Zen Shorts

Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth

What would you think if a giant panda moved into your neighborhood? Not only that, he’s a talking panda who is fun to talk to and play with, AND he tells wonderful stories that teach you lessons about life. Well that’s exactly what happened to three kids, two brothers and their sister, one day when they find a giant panda named Stillwater sitting in their backyard holding a large red umbrella.

Each of the kids, Addy, Michael and Karl, visit Stillwater on their own and while they are playing they each hear stories that help them deal with an issue about life. Addy hears the story about giving gifts to a robber, while Michael’s story is about a farmer who knows that luck is something we cannot judge or predict. The youngest child, Karl, hears a story that helps him learn not to carry hard feelings because they become a burden that is too heavy to carry.

One of the things that make this such a great book to read is the beautiful watercolor illustrations that the author, Jon J. Muth has made. The illustrations are simple, but made me feel like I was right in the book with Addy, Michael, and Karl. He does a really cool thing by changing to black and white ink drawings to tell the Zen stories and then switches back to watercolor illustrations when the kids are in the story. It’s a nice effect. I am always jealous when I read books with beautiful illustrations and I hope that someday I can make pictures as nice as these!

Pick up this book in the Media Center soon. You’ll really love it…and learn some lessons about life that will help you forever.

~Reviewed by Mrs. Molly Efland, Instructional Coach

by

We’re an App!

Thanks to fellow media specialist, Buffy Hamilton, I found out how to make our library an app for Iphone/Ipod touch.  Our library can be found in the  LibraryThing Local Books app.  It’s free, so download it today!  You can search for our library by name (David C. Barrow Elementary Media Center, zip code, or address.  You can even search our card catalog and view our blog/website from the app.  I hope this helps some of you gain even more access to our collection of materials.

by

Read to Succeed

In our media center, we try to have several different reading promotions during the year to support reading for fun outside of school.  Earlier this year, we did a “Read Around the World” program where students read books from each section of our media center and earned stamps in a passport.  This allowed students to explore genres of books that they might not read on their own.  Several students have continued reading out of these sections even after the “promotion” was finished.

This month, we are participating in the Six Flags Read to Succeed program.  Students read outside of school for a total of six hours, record that time on a log sheet, have it signed by an adult, and they earn a free ticket to Six Flags for the summer.  Many of our students already read this much outside of school, so why not earn a free ticket to Six Flags for something you’re already doing!  For our students who aren’t in this routine yet, we hope that this might be one incentive that will start a culture of reading beyond the school walls.  Reading logs were sent home in purple folders on January 5th and logs are due back to teachers no later than February 26.

Our media center will always encourage students to celebrate the love of reading.  If  you have ideas of things you would like to see us do to support this, feel free to email me or post a comment.

by

Polar Express Day 2009

Today marked the annual tradition of the Polar Express Day in the Barrow Media Center.  This year we welcomed many students who are new to Barrow and enjoyed their very first Polar Express.  Classes came to the media center two at a time.  They were greeted by Mr. MacMillan or Dr. Sabatini waving a lantern and talking with them about the magic of coming aboard the Polar Express.  Students entered through a tunnel into a darkened media center illuminated by holiday trees, snowflake lights, lanterns, and spotlights.  Students sat in rows as if they were sitting on the actual Polar Express itself.  Conductors served hot chocolate to all students and a teacher held the spotlighted book and turned the pages as we listened to the Polar Express be read.  Before leaving the media center, students had a bell placed around their neck with the words “Always Believe” whispered in their ears.  With bells and candy canes in hand, students filed out.  We were so excited to see so many new faces and we salute our fifth graders who experienced their final Polar Express Day.

Always Believe!

by

What Makes a Library a Library?

My librarian friend, Buffy Hamilton, recently posed a question to all of her librarian colleagues:  “What makes a library a library?”  Her question originally came from another blogger friend Sarah Houghton-Jan’s post

This morning I made my way through our Barrow media center asking our Barrow students this very question and here is what they had to say:

WHAT MAKES A LIBRARY???

What do you think makes a library a library?  Leave a comment.

by

Guest Reader Day 2009

Last Thursday December 3, 2009, several community members came to Barrow to share their love of reading with our students.  We had a judge, basketball players, a basketball coach, members of the UGA Athletic Association, an author, a swim coach, a musician, a technology specialist, a former librarian, a librarian’s wife, and several other wonderful individuals who gave their morning to read to our students.  At 7:45 our readers gathered in the media center to select their books and find out which classroom they would read to.  Our student ambassadors escorted the readers to classrooms and they spent 15-20 minutes reading and talking with the students.  Every classroom had a reader, and the students were all abuzz for the rest of the day talking about who came to their class.  Thank you so much to all of our readers.  We will hold another reader day on March 2, which will be our annual Dr. Seuss Day.  If you are interested in being a future guest reader, please let us know.

by

Circus Ship

When I was little, I remember going to the fairgrounds to watch the circus being setup.  It was always exciting when the circus came to town.  Imagine if that circus came to your town by steam ship.

