DPMS Students are Getting Connected Through The Global Read Aloud

DPMS students are getting connected.  For six weeks beginning October 5, a group of 7th grade students will meet with me and Literacy Coach, Mrs. Rohan to discuss the book Fish by L.S. Matthews.  Using a variety of digital tools such as Facetime, Twitter, Voxer, Google Apps for Education, and Write About, this group will regularly connect with students from our partner school, Tosorontio Central Public School, in Everett, Ontario, Canada as well as with students from other parts of the United States and the world during the course of this project.  Our connections are part of our participation in The Global Read Aloud Project, an initiative created by Oregon, WI teacher Pernille Ripp. For six weeks beginning October 5, participating teachers from around the world will choose one of the GRA selected books, read it aloud with their students, and then form worldwide connections through various virtual outlets.  Currently, there are over 500,000 students from over 60 countries participating in this project.

Today, our Fish group met for the first time to discuss the book.  After reading chapters one and two, students made some interesting observations:

• They identified that the author does not reveal the gender of the main character, but the entire group thought that he was a boy.
• The main character appears to be between 9 and 11 years of age, but again the author does not reveal the exact age.
• The family is fleeing a country and moving to another.
• This situation is similar to what is happening now in Syria as large numbers of refugees continue to flee the war-torn country.

Each Thursday our group will meet to continue our Fish discussion with our partner school and other virtual connections I will find posted on Twitter, Voxer, or Edmodo.  Next week we will have our first Facetime chat with our friends in Ontario. We will have the opportunity to do a question and answer session about chapters 1-4 and determine if our Canadian friends are making similar discoveries and connections during the course of their reading.

We are thrilled to participate in this year's Global Read Aloud, and I look forward to sharing more about our connections as we progress through the next five weeks.

Let the Battle begin!

Attention DPMS students: prepare to battle...with books.  We are currently taking sign-ups for this year's state Battle of the Books competition sponsored by the Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association.  All participating students will form a team of two to four students and read all 20 books on this year's list before our February competition.  All teams will meet in February to compete in our DPMS school battle. The winning school team will move on to represent DPMS in the state Battle of the Books competition.  Here is this year's reading list:

1. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (King award)
2. Crash by Jerry Spinelli
3. The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (GA nomination & Newbery)
4. Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
5. Esperanza Rising by Pam M. Ryan
6. Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt (GA nomination)
7. The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm (GA nomination)
8. The Giver by Lois Lowry
9. Holes by Louis Sachar
10. Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
11. Maze Runner by James Dashner
12. Midnight for Charlie Bone (Children of the Red King, Book 1) by Jenny Nimmo
13. Paper Boy by Vince Vawter
14. Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
15. Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
16. Sisters by Raina Telgemeier (GA nomination)
17. They Never Came Back by Caroline B. Cooney
18. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
19. Ungifted by Gordon Korman (GA nomination)
20. The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman

All of the listed books are on reserve in the DPMS library for all participating students. Several titles are also available through Overdrive and Follett Shelf.

What are you waiting for? Sign-up for the Battle of the Books in the library today and get ready to read, read, read!

A Makerspace in Progress

In just three short weeks back at school, our makerspace has become one of the most happening places, especially with our seventh grade students.  Despite the fact that we still only have a few stations available for students, they have really embraced the makerspace concept, and I have been amazed at how quickly some of these students are innovating and creating all on their own.  To document our progress for students and the community, we created a separate makerspace blog where you will see student examples, successes, failures, new items, and personal thoughts on our journey as we transform our school culture and the physical library space.  Please follow us at http://fxstudioandmakingms.blogspot.com/ to see our dynamic DPMS students in action.  We welcome your feedback!

Some of my favorite success stories from this past are posted in the videos below.  The first video showcases how a group of seventh grade boys was able to create a motorized Segway by connecting the littleBits.  In the second video, view the results of a seventh grade group's first attempt at making a stop motion animation film.

We look forward to sharing our makerspace journey with you as more and more tools get added during the upcoming weeks.

