NAMS Library Media Center

Library

What's New @ your Library Media Center!

3/10/09 - Are you looking for a new book to read?

The students in 6E have lots of suggestions! After writing reviews of books that they recently read, the students recorded their reviews as podcasts, using GarageBand. If you want to check out their recommendations, go to
the 6E Eagles webpage and click on the link to Student Work. Enjoy listening to those book reviews and making a list of books to check out! Many of the books are available @ your Library Media Center.

1/26/10 - The Newbery winners for this year were...

John Newbery Medal: When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead

Newbery Honor Books:

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, by Phillip Hoose
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg, by Rodman Philbrick

Have you read any of these books yet?

1/19/10 - This year's Newbery Award winners...

...were announced yesterday, January 18. Any guesses as to which book published in 2009 won the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's books? For this award, "children's books" includes any books that are written for children up to, and including, age 14. Four additional books were named Newbery Honor Books. Which book published during 2009 would you have nominated for the most outstanding contribution to books for students through age 14?

9/25/09 - Have you visited your school library yet this year?

Lots of new new books have arrived! We've added to some of your favorite series and started several new series, such as:

Underland Chronicles - follow the quests of Gregor in this suspenseful fantasy series by Suzanne Collins
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - by Michael Scott
Regarding the... - a multi-genre series by Karen Klise
Maximum Ride - fast-paced adventure by James Patterson

if you're looking for sports fiction, you might want to check out:

Football Genius and Football Champ - by Tim Green, a former defensive end with the Atlanta Falcons
The Desperado Who Stole Baseball - a prequel to The Boy Who Saved Baseball, by John H. Ritter
Sport Shorts: An Anthology of Short Stories - a collection of short stories, based on the athletic experiences of notable children's and young adult authors

Looking for adventure, then check out:

Airborn - fly to an imaginary outerspace world, and encounter pirates and imagined creatures in the first of a new series by Kenneth Oppel

Did you enjoy reading Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson? Check out Chains, her new award-winning historical fiction about a slave who spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War. You might also enjoy reading Soldier's Secret: The Story of Deborah Sampson, a historical novel by Sheila Solomon Klass, based on the true story of a young woman's participation in the Revolutionary War.

If you enjoy reading graphic novels, check out:

Bone: Out from Boneville, by Jeff Smith
Bone: The Great Cow Race, by Jeff Smith
Into the Volcano, by Don A. Wood

These books are only a sampling of the recent additions to our collection - we have lots of other new books to select from when you visit your library. When you stop by to check them out, take a look at the Playaway® audiobooks that were added to the collection at the end of last year. If you read or listen to a book that you would like to recommend to other students, please ask Mrs. Bate for a NAMS Star Review form.

9/7/09 - A new year begins...

Hope that all of you enjoyed the long weekend and are looking forward to our first day of school! When you walk down the hall by the library on Tuesday, make sure that you check out the Coming Attractions @ your Library signs. We have lots of new fiction books on order. Hopefully they'll arrive within the next few weeks. In the meantime, you can check out the descriptions of the books that are posted inside the library, and ask to have your name put on the reserve list for any books that you are especially eager to read. While you wait for the new books to arrive, how about checking out something else from our diverse collection of fiction and nonfiction. Or perhaps you'd like to try a PlayAway®. There are so many great books and audiobooks to choose from @ your Library!

8/10/09 - Looking for some new books to read?

Check out your Library Media Center's Reader's Advisory page. You'll find links to several lists of award winning books, books in series, and books to meet specific interests.

Make sure that you check out the NoveList K-8 database (the User ID and Password are the same as you used to access the Student Research Center database from home last year). Did you read a great book this summer and want to find something similar to read next? Try searching for that book in the NoveList K-8 database and then click the "Find Similar Books" link on the page that describes the book that you searched for.

Happy reading!

6/21/09 - Recent happenings in the NAMS Library Media Center:

Check out the podcasts created by students in 6E! After using the NAMS Library Media Center's resources to gather information on the five themes of geography for various countries, students organized their information to communicate it in creative ways. They then learned how to use GarageBand to record and share their resulting podcasts. Watch for more applications of this technology next year!

The NAMS Library Media Center recently hosted an exhibit of the model homes created by students in 7C. Take a tour of all the homes, which incorporated energy efficiency, renewable energy, catastrophic event resistance, and eco-friendly building materials. This was an amazing exhibit of students' application of investigations made over the course of the year in Earth Science, as well as their creativity!

6/8/09 - New Playaways® have arrived!

