GA DOE News

Here’s your chance to hear Joyce Valenza deliver our keynote address AND spend time in beautiful Savannah in September learning and sharing your ideas about information literacy!

Call for Proposals for the
9th Annual Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

September 21 – 22, 2012
Coastal Georgia Center
Savannah, Georgia

Proposal deadline: April 15, 2012

For complete conference details and access to the online submission form, please access the website at:

http://ceps.georgiasouthern.edu/conted/infolit.html

Join us in Savannah for this annual conference jointly hosted by
Georgia Southern University’s:

Zach S. Henderson Library
Department of Writing and Linguistics, College of Liberals Arts & Social Sciences
College of Education
And the Continuing Education Center

See you there!

Judi Repman

ISTE’s member magazine, Learning & Leading with Technology (L&L), needs submissions for our Point/Counterpoint and Readers Respond departments! We are looking for arguments on both sides of the question “Video games: Harmful or helpful?”

Video games are undeniably popular among kids of all ages. But are they good for them? The research and opinions on this subject run the gamut, from fears that video games encourage violence and lead to attention problems to claims that they have the power to enhance cognitive skills and get students more engaged in their education. What do you think? Would today’s students be better off without video games, or are they the educational tool of the future?

Point/Counterpoint essays are relatively informal. For an example of what we’re looking for, check out the February Point/Counterpoint. We need one essay of approximately 500 words on each side of this issue, so consider either defending your argument passionately or playing the devil’s advocate, rather than arguing down the middle.

If you don’t have time to write an entire essay on this subject but still would like to weigh in, feel free to post a 25- to 50-word response on some aspect of this issue, and we may choose an excerpt to publish on the Readers Respond page. Please include your name, job title, city, state or province, and country.

And if you don’t have time to write anything but do have an opinion, take part in our Reader’s Poll on this topic on the L&L page of ISTE’s website.

To enter, post your essay on the discussion forum titled “Should corporations run publicly funded schools?” on L&L’s group page on the ISTE Community Ning. Please include some form of contact information if you do not regularly check your ISTE Community Ning message box.

If you’re not already a member of the ISTE Community Ning, you will be prompted to register. Don’t worry—it’s fast, easy, and free. Then go to the Groups page and click on the L&L logo to join our group. As a bonus, you can read our regular content, including updates on the magazine and discussion forums about hot ed tech issues.

If your Point/Counterpoint essay is selected, we’ll contact you for a high-resolution photo and a short (35-word) bio in addition to your 500-word essay. Thanks in advance for a stimulating discussion!

Best regards,

Andra Brichacek

Associate Editor

Learning & Leading with Technology Magazine (L&L) International Society for Technology in Education 541.434.8923 abrichacek@iste.org @andramere

Good morning,

The 20 Nominees for the 2012-2013 Georgia Peach Book Awards for Teen Readers (Grades 9 – 12) have been selected!

Drumroll please . . . . . .

Title Author Anna and the French Kiss Perkins, Stephanie Between Shades of Gray Sepetys, Ruta Divergent Roth, Veronica False Princess, The O’Neal, Ellis Glow Ryan, Amy Kathleen Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (The) Skloot, Rebecca Jump Carbone, Elisa Mockingbirds (The) Whitney, Daisy Name of the Star Johnson, Maureen Notes From The Blender Cook, Trish & Halpin, Brendan Now is the Time for Running Williams, Michael Please Ignore Vera Dietz King, A.S. Ready Player One Cline, Ernest Running Dream (The) Van Draanen, Wendelin Sky Is Everywhere (The) Nelson, Jandy Stick Smith, Andrew Stupid Fast Herbach, Geoff This Girl is Different Johnson, J J What Can’t Wait Perez, Ashley Hope What Comes After Watkins, Steve

Please remember that voting for the 2011-2012 Georgia Peach Book Award continues online through March 15.  The winner and 2 honor books will be announced on Wednesday, March 28 at the Kennesaw State University’s Annual Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults (I will post here the following day).

http://georgiapeachaward.org/2011-2012-vote-voting-ends-midnight-march-15-2012

And another big thank you to all who applied to serve on the committee–we are going through the applications now and will be making decisions in the next few weeks. 

