Calling all Creatives – Rainbow Vision!

Rainbow Vision Literary Magazine

ISO student submissions!

“Rainbow Vision is specifically looking for material for our literary magazine that has an LGBTQIA+ theme, is written by LGBTQIA+ authors AND their allies, and/or is written for an LGBTQIA+ audience. We are currently accepting short stories, poetry, art work, song lyrics, personal narratives, essay, film/video, music/audio, photography, script/play/manuscript, drawing, etc.” – Ms. Danielle DuPuis

The deadline to submit is April 1st.

Click HERE to submit your creative products   

Please Note: Only open to HCPSS Students

Questions? Contact Ms. Danielle DuPuis, Library Media Specialist at Hammond High School – danielle_dupuis@hcpss.org

View Last year’s Magazine! 

Our May 2020 issue of Rainbow Vision received an “Excellent” rating from NCTE’s REALM. (Links to an external site.)

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“Teachers and students are encouraged to share this magazine. However, we’d ask that you not reprint or repost content publicly without permission. If you’d like a hard copy of this magazine or would like permission to post on your site, please email pride@hcpss.org for more details.”

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Students & Families: The MHMS Daring School Library Media Center has always been a Safe Space for ALL of our Students!  READ: Our School Library is a Safe Space 

 

Back To School – Yes, We’re Virtually Awesome!

Virtual Learning Fall 2020 

Welcome Back to School!

Well, hello! I’m so happy you’re here! This is a start of a school year unlike any we’ve ever experienced before. Duh! I know, right? But still, I have to say it because we’re all learning how to navigate this virtual landscape together. (Would that it could look like Second Life or Minecraft! LOL) 

But I do know, is that we are determined, as a community, to make this work as best we can for everybody and that I’m here for you!

For the first few weeks of school Ms. Bell and I will be busy helping kids & teachers with technology challenges, issues, & questions. If you’re experiencing issues you would like to discuss, please stop by we’ll help you – first come, first serve! Or, we can set up an appointment. Either way, we’ve got you!

Bitmoji RecessMHMS Media Virtual Recess for all grades will start in a few weeks!

I’ll be sending out an announcement to let you know where & when! Until then, we’ll be totally busy with our Tech Help Desk.

Be Your Own Tech Ninja!

Are you good at Canvas? Submitting Google Cloud Canvas assignments?  When things go wrong with your device or technology do you find ways to fix it? Are you unafraid to update your Chrome browser or Chromebook? Do you look for answers on Google or YouTube when you get an error message? If so, you are your own Tech Ninja! Be as proactive and daring to persevere and solve your tech snags as you are when playing a video game!  Go Ninja Go!

If you’re looking for tech help be sure to visit our MHMS website and the page:

Tech Help for Students & Families.


Now for some Doggone Clever Stuff!

PTA Book Fair in Media

“Did you know? Reading just 20 minutes a day exposes your child to about 1.8 million words per year. Reading helps students develop a stronger vocabulary, and in addition, students who read for pleasure average higher grades in English, mathematics, science, and history!” Scholastic Promo Material

Of course checking out books from our Library supports this in every way! But having a personal Library at home is also a wonderful thing! It brings to mind, snow days, holidays, & curling up with a good book! (See my personal reminiscence below)

 

Mark your calendar to join us for a celebration of reading and raising funds to help our school!  The PTA Book Fair hours are as follows:

  • Friday, 11/16: 11:00 am – 1:30 pm (lunch)
  • Monday & Tuesday, 11/19-11/20:   9:30am-11:30am (lunch) and 1pm-8pm (conferences)

Check out our Book Fair Videos!

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Mr. C & his daughter Miss S.

 

 

All Book Fair parent volunteers will receive a free Murray Hill Middle School long sleeve t-shirt!  Many volunteer time slots are open during conference times.  Please consider signing up below for slots before, between, and/or after your parent teacher conferences.   

Follow this link to sign up!

Volunteer Sign-Up Genius

Buy Online & Help Murray Hill!

View & Download the MHMS PTA Bookfair PDF Flier!

Bookfair Highlights Video


 “I’ve been inspired by the amazing Jennifer LaGarde who has written such brilliant post about the important people and pivotal moments in your past that made you a lifelong reader.  Jennifer’s post is evocative, thought-provoking, and inspiring! It was so good I wrote a flippin novel of a comment that will make up much of this posting!

