Primary Library Day, Tue., Jan. 18th, 2012

While Down's and Hooper's class were able to only do a book exchange today (due to goodbye assembly for Ms. Barraza), Ms Hyam's and Quinton's class learned about "Award Winning" books today and where they "live" in the library.  Ms. Peel's class reviewed where the dinosaur books live (567.9) & then moved onto domestic animals and pets - the 636's.  Using the Smart Board and 6 research computers, we put on our detective hats to discover what 636, 636.1, & 636.2 represent in Dewey Decimal language.  Any student that reads this blog message tonight and reports back to me tomorrow about what one or more of those numbers represents can choose a new book from my prizes stash!  I look forward to seeing you.

Also, tonight show your parents the online database choices from the "World of Information" site web mastered by our local district Teacher-Librarian Association.  Use your online database help stickers in your agenda to find the user names and passwords.  Wondrous reading to you!  Ms. Murrells.

Unplug and Play, Family Literacy Week, Jan. 23rd-29th, 2012

Why read?  Well, the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) revealed that students who spend more time for reading excel better in terms of reading, mathematics, and science* Make reading a priority every day, but especially enjoy the Family Literacy Week events coming up in Sicamous and Salmon Arm: donate books to "Heap the Honda Children's Book Drive (Piccadilly Mall), games night at the Salmon Arm Downtown Activity Centure and Piccadilly Mall public library, Play Again, film documentary (connecting children with nature), Parkview Elementary, 6-7pm (Tue., Jan. 24th), and much, much more!

Unplug and Play, Family Literacy Week

*Source School Libraries in Canada (17108535), 2009, Vol. 26 Issue 3, p29-32)

Technology Boost in the Library!

The Smart Board is finally working.  Thank you district technician Tom Hilton for your patience and determination in installing our first Smart Board and then patiently trouble shooting when it wouldn't work! Points West Audio Visual Ltd. (Kelowna) eventually decided we needed a new one, so by mid October I was finally able to test drive this amazing technology.

It works like a smart phone.  The board on the wall is like a computer monitor. It communicates with the main library computer but instead of using a keyboard, the user can use her hand or the provided smart board pens.  It's very similar to a computer projector, but has many more capabilities.

While I've known about Smart Boards for years, I'm new to using it, so still lots to learn.  Drop by and I'll take you for a test run.  See above for library hours.

Fall Action in the Library

Hmm, it's been a long time since my last post action of Sept., 24th, but today, Nov. 16th I'm determined to get a couple done.  It's been busy, busy, busy in library land!  Students have been learning about the difference between fiction and non-fiction, how to take care of books, and where these genres"live."  Parents ask your kids where the dinosaur books live and if those are "not fake" non-fiction books, or "fake" fiction books!  Further we've been exploring popular "easy" picture book authors, Canadian authors, child activists and humanitarians (Me to We is going strong in our school) Fall, Salmon, Remembrance Day and War, and we're just shifting into Winter themes.  Lastly, ask them to show you their moves for "Dewey Rap"! 

I must go pull those winter books ...

Wonderful Author Visit at the ORL

The author visit to the new Sicamous Okanagan Regional library with Ms. Hooper and Peel's class was a great success.  Author Irene Morck shared with us her book writing experience for Tiger's New Cowboy Boots.  She actually went on a cattle drive to learn about the experience and then, in turn, write about it.  Her publisher told her, however, that her story had to be related to a cattle drive, but not about an actual start to finish one!  Irene found this request challenging at first, but after being on horseback and experiencing her own challenges of "driving cattle," a story began to form for her.  She said the main character Tiger acts out some of her challenges in the cattle drive and at other times her husband's.  To find out more about the book, drop by and sign out Tiger's New Cowboy Boots and other books by Canadian author Irene Morck.  Thank you to Ms. Peel & Hooper for sharing class time to visit our beautiful library and to Mrs. Viedeman for organizing the event.

Welcome Back!

Greetings all & welcome back to Parkview and our school library.  I "weeded" close to 2000 books this past spring & summer to lighten the shelves of older 70's, 80's, & 90's books.  The non-fiction collection is finally all together (rather than partly in the fiction section) & there is more room on the shelves for NEW books: in fact, close to 200 new books are itching to be signed out!

Primary classes began today, reviewing parts of the library & practicing routines and expectations.  Book sign outs will start next Wed. & hopefully tomorrow for intermediates if computer data input goes smoothly in the morning. 

Primary library day is Wed. while Thur is the intermediate library time.  See "Upcoming Events" re the Okanagan Regional Library (ORL) primary library tour and author visit - Irene Morck.

Best wishes, Ms. M.

What is Alexandria and Nettrekker?

The world wide web continues to offer us more resources & information, but which are the good ones?  Here are two for you to try: Alexandria & Nettrekker.  Over Spring Break, most of the library computers across School District 83 got an upgrade of their library software to Alexandria 6.0.  With this upgrade, students, staff, and parents can check Parkviews' library resources from the comfort of their home computers or from any computer with internet access.  Go to the library blog (from the Parkview Home Page page or directly to the  Parkview Library Blog ), scroll down to "Web Links, Reference" and click on Alexandria & Nettrekker.  The Parkview library search window will load & begin your search for books (& other resources our library has) on the top line.

For educational type web sites, scroll down the Alexandria page until you see the Nettrekker icon (bottom left); click on that & try some search terms; tsunami, lacrosse, soccer, black widow spiders, etc. and check out the web sites.  See Ms. Murrells if you need any help and please offer your feedback on this cool resource. 

Nettrekker has recently signed on with Canada's Nelson company to add more Canadian content to this American database, so let me know if you have success in researching Canadian type topics: British Columbia, David Suzuki, Canada Goose, Shania Twain, Thomas Edison, hockey, baskteball, Laura Secord, Norman Bethune, Canadian athletes, and so, so, so, so much more!

Happy researching, Ms Murrells.