Have a great weekend!

Mary K. Donovan

Media Specialist

Mill Creek High School

In honor of Women’s History Month, here are a few resources in GALILEO to help you find the stories of women throughout history.

First, explore Encyclopædia Britannica‘s spotlight on women, the Encyclopædia Britannica Profiles 300 Women Who Changed the World. There, students will find an illustrated timeline of women throughout history along with articles, essays, speeches, video clips, and learning activities.

For speeches, letters, and other primary source documents, search for women in Annals of American History to see a letter from Horace Greeley on women’s rights or a declaration of rights for women from Susan B. Anthony.

A quick search of SIRS Discoverer (elementary and middle school) or SIRS Researcher (high school) will bring back news and magazine articles, images, and more. SIRS Discoverer also includes a spotlight for Women’s History Month, so click the Spotlight of the Month feature at the bottom of the SIRS Discover home page to investigate this (scroll to the bottom of the Spotlight page to see archives). SIRS Researcher includes an extensive leading issues feature about Women’s Rights with a detailed timeline, global perspectives, statistics, and more. Search for women’s rights to see this. To see the spotlight on Women’s History Month, go to the Databases Features tab and choose Spotlight On… to see the spotlights. Scroll down and go to the 2011 Archive to see current and past spotlights.

A search for women in History Reference Center reveals articles about Amelia Earhart and other women aviators, about women in space, about female athletes, about women living the pioneer life on the frontier, and much more. Don’t miss the historical images and videos to the right of the search results.

To see even more images than what is available in Britannica, SIRS, or History Reference Center, check out Images at EBSCOhost. Just search for women or for a name, place, or event to see historical and present-day images.

For literary criticism of works by women, search Literary Reference Center for a title, author, or theme. Here’s a tip to limit your search to articles related to works by female authors. Go to Advanced Search, leave the search box blank, and choose Female in the Literary Author’s Gender field. You can then click the Biographies tab in the search results to see a list of authors or click on Plot Summaries to see a list of works. This tip also works in NoveList and NoveList K-8 to find a list of female authors. Or, you can search NoveList for a name, title, or theme to find book recommendations.

Want to meet important women in Georgia? Take a look at the Women of Distinction in Georgia feature in the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Your students can read about interesting women like Mary Musgrove, Hazel Raines, Rosalyn Carter, Alice Walker, and many more fascinating women. Students can also see Famous Georgia Women in GeorgiaInfo.

Please Contact Us if you have questions or comments or if you need to report problems.

Courtney McGough
GALILEO Support Services
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Some links may not work off site. Log in to GALILEO first for access.

Express Links for Databases Mentioned in this Post:
Encyclopædia Britannica School Edition: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebs
Encyclopædia Britannica High School: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zehs
Compton’s by Britannica (for middle school): http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebm
Britannica Elementary: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebk
Annals of American History: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zeba
SIRS Discoverer: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zssd
SIRS Issues Researcher: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zsks
History Reference Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbhr
Images (EBSCOhost): http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbim
New Georgia Encyclopedia: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=ngen
GeorgiaInfo: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=gnfo
Literary Reference Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zblr
NoveList: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zknl
NoveList K-8: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zkne
Find All Your Express Links (what’s this?)

Good morning!

We have had a wonderful response to our call for committee members!  Thank you!  The new members will be notified at the end of the month.

Just a reminder that the last day to submit an application to serve on the committee is Tuesday–February 21.

http://georgiapeachaward.org/reading-committee

Have a great week,

Mary K. Donovan

In honor of President’s Day this month, it seems fitting to highlight some of the great resources in GALILEO that provide biographical information on our nation’s presidents.

