Clarke Middle School Library Media Center Blog

Fitness ELT Research

2012-02-01T13:27:00.003-05:00

Currently the 8th grade Fitness ELT is studying the benefits of regular exercise and the benefits of a weight trainingprogram. On Digital Literacy Day this class will use Web Path Express to investigate websites with information on these topics. Students will then share the name of the website and a summary of the information they found in the website by responding to this post.

Students: Please make sure you use the anonymous option and only share your first name.

Internet Safety 101

2012-01-18T14:50:00.000-05:00

The CMS students, 6th graders in particular, are currently learning about Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship.

After doing a little research using Destiny Web Path Express, students should post a reply below with at least three Internet Safety tips for their peers.

Rising 8th Grader Summer Reading

2011-05-21T13:44:00.003-04:00

Hi guys! Welcome to 8th grade at CMS. You can click on the response link below to write your response to at least four of your summer reading books.

Your books should include: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and at least one book from the 8th Grade College Bound Reading List.

Each response should not summarize the book, but should instead, tell us what the book made you think about. Please write 2-3 paragraphs and be sure to use proper spelling and grammar. Feel free to email me if you have questions at hingers@clarke.k12.ga.us

Remember, the CMS Media Center will be open from 4-6 p.m. this summer every other Thursday starting June 2nd.

Rising 7th Grader Summer Reading

2011-05-21T13:43:00.002-04:00

Hi guys! Welcome to 7th grade at CMS. You can click on the response link below to write your response to at least two of your summer reading books.

Each response should not summarize the book, but should instead, tell us what the book made you think about. Please write 2-3 paragraphs and be sure to use proper spelling and grammar. Feel free to email me if you have questions at hingers@clarke.k12.ga.us

Remember, the CMS Media Center will be open from 4-6 p.m. this summer every other Thursday starting June 2nd.

Summer Reading Rising 6th Graders

2011-05-21T13:38:00.002-04:00

Hi guys! Welcome to CMS. You can click on the response link below to write your response to at least two of your summer reading books.

Each response should not summarize the book, but should instead, tell us what the book made you think about. Please write 2-3 paragraphs and be sure to use proper spelling and grammar. Feel free to email me if you have questions at hingers@clarke.k12.ga.us

Remember, the CMS Media Center will be open from 4-6 p.m. this summer every other Thursday starting June 2nd.

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day!

2011-04-14T05:53:00.001-04:00

All students and faculty are encouraged to carry a poem in their pocket today to share with others. Students and faculty "caught" sharing their poem today will have their name entered into a drawing for a Jittery Joe's gift card! Which poem will you have in your pocket? See Mrs. Hinger in her pocket apron or the pocket sign outside the media center for a poem if you do not already have one. Thanks to all of our teachers that have helped promote this over the past few weeks!

Today is the CMS Georgia Exceptional Media Center Open House!

2011-04-14T05:51:00.001-04:00

Today is our Georgia Exceptional Open House from 9-11 a.m. Come on out and see all the exciting things going on in the CMS Media Program! You can see our newly redesigned media center. Thanks to the efforts of several teachers, students and parents the CMS Media Center has been updated and transformed. We will have Jittery Joe's Coffee (thanks to the donation from the Googe's) and brunch type snacks as many of our students will present about our ongoing collaborative information literacy projects. I'll post highlights from these projects soon!

Elizabethan Faire-research, info literacy, students to UGA for research day

2011-03-22T23:13:00.002-04:00

--Elizabethan Faire 2011--

The CMS Media Center is hosting the Elizabethan Faire this week. We will be open for visitors Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Ms. McNeeley's 8th grade students have research topics relating to the Elizabethan Era during their study of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

During this collaborative project, the students learned about research and information literacy skills and created multi-genre research papers, three dimensional displays and presentations using both print and electronic resources. Students did their research in the CMS Media Center, online using Galileo and at the UGA Library on two Saturday research days. Please come in and see our AMAZING students present all they have learned on this exciting and interesting time in history.

2010-12-11T19:06:00.002-05:00

Today, Gretchen and I went to The Thirteenth Summer book release party at Dog Eared Books. The author Elizabeth Thompson contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would help her find some girls to come to the party and read a copy of her book and pass it on to another girl. Several of our CMS students recieved the numbered copies of her book; Perrin, Mariah, Lydia, Essence, Talle, Gemma. Check out the pictures below!

