SJA-eLibrary

Summer Reading!

2010-05-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

Sign up for Monarchs Read All Summer! Our students can visit the school library on Wednesday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. and check out books, take AR quizzes and visit with other families. To sign up, please fill out the attached form: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Adt3O5l-kQqCZGM4a3RmMzRfN2N6cXJ3cmM3&hl=en . NOTE: There are two sides!

Happy Summer Reading!

Spend More Time in the Library

2010-03-16T02:37:00.000-07:00

If you get to school early to pick up your students, why not spend a little extra time in the library? We could use help shelving books, straightening up the shelves, or putting covers and labels on books (training provided). Our 170 students check out 100 books a day, and they return 100 books a day! That's a lot of books to put back in the right place, so any time you have to give will be well spent!

2009-11-17T07:25:00.000-08:00

Time Flies When You're Surrounded by Good Books!

This library's been hopping this morning. Our first grade friends came in this morning to take AR quizzes on the books they read last night for homework. Lots of high fives were given out by Mrs. Chapman and Mrs. Muller who were here to help with the quizzing and new book selection.

Get ready now for Santa's Book Shop on Thursday, Dec. 3rd. You can help by cleaning off your bookshelves! Send us books you think our students and their parents might like to give each other as gifts this year. Please don't send us books that have been written in, torn, or folded and bent. Save the well-loved books for your grandchildren to enjoy! We also might have a hard time selling a book no one at your house has ever touched - there's usually a reason! We would love to have books you've enjoyed and are ready to pass on - books you wouldn't mind your child buying for your Christmas present. Think about cookbooks, coffee table books or the second to the latest John Grisham novel!

Questions? Ask your librarian. E-mail me at sbatt@sjoa.org.

Happy Birthday!

2009-09-01T06:19:00.000-07:00

What could be better than having a librarian sing Happy Birthday to you in front of your entire class? I can't think of anything! If you'd like to sponsor a book in honor of your child's birthday, please fill out the pdf file here and send it secretly to the school office with your check. We suggest a minimum sponsorship of $10, but we can find ways to spend more! Please make sure grandparents and other generous relatives know about this program!

Monarchs Read All Summer

2009-05-14T06:21:00.000-07:00

Click here to open the registration form for the Monarchs Read All Summer program. Print it out, fill it out and send it to the library by backpack mail! We'll get you started before school lets out!

Little Bits of Library News

2008-11-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

Busy library. Your librarian loves statistics. So far this year, your students have checked out 4,634 things from the library. And they’ve passed 2,079 quizzes. They’re taking enough quizzes that on average, we estimate each student is spending 26 minutes a day on reading. How much does your student spend each day on reading?

Pizza Hut Book-It certificates. If your kindergarten through 6th grade student met their goals for the first quarter, you should have found a certificate for a free personal pan pizza in their back pack. Sign up online for a family incentive from Pizza Hut. Go to www.bookitprogram.com.

2008-10-30T04:57:00.000-07:00

There's a whole lot of reading going on...
And it's good reading! During the first quarter of the school year, our students passed 1,812 Accelerated Reader quizzes. Not only that, the school's average percent correct on quizzes was 86.4 percent! That means our students are reading a lot, and they're reading well. We've been encouraging students to aim for 100 percent correct on quizzes this year - high quality quizzing, and it's paying off. During the last week of the quarter, students received more than 300 tickets for their 100's - the tickets went into a jar in the library for a prize drawing.

We also created a Millionaires Club this fall for students who have read a million words or more. Each Thursday, your librarian announces the top ten students in "words read." Students are so excited for their friends whose names are on the list. There are no million dollar cash prizes for club members - just recognition and the admiration of their friends.

Remember, Accelerated Reader is a teacher tool to guide your students in their reading practice. Our little contests are encouraging lots and lots of high quality reading practice! Thanks for all you do to help us motivate and encourage your students!

An AR Q and A

2008-09-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

Q. How can I help my child do well on AR quizzes?

A. A better question is how can you help your child do well with reading! Accelerated Reader is designed to help your child's teacher guide their reading practice. The quizzes simply determine how well and, more importantly, whether your child has read the book being quizzed. Coaching from parents won't help them pass the quiz, and won't help the teacher do her job. It could even get in the way of your child developing stronger reading and self-discipline skills! Students need to learn to "listen to their heart" and know when they've read a book and understood it well enough to pass a short, factual quiz on it. There are no trick questions, and it's not really possible to cheat! (Alright, you could cheat, but why?) AR quizzes are not used for grading at St. Joan of Arc! Again, AR is used to help your child's teacher guide their reading practice!

If you want to be helpful, ask what your child is reading! Ask why they picked it. I know some of them will say because it's in their range. I'm sorry! Ask them why they picked this particular title that was in their range out of all the other books in the library. Ask them what it reminded them of - another book, another story, something that they saw on TV, or something at home! Ask them to read you a page, or read them a page. Get into your kids' reading - show your interest, and watch their interest grow.

No Q, no A; just an observation:

I love working with your kids! I watched a group of middle school students in the library today recommending books to each other. They've had such good teachers and librarians and families in their lives! They weren't recommending easy books, or short books, they were recommending books they thought "everybody" should read - Bud Not Buddy, for example.

Welcome to the Library!

2008-08-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

Looking for links to library info? You've found the spot! Need some leads to get just the right book? You're there! Want to find out more about library activities at SJA? Keep reading!

Our Top Three Links this year will be the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library (www.imcpl.org), the Accelerated Reader site for taking reading and vocabulary quizzes (renlearn.homeip.net - there's no www) and the AR BookFinder site (www.arbookfind.com). You can look up books by subject and/or book level there!

There are lots of ways to find just the right book - online and in real time. Online, you could start by going to http://www.imcpl.org/kids/index.html and clicking on Book Zone. Save lists of books you want to read on MyList when you log in with your library card number. In real time, you could talk to other readers to find out what they enjoyed reading this summer. When in doubt you can always Ask the Librarian!

Library activities planned for the year will be all about reading. Surprised? We're going to be reading books, talking about books, learning new words in books, and watching movies made from books. Watch this blogspot for more information as the year unfolds!

2008-08-07T02:43:00.000-07:00

If you don't have your library card yet - see the librarian! Our school library can issue library cards to students and their families. Students will need the card this year for checking out books. Older students will also use their cards to request books from IMCPL for class projects! Happy reading!