Teen Read Week and Bookfair

We had a fun week in the Media Center this week celebrating Teen Read Week.  The students had a chance to play Author Bingo during all three lunch periods, winning books and eating M&Ms, the Library Book Club met and also the first meeting for a Dungeons & Dragons game was held.  There was also a drawing held Friday for free books - Fifty students won a free book!

 All of the activities culminated with a Bookfair at Barnes & Noble on Saturday.  We had a lot of fun with many students and parents coming out.  We would like to thank all of our student volunteers and the performing groups who came out to entertain.

Visiting Area Librarians

The seniors who are taking English 4 this semester met with Susan Wood from NHCPL, Melissa Raymer from CFCC and Beth Kaylor from UNCW.  The librarians came in to discuss how to access and use the materials in their libraries.  The sessions are held each semester to encourage students to make use of all of the resources that are available to them when doing their Graduation Projects.

New Poster Making Machine

We have just set up a new color poster machine in the media center.  Teachers may make school related posters for their classrooms for free and personal posters for $2.00.  Poster size is 24" x 18".  Students may also make posters for $2.00 a piece.  Some ideas for poster use is a class project, election poster or happy birthday poster for a special friend. 
To order a poster bring in, a 8.5"x11" copy of what you would like scanned and fill out the order form in the media center.  Please order posters at least 2 days before you need them.  Payment is due when you place the order.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

We have added new titles to our Reference eBooks collection.  They have been linked to the Pathfinder page.  The titles include: St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History, Constitutional Amendments: from freedom of speech to flag burning, and Human Diseases and Conditions.  These reference titles and the others we already have can be accessed online.  Students have been given the needed password, if you do not have it, please see a librarian.

Scholarship Sweepstakes

Author James Patterson is giving away a number of awards to be used for the purchase of college books. Awards range from $250 - $5000. See the attached link.

http://jamespatterson.com/dollars-for-scholars-entries.php

Library bookmark

We started the week off helping teachers with equipment, laminating and bulletin board supplies for their classrooms. Then turned to organizing book displays for the media center, doing our own bulletin boards and putting the finishing touches on our web sites.  On Wednesday, the students arrived!  It was good to see a lot of our regular users mixed in with a lot of new faces.  Checkouts started the first day for students.

Ms. Lucas and Mr. Jarmon were using the computer lab for English assessments and Ms. Ransom and Ms. Raspet's senior English classes were in the library starting their graduation projects.  They received a handout and explanation of how to use the new media center websites.  The seniors were doing some preliminary searches to develop their topics. 

It was a busy and great start for the new year.  Don't forget August 30-September 3 is Amnesty week.  Turn in any overdue book from last year and your fines on that book will be forgiven.

Media Production or Research Help

Mr. Wright has set up a Technology Help Desk page to answer any media production questions you may encounter when doing class assignments.  There is a link on the media production page of this site, there is also a Help Icon in the right-hand column of this page that will bring you to the same page.  Just type in your question and he will get back to you as soon as possible.  There will also be helpful hints, illustrations and video clips posted that should explain some procedures.

If you get stuck finding information for a research topic, you may also use the site to post a question about it and we will help you find some sources.

Public Library Cards

A Librarian from New Hanover County Public Library will be set up in the media center on August 17th from 4:00-6:00 pm to help you register for a public library card.  Having a library card will help you access some of the databases that we have linked to our school media center webpage and it will also enable you to check out materials from the public library.

The only card that you need to check out books from the media center is your student ID.

PSAT and SAT Test Prep

Listed below are several links which will provide students with in-depth reviews, strategies and practice questions in preparation for the psat and sat exams.  Some are free and some have registration fees.

CollegeBoard  SAT Practice, study tips, and skill strengths
CollegeBoard  PSAT preparation guidelines and practice questions
Princeton Review  online demo and scored results.
Peterson's PSAT Prep  practice test
Finding Dulcinea : SAT Test Preparation Resources
Online PSAT prep : http://www.shmoop.com/psat    registration fee
Online SAT prep:    http://www.shmoop.com/sat/     registration fee
Peterson's Test Prep Tips

Amnesty for Overdue Books

Did you check out a book last year and forget to return it to the library? 
Turn in all overdue library books the week of August 30-Sept. 3 and your fines on those books will be eliminated.  Check your rooms at home and start the year off with a clean slate.

Homework Help

There is a link posted on the left side of the page that will remain there.  If you are having problems with science, math, english or social studies homework, there are tutors online that can help you.  There is also a proof tutor who will review a paper that you have written.  Make sure if you use the proof link that you contact the tutor a couple of days before your paper is due.  The password for the site is homework.

There is also a link on the Homework Help site where you can practice PSAT and SAT exams.

Welcome

Welcome back to school!  Hope everyone has a good year.  You will notice that we have revised our Media Center webpage.  We hope that you will find it more interesting and easier to use.  We've added a lot more links to sites that we hope will be useful to you with your studies.  Start with the Research page for guidelines and then go to the Pathfinders page for more specific information.

Also make note of our other new page Ashley Readers, the link is located in the left column on this page and also can be accessed from Ashley High's front page.  Ashley Readers will provide links and information about books and authors.