6th Grade Invention Projects and New Books!

2010-12-10T12:58:00.002-05:00

This week the students have been working on final exams Tuesday-Friday! Monday the 6th graders finished up their Invention Researh Projects we have been working on with an Invention Fair in the CMS Media Center. Check out the pictures...

We also recieved a HUGE Follett Order of new Fiction with a little new non-fiction. Last year I worked very hard (and spent a lot of money) to update the non-fiction. So, this year, we have spent a great deal of our budget on high-interest and mostly YA fiction titles to entice our readers as one of our goals is to promote leisure reading. Below are some pictures of the first classes to come in and check out the new books...

I did a lesson on writing a review using Destiny. So, once these kids finish reading the books, they will write reviews on them.

Reading Rocks Night and Book Fair

2010-11-19T19:55:00.003-05:00

Thanks so much to everyone that came out for our Reading Rocks Family Night! We had over 300 student, teachers, parents and families in attendance. There were lots of games, performances and excitement going on that evening. We couldn't have done it without all the involvement of student and faculty! I am so proud to be part of such an awesome school family!

Our winning Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl team will compete at the district HRRB Competition at CSHS on Thursday, January 27th!

Teen Read Week and Upcoming Events

2010-10-22T23:02:00.003-04:00

We had a great time during Teen Read Week! I received lots of awesome Read posters. I'll be sure to post the winning poster picture next week.

The winner of the gummy worm contest was Zach Meyers. He guessed 65 worms and there were actually 66! We will announce the winners of the Jittery Joe's gift card for book checkouts and the movie tickets for Read Posters Monday!

We have three HUGE events coming up soon. The first week in November we will have round 1 of the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, the second week in November we will have our book fair, and the third week in November we will wrap up our book fair and HRRB Competition with the Reading Rocks Family Night at CMS! The evening will include music, fun, games, the final HRRB and a Reading Pep Rally! Bring the whole family for a night of excitement and fun to celebrate reading!

Way to go OWLS!

2010-08-26T14:35:00.006-04:00

I am so proud of all the CMS students for the amazing job they did on summer reading! Over 100 students attended the Summer Reading Celebration last Thursday in the media center. We enjoyed pizza and ice cream and each other's company!

Check out these awesome book posters from the Summer Reading Assignments. These are for the books Dragon's Egg, Flush, and Invisible Man. Come look outside the media center to see all the cool book ads!

Summer Reading--New Shorter Assignment for Late Starters!

2010-07-18T17:47:00.004-04:00

Hello again, CMS students, parents and friends! Already, the summer is almost over!

I am so proud of all the reading you students have been doing. Several students have completed their assignments on the blog and several others have emailed me about doing their assignments in other ways. I want to offer a little extra incentive to those of you who have done the WHOLE summer reading assignment of 10-15 responses and offer a little motivator to those of you who have not quite gotten started yet!

So, for those of you who have completed or will complete the 10-15 responses, I offer not only an Ice Cream Social, but also, lunch with the world famous (well sort of famous in Athens) Mrs. Hinger to discuss the awesome books you have been reading this summer! And here comes the good part....to those of you who have just gotten started, or have not started at all, I offer an Ice Cream Social if you will post or write at least 2 (or 3 if you are reading 3 books) 100-150 word responses about the books you have read (one for each book). Make sure in the responses you tell us what you like or disliked about the book and why (do not just write a summary. That is just downright boring).

You can respond to this post or look back at the previous post to read what your friends have been writing about all the awesome books they have been reading.

On another note, I FINALLY had a chance to read the Hunger Games series this summer! IT IS SOOOO GOOD! I can't wait for the next book to come out this fall!

See you in a few weeks! Feel free to email me or visit the CMS Media Center Website if you have any questions in the meantime hingers@clarke.k12.ga.us

Mrs. Hinger

It's Summer Reading Time!

2010-05-21T09:25:00.002-04:00

OK guys, it is summer reading time now! I can't wait to hear about what you are reading. Remember, the more you read, the better reader you become. If you do your summer reading, you get to attend our Summer Reading Ice Cream Social the first week of school, so GET STARTED TODAY!

You should read one book from our summer reading list and an additional one or two of your choosing and respond right here on our CMS Media Center Blog. Just click below where it says comment and write about the books you are reading. If you do this 10 times over the summer then you are in! Remember, your responses should be 100-150 words and should include your first name and last initial and the grade you will be in next year (ex. Shawn H. 6th).