Her well written words caused me to smile and fondly recall those individuals, pivot points, and circumstances that made me into a reader. And it wasn’t a book report, diorama, or a standardized text passage that did it. Shocker.

During the blizzard of 1979 we were stuck home for a week and I ran out of books. (Gasp!) The picture above shows me curled up sitting on the heating vent in the living room (note the ORANGE shag carpet!) with Grandma’s afghan reading The Laird of Tariff Hall, a well-worn and taped-together Gothic paperback.

After that, I guess I was whining about nothing to read so my Mom gave me her Gone With the Wind paperback – that shut me up! I don’t know if it was totally appropriate for a 14 year old to read that – but it kept me quiet for many many days!

I also had a collection of Nancy Drew books, boy I loved those! Being a daughter of an English Teacher and Reading Specialist meant that at a very early age, I had books around the house and my own little library in my room. The Scholastic Book Fair coming to our school an help some of our kids build their own personal libraries!

Read the rest:

Reading: A Passionate Love Affair

Got Charge?

 

Spend $130 Bucks and Literally Give Kids the Power!

 

We’ve discovered that the mix of the digital divide, possible turbulent home lives, and general teenage forgetfulness can result in a loss of power. So, for vaious reasons it seems that some of my students who DO have devices (yes, there are still a lot who do NOT) show up to school with a low or no charge.  Yes, they sometimes admit that they fall asleep with their phone next to them and not plugged in. Shocker.

A device that they LOVE to use for social connections and fun in the hallways and during free time. Oh yeah, and sometimes in class for learning, too! Without that device they feel a serious gap in their daily lives.

We Fill That Gap!

We want the kids to feel like the Library Media Center – Learning Commons and Makerspace Station – is a safe place to land and the place to go when they need things. Like finishing and priting out homework, relaxing and making something at our Makerspace Station, practicing mindfulness with our Coloring Zen area, or borrowing a charger to power up their devices. This is our third try with this concept, the first two were failures – if you interested you can read about this journey going back four years on my professional blog. So far, this is going GREAT! 

Backstory: A few years ago, I was inspired by the charging lockers I saw during a visit to the Hillwood High School Library in Nashville with the ISTE Board of Directors and I wanted to support our BYOD pilot program and our kiddos by giving them a place to recharge their devices in school.

 
And of course that place was going to be our school Library Media Center — shameless how we will do just about ANYthing to get kiddos to visit our Library!
 
Because I think we’ve now hit on a really easy, relatively low cost, & popular way to give my kids the power they crave and need. 
 
 Approximate cost for 8 chargers & 10 cords = $130 bucks
Piece of mind not worrying that kiddos will have their devices stolen or locked out on your watch? 
Priceless!
Procedure:
Kids (and staff) can request a charging device, first come, first serve anytime before 2pm. I also bought 2 flat chargers for staff to borrow. Kids come first. Always. 
We keep the chargers tucked away on a shelf behind the Circulation Desk.
Kids must first show that their phone has less than 30% charge to get one. (We found at first some kids just wanted it for the cool factor – which was cool, but not cool for the kids who really NEEDED them!)  
We don’t lend them out for the charging of fancy headphones – these are for devices that could possibly be used in the classroom.
Kids can borrow the charger alone or with a multi-device cord. They must initial to agree to pay for the loss or damage of the device & cord (Yeah, we know this isn’t really enforceable) 
We ask that kids agree not to let the device out of their sight – if they’re asked to share it – we trust them to keep track of it.
We also ask that kids bring back the device at the end of the day. Do they always remember? Nope! That’s why we collect their last period class teacher (I, or my amazing Media assistant Kathi Bell, calls classrooms at the end of the day to get them back – or we track them down the first period of the next day.
Yeah, We’re Popular! 
Some days we’re cleaned out of chargers within the first 5 minutes of school. I’m making a sign for our front door that says “Yes, We Have Awesome Chargers to Borrow!”  or “Sorry, All Chargers Have Been Borrowed” with Bitmoji cartoons. 
This is a complimentary service. We also reserve the right to not lend out a charger on an early dismissal day, after 1:30pm,  or to a kiddo who has proven to be unreliable with the charger in the past. But that hasn’t happened yet. Frankly, I doubt it ever will.  Don’t tell my students, for all my fierceness [snaps Z formation] I’m kind of a soft touch. But I gotta keep that leverage because we want to keep these chargers nice for everyone. So far though, the kids have been super fantastic and very enthusiastic about this new FREE perk we’re providing to them! 