Encyclopædia Britannica includes articles on all presidents from Washington to Obama. For multimedia, essays, primary sources and more, check out Britannica’s spotlight on The American Presidency.

Annals of American History provides speeches, letters, and more primary source documents. Just search for a president of your choice to see these.

SIRS Discoverer and SIRS Issues Researcher also offer a great deal of information. In SIRS Issues Researcher, just search for presidents or search for one by name. In SIRS Discoverer, students can browse to Notable People and then click U.S. Presidents, or they can click Biographies on the right to find a particular person.

History Reference Center offers articles, speeches, images, and videos. Search for United States presidents or search for a president by name to find these.

For a look at Georgia’s own former president, search the Digital Library of Georgia for Jimmy Carter to see editorial cartoons, historical images, oral histories, and newsfilm clips. Limit by collection or media type on the left to see each. For example, limit to the Vanishing Georgia collection on the left to see historical images.

You can find these resources and more in the Browse by Type > Biographies section in GALILEO High School, or the By Type > People section in GALILEO Teen.

Please Contact Us if you have questions or comments or if you need to report problems.

Courtney McGough
GALILEO Support Services
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Some links may not work off site. Log in to GALILEO first for access.

Image from Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Express Links for Databases Mentioned in this Post:
Encyclopædia Britannica School Edition: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebs
Encyclopædia Britannica High School: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zehs
Compton’s by Britannica (for middle school): http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebm
Britannica Elementary: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebk
Annals of American History: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zeba
SIRS Discoverer: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zssd
SIRS Issues Researcher: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zsks
History Reference Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbhr
Digital Library of Georgia: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=dlg1
Find All Your Express Links (what’s this?)

 

March 23 & 24th will be an exciting time in Athens, GA.  The 43rd annual Conference on Children’s Literature will be taking place at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and this year promises some top-notch authors and illustrators.  They include:

• Barbara O’Connor:  the author of TheFantastic Secret of Owen Jester, a 2011-2012 Georgia Children’s Book Award nominee. She is also the recipient of multiple Parents’ Choice Awards forGreetings from Nowhere, How to Steal a Dog, Moonpie and Ivy, and Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia.
• Mike Wimmer:   the illustrator ofFlight: The Journey of Charldes Lindbergh, winner of the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction,Homerun: The Story of Babe Ruth, andOne Giant Leap (all by Robert Burliegh). He is also the illustrator of All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan and Theodore by Frank Keating.
• Carole Boston Weatherford:  the author of Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. She is also the author of Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane, andBecoming Billie Holiday. Her book Dear Mr. Rosenwald was on the Notable Books for a Global Society list.
• Jody Feldman: the author of The Gollywhopper Games, winner of the 2010-2011 Georgia Children’s Book Award. She is also the author of The Seventh Level.
• Meghan McCarthy: the author and illustrator of Aliens Are Coming! The True Account of the 1938 War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast, winner of the 2010-2011 Georgia Children’s Picture Storybook Award and an ALA Notable Book. Her other books include: Pop! The Invention of Bubblegum, Astronaut Handbook, and Strong Man: The Story of Charles Atlas.

Registration for this conference has remained an affordable $125 for several years.  Your registration includes 5 general sessions by authors and illustrators, 2 catered lunches where you will feel well-taken care of and have a chance to chat with educators that share your interests, 3 blocks of concurrent sessions presented by fellow educators, multiple opportunities to get author/illustrator autographs, and the state finals of the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl.  Early bird registration ends March 5th and the fee will increase to $145.

I invite you to attend my concurrent session called “Techno Poetry”, where I will share the many ways I’m using technology to allow students to craft and publish a variety of poems as well as connecting their poetry to a global audience.

More info can be found on the conference website.  Hope to see you there.