In Circus Ship, a circus boss and his 15 circus animals are in route to Boston.  In a Titanic-like moment, the circus boss goes against the captain’s wish to drop anchor and wait for a thick fog to clear and orders the ship to continue to Boston.  This decision leads to a wreck that sends the circus animals on a big swim to the nearest town.  In the town, the animals get mixed reviews from the citizens.  Will the animals survive in their new home?  Will the circus boss find them and put them back to work?  Read this delightful book by Chris Van Dusen to find out.

Chris Van Dusen is one of those illustrators that is easily recognized in his work.  His glowing pages seem three dimenesional with his vibrant color choices.  Each character is full of personality and the illustrations tell as much story as the book.  Van Dusen is the illustrator of several books such as the Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo.  If you love those illustrations, you are sure to love Circus Ship.  Van Dusen proves that he is also a wonderful author in his rhyming text filled with rich vocabulary.  In an author’s note at the end, the reader can learn where the idea for this story originated.  That idea might  even lead one to begin an exploration of other circus ships and shipwrecks. 
I liked how this book showed another side of circuses.  I always wonder about how well the animals are taken care of and this book raises that issue underneath the story.  With some discussion, this book might lead the reader to other questions about the care of performing animals. 

This book has many possibilities beyond just they story.  What will you discover in Circus Ship?  Check it out today.

by

The Wonder of Google

Mrs. Hicks’s 4th grade students have embarked on a project to research topics that interest them.  They have visited the media center to explore how to find “just right” nonfiction text.  They have brainstormed possible questions and pathways that they might take within their topics.

Last week, I visited their classroom to show them a search feature within Google called the Google Wonder Wheel.  The wonder wheel helps user narrow their search topics by offering a range of possible keywords to add to the original keyword typed into the search.  When users click on any of Google’s suggested search terms, a new wheel is formed.  With each click, the new search results are displayed on the right hand side of the screen.  Users can always go back to their original searches by clicking on the appropriate wheel or spoke.
Mrs. Hicks’s students startede exploring this tool in our media center computer lab right after I showed it to them in their classroom.  Many of them reported that they were able to better find the information they were looking for.  During my observations, I noticed a lower frustration level from students as they surfed the web.  I often see students get frustrated because they can’t find what they’re looking for.  I look forward to using this feature with future classes and seeing how it fits students’ needs.

Try it out for yourself and see how you like it.

by

Third Grade Expert Day

Third graders gathered in the media center today to interview habitat experts.  These students are involved in a project to learn about the plants, animals, and habitats of Georgia.  At the end of their project, students will design a state park that will fit into one of the habitats of Georgia with as minimal impact to the native plants and animals as possible.

Students began their learning exploration by gaining background information in their classroom about the habitats of Georgia and habitat terminology.  Then, students visited the media center and used a pathfinder to search website resources to inform their questions about the plants, landforms, animals, and climate of their assigned habitat.  To prepare for today, students developed questions that they needed to ask an expert in order to inform their state park project.  Students rotated every 10 minutes to expert tables and listened to presentations and asked questions about a variet of topics.  Many thanks to our experts who attended today:

Chris Adamson (Landscape Designer)
Berkley Boone (Memorial Park)

Melissa Caspary (Barrow Garden Designer)

Sara Clarke – (Horticulture/Parent)

Alicia Coughlan (Vermicomposting)

John Maerz (UGA/Warnell Natural Resources)

Lincoln Larson (UGA Eco Reach)

Debbie Mitchell (GA State Botanical Gardens)
Dawn Biehl (Floral Design)

The third grade teachers and resource teachers have worked incredibly hard to make this a dynamic learning experience for our students.  I am so glad that these students and teachers used their classrooms, the media center, and community resources to connect students with quality information.  I can’t wait to see the final projects that students create using the information they have discovered.

by

Veterans Day 2009

We had a wonderful day honoring veterans in our media center today.  Barrow’s 5th grade works very hard to create a day of celebrating and honoring the veterans connected to our school community.  Mrs. Slongo’s class discovered the book, America’s White Table by Margot Theis Raven, after I borrowed it from our public library.  They decided to create this table for display at our veterans celebration and one student discussed the symbolism of the table.  For more info on the white table, visit this site.

white table

Other students read informational writing and poetry at the event to honor the veterans in attendance.  At each table, students were chosen to interview veterans and introduce them to the room.  Finally, Sophie and Levi served as roving reporters and interviewed many of the veterans in order to capture their stories from their days of service.  You can check out the video by clicking this link.  I hope everyone has had a wonderful veterans day today.