SUMMER READING LIST

Feel free to email me with any questions hingers@clarke.k12.ga.us

Summer Reading!

2010-05-06T15:41:00.005-04:00

Hi Guys!

I can't believe this awesome school year is about to come to an end! I am so proud of all the reading the CMS students have been doing this year. We have celebrated in so many ways; we had a pizza party, we had a pancake breakfast, and we enjoyed a wonderful outdoor lunch and Rita's Ice Water with our friends.

Now, we are beginning to plan for next year and meeting our 25 book GPS Standard. One way you can do this and at the same time get your name on the list for the our 1st Reading Celebration (Ice Cream Sunday Party) next year is to do the summer reading!

You should read one book from our summer reading list and an additional one or two of your choosing and respond right here on our CMS Media Center Blog. Just click below where it says comment and write about the books you are reading. If you do this 10 times over the summer then you are in! Remember, your responses should be 100-150 words and should include your first name and last initial and the grade you will be in next year (ex. Shawn H. 6th).

SUMMER READING LIST

Feel free to email me with any questions hingers@clarke.k12.ga.us

I can't wait to read what you guys are going to write about the books you are reading this summer!

Mrs. Hinger

Book Fair Update!

2010-03-28T12:40:00.002-04:00

The Spring CMS Book Fair has sold $2800 worth so far earning $700 for the CMS Media Program! We plan to stay open Monday morning to allow parents from the 6th Grade Awards program to stop by and help us break the $3000 mark.

Thanks so much to all of you that have supported our awesome media program!

Mrs. Hinger :)

Book Fair Next Week!

2010-03-18T13:08:00.002-04:00

Our book fair is next week March 22nd-26th! Please come and support the CMS Media Program. We will be open each day from 8-4 and from 8-8 on Tuesday for the parent night!

Happy Snow!

2010-02-15T11:01:00.004-05:00

Since we've had an afternoon off due to snow, I began to think about "snow reading". If you were snowed in for a few days with the power off, what would you like to have in your house to read?

I spent this snow weekend reading Pride and Prejudice. It was perfect timing to read this book with Sunday being Valentine's Day! If only we'd have a few more snow days to read some more Jane Austin. :)

I am so behind on blogging!

2009-10-02T22:33:00.005-04:00

This year has been like a whirlwind. I've never started a year so busy and so awesome. Our media center has been extremely busy with kids checking out books, reading, working on the computers or just hanging out.

I finally took time to read a couple of the HRRB books. Feathers was really interesting. As I finished it up, I wanted to find out more about the characters. I doubt there will be a sequel because that's not the kind of book it is, but I think there are some very strong characters in the book, for sure.

I have also begun to reading Football Genius. To be a girls, I usually tend to enjoy reading "boy books". This one is pretty good. It is set in metro Atlanta, so it has been interesting for me to recognize the places the author describes in the book. I have to start working on writing questions now for our Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Competition which is approaching quickly.

Upcoming events:

Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Meeting:

Wednesday, October 7th 8:05-8:25 a.m.

Book Fair:

Monday-Friday, November 2nd-6th 8-4

Family Literacy Night:

Monday, November 9th 6-7 p.m.

Awesome Summer!

2009-06-27T11:36:00.006-04:00

I hope all of you are having an awesome summer like me! The kids and I have been having fun reading, swimming, visiting grandma, and going to the Winterville Library for story time on Wednesdays.

Gretchen, my five year old, has been working on the summer reading incentive at the library. They have prizes for the number of books you read; so far she has received her name on the wall (10 books), a certificate and a sticker (20 books), a coloring page (30 books), a book to keep (40 books), and a backpack (80 books). Her goal is 100 books which will allow her to go to a party at the main library on Baxter Street at the end of the summer! You guys can participate in the summer reading program too, go to the Athens Regional Library and check it out!

So, with that being said, I have not had time to do any of my reading because Gretchen, Kate and I read picture books and basic readers for about an hour a day! I have rediscovered my love for Amelia Bedilia; those books are hilarious! Gretchen has gone through an Eric Carle and a Dr. Seuss phase so far as well!

I had planned to read Feathers and Football Genius off the HRRB list, but have not gotten to them yet. I promise to post a review for them before we come back to school in August!

Have you done your summer reading? Which books have you read?