Andy Plemmons

School Librarian

David C. Barrow Elementary

Athens, GA

http://barrowmediacenter.wordpress.com

http://www.clarke.k12.ga.us/webpages/aplemmons

Call it a backlash.  This holiday season increased the world of e-books and e-readers by something like a jillion fold according to my highly scientific sources.  So in January we had a couple of e-book grouches unload on this new budding trend.

Travis Jonker had an article in the School Library Journal (of all places) called snippily enough, “Fine. I Got an E-Reader. Now What?”  I already responded to him on my own blog.  Doug Johnson took it even further in a post on his blog, calling Mr. Jonker “reactionary” and in the comments said that the SLJ promoting his views was “detrimental to the profession.”  Ouch.

Now we have Jonathan Franzen, the world’s grumpiest writer, getting into the fray.  Not only does he not like e-readers, he fears “it’s going to be very hard to make the world work if there’s no permanence [like printed books]. That kind of radical contingency is not compatible with a system of justice or responsible self-government.”  Link to the whole grump here.

Huh?  E-readers are somehow going to lead to the downfall of civilization as we know it?

Science writer Carl Zimmer steps ups to defend e-readers in a wonderful article from Discover magazine.  In Franzen’s diatribe he uses The Great Gatsby as an example of a text that “doesn’t need to be refreshed.”  This leads Zimmer to muse of the differences of Fitzgerald’s minor masterpiece in print and digital formats.  “It’s certainly true that ebooks are an awkward young format that’s still sloppy and hard to manage,” he says.  Then he goes on to speculate, “I expect ebooks will follow much the same trajectory as paperbacks. They will start out being frowned upon as shabby, and then they will deliver literature conveniently to millions of people who might not otherwise have read it.”  To hear more of Mr. Zimmer’s cogent thoughts, listen to him interviewed on this topic (and answering callers) on a podcast from Wisconsin Public Radio.

Jonathan Segura has a defense on NPR’s Monkey See blog called, No More E-Books Vs. Print Books Arguments, OK?  The gist of his argument is similar to one I’ve made before: “It’s not an either/or proposition. You can choose to have your text delivered on paper with a pretty cover, or you can choose to have it delivered over the air to your sleek little device…We should worry less about how people get their books and — say it with me now! — just be glad that people are reading.”

Good afternoon,

Next month, the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers winner and two honor books will be announced at the Kennesaw State University’s Annual Conference on Literature for Young Adults.  Just a reminder that the voting for this year’s award ends on March 15.  Teens vote online at the Peach Award website:

http://georgiapeachaward.org/2011-2012-vote-voting-ends-midnight-march-15-2012
The committee is now accepting applications for the 2012 -2013 Committee.  If you currently work with teens at the library, love YA books, and love to read (and get tons of free books) then this is the committee for you!!!  This 12 member committee reads and reviews over 100 YA novels and non-fiction texts each year.  In February, the committee selects the 20 nominees for the upcoming award; then Georgia teens vote for their top three titles.  Comprised of both high school media specialists and public library staff who work with teens, this committee provides insight into current YA literature trends and the opportunity to review the best of the best titles available.

If you are interested in becoming a committee member, please take a look at the website for more information about the Peach Award and to complete your application.  And if you have any questions or need additional details about the committee, please do not hesitate to email or call me–I am happy to help!

http://georgiapeachaward.org/reading-committee

 
Mary K. Donovan

Mary_Kay_Donovan@gwinnett.k12.ga.us

Media Specialist

Mill Creek High School

678-714-5846

Vice-Chair, GA Peach Book Award for Teens

Georgia Library Day at the Capitol will be held on Wednesday, February 15th. We need your input! Several GLMA representatives will meet on Library day with budget analysts from the House and Senate, as well as (hopefully) a couple of legislators. We would very much like to have stories from around the state to share about the current state of our library media programs – as well as how your school or system plans to approach the implementation of new Common Core Standards in the fall.

