Middle School Literacy and Library News
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Eisenhower Literacy News-
7th Grade Business Fair
The Eisenhower Middle School library was brimming with excitement on November 12th. Each seventh grade student had spent the last two-and-a-half months preparing to launch their first business, and they were ready! This fall, Eisenhower Middle School seventh graders became entrepreneurs in the 3rd annual Business Exposition. The fair focused on student created businesses, which is part of the seventh-grade writing curriculum for first trimester. Students had an opportunity to experience real world entrepreneurship by going through the process of developing a business idea, writing a descriptive business plan, and creating advertising using business cards, brochures and t-shirts. They also worked hard developing a plan to seek financing for their burgeoning business and preparing a speech for the many guests that were in attendance. One of the highlights of the project was the prototype or diorama the students were asked to create as homework. Community members, parents and other classes were invited to ask questions and listen to the speeches developed by the students. This was an amazing opportunity for the future business men and women to share in their celebration of learning.
“It taught me more about all the things it could take to make a business. It is more than just renting a space and getting a name. It is hard work!” -Demetra Laurent
“My fellow students were surprisingly creative in their ideas. I thought it would be all sports, but some people had amazing ideas.” -James Schilling
“Having just moved up from sixth to seventh grade, it was a fun way to start the year and it really made me see that someday I am going to have to work extremely hard.” -Bryce Gillis
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Gateway Literacy News-
Pen Pals- Over 200 Gateway students are helping students from the CC English School in Guiyang, China improve their reading and writing skills by exchanging letters.
In its founding year, 1995, CC English School began in an apartment with five students. There are now approximately 7000 students.
The school is certified to be a test center for the National English Achievement Test (NEAT). This test is arranged every year by the Department of Education with the support of other learning institutions. The school began hosting the City-Wide CC Oral English Competition. The competition was introduced to help boost self-esteem and confidence in the art of communicating emotions through language. It is intended to promote understanding and be a platform for clearer communication.
In order to participate in the letter exchange, the Chinese students had to pass this proficiency test. Those selected wrote to our students, asking questions and sharing information about families, pets, likes and dislikes. Our students, in return, are sharing and asking more questions…and learning that even though their China Pals are thousand of miles and a day away, kids are kids regardless of where they live, their culture and political policies.
Guiyang, the capital of the Guizhou Province, is more commonly know as the "City in Forest." The city was first founded in the late thirteenth century during the Yuan Dynasty. The original name of Guiyang was Shunyuan, which meant to obey the Mongol rulers.
We are currently trying to coordinate a time when we can SKYPE with our new friends. In the meantime, even in a world of texting and email, students eagerly anticipate the arrival of the next box of letters!
Book groups- 7th grade teachers, Kathi Gratz and Stacy Dachenhausen have created monthly book groups for their students. After students read a new book each month, they meet with small groups and parent volunteers to share and discuss what they are reading.
Animoto.com is a web application that creates MTV-style videos with the click of a button.
Users simply choose a song and images. Animoto then automatically generates a unique video for them. No two videos are ever the same.
The Cinematic Artificial Intelligence helps Animoto to think like an actual editor and director. The resulting video is produced in a widescreen format, containing the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer.
Literacy and Technology- 6th grade teachers coordinated with the library to create motivating literacy projects for students using technology. In one unit, students read a historical fiction book and learned how to make inferences about the literary elements of the story. After they read the book, they determined visual images that would match the literary elements and created a visual slideshow using the online presentation tool, Animoto. As they shared their presentation with the rest of the class, the class practiced inferring the elements of the story from the images. In another unit, students read biographies and created a visual online poster representing the person they were studying using Glogster.edu, a web 2.0 tool. They then created a Podcast book review to embed into their visual “Glog.” 7th grade teacher Diana Arango, and 6th grade teacher Shawna Matheson also created reading units for their classes called “Reading the Internet”
where they taught students how to better understand the language of the Internet, including using online text features.
To learn more about glogs go to-
http://www.glogster.com/
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Heatherwood Literacy News-
Spelling Bee – Heatherwood held a spelling bee competition that originated in our classrooms and culminated in a school-wide spelling bee held in our library after school. Many students participated in the spelling bee, and we were also supported by an impressive audience at our final event. We plan to make this an annual event!
SOSR – This year Heatherwood chose to present an alternative SOSR. Teachers videotaped students showing them in action working toward our SIP goals, and several students were interviewed about their growth as learners.
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Middle School Library News
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Eisenhower Middle School Library
The Ike library held a Read-a-Thon on February 19th. 198 kids from all three grades signed in at the beginning of the day and 168 remained at the end after reading all day with only short breaks. All the remaining students got pizza coupons courtesy of Alfy’s, and three names were drawn to win books of their choice.
In addition, the Eisenhower Library had an author visit the school on March 19th. Carrie Ryan who writes futuristic books about remnants of human civilization trying to survive came and spoke to a large group of IKE students about her books and the process of becoming a published author. Her visit was sponsored by the UW Bookstore in Mill Creek.
Check out her website at-
http://carrieryan.com/
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Evergreen Middle School Library
Try These Great Books-
As Evergreen students read great books, they compile them on the library website by genre. This allows other students to pick a favorite genre recommended by their friends. Our Great Books list continues to grow and can be found at
http://www.everett.k12.wa.us/evergreen/library/Home
, then click on the left hand menu- Try These Great Books
Evergreen Reads-
Evergreen students continue to read, as well as write about their favorite books. You can find their detailed book reviews at:
http://www.everett.k12.wa.us/evergreen/library/Evergreen%20Reads
. Many students also use the Destiny catalog to do quick reviews.
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Gateway Middle School Library
R.A.D- Students and teachers at Gateway spent a school day engaged in reading in all of their classes. They had the choice of reading silently, or they were invited to attend special sessions in the library. Teacher-librarian, Stacy Stephens, coordinated with Jessica, the children’s specialist at our local UW Bookstore, and she offered a session on new releases. Danielle, the teen services librarian from the Mill Creek Library offered a session on teen titles, and Ms. Stephens conducted a session on writing book
reviews. Students went wild over the new suggested titles, and our circulation in the library doubled on R.A.D and the three days following. The day was capped off with students invited to meet authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson of the Peter and the Starcatchers series at the UW Bookstore. Parents and students attended to hear their entertaining talk and get autographs.
Author visits- Students from Gateway attended assemblies to meet authors to learn about their books and writing craft. This fall, we hosted Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jane Smiley who spoke of her new book for young adults, The Georges and the Jewels. Lois Sachar, the famous author of the popular children’s book Holes visited in the spring. The author visits have all been made possible through partnerships with the UW Bookstore.
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