SUPERHEROES POWERED BY BOOKS

Get your orders in for the 2005 Summer Reading program.  The catalog has arrived at your library through RPLS delivery.  Is it lost? Go to this website for an online full color version of the catalog.  There is an online order form at the ILA website. There are many products to choose from, some new and some old standbys such as pencils, bags, buttons and stickers.  New this year is a memo board, magnet, bracelet, and mood pens.  Check it out.  Get started on your plans for Summer Reading.  The deadline for orders is November 8, 2004 with delivery in January. 

School Librarians: If you are looking for some unique but inexpensive prizes for your readers check out the catalog. 

If you are going to ILA, some of the products will be available for sale at the IREAD Booth.  # 629.  The poster will be for sale, and if you are going to the Youth Services Forum Breakfast, Harry Bliss the illustrator and author will sign your poster for you.  This would be a great prize for a lucky reader.

The, application information will be arriving soon.  There are some changes to this years application, but nothing that you can not handle with a little thought and care.  Here are the highlights:

1. In your review of Linking for Learning you will have to tell them not only the major area you are reviewing but the individual  “essential program component” that you are targeting.
2. There are two narrative questions that you will answer in no more than 100 words.  The first asks you "what are the challenges the library media program is facing during the FY05 school year."  The second is "what goal was attained or successful accomplishment achieved by the library media program during this or last year."
3. The library materials budget covers anything that is cataloged and added to the collection.  They have increased the number of ranges to mark so that a clearer picture of funding can be obtained.
4. The school information from last year's grant should appear in this year's application.  If there are changes in the buildings, then you will have to edit those records.
5. This year you will record only the legislative district that primarily serves your school district. 

The application will be completed online.  The instructions on how to print, submit, etc. will be easier to follow.  The deadline for the application is November 19, 2004. Tthat is the Friday before Thanksgiving.

DATA-STATISTICS-RESEARCH-WHAT? 

Do these words scare or confuse you?  Have you thought I really need to understand statistics or research standards, but do not know where to start?  How do I get started in understanding data?   If these questions have troubled you, then a place to start is with the May/June 2004 issue of Knowledge Quest (Vol. 32, No. 5).  The entire issue is devoted to

Defining
                        Authoring
                        Tracking
                        Assessment 

For the introduction to the issue from editor Debbie Abilock, go to the Knowledge Quest website. 

    HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT "THE SMARTEST CARD"?

Sponsored by the Public Library Association and launched September 2004,  “The Smartest Card” is an exciting new campaign to help promote the value of your library and public libraries nationwide.  The goal is to make the library card the most valued and used card in every wallet.  The three key messages are.

Public Libraries are…

• partners for vibrant and educated communities.
• essential for a free people.
• places of opportunity.

For more information check out this website.

Stamp collecting is fun and is a hobby that anyone can begin.  You can start inexpensively and graduate up to those very rare stamps or be more modest in your collecting.  You could collect only stamps with birds, presidents, flowers, author.Yyou name it, a stamp has been issued about it.  To get you started, here are two web sites

This website from the American Philatelic Society has information on stamp collecting just for kids.  A great place to start for information about stamp collecting or to help in developing a program for kids on this topic.  http://www.stamps.org/kids/kid_StampFun.htm 

The United States Postal Service has a very good web site.  One link tells you about the new stamps as the are being released along with a picture of them.  Take a look at this link

 Check with your local post office for the Summer 2004  USA Philatelic: The Official Source for Stamp Enthusiasts”.  They are free and have beautiful color photos.

 THE SPACE PLACE  

Here are some ideas with associated links from NASA about space-related activities, historical events or crafts.  Check it out. 

Oct. 1 Homemade Cookies Day.  Make star cookies and find out why stars are different colors. 

Oct. 5 Birthday in 1882 of Robert Hutchings Goddard, rocket pioneer and the “father of the Space Age.”  Celebrate by launching a “rocket” from a spinning “planet.”  http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ds1_mgr.htm  

Oct. 23 First National Radio broadcast in the U.S., 1924.  Find out how incredibly sensitive a radio antenna can be.  http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/dsn_fact1.htm 

Oct. 30 Sony and Philips introduce the Compact Disc, 1981.  Use a compact disc to make a model of Saturn. 

All of this came from The Space Place New Millennium 2000 Calendar.

From the August 2004  School Library Journal

 A special insert after page 64 titled “SLJ’s Guide to Graphic Novels”  includes 4 articles on Anime, rue tales, and more.

The cover story by Michael Sullivan is titled “Why Johnny Won’t Read.” Pages 36-39 talks about the fact that “It’s not that boys can’t read, they just don’t.” Sullivan gives reasons for this and some solutions.  A must read for anyone trying to encourage reading by boys. 

“Let Me Count the Ways” by Dan Fleming on pages 42-44 gives some tips on how you can teach math in the library.   Those of you with a phobia of numbers do not have to read, but those of you that would like to be more inclusive of the entire school curriculum will find this interesting. 

Pages 47 – 50 has a bibliography of recent books titled “Power to the People and covers election and government topics.  This is followed on page 52 with reviews of five web sites on Elections/Government.

From the September 2004 School Library Journal

The cover story is “SLJ’s Book Buying Survey” by Debra Lau Whelan, (pp. 42-46).  Looking for some facts to use in your School Board presentation, this may be the place to look.  

For those of you starting your first job as a school librarian or in a new school, you may want to read Carl A. Harvey II’s “The Rookie”.  The subtitle tells it all, “A primer to help you survive your first year with flying colors.”  (pp. 50-52) 

To go along with the Math article from August, there is a bibliography of “Math for Elementary and Middle School.”  It has many print titles and media picks on this topic.  See pages 57-60.

From the September 2004 Book Links 

The special feature is titled “Get Out the Vote!” by Diane Foote geared towards elementary school level (pp. 47-49).

 The entire issue is focused on history.  With these titles: 

“Recent History in Threes: Nonfiction, Fiction and the Web” by Marjorie R. Hancock (pp. 6-11, Upper Elem. – H.S.)
“Medieval Europe” by Patricia Joel (pp. 30-35, Elem. – Middle school)
“The Great Irish Famine:  by Chris Liska Carger ( pp.36-39, Upper Elem. - Middle school)
“The Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction” by Hazel Rochman (pp40 - 43, Middle school – H.S.)
“Hero or Holocaust Monster?” by Dean Schneider (pp. 60-63, Middle School – H.S.)

HORACE MANN BOOK PROJECT 

The WeWrite Corporation has a project for children write to a book about Horace Mann.  You might ask who? Well, Horace Mann is considered the father of American public school education. (For more info on Mr. Mann go to this website).  The WeWrite Corporation is trying to secure funding for this project and requests that school libraries complete a survey.  Please go to this link for full information about this project and a copy  of the survey.