GOAL #1 MHMS provides  a safe and nurturing school environment that respects our diversity and commonality.

Why do we do this?

You never know what kinds of things kids are struggling with at home. What if a kid doesn’t have a computer at home and just a mobile device and needs to do homework? This is important! We can help fill the gaps that the world & circumstance gives to these kiddos.

My kids tell me you can get these chargers at Five Below. I haven’t tried them yet. If we lose a lot over the year, I might give them a whirl. The multi device cords are CHEAP! Meaning, inexpensive to pick up (via Amazon) but they can sometimes stop working and can break. So far, so good, though and this has been a LOT less of a headache than those fancy expensive charging lockers.  
 
This great idea was inspired by the amazing Teacher Librarian at Wilde Lake Middle School – Sarah Russo!
I should have started with that! [smacks forehead] but I wanted to give how we run this first.
 
Are you a Teacher Librarian, or educator and want to hear what problems we encountered with our previous attempts at charging stations and charging lockers?
If so,
So, if you’re a school – here’s my suggestion: Save 90% of your money and try the cheapo errr inexpensive portable chargers first.  
Because, NO ONE wants to be responsible for a kids only device but it’s AWESOME to be responsible to give POWER to a kid and their beloved device!
Your turn! 
What am I missing here? Any other suggestions? Successes? Do you like that we help out the kiddos? What other things could we add to our School Library to make it a more appealing place (Other than a Keurig -that would be boss!)  Please hit me up in the comments and share your thoughts! Thank you for reading!

Our ever evolving BYOD Policy.

Buying information. If you want to get one of these for yourself or for your kiddo, check Amazon! So far, they’ve been great & I did have 2 die on my (after being used by kids…a LOT) but the company is sending me 2 replacements! I couldn’t ask for better customer service than that!
 Again, if you’re in education and would like more information:
Check out my professional blog.  Thank you for reading! 

 

Happy NEW School Year!

Welcome Back Kiddos, Parents, & Families!

 




Happy 20th Anniversary Murray Hill! For real this time! 

That means, the 8th grade kiddos I taught when we opened Murray Hill back in 1997 would now be in their 30’s! Whaaaat? That’s Crazy! But seriously, I am SO honored to have been a part of this community since the beginning. I never thought I was one of those teachers who would stay in the same school for like, forever!

But here I am, still happy, loving our quirky middle school kiddos and the vibrant and rich diversity of our amazing neighborhood! I also like that I live near our community and only have to drive 7 minutes to get here!

This year is going to be fantastic and challenging! Ms. Bell, our amazing Media Assistant is BACK full time!  Thanks to our new interim Superintendent, Michael J. Martirano  for bringing back our much needed (and loved!) library paraeducators. WE really appreciate having our Library & Literacy program fully staffed – because we serve about 800 people! 730+ kiddos & 80+ teachers and staff!

That’s a lot of people and we love it!

Please follow us on Instagram!

I will try and share all the amazing things that happen every day here at MHMS – the cool kiddos, the fun times, the Science, the ELA, the Social Studies, MHTV, ART, Drama, well – as much as I can ! 

Like the fun we have during recess in the Library Media Center! Here are some of my fun kiddos!

The MHMS Daring School Library Media Center #Makerspace & Recess Fun! #coloring #legos #shelfie #reading

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We also LOVE Instagram Shelfies!

Cammy & Precious giving me a great #SHelfie

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And #Makerspace Fun!

Speaking of making and working I’m excited to set up again our ever evolving Makerspace Station at MHMS in our Daring School Library Media Center for the fourth year! We’re going to be adding more stations, robotics, technology and opportunities to create, make, craft, design, code, and construct in our school!

Princess A showing off her princess picture! I love it when kids get me there and drawings!

