EVERYBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THE HUNGER GAMES!

The request list keeps getting longer each day! More copies are on order for our library but you won’t find them sitting on the shelves! This is the hottest new series this season, so if you want any of the books you will need to reserve your copies now!

Reviews for THE HUNGER GAMES:

“…brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced…a futuristic novel every bit as good and as allegorically rich as Scott Westerfeld’s ‘Uglies’ books.”

–The New York Times, John Green

“…enthralling, imaginative and creepy…”

–Los Angeles Times

“Collins’s characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate with the generation raised on reality shows like “Survivor” and “American Gladiator.”

–School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

Could YOU survive! Test your skills.

Warning- These books are NOT for your younger siblings.

Read A Parents’ Guide to “The Hunger Games” Trilogy, by Martha Brockenbrough for MSN

SMARTBOARD

Our Smartboard has been installed in the library! Teachers are invited to come and test it anytime.

The board opens possibilities for adding interactivity to lessons and presentations and it only takes minutes to learn how to get started.  Here is a two minute SMART Technologies training video showing the very first steps:

http://www.youtube.com/v/iukDc3s56wI&hl=en_US&fs=1&

Teachers can check our First Class staff mail conference, in the library file, for a link to my bookmarks for locating a wide variety of resources shared by teachers for teachers. By starting with pre-made resources we will all have opportunities to experiment and learn how to create our own lessons and activities. Students will now also be able to use SMART notebook software to create powerful presentations!

Summer Reading Club

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Canada’s online Teen Reading Club is a great place to go if you like to read! On the website, you can introduce people to books you love, post reviews on books, share your writing, and discuss books with other people on the site. Reading during summer is a great way to spend your time, and the website can help you find books that you would like to read. Go ahead and check it out!

Photo credit: UnicornRetreat from morguefile.com

OKM Library Connections

 

CC Image Attribution:”TL09 View of School Libraries”
Flickr –  C. VanHook

Husky Teams Work Together
in our library . . . 


Teachers, library staff and students collaborate and support active learning, critical thinking and digital literacy. Collaborative planning and shared ideas lead to rich learning experiences. Everybody wins!

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”  Ken Blanchard

 In our library, students learn to question the information they find on the internet. They develop competent searching skills, using information both creatively and ethically while becoming actively engaged in the learning process. 

“Copy and paste syndrome” is sometimes still a concern with digital projects, but our OKM students are moving beyond this. More and more of our teachers are preparing library lessons to encourage creativity and collaboration rather than just using computers for basic internet searches and presentations. Help is available in the library to set up project criteria in advance and to set the stage for thoughtful research. The teacher librarian partners with teachers and supports all students in the school. Exciting learning occurs as we all use, create and respectfully share information.

The focus in our library is to help all of our students and teachers meet their goals. This will continue as we work together in the final term of the 2009-2010 school year.  We have all heard about funding shortfalls for education in British Columbia this spring. Cuts are expected to have a major impact on libraries and  on the arts, but I am confident that we have strong leadership and community support at OKM that will help us to weather the storm. We value literacy. We value learning. We value our students.

In 2008 our own Minister of Education in British Columbia stated that:
“I am personally proud that British Columbia is the lead jurisdiction for literacy in our country.”


“Goal 1” on the home page of our own school web site. is to “continue to improve literacy for all students…”


Our library facilitates the development of lifelong learning skills. Students don’t just learn to read. They  share their love of stories. They don’t just find and repeat facts using computers or books. They use a rich variety of resources and tools for creative problem solving and discovery learning. 

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot

learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler (Writer and Futurist)

“The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the

soul and a door onto the world.” -Rita Dove (Pulitzer Prize winning American poet)

MARCH 1 – 5, 2010, EDUCATION WEEK!

Kenneth Oppel

The Central Okanagan Teacher-Librarians’ Association (COTLA) is proud to be bringing award-winning author Kenneth Oppel to Kelowna for Education Week 2010 (March 1-5).  During the week more than 4400 students in School District 23 (elementary to senior secondary) will have an opportunity to see, hear and interact with Mr. Oppel.