Happy March

2009-03-12T11:32:00.003-04:00

As you all know, we are out on spring break this week, and it's my first chance in weeks to post on the blog. I attempted to use the blog on our new website, but I really don't like it. I guess you just get used to one thing and you want to stick to it.

We have two big events coming up in the media center in the next couple of weeks. Next week we will have the Elizabethan Fair, and then the following week the 1/2 price book fair. Both of these events should be lots of fun!

I will be sure to post some pictures from both of them soon!

As far as reading goes, I am way behind. The new HRRB booklist is out, so I will update with a new recommendation from that list soon!

Did you have fun in the early March snow? Look at this picture from our back yard!

See ya!

Mrs. Hinger

Happy New Year!

2009-01-19T15:19:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year to all of you!

I am still out on maternity leave with Kate (Kathryn Elizabeth born December 23rd), but things march on at CMS with Ms. Harris and Coach Carroll.

With lots of help from Mrs. Biddle, Ms. Harris and Coach Carroll, we have winners for our CMS Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. Congrats winners: Ben Foutz, Perrin Aycock, Kelly Kraft, Addie McClure, Louise Platter. Good luck at the district and regional competitions in January and February!

I hope everyone is enjoying this MLK Day and planning to celebrate the Inauguration of our first African-American President, Barack Obama, tomorrow!

I'll see you guys in mid-February when I return to CMS!

It's Almost Winter Break!

2008-11-29T11:23:00.004-05:00

First, thanks so much to everyone that helped with the Book Fair this year including parents, student crew, media staff, family, teachers and administration! Our book fair was very successful considering the extreme downturn in the economy recently.

The Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl is quickly approaching, and I have been busy reading books and writing questions for the school and district competitions! My most recent read was Journey to the Blue Moon by Rebecca Rupp, a little story about a boy who has lost a family pocket watch, thus throwing his life into a tailspin. He finds out that all lost items end up on the moon, so he takes an adventure to the moon to find his watch and set his life straight. I'm not a big fan of fantasy, but I found myself reading this book very quickly to see what happened in the end. :)

Since we are talking about HRRB, I must remind everyone that the school and district competitions are in January. Be sure your team has read all the books! See Mrs. Biddle or Mrs. Hinger if you have any questions. We will have practice each December Friday morning at 8:00 in the media center.

We have only three weeks until Winter Break! I look forward to the holiday season, but as you all know I have a special package coming around Christmas as well! After our new baby is born, I will be out on maternity leave until the beginning of March, so enjoy your time with Coach Carroll and Ms. Harris. I will miss you guys!

Mrs. Hinger

Fall, HRRB, and Book Fair Fun!

2008-10-11T22:41:00.006-04:00

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall-like weather we've been having lately! Fall is perfect for reading on the back deck while enjoying the cool breeze.

I have finished a couple of the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl books in the last few weeks. My favorite so far is Tru th and Salsa by Linda Lowery. It's a great story of a young girl who is having a hard time with her family situation and moves to live with her grandmother in Mexico. While in Mexico she works on her art, takes a part in a movie, makes a great friend, and discovers and investigates a ghost. Read it and see what you think!

Speaking of the Reading Bowl, several teams have been formed at all three grade levels. We had a meeting last week and the teams were informed that they will be required to write 20 questions for 4 books by the November 13th meeting. So stop by, check out a book and get started today!

The CMS Book Fair is coming soon! The book fair will begin on November 5th, right after fall break, and run through the next Wednesday, November 12th! We will have a parent/teacher preview breakfast on the morning on November 5th and the Family Literacy Night from 6-7:30 PM on Monday, November 10th! We need student and parent volunteers for all events, so stop by and see me or email to get volunteer application.

Which HRRB books have you read? What's your favorite?

Talk to you soon!

Mrs. Hinger

Welcome back, a month late!

2008-09-13T10:47:00.003-04:00

Welcome back to school!

I hope your school year is going well so far; mine has been great but very busy. I can't believe we are already into the middle of September.

Please stop by the media center and see all of our new books, new circulation system (Destiny) and our new delicious bookmark site!

We will begin the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl (replacing Battle of the Books) meetings next week 9/15-9/19, Wednesday-Friday during homebase. http://gcba2008-2009.blogspot.com/

Have you read Breaking Dawn, the new Twilight book yet? I have read about 200 pages and have not gotten back to it yet, too busy! If you have read it, what do you think?

See you soon!

Mrs. Hinger

Podcast

2008-07-11T14:49:00.001-04:00

See the link below for my practice podcast.

