WCS Librarian Log – November, 2016
Published November 11, 2016
Williamson County is lucky to have dedicated librarians in our schools who take it upon themselves to encourage students to read, do research and discover the wonder of books via creative activities, displays and reading-related challenges.
This section will give WCS librarians a chance to tell parents what’s going on in their child’s libraries and highlight some of the people that make them special.
Elementary Schools
Allendale Elementary: Allendale students created a storybook pumpkin patch in the library this month. Students were invited to write about their favorite book character and create a pumpkin to look like that character.
Clovercroft Elementary: Clovercroft students just finished our Vote for Books themed book fair where our students had the opportunity to vote for a new book. Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes was the winner with 247 votes.
College Grove Elementary: College Grove recently had Ronda Friend, a local Williamson County author, come and talk to the students about her reading series, Down on Friendly Acres. She shared wonderful stories and memories of her childhood, which are represented in her books. In the afternoon, she did a writing workshop with grades 3-5. With her guidance, the students came up with some wonderful and creative stories.
Crockett Elementary: It’s book fair time at Crockett!
Fairview Elementary: Fairview Elementary hosted author Roland Smith on October 31. We enjoyed talking about his books and the adventure genre.
Heritage Elementary: Decision 2016 is heating up in the Heritage Elementary library. We read Duck for President and students are voting for either Duck or Farmer Brown. Who will win?
Hunters Bend: Kindergarten is building houses out of toothpicks and marshmallows. The big bad wolf (hair dryer) is trying to “blow your house down.” Standard: Applying engineering design and creative thinking to solve practical problems.
Lipscomb Elementary: Here at the Lipscomb Library, the Volunteer State Book Award program is underway in full swing. Students are reading like crazy. We average just under 100 students who participate by meeting the goals and attending the big voting party. Themes in the past have been coffee shop, red carpet Hollywood and groovy 60’s café. We also just finished our book fair.
Nolensville Elementary: Third-fifth grade students at NES are having fun learning how to use the library by visiting the “Dewey Café”. Customers, chefs, waiters, and bus people are ordering meals (books), preparing the meals (looking them up in our online catalog and finding them on the shelf), and bussing tables (putting the books back on the shelf).
Oak View Elementary: The Oak View library has lots of visitors this week. =Our favorite book characters are here in pumpkin form. The third-fifth graders had the opportunity to bring in a book character pumpkin and we have 168 book character pumpkins visiting. We also have a new look here in the Oak View library. We have updated and brightened the décor. We love to read and we want it to show!
Pearre Creek Elementary: We just finished up a great Bookaneer book fair! We had our first-ever STEM Night with a visit from Mr. Bond the Science Guy. Children also enjoyed bringing their families to our Family Night and Donuts with Someone Grand.
Westwood Elementary: Author Roland Smith spoke on Monday, October 31. It was great!
Winstead Elementary: It’s book fair time at Winstead!
Middle Schools
Brentwood Middle: On October 28, BMS held a ceremony to remember and dedicate books in memory of Sammara Islam, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident. The ceremony was attended by her father, mother, brother, a group of her fellow freshman friends and BMS teachers who had her in class. A leather-bound copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and two books from the Serafina series signed by the author were donated in her name to the BMS Library.
Fairview Middle: It’s book fair time at Fairview Middle!
Grassland Middle: Kate DePalma, a former Grassland Middle School student who is now an author and senior editor at Barefoot Books visited the GMS Library on October 17. Kate spoke to a group of eighth grade students during lunch and study hall about the process of writing and publishing an illustrated book. It was a wonderful opportunity for the students to hear about her profession in this industry and to consider their possibilities for the future. Students are also nominating book characters for President!
Hillsboro: Hillsboro School Library is ready for Battle of the Books. Our middle school students have been actively checking out these books and have loved each of them. We are excited for try-outs and the preparation for the big “Battle!”
Page Middle: The Page Middle library hosted its first Bag It and Book It book club meeting on September 15. The book club meets every third Thursday of the month in the library during lunch. Students bring their lunch to eat in the library and talk about books. Each month we’ll focus on a different genre. In September, we talked mainly about the VSBA nominees and October’s genre was spooky books. We hosted author Roland Smith on November 1. He spoke to all three grades about how his life experiences influenced his writing. It was a nice post-Halloween treat!
Spring Station Middle: Sixth graders at Spring Station Middle School are participating in the 40 Book Challenge, this year. They are working hard to meet the challenge by reading a variety of books in both fiction and non-fiction. Students are learning to love and appreciate different genres as well as realizing that non-fiction can be very interesting too. After they complete a book, they must then pass an AR test for it to count towards their 40 books. There has already been over 1,000 AR tests taken by 347 students. At the end of the year, the library will host a big party for all of those student who meet the challenge.
Sunset Middle: Sunset Middle just finished their fall book fair hosted a visit with Roland Smith on November 2. Roland Smith is the author of numerous books, including Peak, The Edge, and Beneath. Students were excited to meet Mr. Smith and learn more about his craft.
Woodland Middle: Students have begun reading to elementary students at Glenn Elementary in East Nashville. They connect via WebEx and read e-books to students weekly. Students also participated in a Book Character election, and they chose Katniss Everdeen for President. We are looking forward to our upcoming “Snow Many Books” book fair and our author visit with Sarah Weeks on December 1. Her presentation is open to the public on December 1, 5:15 pm in the WPAC. Join us!
High Schools
Brentwood High School: BHS librarian Dr. Melissa Ralston is collaborating with Mrs. Jennifer Ames’ honors biology classes to prepare Google Slides presentations on photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The projects include reading in the content area and research skills as well as a variety of technology integration.
Centennial High School: Librarian Valerie Allen shared a new app NearPad with Mr. Kevin Belleau’s English Second Language learners so they could apply their love of Corolla Island, North Carolina’s wild ponies to a challenging news article they’re learning to read fluently online in Achieve 3000. It’s an individualized program that lets students see their reading progress daily.
Librarian Suzanne Lovett led Mrs. Sarah Burlison’s freshmen English classes in a hunt for high-quality websites they’ll use to brainstorm laws for a new society in their class project on the classic book, The Lord of the Flies. Each learner is searching for credible sources on the real-world role they’re portraying – political scientist, survivalist, or human rights activist.
Franklin High School: The Franklin High School Library hosted a writing contest for Banned Books Week in which students chose a banned or challenged book and wrote about why it was worthwhile to read. For Red Ribbon Week, we are working with our STARS program to host another writing contest entitled “Why I choose to be drug free.” We have gotten to share resources and teach search strategies to environmental science, honors English IV, and pre-IB English II classes. In addition, math teacher Lori LoCurto invited us into her pre-calculus classes to read One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale.
Independence High School: At IHS, we have been busy getting 16 carts of Chrome Books ready for the classroom! Each one has been barcoded, cataloged and distributed to various classroom teachers. Our English III and IV classes have been researching social issues using Follet Destiny through the new WCS dashboard and databases through The Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL). Students accessed print books, eBooks and websites through Destiny. Our health science classes have been researching health care careers using TEL and Destiny as well. And to close out the month, our National Art Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society have decorated our library with painted pumpkins.