Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Poet Laureates


Last week saw the end of Ms. Susan Stewart's student teaching experience at Saranac Lake Middle School.
She did a great job, and her last unit of instruction focused on poets, specifically Poet Laureates.
Mrs. Kenyon told us that she had the opportunity to meet a Poet Laureate in person, Billy Collins.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

More Books and the Teachers Who Read Them

To follow up on a previous post, the titles of books that SLMS teachers have read continue to pour in. Here are more recommendations:



Mrs. Beideck: The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

Mrs. Salamy: His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina by Danielle Steel and Crunch Time by Mariah Fredericks

Mrs. Kenyon: Private by James Patterson, Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson

Ms. Ordonez: Short Carries by Elizabeth Folwell, A Portrait of Healing by Victoria Rhinehart

Mrs. Grant: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

Mrs. Fransen: Coming Home by Rosamunde Piltcher, The Geometry of Sisters byLuanne Rice


Mr. Frenette: The River of Doubt by Candace Millard

Friday, October 8, 2010

What SLMS Teachers Read

I asked some teachers at SLMS to tell me which books they've read since school this school year started. Here's a list of titles:



Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson



The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein



This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers



Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson



Framed by Frank Boyce



The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade

There are many more titles to list, and I will in a later post. Please don't hesitate to ask our teachers for book recommendations; chances are they will be able to suggest something great!







Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Make the Connection

I've been using Scholastic's Book Wizard to asist students in locating "just right books."

Mrs. Johns, who has been filling in for Mrs. Kennedy in the library, suggested that while Book Wizard does a nice job of suggesting books based on students' interests and reading levels, the MS library might not always have a copy of the book on the shelves.

So... Mrs. Johns advised the following:

1). Use Book Wizard to search.
2).Open a tab with the library's catalog
3). Search for the title suggested by Book Wizard in the library's database