Several of you last year shared how the waiver of expenditure controls has impacted your library media programs over the past few years. If you didn’t share your experiences, please do so now! If you could also share how you feel your current collection will – or won’t – meet the requirements of GCCPS, that information will also be very welcomed.

As before, I will not share the names of schools or systems, but will identify only be level (elementary, middle, or high) and region (metro Atlanta, west Georgia, etc.). Please take a moment and email us information on YOUR situation to nantbrown@hotmail.com.

Thanks!
Nan Brown
GLMA Advocacy Chair

Thanks in advance for your participation!

The January/February 2012 Library Media Connection One-Question Survey
is now open.  The question for the current survey is: Do you leave the
library to provide service to students and teachers?

The survey URL is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JanFeb12LMC

Results from previous surveys may be found at:
http://www.librarymediaconnection.com/lmc/?page=survey_results

School libraries need YOUR support…now. The new White House petition described in Carl’s post needs 25,000 signatures and I hope that yours is one of them and that you spread this request far and wide to librarians and library advocates.

http://carl-harvey.com/libraryties/2012/01/05/white-house-petition-in-support-of-school-libraries-its-posted/

Many of the resources in GALILEO have recently added the ability to translate articles, which can be helpful for students who are learning English or other languages.

All grade levels of Encyclopædia Britannica allow you to turn on the Spanish translator in an article and then click a word in the article to see the translated word.

Articles in SIRS Issues Researcher have a Translate dropdown menu to allow users to translate the article into a variety of languages.

Many EBSCO resources, including Kids Search, Middle Search Plus, Student Research Center, MAS Ultra, Literary Reference Center, History Reference Center, and others, allow you to change the language of the database interface as well as the language of the article.

Students can also find a Spanish-language encyclopedia and article databases in the Spanish Resources section of GALILEO High School and GALILEO Teen. In addition, Global Reference Center provides encyclopedia and reference resources for several languages, including Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Korean, French, and Japanese.

Please Contact Us if you have questions or comments or if you need to report problems.

Courtney McGough
GALILEO Support Services
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Screenshot from Translate feature in MAS Ultra

Express Links for Databases Mentioned in this Post:
Encyclopædia Britannica School Edition: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebs
Encyclopædia Britannica High School: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zehs
Compton’s by Britannica (for middle school): http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebm
Britannica Elementary: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebk
SIRS Issues Researcher: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zsks
Kids Search: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbks
Middle Search Plus: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbms
Student Research Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbst
MAS Ultra: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbma
History Reference Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbhr
Literary Reference Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zblr
Global Reference Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zegr
Find All Your Express Links (what’s this?)

Volunteer Gifts! (and clerks, of course!)It’s a challenge every year, isn’t it?  And gift giving is such a minefield these days.  How much to spend?  What if there’s no money?  Dietary restrictions? What holidays are they cool with?

Well I have some answers for you, my friends!  Of course, most of these are not my own.  I’ve been collecting them for years from other blogs, teachers, media folks, and online comments.

Let me just start by saying, personally, I like things that go away.  Baked goods and gift cards.  None of us need anymore candles, tree ornaments or candy-filled mugs.  But that’s just me.  Here we go:

Some people have…

…bought a beach bag with a towel, sunscreen, water bottles, and beach toys.

…bought an ice cream bowl, scoop, and gift card to ice cream place.

…bought a bowl, microwave popcorn, candy, soda, and video rental gift card.

…made a gift basket out of BBQ items.

…made a small gift basket with pen, memo pad and other small supplies.

…bought a set of patio dishes and glasses.
…gave a nice notecard set.

…bought a nice beach towel.

…gave a nice candle.

…gave some bath stuff.

…gave a potted or hanging plant or flowers.

…gave a gift card. (One teacher said they gave a MC/Visa gift card so the volunteer could use it as they pleased).

…got a yummy type of chocolate…Ghiraldi Peppermint Bark this year and attach a bookstore gift card

…baked them some pumpkin bread and/or Starbucks gift cards.