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3 #makerspace builders in our @hcpss_mhms school library! #cool ! #loud

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But wait! There’s More!

The following are student, parent, and community resources I want to bring to your attention.

hcpss-connect-banner16This page will also feature our new HCPSS Parent Portal – HCPSS Connect

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Don’t forget our Research Databases Wikpage helps with homework & school projects!

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6 Easy Ways to Go Green at School

For twenty years here at MHMS, we’ve tried to be GREEN as possible. We started a recycling program the first year we opened (1997), spray painted Chesapeake Bay Run-Off outside on parking lot drains. In 2000 we partnered with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to conduct a ground-truthing survey of permeable and impermeable surfaces with GPS.

But now, we’re going to make it official!

This year, we’re working on getting GREEN School Certification. We’re working with the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) to fulfill several objectives. The team I’m working with is student-driven sustainability practices. “MAEOE encourages, engages, and empowers the community to understand, responsibly use and promote the natural world.”

Here are 6 Easy Ways to Go GREEN at Your School!

1. Start a Student-Run Recycling Club

Have Science classes do a “trash inventory where kids go get a sample waste basket from different classrooms and different grades and, wearing plastic gloves, divide it between trash and recyclable materials. What’s being thrown away already that could be recycled?  Murray Hill has started a Recycling Program – but we can always do better!
Your Turn! – Sound off in the Comments:
What are 3 ways we could recycle MORE in our school?

2. Participate in International Walk (or Bike!) to School Day

International Walk to School Day (and Bike to School Day) promotes a healthy lifestyle and encourages students and parents to think about the effects that cars have on the environment.
Your Turn! – Sound off in the Comments:
Have you ever ridden your bike to school? OR What’s the longest you’ve ever ridden your bike?

From 2011: Example of a paper maché Alebrije. The Alebrije was created by Pedro Linares Lopez in the 1930’s. Pedro was a cartonero (papier maché crafter) from La Merced a neighborhood in Mexico City.

3. Recycle Newspapers & Magazines to Create Fabulous Art Projects

Another way to support your school’s “going green” effort is to get your ART teacher involved. The art teachers here at MMHS have had a long history of cool student projects using entirely recycled, newspapers, paper, books and materials.
Your Turn! – Sound off in the Comments:
What are 3 cool  school ART projects you can think of using recyclable materials?
4. Adopt an Endangered Animal

Take a look at the WWF Adoption program and raise money  in the school to help save an endangered animal. For only $55 you can get an adoption kit that includes a plushy, a species card, adoption certificate, photo, and gift bag. Each grade or classroom can strive to adopt a different animal. You can display your animals in the classroom or in the Library Media Center!

Your Turn! – Sound off in the Comments:
What are endangered animals that you would like to adopt in your school?

BNewingham040711_iStock32161690_GoGreen_s5. Go Paperless

Consider reducing the amount of paper you use in the school by going paperless!
We’ve been distributing our Murray Messages online via, text, Twitter, email, and our website for at least five years now.
We’ve also been using Google Apps for Education since 2012 and kids can create documents, work on at school or at home, and share with their teacher since 2012.
Your Turn! – Sound off in the Comments:
What are ways you could go paperless in your school? Do you like Google Apps or GAfE?

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Dana & Ron

6.  Create a Birdhouse Habitat Around Your School & Playground 

Why not get together either Scouts or an after school group and create a birdhouse habitat around your school or playground.?
Birdhouses “provide nesting space in the birds’ increasingly threatened habitat. An increased bird population is not only pleasant for the eyes and ears, but is also important to our ecosystem. Birds scavenge wastes, pollinate plants, and search for food in the garden. They help our garden habitat by eating greenflies, caterpillars, and snails: a huge benefit for the organic gardener.” Plus, they’re pretty and could be an ongoing SCI-venture for kiddos to monitor.
Your Turn! – Sound off in the Comments:
Would you be interested in having a birdhouse colony at MHMS? Have you ever made a birhouse? Would you be interested in decorating or painting a birdhouse? What ways to go green did we miss? What else would be good to start at MHMS to help the environment?

Photo by Mrs. Simpson – Artwork by Karla – 7th grade

Resources:

Check out our MHMS Green Team Scoopit PAGE!