Creative Minds Shine in our New Makerspace

The school year is in full swing and the DPMS library has been bustling with activity since the launch of our new makerspace.  While this space is still waiting on a few key components, we were so excited about it that we opened up what we currently have right away to students.  Most popular are our littleBits, electronic snap circuits that allow students to build without limits.  Our seventh graders have been especially creative right off the bat in designing projects with these modular circuits.  Through trial, and a little error, a group of students quickly built this awesome mobile car.  

In addition to the littleBits, students have had a great time testing the Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Makey Makey, and Sphero.  

Can Sphero make it over the ramp?

Coding with Raspberry Pi

We are AMAZED at what these creative DPMS students have developed in less than two weeks! Stay tuned for more news about our future makerspace additions: an iMac and a 3D printer.  

A Fresh Start This Fall

Hello DPMS!  I am Mrs. Young, your new Library Media Specialist.  I am very excited to begin the next chapter in my career with all of you.  I hope that you will frequent this blog throughout the year to see the great things that we are doing at DPMS.  Just as I did in New London, I will share student work, library happenings, and awesome resources.  Please contact me whenever you need assistance.  I can't wait to start the year and learn with you.

I will also be posting library newsletters throughout the year to keep you informed of important news.  Our first one can be found below.

Thanks for the memories, NLMSIS!

Those of you who know me well know that I am a risk-taker.  I love trying new things, exploring, experimenting, and testing theories.  Taking chances is what leads to the greatest breakthroughs, and it is a philosophy that I embodied throughout my entire career at NLMSIS.  Now, after 11 years at the NLMSIS, I am ready to take another chance and move on to a new adventure.  This fall I will be moving to De Pere Middle School as their Library Media Specialist.

I will miss the NLMSIS beyond any words that I can express.  My past students have inspired me and fueled my desire to push the limits of innovation.  I was excited by your energy, enthusiasm, and willingness to experiment when what I presented may have appeared difficult or strange.  I have succeeded, but I have also failed, and the NLMSIS community always supported me regardless.  I will be forever grateful, and I hope that you know that I will never forget you.

My new adventure is both scary and exciting.  I hope that I find the acceptance and support that the NLMSIS has shown me.  I hope that you will continue to follow me via this blog as I write about the new chances that I am taking in De Pere.  You can also follow me on Twitter @donnalynnyoung.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything.  I will miss you. 

Ending the year with a SLAM!

Fourth quarter seemed to just fly! During the last few weeks of school, I was looking for activities that were fun and engaging while at the same time still gave students a chance to learn something new.  I was introduced to app slams at March's WEMTA Conference, and I thought that the last week of school was a great time to give this a try.

What's an app slam?  Similar to a poetry slam, an app slam is a competition where participants go head-to-head with one another during various elimination rounds until a final champion is determined.  Students choose an app new to them, spend some time exploring and learning how to use it, and then find a creative way to present it to the class.  During a one to three minute high energy presentation, students present each app to the class ending with the word SLAM!  After each set of presentations, the class votes for who they would like to see move on to the next round.  The process continues until an ultimate champion is determined. Using the free bracket generator and the random name picker, I created a bracket so that each student was randomly chosen to go against one other student during the first round. 

I was initially hesitant about whether or not students would continue to be engaged in the slam once they had seen a presentation multiple times.  The opposite turned out to be true.  As students moved on in the competition, their engagement increased.  During each presentation, students got more and more creative about new ways to share their apps.  One student even gave up his lunch recess to work on a new video to share only if he was lucky enough to make it to the finals.  (He did.  See his video here).  Feedback from the students was also extremely positive.  Students commented that they loved doing this and they were excited to try out some of the new apps that they learned.   Students were also able to share ways in which each app could be used for a class project or help them with their future learning.

I was most impressed with all of the different ways in which fifth graders in Integrated Technology presented their apps.  This activity not only introduced students to a plethora of educational iPad apps and their uses, but it also met CCSS Speaking and Listening standards.  Students used higher level thinking to create something new, and they considered innovative ways in which the apps can be used in a classroom setting.  Was this activity an ultimate success?  That is a definite SLAM!

6th hour champions (It was a tie!)

7th hour champion and runner-up

Sharing Sock Puppets

Sharing Tellagami