Oppel has written more than two dozen books.  While some are for young readers, he’s best known for his fantasy writing for young adults—Silverwing, Sunwing, Firewing, Darkwing, Airborn, Skybreaker, Starclimber, etc.  He’s won dozens of literary awards, including:  the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature, Los Angeles Times Book Award, CLA (Canadian Library Association) Children’s Book Award, and the Mr. Christie’s Book Award.    

Most of Oppel’s presentations will take place at the Kelowna Community Theatre, with a special session also happening right in our own school gym on Thursday March 4th at 2:15.  Oppel’s presentations typically last an hour and are followed by questions, answers and autographing of books.  We have a limited number of AIRBORN books for sale at the school for $10 each. Interested students may purchase these in our library while supplies last.  For more information on Kenneth Oppel you can visit his website at:  www.kennethoppel.ca.

The Central Okanagan Teacher-Librarians’ Association is also sponsoring a FREE evening presentation so that the Kelowna community at large can hear Mr. Oppel.  The evening session with will take place Thursday, March 4 at the Kelowna Community Theatre starting at 7:00 p.m.  There’s no need to sign up for this event, just come to the theatre.  Interested people are encouraged to bring family, friends and colleagues.  This special event is one of COTLA’s ways of highlighting the importance and interconnectedness of school lilbraries, teacher-librarians, reading and literacy.

Special thanks go out to the generous sponsors in our community who have helped to make this event possible:  Capri Insurance and Harmony Honda. For our school presentation we are also grateful for support from parents for our cultural event funding.

This message was forwarded from Mr. James Gillett for COTLA, with OKM details added by Ms. Susan Neilson. OKM students are welcome to add positive comments about your own experiences reading Mr. Oppel’s books. Maybe he will get a chance to read your feedback! 

FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

We will be welcoming a very special guest to our library on Monday February 15th at 2:00 p.m.

Mairuth Hodge Sarsfield was born in Montreal. She started her career as a journalist, working later as a research writer in Paris and as an on-camera host for CBC, CTV, TVO and PBS. Ms. Sarsfield was the Canadian Pavilion theme co-ordinator for Expo ’70 in Japan. She was an information officer fot the Department of External Affairs, and an Associate Director with the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, developing the “For Every Child a Tree” campaign.

Mairuth was awarded the Chevalier a L’Ordre National du Quebec, for cultural creativity in 1985.

In 2005, her award winning book No Crystal Stair was on the Canada Reads Shortlist. A copy was purchased for our school library, five years ago.

She is listed in “Who’s Who in Canada” and “Who’s Who in Black Canada.”

Now retired from public service, Mairuth is living on Vancouver Island, and working on two more books.

On February 15th, this amazing woman is coming to our school! She will be visiting during break and then speaking in the library during period 8.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome back! Please remember to exchange your holiday reading books for something new this week. Everything borrowed in December is now due.  Thanks for sharing!

First web gem for January: Check out this link for amazing up-close virtual learning experiences.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the OKM library student blog. This is our first post. Check back soon and we will be adding all kinds of interesting web learning , news and  tech tips for students and teachers!

LET US HELP YOU WITH WEB 2.0 @ YOUR LIBRARY

Web Gem for Dec 1— Students and teachers who want to use photo, music and video content from the web need to know how to find CREATIVE COMMONS licensed work, marked by the creator for free sharing, remixing and/or commercial use.

Try using FlickrCC(http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/) to search Creative Commons photos on Flickr. This search tool puts the attribution information right up front with each photo AND it lets you search for quality images that you are legally entitled to use for creative and/or commercial work. Information is right there so it is easy to cite the source. If in doubt you can always contact the photographer from the link!
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Our library uses World Wide Web technology and Web design to enhance learning, creativity, communications, information sharing, and collaboration. Starting this month, we will be posting tips every week or two. By January, these will be moved to a new page that is being designed by a member of our school TECH TEAM from the Enrichment 9/10 class!

November in the OKM Library

This is a busy month for research projects in the OKM library!

Help is available! Please don’t hesitate to ask.

Also this month, we have many new books arriving. Check out the lists of new books on our BOOKTALK web page. http://www3.okm.sd23.bc.ca/library/index-4.html