MHMS In Your Pocket

Welcome back, kiddos, parents, families, & our community! This year we got rid of our Facebook page but added a new @HCPSS_MHMS Twitter page!

We have a new Principal Mr. Joshua Wasilewski and the Daring School Library has a new Media Assistant – Ms. Bell! Exciting changes!

And we also updated our MHMS Daring School Library Media Orientation Animation!

Dear MHMS Families,

Our MHMS Daring School Library Media program has some exciting opportunities in store for your kiddos this year:

  • Our program will be promoting the very best of young adult literature with activities designed to help students enjoy stories even more.
  • We will be doing our very best to get (or keep) every kid “hooked on reading” by recommending specific reading materials to each individual.
  • We will be adding 400 or more of the latest and most exciting new titles for our young readers, including quality non-fiction to help meet Common Core requirements. We will also be adding more to our impressive Digital Playaway book collection.
  • At each grade level, students will learn research and computer skills including use of tools like Edmodo, Google Apps for Education, Career Puppy, Noodletools, QR Codes, and much more.
  • We will be working with classroom teachers to help infuse technology and research skills into all areas of the curriculum.
  • Library lessons will stress good Digital Citizenship, helping your kid make safe and ethical decisions when using the Internet.
  • We are planning lots of special events including virtual author visits, curated Art installations, and virtual connections with schools from around the country & maybe the world!
  • We are looking for students to join our MHTV studio contributing to our daily live news show created FOR kids BY kids!
  • If you would like to volunteer to help in the library, please let me know. We would love to have you!

 

Ms. Bell and I are very excited about the coming school year and are committed to making the library your child’s favorite place at MHMS!

Cheers!

~Gwyneth Jones – The Daring Librarian
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QR Code Quest Scavenger Hunt – Part DEUX!

It has been a busy & exciting year at the Daring MHMS School Library! So busy, I sometimes can’t find the time to blog about all the cool stuff we do – now it’s time to catch up. We updated & improved our QR Code Quest Scavenger Hunt lesson this year & used it again with our AWEsome ESOL kids & 6th graders.

Improved worksheet and graphic clues!
I blogged about this lesson last year and upon reflection found that I needed to make the scavenger hunt questions simpler & the clues more graphic. (click photo at left to see a larger size) In doing so, I also had the chance to (finally!) make an avatar for my long time (20 years!) amazingly long suffering (she has to put up with me! LOL) angel of an assistant Mrs. Black! After I created it on Go!Animate Character Creator (Comic World) I then Photoshopped it adding the University of Maryland Terps logo onto her cute red t-shirt because she’s a U of M alum & a super fan!
This lesson is an example of how you can use mobile media in your school, classroom, or library. I can easily see how you could adapt this to say a SCIENCE! class, math class, or just about any subject area! The QR codes are included in the last pages of the lesson so you can see how they work. Also, don’t forget my favourite FREE & platform friendly QR Code reader is inigma.

Download the new QR Code Quest Scavenger hunt lesson & worksheets by clicking the lesson header below to get to the lesson wikipage below!


QR Voice adds a super neat new addition to the QR TEXT message. Just make sure the kids have the sound up on their mobile devices OR BETTER YET… next to the QR code station have a pair of computer speakers (or headphones if you fear the ruckus) that kids can plug into so the QR voice message can be clearly heard. Question 9 features our favourite fuzzy friends the Angry Birds! Learning where the important physical parts of our library was the main objective for this lesson, as well as introducing library vocabulary words. It’s a super fucn way to teach new kids, 6th graders, and my ESOL kids how to locate important parts of our library including the circulation desk, return book drop, reference & encyclopedias, and our magazines.  I was really bummed that one of our favourite and most popular magazine Shonin Jump has ceased printing a hard copy.Our other  popular magazines are Twist, Teen Vogue, & of course Sports Illustrated.
At the end of the class when we had some time left over I handed over my iPad & we played Angry Birds & Plants vs. Zombies together!


A few last QR tips
Unless you’re making a QR Text message using Kaywa using a URL shortener like my faourite Bit.ly makes for a prettier & easier to scan code. For more teacher tips read this posting on my professional blog.

See below for ALL the pictures of our AWESOME kids doing this activity. We had a visitor to our class that day, an ESOL instructional specialist from my district board – so that’s the guy in the background with the camera. Photos are by him and my awesome partner in teaching Mrs. Linda Potsiadlo our AMAZING ESOL teacher. I mean, this chick rocks & I love working with her!


For Chuckles!

For all that my kids LOVE QR Codes, mobile media, & tech — they GO CRAZY for Scratch N Sniff bookmarks from Highsmith!

Resources:




And a final PSA from my dear friend & super fan, Miss Critter Sharpe!

Follow her on Twitter: @CritterShapre

An Animated Library Orientation

GoAnimate.com: Daring Library Media Orientation Animation by gwyneth

If you want to learn more about how to create your own animations,  visit my Animation Studios & Sites Wikipage for all kinds of links, articles, blog postings, directions, comic tutorials, & more!
AnimationStudiosWikiW.jpgOn that wikipage you’ll find information about Go!Animate (as shown in this posting) also, Blabberize, ToonDoo, Xtranormal, and more! ALL with Comic Life Comic Tutorials to help you learn how to make your very own animations. Kids: some of these sites require you to sign up for them, if you’re under 13 please ask your parents before registering. Hey! Even better, grab your Mom or Dad & why not learn animation together!
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Research Databases & Homework Help

As mentioned in the orientation don’t forget to use our Research Databases for your homework & out of classroom needs! It feels like cheating, but it’s not!
GoAnimate.com: Beam Me Up Databases! by gwyneth

 

FREE! Homework Help from the HCL!
Students, from Kindergarten though college, can interact with tutors in math, science, English, and social studies. Tutors available seven days a week from 2:00 pm until 12:00 am daily. Tutors also available in Spanish. Special thanks to the Howard County Public School System for contributing toward the cost of this service. More about Live Homework Help …