Summer Reading 2011

MHMS Summer Reading List!

Download it on the MHMS Learning Wiki!

Reading list for Middle Schoooers, short fries (4-5th grade) and grownups, too!

Where are YOU Reading!?

Send us a picture this summer as an attachment or link with you reading! On vacation, in your backyard, on a lawn chair, in a hammock, on the sidewalk, or downy ocean! Basically… ANYWHERE!

Send to Ms. Jones:  gwyneth_jones (@) hcpss (dot) org

with the subject head I’m Reading! We’ll post the best of these on this blog and maybe feature them on MHTV when we get back to school in August!

Have fun reading…!!!

Download your copy of the Summer Reading List on our Wiki!

Flickr Creative Commons Photo Credits:

1. Klara Kim
2. soylentgreen23
3. Alain Bachellier
4. urish

Rebecca Black, Justin Bieber, & Zombies


It’s that time of year again! Time to beg, cajole, tease, audibly torture (with vids like these!), and plead to get our Library Media materials back.  We do everything we can to get those materials back because though I’m understanding of RL dynamics, We’re still trying to teach responsibility, respect for property, and accountability! That’s why we have lots of creative ways to get our books back. And yes, I also make 80 or so phone calls every year – to every number I have of moms, dads, aunties, grandmas, whoever is our primary caretaker to get that super hero help from our awesome grownups – some of whom don’t even know that their kid has an overdue book! Muuwaaa! I’m gonna share the videos & Blabberize animations that we’ve made for this time of year for the last few years. The above video was mad with Blabberize with Guest Zombie voice of 6th grader the Cool Master Z Ricky! Funny how these videos are also a snapshot of pop culture – what’s funny, hip, groanworthy, despised, or basic fodder for parody a the time – therefore their shelf life may vary! PS. Zombies Are ALWAYS in Style! (see end of post for more brains!)

Last year we focused on our buddy Justin Bieber…I LOVE CANADA! (esp. my Saskatoon peeps! Holla!) You can ask anyone aboot that! 😉

Twilight’s Bella & Edward have also been the object of our parody! Which I blogged about more last year and about how Bella is a typical MARY SUE trope fan fiction wannabe!

And in 2003 a very talented special group of MHMS filmakers Inuksuk Studios & I created this iMovie video called Bookfellas. The quality is so, so,…a little jerky…but still the AWEsome comes through! That’s their graduation pic in 2007 — I’m still so proud of these kids!!
PS. Inuksuk is a “stone landmark or cairn built by humans, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America.” Where did they come up with it? It was a nonfiction book on display in the library that was near their editing Macintosh. It also sounds funny.. as in heh heh “you said suk” heh heh. You know I’ll NEVER be able to weed that book! I know, right!?
Video Hosting

I load my videos of course on my YouTube channel, but because the YouTubes is blocked in our school and if they’re under 90 seconds I host them on the Flickrs, and if they’re longer I also upload them on TeacherTube.

Photo credits:
Rebecca: Screenshot from Video
Justin: www.thenewcurrent.com/2010/07/05/justin-beiber-to-tour-no…
Zombie & Zombie Puppet: laughingsquid.com/san-francisco-zombie-mob/