VHS Band & “The Tortoise and the Hare”

The VHS Band performed for Hermon Hutchens doing their version of the folktale, “The Tortoise and the Hare”. To make sure students at our school were familiar with the story we had 3rd/4th grade classes read at least two of the four  versions of the story found in the library.  After reading they formed small groups and did a compare/contrast.  Kids enjoyed the activity and loved having the band perform at our school.

Passport To Reading & Winter Olympic Challenge

Students at HHES will have an opportunity to read a variety of literature from around the world  both fiction and nonfiction, as well as learn about the 2010 Winter Olympics duirng library classes in January and February.

If you come to visit the HHES Library during the next several weeks you would find a variety of suitcases packed with books each sitting by a continental map.  Students will be encouraged to read up to three books from each continent and keep track of those books they successfully get an 80% or better on an AR quiz in their personal passport.

There will be some individual incentive prizes as well as a school-wide incentive.  If HHES students successfully read 1,000 books by the wrap up of the Winter Olympics they will be entertained by local story tellers, musicians and popcorn prepared by our very own PTA.

We’ll keep you posted on the progress!

A Little Trash & Treasure

Mrs. Anderson’s 4th grade class is studying the southeastern United States.  She decided to collaborate with the library staff and practice using the World Book Encyclopedia and  taking notes using  the “Big 6 “ Trash & Treasure approach.  Top that off with a an interesting note taking technique involving  paper folding, cutting  and we had fun, while learning.

Wrapping up this U.S. state project.

New Art Books @ Your Library

What do Picasso, Chagall, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Monet have in common?

Yes, they’re all artists, AND, we now have some awesome new books about each one of them!

Check out these new art books at the HHES Library!

HHES Library: The Master of Disasters!

Thanks to a a suggestion last spring from Ms Crepin for more resources on natural disasters, we recently purchased a set of  books on a wide variety of disasters published by World Book.  They look great and are ready to be checked out.

Check them out and let us know what you think!

Alaska’s First People:Perfect for new Alaska state history!

Judy Ferguson is the author of this series.  Tahita travels with Grampa and little fox meeting the indigenous people of Alaska in 1898 from the Aleutians, through Southeast, into Inuit/Eskimo lands, through 5 Athabascan groups to Prince William Sound.

Maps on every page. Endorsed by Native educators. Striking paintings, full map, glossary.

Lesson plans on state standards available on CD.

A Big Thanks To The Valdez Museum!

The Valdez City School Libraries would like to take this opportunity to thank the Valdez Museum for donating to each school library a copy of the recently produced DVD, “Between the Glacier and the Sea”. “Told through personal accounts of survivors, this movie dispels myths and reveals untold stories that provide answers to why the city of Valdez was built in such a precarious location…”

Thanks Steve for your hard work with the production of this important resource about the history of our community!

Researcher At Work @yourlibrary!

This young 3rd grader loves learning facts about the planets. Over the past 2 months he has checked out almost every one of the books in our newest series of books on the planets and collected interesting facts. This is all on his own time mind you. Yesterday he presented me with a 4 page report on what he has learned. Well done Mr. P! We’ll keep you posted on his next research adventure.

World Book Training For Teachers

During the first three Friday’s of January the Valdez City School Library Staff is doing presentations to staff members at all three schools on World Book Encyclopedia Online. This online service has lots of great things to offer students as well as teachers. Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday’s presentation at the George Gilson Jr. High School. Jr. High School.

Teresa and I took turns showing a variety of services and weblinks available using a computer and a multi-media projector. Teachers each had a computer to follow along with and explore the site on their own as well.

Our jr. high science teacher immediately took this great online service to the next level by plugging facts, graphs, and diagrams from World Book Online into a powerpoint which she plans to use with her classes next week. She had even gone the extra mile and had already cited the source. With copyright being such an important issue, I was pleased to see that!

Kids Learn Tips On Avalanche Safety

The HHES Library turned into an avalanche safety class that involved math, science and even a smattering of career awareness. Sarah Carter of “Snow Safety & Snow Science Avalanche Skills Eduacation”, hooked students in Mrs. Cranor and Mrs. Haase-Bushong’s library classes on Thursday using a nice mix of DVD extreme snowmachine & ski footage, a little hands on demontration, and lots of group discussion.

Carter’s 45 minute presentation is the shortened version of the typical 2 hour hands-on workshops she and her husband instruct for classes. Learn more about avalanche safety at the Valdez Snowmachine Club website and find out about upcoming Valdez events. www.valdezsnow.com