…had a luncheon and then give a nice ornament or poinsettia.  At the end of the year, we do a breakfast and another small gift like soap or stationery.  We also give them a book & treat bag during each book fair.

…got fleece throws at Kohls (I think they were $4 with my coupon) and I was going to attach some homemade chocolates and a note for them to use this to snuggle up with a good book this holiday season.  Last year I found winter themed to go coffee cups and put in packets of hot chocolate in them plus some homemade chocolates.

…bought them pedicures. They loved it!

…gave an ornament with their child’s picture in it.  The volunteers love it.  For those volunteers that do not celebrate Christmas I just put their child’s picture in a non-holiday frame.

…had a good friend who makes key chains, wristlets, and lanyards and all of the proceeds go to a charity.  I am ordering key chains for all of my aides, a wristlet for teachers who are always good “customers” and will probably order lanyards next semester for end of the year gifts.

…purchased tree ornaments from Pier One and they loved them!

…usually hit Bath & Body Works for all their travel sized items.  This year, I’ve done the socks infused with shea butter and an anti-bacterial lotion.  The most important part is presentation.  You don’t have to spend a lot, just make sure you wrap in cute cellophane and maybe throw some candy in there, too.  They always love it!

..purchased gift certificates from restaurant.com  to local establishments.  $25 denominations only cost $2 each.

…moved away from the Christmas gift and give them a token of our appreciation towards the end of the year.  I try to write personal notes throughout the year to let them know how much I appreciate them.

…make a few homemade goodies and write a nice thank-you note.

…took NEW books that I just ordered and  before I circulate them, I let the volunteers children come by and look at them and select a book to “dedicate” to their mom.  I make a dedication page and put it in the book which we cover with clear contact paper.  I then let the child be the first one to check it out when it is ready.  I also print a thank you card with a picture of the cover of the dedicated book.

…buy these lovely ladies gift cards out of my own pocket and am happy to do it.  But if I had more than my current 3 or 4 volunteers, I’d just do a whole lot more baking.  I also brought in a coffee maker last year and keep that stocked with good coffee and creamer and such out of my own pocket.  Because they are awesome.

More ideas?  Leave them in the comments!

Thanks,
Jim Randolph
Partee Elementary
Snellville, GA
@library_jim

How do you invite a participatory culture in your library?  For me, this is a term that is an embedded part of my philosophy.  I strive to find ways for students to have multiple opportunities to connect, participate, collaborate, and create in the media center throughout the year.  All students don’t participate every time, which is fine, but my goal is to offer enough variety of experiences through collaborative lessons, resource promotions, and incentives/contests that every student has a chance to find a place to participate during the year.

After several impromptu conversations with parents and teachers recently, I’ve come to value the power of library sponsored literacy contests and reading promotions.  Teachers have mentioned that they love the “choice” that is a part of these contests and promotions because they see such a variety of students who participate.  Parents have commented to me that their child had no interest in writing poetry or essays until a contest came along.  Multiple parents have mentioned the motivating power of these contests.  My parapro and I have seen how the simple interactive component of stamping a box on a piece of paper can give direction in choosing new books outside of comfort zones and motivation to try something new.

What have I done this year?

