Thursday, March 25, 2010

Glogster!

The dance classes have been hard at work this week creating glogs. What is a glog? A glog is a digital poster. You can post photos, digital sticker, text, decorations, and links on a topic for other students to read. With our new Netbooks, we can even add video clips and audio clips instantly. Mrs. Cook's 7th grade students have been working on glogs about famous choreographers, and the 8th graders have been hard at work over glogs on rights issues.


I have learned a lot during this project. For example, did you know that there is a Chinese Deaf Dance team? Their dances are beautiful, and they do them without being able to hear the music. I also learn about cat's rights, children's rights, prisoner's rights, and animal rights. I even made my own glog on a big library issue -- intellectual freedom. You can check out my glog here .


I also found some other library related glogs that you can look at:

A Great and Terrible Beauty (a wonderful book that we just added to our collection)

Locked in Time (a Lois Duncan thriller)

Twilight (need I say more?)

Coraline (a very weall-done glog)

Max: A Maximum Ride Novel (I love this series, and it is a favorite of our students')

And you can always try your hand at your own glog by signing up at http://www.glogster.com .

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

New Books

We just got four new books in from Junior Library Guild. All the new books are on display at the circulation desk -- check one out today!


They Never Came Back
by Caroline B. Cooney

Years ago, Tommy's cousin, Murielle, disappeared. Then one day during summer school, he thinks he sees her across the cafeteria. But the girl-a dead ringer for his cousin-insists her name is Cathy. Tommy reluctantly believes her. His parents, when they meet her, suspect she's lying.


For Keeps
by Natasha Friend

Josie has never met her dad, and that's fine with her. To Josie, Paul Tucci is just a guy who got her mom pregnant and then moved away. It all happened sixteen years ago, when Josie's mom was still a teenager herself. But now Paul Tucci is back in town, and Josie has to deal with not one but two men in her life-her father and her first boyfriend, who Josie fears will hurt her just like Paul hurt her mother.


Foiled
by Jane Yolen
Illustrated by Mike Cavallaro

Aliera is a star at fencing, but at school no one notices her-until her new lab partner Avery begins flirting with her. Aliera's mother just bought her a foil from a garage sale, and it has a strange jewel attached to the hilt. Will Aliera's first date be ruined when magical creatures try to steal her foil?


Copper
Written and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi
Copper and his dog, Fred, go mountain climbing, surfing, and walking through landscapes fantastic and familiar-all while keeping up a wry, humorous banter. When at one point an odd creature Fred tried to befriend runs away, Fred laments, "I guess I'll just have to deal with the fact that I have no friends." "You and me both," says Copper.

(All photos and annotations courtesy of Junior Library Guild, at juniorlibraryguild.com)