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Women’s History Month at MHMS

We celebrated Women’s History Month at MHMS by creating a book display and daily feature news stories on MHTV about famous and significant women in history! Here are the scripts we wrote for this, feel free to use with attribution and a link back.

Here’s our Google Doc: You may copy this, but please make sure to give proper attribution. Thank you!

 

 

Women’s History Month Book Display – Pull List

(not perfect by any means, much like me! LOL)

Non Fiction

Women’s suffrage : a primary source history of the women’s rights movement in America   – 305.42 ADA

Failure is impossible! : the history of American women’s rights (2000) by Kendall, Martha E. Series: Nonfiction – 305.42 KEN

The good, the bad, and the Barbie : a doll’s history and her impact on us – 688.7 STO

Take it to the hoop : 100 years of women’s basketball (2003) 796.323 STE

Winning ways : a photohistory of American women in sports (1996) by Macy, Sue.     2 Available      Add to List     Shelf Location: Call Number     Nonfiction – 796 MAC

Outrageous women of the Middle Ages (1998) by Leon, Vicki – 920 LEO

I am Malala : (2014)  921 YOU

Gold rush women (1997) by Murphy, Claire Rudolf.   Lexile Measure: – 971.9 MUR

Black women of the Old West (1995) by Katz, William Loren. – 978 KAT

 

Reference:

Encyclopedia of women’s history in America. (1996) by Cullen-DuPont, Kathryn        Reference Collection – REF 305.4 CUL

Women of achievement in Maryland history (2002) by Stegman, Carolyn B        Reference Collection – REF 920 STE

 

Fiction:

Audacity (2015) by Crowder, Melanie. – F CRO

Mare’s war by Davis, Tanita S. – F DAV

The clockwork scarab : a Stoker & Holmes novel (2013) F GLE

 

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Speed Dating with Books

Hello Book Lovahs!

I want to share with you a favorite book selection activity that I did with the kiddos here at MHMS dig around Valentines Day, it’s super silly and fun, creates a lot of excitement, and makes the books fly out of the library!
I first blogged about this with you back in 2013, added a genre twist last year, and now I’ve added a video and a few new tweaks!

With my middle school kids this activity is guaranteed to make them grin, giggle, and cringe a little. Give yourself permission to really ham it up. Because prepare yourselves, book lovahs, this is super cheezy!

Sort of like musical chairs, but with books! Encourage kids to try a new genre or type of book. Make suggestions! Let the cooperating ELA to Reading teacher wander around making suggestions or pointing out a “good lookin possibility!”
 
 
After a couple turns I’ll call out that the first 6 kiddos checking out books will get a scratch and sniff bookmark and then they can go, put up their feet, read their new book and hang out in our READING LOVE LOUNGE. (“VIP: Space is limited – hurry kids!”)

If you’re an English, Reading, or School Librarian who would like to do this activity, click on over to TheDaringLibrarian blog for all the resources!

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We Need YOU!

Big thanks to our current volunteers, Mrs. Smith-Bacon and Mrs. Bailey (with student Library Media helper daughter Abby!) for their help this year and being so generous and amazing!

We’d love to have you join us in all the fun!  Look at these cute faces!

Contact Ms. Jones Gwyneth_Jones @at hcpss.org if you’re interested and for more information!

WE Really Appreciate ALL of our Family Volunteer!

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Summer Reading List!

The Summer Reading List is Here!

View the HCPSS Middle School Summer Reading List

or download the PDF!

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View ALL the Reading Lists on our HCPSS Media Homepage!

Thanks to our our A+ partner Librarians at the Howard County Library and two of our local HCPSS Middle School Teacher-Librarians we have created this Super Fun Reading List for all the kiddos in our district! (or the world!)

Visit our local library the Savage Branch & Hi Tech STEM Education Center this summer and FLIP over summer reading or flip over some amazing tech learning opportunities!

 

Kai & #mustache bookmark #Shelfie from @hcpss_mhms #celebratehcpss

A photo posted by Gwyneth Jones (@thedaringlibrarian) on


Bonus!

For a FREE ARC Book when we come back in August:

Take a Shelfie (selfie holding a book) and Instagram it tagging me @thedaringlibrarian

After School Ends, Look for the

Summer Reading List Display

in the Front Office!