Audio File

How's your summer going?

2008-07-07T14:47:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone,

I hope your summer is going well. I just finished up with summer school at CMS and have been taking 4 classes at UGA, which are still ongoing. Since I have been so busy, I have not had the opportunity to travel at all, but we are planning a trip in September with family.

Summer school was a great deal of work, but I enjoyed teaching my CMS students and meeting new student and teachers from Burney Harris Middle School. My graduate school classes have been interesting; I have learned so much about technology, reading, working in the media center and adolescent literature! I can't wait to share on the blog, and in person, about the books I have read this summer.

When we return to school in August, the media center will be getting a new circulation system. It is called Destiny! It is awesome; we will be able to access the catalog from anywhere on the Internet.

TECH TOOL

Are you familiar with del.icio.us? I have just begun using it, but I plan to create a social bookmark list for the media center and hopefully for different subject areas. As soon as I get it created, I'll include a link on my next blog.

What's going on with you?

Talk to you soon!

Mrs. Hinger

End of the year, The Giver and Star Girl

2008-05-01T19:40:00.002-04:00

I cannot believe the year is almost over! It's crazy how fast time passes at school. In the media center we have been working on getting all the books back in and planning for inventory. Can you imagine how much fun it is going to be to scan all of our 10,000 + books?

What are you planning to read this summer? For school, I am currently working on your summer reading list. And for my graduate school stuff, I have a GIGANTIC list for an Adolescent Literature class I will be taking at UGA. If you are bored and want something to look at, stop by the MC and I'll let you read over the list. I have already started collecting and reading some of the books.

The first two I started with were already on the list inside my brain label "I can't believe I haven't read this yet". I read Stargirl and The Giver. I liked them both and found them unusual and interesting, but didn't love either.

Stargirl was a cute comment on school, the individual and cliques. I really liked the characters and look forward to reading Love, Stargirl, which Hannah D-G told me was written from Stargirl's POV.

The Giver was a little more complicated for me. I LOVED the book until the ending. I thought it was well written and had an interesting concept that reminded me of 1984 but didn't like the vague ending. I really thought that Jonas and Gabriel were dead based on the ending (am I a pessimist?). Jenny A. told me that Jonas is later featured in The Messenger, so I guess they don't die, but that's really what I got from it. Have you read The Giver? What did you think? Am I the only person that thought they were dead?

Did you love or hate either of these books?

Talk to you soon!

Mrs. Hinger

Media Festival Winners, Battle of the Books 2nd place

2008-04-25T12:56:00.007-04:00

Hi everyone! We have great news to share from the CCSD Battle of the Books and The Clarke County Media Festival.

The CMS Battle of the Books Team including Katie Googe, Ariel Santillian, Nida Javaid, Hendley Landers, and Alex Dominicali placed 2nd at the district competition yesterday.

The other great news is that we had several students win at the school level with amazing projects, and many of our students placed at the CCSD Media Festival. The first place winners' projects will move on to the International Student Media Festival in Orlando, Florida. I am working on uploading all of the projects to YouTube for families and friends to view. Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/mrshinger Below is a list of our winners:

1st place: (There is a four-way tie) Mattie Jasiulevicius, Clarke Middle: Women’s Abuse, Dory MacMillan, Clarke Middle: 1 Out of 8, Matthew Dellaria, Clarke Middle: The Truth, Hector Martinez & Jesus Medina, Clarke Middle: Natural Disaster
2nd place: Brionna Hall, Clarke Middle: Preventable Diseases
3rd place: Katie Google, Clarke Middle: Burning Dinner

I hope you have a great weekend!

Mrs. Hinger

Battle of the Books 2008 Round 1

2008-04-17T20:39:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, we had our first three, of the many Battle of the Books Competitions that will take place in the next two weeks! We had heated battles in all three grade levels. I am very proud of all participants; the students were well prepared and very competitive this year!

And the grade level winners were:

6th grade Team—Jenny A., Geneva H., Isabella Z-J., Aurora F., Josefine S.

7th grade Team—Katie G., Ariel S., Nida J., Hendley L.

8th grade Team—Theo K., Orion M-H., Jonathan M.

The school Battle of the Books will take place on Monday morning during ELT (8:35-9:30) in the media center!

