Celebrating National Poetry Month

As April is National Poetry Month, students in 7th grade language arts visited the library to "write" book spine poems and found poems. Students worked in pairs and individually to create poetry from fiction titles.

Just two days later, the same students returned to the library to "write" found poems. In this activity, students used pages from weeded fiction titles to create a poem. 

DCG Middle School Library & Social Media

Social media is everywhere, so why not bring the MS Library along? If you haven't been following us on Instagram or on Snapchat or on Pinterest, now's the time to join us!

The Instagram and Snapchat accounts feature pictures and videos of students, lessons, book talks, class activities, and all things library! Both can be found with the username DCGLibraries and reflect happenings in our K - 7 libraries.

The Pinterest account is a board that features middle school book recommendations and book trailers. CLICK HERE to access the board and visit often as it's updated regularly.

State Award Winners Announced

After voting for Unstoppable by Tim Green to be the Iowa Teen Award book for the year, we waited with anticipation to learn of the statewide winner. Drumroll please. . . the winning ITA book for the year was Skinny by Donna Cooner.

The winning book for the Iowa Children's Choice Award--for which we didn't vote at the Middle School--was Duke by Kirby Larson.

Iowa Teen Award Results

It's that time of year again! Voting for the Iowa Teen Award winner took place last week in our building, and again this year the results were close. With almost 40% of our students eligible to vote, we saw realistic fiction take control of the field. The winning book, with 15% of the vote, was Unstoppable by Tim Green.

Green's book was VERY closely followed by Jo Knowles's See You at Harry's with 14% of the vote.

For a total recap of all voting, please see below:

On Mon. Apr. 4, 2016, at the annual conference for the state of Iowa librarians, the overall statewide winner for the Iowa Teen Award will be announced. Stay tuned to learn if our DCG students think similarly to students across Iowa or if a different book will be the winner!

New Information from J.K. Rowling!

Earlier this week author J. K. Rowling shared some information that Harry Potter fans have long been considering: Where is the North American wizarding school?

According to writer Kelly West on the website CinemaBlend, here's what Rowling had to share about a North American wizarding school:

Specifics about the school weren't immediately clear--is the school in Canada or the United States?--but according to the Pottermore website, Rowling has new writings coming soon that perhaps make things clearer. (Not familiar with Pottermore? Check out an earlier post HERE.)

If you haven't been to Pottermore recently, all of the wizarding schools are now represented, complete with a map and short pieces about each of the schools.

You can read about Mahoutokoro, the smallest of the schools, located in Japan, or you could find out more about Uagadou, one of the African wizarding schools where students are notified by Dream Messengers if they are chosen to attend. Located in the Brazilian rain forest, Castelobruxo is known for their excellent exchange programs for European wizarding students. 

Other wizarding schools--Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts--are also represented on the website if you want to read more about these schools with which we're already a bit familiar. Keep an eye out for Ilvermorny, as Rowling will be adding new writings about the school soon!

A SIRS Collaboration

Recently seventh grader language arts students visited the library for a refresher lesson using one of our AEA databases, SIRS. Students accessed the site from the DCG Middle School Library Symbaloo:

You can access the Symbaloo HERE.

This is a pro/con site that features hundreds of topics in a variety of user-friendly ways. Students can browse an A-Z list or conduct a visual browse of topics; they can see essential questions that feature articles in support and against the topic; and, they can access multiple viewpoints for one topic.

One of the site's component--but something students will see often when conducting online searches--was Boolean searching. To demonstrate how Boolean searching works, students participated in a "search" that used them as the "search terms." If students satisfied the "search term," they stood. This was one example: "boys OR athletes AND wearing a hoodie." Another example, shown below, was "students AND boys NOT in band."

Students also had time to work on the site and determine if topics of interest were included on SIRS. While browsing, some students were able to narrow their topics, while others revised topics as needed. Students eventually will be writing pro or con essay that includes at least two sources. Topics that students searched included:

• cell phone use in school
• beauty pageants
• distracted driving
• overmedicating children
• cheerleading as a sport
• keeping soccer players safe
• compensating college athletes

More Library Displays!

With the return to classes, it's time to update the library displays. Students might first notice the lighting that stretches along all of the fiction shelves.

Also on the fiction side of the library is a display highlighting several of our "snowy" titles. Thanks to Epic Reads for the display inspiration!

Finally, the newest display called "Made for each Other" features companion novels--novels, while not direct sequels, that do include repeat characters and/or plot lines.

Come on in to see the new displays and perhaps check out a featured book! See you soon!