The Giver, by Lois Lowry
Holes, by Louis Sahar
Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke
The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale

Crash and The Fellowship of the Ring should be arriving shortly. Check them out!

6/3/09 - More new books:

What If We Do Nothing?: Rain Forest Destruction, by Ewan McLeish
What If We Do Nothing?: Poverty, by Cath Senker
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, by Trenton Lee Stewart - The Mysterious Benedict Society returns for a new adventure
The Calder Game, by Blue Balliett - mystery and art combine in this 3rd book in the Chasing Vermeer series

5/26/09 - Recent additions to our collection:

The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan – the 5th (and final) book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series
Necropolis, by Anthony Horowitz – book 4 of The Gatekeepers series

5/19/09 - ...and the winners are:

Crash
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Giver
Holes
Inkheart
The Lightning Thief
Little Women
Princess Academy

Since these titles all received the most votes in the recent Playaways® Survey, the Playaway® audiobook version of each title has been ordered. Watch for their arrival in the Library Media Center! Many thanks to all those who voted and helped select new Playaways® for our library.

5/14/09 - Thank you for your responses to the Playaways® Survey!

The votes have been gathered and the list of winning titles will be posted soon. Watch for the list of new Playaways® that will soon be available in the NAMS Library Media Center.

5/4/09 - Playaways® Survey

New Playaways® will soon be ordered for the Library Media Center's collection! Thanks to our students' hard work during last fall's Magazine Drive, we will be able to purchase eight of these self-playing digital audiobooks to add to our growing collection. NAMS students are invited to help us select which Playaways® to order by responding to an online survey. Click here to add your votes. You will be asked to list your favorite genre and book, and then select the 5 Playaways that you are most interested in having the Library Media Center purchase.

Please remember that you should never share any personally identifiable information online.

Welcome to the 2009/10 academic year! This year, our transformation of the Library Media Center continues as we move from being a room with books towards being a hub of the school where inquisitive minds are engaged. Part of that transformation has included the development of the Library Media Center's website to facilitate students' 24/7 access to a variety of authoritative resources, both from school as well as from home. As you take a look at our site, you will find the following pages:

Online Research Tools — Our membership in the Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System provides students and faculty with access to a variety of subscription online databases. These databases extend well beyond our physical collection of books to provide searchable access to numerous additional reference books, encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, primary source documents and images. In addition to being available at school, these databases can be accessed from home by typing in the number on your Stevens Memorial Library card. Subscriptions to additional online databases have been obtained to meet instructional needs. The user name and password to access those databases from home can be obtained in the library media center. If you have been assigned a research project, our Online Research Tools page is a good place to look for resources!

Pathfinders — These lists of recommended resources are developed for various research projects throughout the year. Check to see if one has been created for any research projects that you are assigned. These lists provide a great starting point for your research!

Readers' Advisory — If you're looking for a good book to read and need some recommendations, check out this list of websites and online databases that may help you out. Don't forget to check out the library media center's display and notebook of NAMS Star Reviews. Your student peers have some great suggestions for you!

As we continue to rebuild a library media program at NAMS, the following Mission Statement serves as a guideline:

The North Andover Middle School library media program is designed to enable the school’s students and faculty to efficiently and effectively access, process, evaluate and utilize information in a variety of formats. The mission of the library media center's staff is to collaborate with classroom teachers in instructing and guiding students to become competent in all educational literacies; including reading literacy, information literacy and media/technology literacy; by:

providing access to a stimulating environment and to relevant resources conducive to the pursuit of knowledge and study
fostering a love and appreciation of reading
teaching the process of information problem-solving necessary for curriculum-based inquiry learning
teaching students to use information, ideas, and media/technology ethically, creatively, and critically

In order to fulfill this mission, the Library Media Center operates on a flexible schedule; allowing students to visit as an entire class, in small groups or individually; to meet research, instructional and recreational reading needs. Over 13,000 print and non-print items are available in the Library Media Center. We also offer students access to a variety of online research tools, including subscription databases and encyclopedias; teaching them how to find and use information within these sources. In addition to the computer workstations located in the Library Media Center, wireless laptops are available for use by classes conducting research in the LMC or classrooms.

As 21st century students have access to an overwhelming amount of available information, the information skills that they learn today will help them become the lifelong learners of tomorrow.

Anne Bate, Library Media Specialist

Library Hours: Monday - Friday, 7:30 AM - 2:20 PM

Lending Policy: Two weeks (excluding Reference books)