In case you are not familiar with Battle of the Books, I'll give you a quick description. Students have an opportunity to form a team and read ten books over the course of the school year. Then, in April compete first, against teams at their own grade level and then, at the school level and eventually, at the district level to answer 20 questions about the books. The team that answers the most questions correctly moves on to the next of each of these levels.

The teams listed above will compete Monday morning during ELT in order to win an opportunity to advance to the district level competition held at the Athens Public Library on Thursday of next week!

Come and see the Book Battle fun at CMS or the Athens Public Library next week! I'll be back on the blog next week with the results of the school and the district competition!

Mrs. Hinger

I'm back, YA blogs, Wake and the new Maximum Ride

2008-04-10T20:56:00.011-04:00

Hi everyone,

It's been a sad month. First, my husband's grandmother passed away, and as we were leaving to attend her funeral in West Virginia, my own grandmother suffered a stroke. We attended John's grandmother's funeral and returned to spend the last days of my grandmother's life with her.

It's a strange feeling to know someone is going to die very soon. I told my grandmother how much I loved her one last time, as I watch her drift away. When my father died suddenly almost 17 years ago, I didn't have this chance. I wonder how it would have changed my life if I could have spoken to him knowing he only had a few days to left.

While all of this was going on, I tried to read to take my mind off things, but that didn't work out because everything I picked up seemed to be sad. Finally though, after lots of sifting through sad books, I ended up finding this quirky little book called Wake. The book, written by Lisa McMann, is a little paranormal and a little mystery. The main character is a girl who has her own share of problems but gets pulled into other people's by seeing their dreams. It's CRAZY. I loved the book! I have a review copy in the media center if you want to borrow it. I plan to order a copy for the fall.

Also, I read Patterson's 7th Heaven over spring break. It's from his adult mystery collection, but his latest in the Maximum Ride YA series just came out as well. I haven't read it myself since Ms. Hyers and Casey D. hijacked it from the media center as soon as it came in. Now that I have my hands back on it, I'll let you know what I think soon.

Did you know that there are many Young Adult Literature (YA) blogs out in the wide world of the Internet? If you like to find new and interesting books to read, this is a cool place to look for suggestions. I've been subscribing to one called The Page Flipper for a while and recently answered the author's request to do an interview with someone with a "bookish" job. She is really cool and a teenager just like you guys! I'm going to connect her blog to mine so that you can find her easily.

See you soon!
Mrs. Hinger

Wow, it's been a while

2008-02-07T10:17:00.002-05:00

It's been almost three weeks since I last posted on the blog. The CMS Media Center and the school as a whole has been a whirlwind of activity since we returned from winter break. 7th grades are finishing up with their Movie Maker projects, 6th graders have been in and out of the research room working on a schoolwide planet display, 8th grade ELA classes have been working on Black History poetry presentations, and we are still in the middle of OAS testing at all three grade levels. It has been crazy, in a fun sort of way!

Upcoming events in the CMS Media Center:

International Student Media Festival --March 3rd-7th
Battle of the Books--Competition in April
CMS Half-price Book Fair--March 24th-28th (Parent-Teacher Conference Week)

On the reading front, I finally had a chance to read the book I mentioned in the last blog post, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It was an amazing multi-genre experience; the story, set in Paris, of a young orphan follows his adventures of making it on his own. Young Hugo, a self taught clock maker, learns about his father's past through his adventures. He must investigate the past when he meets a young girl and her scary god father. The story is told in words and pictures; I would reccomend it to anyone who likes a good adventure and beautiful illustrations!

Look for my post on Black History Month soon! In the meantime, check out this list of African American Writers I found on Wikipedia.

See you soon!

Mrs. Hinger

Research tools and random book thoughts...

2008-01-15T19:50:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! (When you are finished reading this, please respond... I know you're out there!)

Today I spent the first part of each period in 7th grade social studies classes showing students the many benefits of using online encyclopedias for research. The media center website has a link to Compton's Britannica Online and Galileo, Georgia's online library. 7th graders are researching topics related to their social studies curriculum. Ms. Baker....what is the general subject area you guys are researching? (other than the individual topics that I heard: Indian Civil War, terrorism and religion)

Since we are talking about research, I'll tell you about Dr. Tallman's I-search class I just started this week at UGA. This class, and way of teaching the research process, seems so interesting because you can choose any topic you want to research. One would think since I have been given all of this freedom to choose a topic I'd jump right on it, but I am having so much trouble deciding. If you could research anything what would you investigate?

