It's November Already?!?!

Can you believe that half of the semester is already over? Wow! Where has time gone?

We have been busy as ever in the library. On average, we see about 65 walk in students each day and we are circulating SO MANY of our brand new books! In fact, this year we have checked out 4,032 items so far! We feel honored to support our staff and students with the resources they need to be successful in school!

Speaking of resources...Did you know that we have many resources available online now? You have access to these 24/7! Every day, all day! You don't just have to be in school to use them! Here is a list of fabulous resources you can access through the library website!

• World Book Online databases
• World Book Kids-for slightly younger audiences
• World Book Discover-middle school audience with a slightly easier reading level
• World Book Student-middle school audience with average reading level
• World Book Advanced-middle/high school with advanced reading level
• World Book Ancient Peoples-explore ancient cultures!
• World Book Inventions and Discoveries-research ideas and tools that advance us!
• World Book Living Green-topics related to our environment and conservation!
• Hallazgos-World Book database in Spanish!
• CultureGrams-Explore the world through this incredible database!
• Mackin VIA-our main portal to the library's 220+ ebooks!
• Most of these titles are non-fiction 
• We have 30+ that are fiction
• ALL are simultaneous access--many people can read them at the same time.
• Link to Anythink Library's TumbleCloud and TumbleBooks!
• Great options for a bigger selection on fiction titles
• NetTrekker-log in and browse the internet! This AMAZING site includes readability levels for the sites you find!
• You can save your searches so you can come back to them at a later date too!
• Many other links to web 2.0 tools and other great sites!

• If you need access to these tools at home, stop by the library and pick up a bookmark with usernames and passwords. :)

As always, we are here to help you be a successful student! Please ask us if you have any questions!!!

Mrs. Lott and Mrs. Bender

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to school for the 2012-2013 year! Not only are we celebrating a new school name...The International School at Thornton Middle, we are celebrating our fabulous students and staff! It is wonderful to see many new faces to the building and the familiar ones bring a smile to my face. 

The students look amazing sporting their uniforms each day in the building...it feels studious and academic.  Classroom cultures are being established and daily routines and expectations are being set.  In the library, that looks like several orientation sessions! We are aiming to meet with EVERY student through their Language A teacher to orient them to their shared space. And speaking of name changes, we would also view the library space as the "Learning Commons."  This name seems to fit the space as we embrace 21st Century Learning and the resources that come along with that.  We have QR Codes set up around the library so that classes can use a scanner app on the iPods to take a self guided audio tour around the space to get to know where different materials are located! 

Thank you for reading our blog! Hoping to see you in the library soon! Here's to an amazing year!

Great Blog to follow!

Here's a great Blog to follow!  I love the middle school literature ideas! And...I love to stumble upon them.  There I was looking up a Google Lit Trip for 5th grade historical fiction and found it!  She also made me realize how desperately I need to update my shelfari bookshelf! Thanks! I have a virtual "friend" now! :)
http://infoandlit.blogspot.com/

Loving our Library!

We are loving our library and want to shout that out!  Here are some reasons why!
1.  Support for our recent book fair! Thanks to our students and families who supported the book fair.  Because of your purchases, the library was able to earn about $700 in books from Scholastic.  We purchased about $450 worth from the fair and still have about $240 to spend.  We are very grateful!
2. New Books!!!  Come and see the new books we have on display!!
3.  We are on Facebook now! Follow us! We are listed as "Thornton Middle School Library."
4.  We are hoppin' with classes! Today we saw 10 classes of 7th graders! Thanks to Mrs. Aylor, Ms. Doss, and Ms. Tiboris for bringing your classes down. :)
5.  Students choose to visit us before school, during lunch, and after school and we love seeing kids who want to be here! We see about 70-80 students on average per day. 
TMS is the BEST school around! Thanks for reading!

The Book Fair is Coming! The Book Fair is Coming!

Aloha TMS!!! The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to TMS soon!
We will have a preview day on Friday, January 27th from 12:00-4:00 and be open the following week for sales!  Check out the online book fair too!

Below are the dates and times we are open:
Monday, January 30th 8:00-4:00
Tuesday, January 31st 8:00-4:00 and 4:30-7:30 (Parent Teacher Conferences)
Wednesday, February 1st 8:00-2:30 and 4:30-7:30 (Parent Teacher Conferences)
Come in and see us!

Happy New From the TMS Library!

Happy New Year to our students, staff, and families!  We are excited to embark upon 2012 and all that it will bring!  Here is some news to keep you up to date.  Stop in and see us soon!

*  We have 243 BRAND NEW BOOKS that should be arriving this week!  These are graphic novels, books in Spanish, and new picture books for middle school readers!  We will be ordering new Fiction and Non-fiction materials for the library in the next few weeks too! New year...New books!  That makes us happy!

*  The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to the TMS Library!!!  We will be open on Friday, January 27th from 12:00-4:00 through Wednesday, February 1st.  We will be open both nights of Parent Teacher Conferences!  Scholastic offers great titles at great prices.  Stop by and see us for a book or two after you meet with your child's teachers!  The library will benefit from the profits and add new books and technology for teachers and students to use!

Book Fair Dates and Hours:
Friday, January 27th 12:00-4:00--Preview Day
Monday, January 30th 8:00-4:00
Tuesday, January 31st 8:00-4:00 and 4:30-7:30
Wednesday, February 1st 8:00-4:00 and 4:30-7:30

* Digital Learrning Day is Wednesday, February 1st!  What will you do to create and innovate using tech tools this day? :)

* Teen Tech Week is March 4-10, 2012!  Stop in and see us on Thursday, March 8th and Friday, March 9th to try out some really cool tech tools for learning!  You will be amazed at what is out there now! Web 2.0 offers amazing opportunities to contribute to the world wide online community and show what you know!

*  TMS has 35 iPod Touch devices for teachers to check out to use with students! These are split in 2 sets to meet the needs of 2 classes at a time.  Set #1 has 17 iPods and Set #2 has 18 iPods.  Teachers will be able to reserve these using the shared Google Calendars by mid January.  We are excited to see these powerful digital tools in the hands of our TMS students!

* Since the start of the year we have checked out 3,833 books in the library!  That's an average of about 958 items per month! With many new books coming, we expect that number to be higher for the second semester.  Please see below for our top 10 student patrons and top 10 faculty patrons!

Top 10 Students:
#10 Leslie
#9 Kristi
#8 Briana
#7 Allana
#6 Duilio 
#5 Rhianno
#4 Iris 
#3 Robin
#2 Jazmine
#1 Sekia

Top 10 Staff Members:
#10 Dana Lott
#9 Amy Bayani
#8 Jonabelle Mwamba
#7 Manissa Featherstone
#6 Daniel Medina
#5 Toni Booth
#4 Nancy Bender
#3 Sarah Doss
#2 Deborah Ormsby
#1 Matt Booren
Thanks to our AWESOME "regular" visitors!  We appreciate you!

*  At the end of December, the library applied for a Laura Bush Foundation Grant in the amount of $6,000!  This money would help allow us to meet the collection goals outlined in our library's strategic plan.  Cross your fingers that we receive the funds.  We will keep you posted!

Again, Happy New Year!  We look forward to seeing you in the library soon!
Mrs. Lott and Mrs. Bender