Sweet, sweet summer

Summer officially arrived a few days ago, but we have been enjoying summer break for about four weeks. It has been great so far.

We have something fun for summer going on that will keep your mind, body and soul active while on this much deserved break. It is called the HJH 3Rs of Summer. This fun, volunteer program consists of running or walking the equivalent of a half marathon (13.1 miles), reading 1300 pages, and doing 13 good deeds from now until homecoming week. We will finish off the run/walk portion by walking as a group in the homecoming parade.

It's not too late to sign up. If you are interested email Mrs. Tilley at tilley_cheryl@hsdr3.org. You will get a Google doc shared with you to keep track of your successes. We have a few students and teachers already walking the walk and talking the talk, so join in. The more the merrier.

And in case you were starting to miss school already, don't fret. Only 50 days until the first day of school!

Home Stretch

What a year. We are in the home stretch and things are looking great. It's getting warmer; the trees are all green again; MAP is in the books. So as we approach the end of another great school year, let's take a look back at life in the stacks here at HJH.

We had a great turn out for our first Scholastic Book Fair. Several students received a "golden ticket" good for one free book thanks to a great idea from Mr. Allison and a generous donation from Mothers Club.

Amazing author Richard Paul Evans visited the Intermediate and the awesome intermediate librarian, Mrs. Clark, invited us to the Hillsboro Veyniacs assembly and book signing.

Ms. Duggan and Mr. Cruzado took their 8th grade social studies students on a trip to Colonial America through the power of the World Wide Web. Their 21st century "choose your own adventure" lesson culminated with students as Loyalists and Patriots along with a better understanding of that time in history.

Snow; we had a lot of snow. 

www.pixorial.com

Web 2.0 tools made their way through the classes to 8th grade science when Mrs. Burgio and Mr. Sebourn's students used Pixorial for making videos that really rocked. They were studying rocks. Get it. Okay, I'll stop now.



Mrs. Morrison from the guidance department collaborated with the library on a lesson about our digital footprint. It was very eye opening. Be careful what you post; it may come back to haunt you.

Did I mention that there was a lot of snow? 

There was.

Law and order was in the library when Judge Missey visited with our 8th grade social studies students. A good time was had by all and no one went to jail; success story.

We joined with the rest of the district libraries in a district-wide book fair at Barnes & Noble. Junior High art and singing was on display for the event and everyone looked and sounded great!

Another Truman Reader Award year came and went with the novel Legend by Marie Lu winning for 2014. We celebrated by giving away lots of goodies to our dedicated Truman winners.







And while it's almost time to officially put this year in the books, our library is looking way too good for the school year to end thanks to Mrs. Isermann's art students and their paintings that are on display in the library. Come down and take a look when you get a chance; they are pretty impressive.

May 30th will be here before you know it. Before we officially bring this year to a close I will share a fun summer challenge for faculty and students to think about. Until then, I'll see you in the stacks!

The Long and Winding Road

We've almost made it. Our journey is nearing the end. But we still have a long way to go. So let's get started with what is new and exciting in the library.

On the exciting end of the spectrum, we just gave away all kinds of cool prizes to our Truman Nominee readers. Students got a raffle ticket for each Truman nominee that they read and reviewed. We had several author signed books, a big pile of YA fiction, and a tablet. Everyone that "played" won. I think we had some happy customers! Now it's time to get the new Trumans out on display. Yay!!

As for something new, we are trying an online library sign-in. Statistics aren't necessarily associated with the library but come in handy when sharing with others what actually is happening in this wonderful space. Our Google Form sign-in sheet will help us do just that; keep track of the who, how, and how often we are helping here in the library. It only takes a few seconds and so far our students are taking to this added feature like ducks to water. Our students are the best!

Speaking of having the best students, we are on the verge of MAP testing and I know they are going to do great. So this next little bit is for those awesome JH students. Just to make sure you are ready to exercise your brain, make sure you: Get enough sleep, eat breakfast, and wake up your mind with some morning activity. You have worked hard all year. Now is your opportunity to show what you have learned. We are Missourians, so go SHOW-ME what you know and I will see you in the stacks.

Hippity Hoppity

What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been. We had an amazing time with an awesome speaker thanks to Ms. Duggan and Mr. Cruzado. Judge Missey talked with the 8th grade social studies students about many things, including the difference between reality TV shows like Judge Judy, TV dramas like Law and Order, and how a real court room actually works.



He had great stories to tell and he looked pretty cool in his robe. Mr. Cruzado made sure to give Judge Missey something extra cool to wear under his robe, too.

Librarians learning to Tweet...
I know, right?!
#it'sabouttime

On a far less exciting note for everyone else, but way exciting for me, I just came back from the Missouri Association of Librarians spring conference and boy did I learn a lot. From creating makerspaces (we will have one some day soon I hope) to using Twitter to how to be the hub of learning for your school to listening to amazing award winning authors speak on how grateful they are to have an amazing young adult audience reading and sharing their books, this was three days well spent.

We also found out the Missouri Award Reader winners for this year and the Truman Reader Award winner is....Legend by Marie Lu. Thank you to all of our Truman readers who voted this year. We'll be drawing names for our Truman Reader incentives next week!

Now it's time to get ready for the Assessment For Learning Fair where our teachers will get to see and share the projects on learning they have been working on this year. Yes, even teachers have projects and presentations. I hope everyone has a great four day weekend and we will see you back in the stacks soon!

Spring Has Sprung

In case anyone other than Mr. Holley noticed, I have not posted since December. YIKES. We have had a roller coaster winter which made keeping up with the blog, well, I didn't keep up with it. So here we go...I'm starting up once more and hopefully this becomes a regular thing again.

Click here to see the
new Truman titles

Talking about our favorite reads
while snacking on some tasty treats.

This week we voted for our favorite Truman Reader Award nominee. I will find out who the big winner is at the Missouri Association of Librarians annual conference in April. At our voting party we had a sneak peek at next years twelve nominees (I may have already read three of them; couldn't wait) and they all look great.

We will also have a drawing in April for some awesome prizes, including a tablet. Students get one ticket for each Truman nominee they read and review. We have quite a few tickets in the jar already and are adding more almost everyday. Keep reading and reviewing for your chance to win.

With spring officially here, summer is right around the corner. I don't know about you, but I am ready for warmer weather, no more snow, and lots of great reads. See you in the stacks!