Random book thoughts follow:

I read Sparrow by Sherri L. Smith a few months back and for some reason I can't get it off of my mind. The main character reminds me of a student I met recently...maybe that's the connection. I'm not sure, but it's a great book!

The other book I must tell you about but have actually not read myself is the 2008 Caldecott Book Award Winner just announced yesterday! This a very unusual book to receive an award reserved for picture books. The images are amazing, and I have a feeling I will have to fight with students and a few teachers to be the first one to read the copy of this book I just bought for the media center. And the Caldecott winner is The Invention of Hugo Cabret written and illustrated by Brian Selznic.

So, hopefully next time I check in with you I will have read the new Caldecott award book above.... Ask me about it!

Mrs. Hinger

It's a new year

2008-01-06T10:07:00.001-05:00

Before Christmas, I started working on my books for graduate school and began reading Wuthering Heights. I like it, but was surprise by the vocabulary. I think that I've been reading YA lit for such a long time that I had forgotten the language of many classics. What have you been reading?

For the past few days since Mrs. Bailey's goddaughter went missing, I have been focused on newspaper and news website reading. She is such a sweet girl; I remember her coming to the school and helping out. She is like a daughter to Mrs. Bailey. I am so sad for them. It seems today that Meredith Emerson will not be found alive; it's heartbreaking.

I have jury duty next week, so I will catch up with you guys sometime soon.

Mrs. Hinger

Classics?

2007-12-04T11:44:00.002-05:00

What do readers consider classics? Lately I have been reading almost all YA lit and have notice that classics are often alluded to in YA books.

I decided that my next read will be Wuthering Heights because in Eclipse, Bella reads the book over and over. Is it because she and Edward are like the characters in Wuthering Heights? I have to finish Eclipse first, but then I am definatly on to Wuthering Heights to find out more. I had a little hiatus from reading to complete my grad school work, but hopefully between preparing to move, Christmas shopping, and attending to an almost 4 year old wild- child, I'll have some time to read!

Do you like classics? What do you consider a classic? What's your favorite classic?

Mrs. Hinger

Thanksgiving is over...4 more weeks.

2007-11-24T12:05:00.001-05:00

So, Thanksgiving is over and now we have four weeks until the winter break. I finished New Moon, read another book, and now I am reading Eclipse.

Thanks, Brianna, for reccomending the Maximum Ride Series. I read it last year and suggest it all the time to students! I love James Patterson's adult books, so I started the first Maximum Ride book just out of curiosity and fell in love with the storyline and characters! I read the last one in a hurry, though, so I should probably re-read it!

We went to Virginia to visit family over the holiday, where I got a good bit of reading done; what did you do?

Mrs. Hinger :)

What are you reading now?

2007-11-15T13:04:00.001-05:00

Hello!

Today is Thursday, one week before Thanksgiving. I started thinking about books I could read over the holidays (since I am almost finished with my grad school work).

I like to read young adult books so that I can suggest titles to my students. Last spring, I started to read New Moon by Stephanie Meyer, but a friend told me the ending so I got angry and stopped reading.

I think I am over my Twilight Series anger now and want to finish the books, but can't seem to get into the whole story again...

So what are your suggestions of good books for me to read over the holidays?

The book fair is over; on to technology...

2007-11-08T10:02:00.001-05:00

We had an amazing book fair at CMS this year!

Thanks to all of the help from the Book Fair Crew, Ms. Harris, Krystal, parents, volunteers, many teachers, administration, and staff, we exceeded our goal and increased sales by 51%! We earned $1500 for the CMS Media Center to buy books, supplies, etc. and we received $440 to use toward materials from Scholastic for the CMS Media Center that teachers and students can use!

Students are already coming back in to check out and return books.

I am working on some new technology and research tools that will soon be integrated into the CMS Media Center Website!

Come see us soon.

Thanks for all of your support!

Mrs. Hinger

Book fair, blogging, etc.

2007-10-30T09:46:00.001-04:00

The book fair is in full swing, and I am at a blog training session today! I thought the best subject to do a blog on is the CMS Media Center!

Ms. Harris is working the book fair as I speak. Things have been going well. We sold over $400 in our first official day open!

If you are interested in posting to the CMS Media Center Blog please email me hingers@clarke.k12.ga.us

I think in the future we will host a book club via the blog. What do you guys think?

Popular books right now..

Twilight Series
Peak
Warrior Series