• In September/October, students had sheets where they were asked to read books from different categories of the library such as biographies, informational, graphic novel, fiction, etc.  Each time they read one of these books, they earned a stamp, and they stamped their papers themselves.  When they completed their sheets, they had their name displayed in the media center on our book fair decorations and had their name entered into a drawing for a book fair gift certificate.  Requirements for the sheets were different for each grade level.
• In October, we partnered with a few other schools in the district and Avid Bookshop, a local independent bookstore, and held a Mysteries of Harris Burdick writing contest.  Students in every grade wrote stories based on the images of the book by Chris Van Allsburg.  We judged the final pieces at the school level to choose the best pieces and sent those on to Avid Bookshop for a local competition.  Avid recruited authors and other community members to select several finalists who were honored at a celebration at the bookshop.  One winner was chosen to enter a national competition.  All students who entered the contest received a certificate of participation.
• In November, we celebrated National Picture Book Month.  Picture books were promoted all month long on our morning broadcast, and students kept a record of all of the picture books they read for the month, no matter where they came from or whether they were read to them or by themselves.  Depending on how many books students read they earned a bookmark, picture book month certificate, and their name in a drawing for free picture books.  We had about 180 students turn in sheets out of 500 students and over 3,500 picture books were logged during November.

What else is coming this year?

• In January and February, we will sponsor a persuasive writing contest.  At the moment, we think this will be a spin-off of picture book month.  The picture book month site has several essays by authors about the importance of picture books that could serve as mentor texts for students.  I have already promoted this in collaborative meetings with teachers as a possible project I might work on with whole classes or groups of students.  Students will write pieces about the importance of picture books.
• In March, we will hold another reading promotion leading up to our spring book fair where students earn stamps.
• In April, our 2nd annual poetry contest will be held.  This was a huge success last year with over 150 entries from students.  Poems can be written in any form (rhyming, list poetry, free verse, acrostic, etc) and any platform (a napkin, hand written on paper, typed and printed, Animoto, Photo Story, etc).  This year we may partner with Avid Bookshop to extend the contest beyond our school.  The contest will culminate in our annual Poem in Your Pocket Day open mic cafe where all students share poetry into a microphone in the media center.  This event will be broadcast live on the web through Adobe Connect.

These contests and promotions are just one layer of the participatory culture of the Barrow Media Center, but they have come to be a piece that students, teachers, and families appreciate and expect.  These promotions and contests run simultaneously with the multiple collaborative lessons and projects that take place in the library and by no means replace other purposes of the library.  I will continue to evaluate their relevance to our program and always look to give even more students opportunities to connect and create in our library.  How are you celebrating literacy and inviting participation in your library?

Andy Plemmons

School Librarian

David C. Barrow Elementary

Athens, GA

http://barrowmediacenter.wordpress.com

http://www.clarke.k12.ga.us/webpages/aplemmons

Lexiles are standard scores that match a student’s reading ability to the difficulty of the reading material. Many GALILEO resources not only include Lexile scores, they also let students limit their search results to a particular Lexile range. Let’s take a look at GALILEO resources that include Lexiles.

NoveList and NoveList K-8 include a Lexile score in the information for many books as well as a link to a Lexile chart. To limit your search to a specific Lexile range, just click on Advanced Search and choose your range. Tip: In Advanced Search, you can leave the search box blank and just choose the Lexile range of your choice to see all books in that range.

SIRS Discoverer and SIRS Issues Researcher both include a Lexile score in articles. In either database, search for the topic and then choose to sort results by Lexile. To limit to a particular range in either database, click on the Advanced Search and type in the Lexile range.

Many EBSCO resources, such as Student Research Center, MAS Ultra, Middle Search Plus, Kids Search, and Searchasaurus, also include Lexile scores. Most resources let students limit their search to a Lexile range from the main search screen. In Kids Search, students can choose the Detailed Search to limit their search.

See this handout for more information.

Please Contact Us if you have questions or comments or if you need to report problems.

Courtney McGough
GALILEO Support Services
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Screenshot from Advanced Search in NoveList

Some links may not work off site. Log in to GALILEO first for access.

Express Links for Databases Mentioned in this Post:
NoveList: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zknl
NoveList K-8: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zkne
SIRS Discoverer: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zssd
SIRS Issues Researcher: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zsks
Student Research Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbst
MAS Ultra: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbma
Middle Search Plus: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbms
Kids Search: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbks
Searchasaurus for Middle: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zpms
Searchasaurus for Primary/Elementary: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zpps
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