Media matters Afocnlraiecbrpweerenasaortlebyeprotlmsteue.ewtrdhiao Volume 5, Number 7 February 2007 NECC is coming The International Society for Education (ISTE) is bringing NECC to Atlanta June 24 27!!! An exciting and rewarding opportunity awaits Georgia teachers, leaders, and school teams this June 24-27, 2007 in Atlanta! The 28th annual National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), sponsored by the International Society for Technology in Education (www.iste.org), will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. This conference is for all educators, not just technology specialists. Registration is OPEN and is only $150 for Georgia residents. Don't Delay Price goes to $250 on April 1 Register by March 30 to get the special price of $150. Go to www.iste.org/necc to register. Be sure to follow the registration directions for Georgia. Inside this issue: Literature 2 Conferences Grant Opportunity 3 Hurrah! 4 Budget questions 5 Morrow Elementary 5 History Day 6 An 8th grader and 7 GRM Buffalo Soldier 8 NoveList 9 February calendar 10 Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place. ~Zora Neale Hurston PAGE 2 MEDIA MATTERS Upcoming Children's literature conferences 37th Annual Children's Literature Conference Annual Conference on Children's Literature 2007 April 20 & 21, 2007 Georgia Center of Continuing Education, Athens http://www.coe.uga.edu/gcba/ Kennesaw State University's Annual Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults Tuesday, March 27, 2007 Elementary Focus Wednesday, March 28, 2007 Secondary/Middle Grades Focus Keynote speakers: Jim Aylesworth, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Pete Hautman GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 1970 Twin Towers East 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive Atlanta, Georgia 30334 Phone: 404-657-9800 Fax: 404-657-6822 E-mail: jserrite@doe.k12.ga.us We will lead the nation in improving student achievement. Have a vision. Be demanding. Colin Powell The time is always right to do what is right. Martin Luther King, Jr. My hope for my children must be that they respond to the still, small voice of God in their own hearts. Andrew Young VOLUME 5, NUMBER 7 PAGE 3 Grant opportunity from ala and neh The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office (PPO), in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is pleased to announce *Picturing America,* a new grant opportunity for schools and school libraries. Applications are now available at http://publicprograms.ala.org/picturingamerica. A pilot project of NEH's We the People program, *Picturing America* has been created to promote the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture in K-12 schools through examples of the nation's most significant works of art and architecture and to facilitate interdisciplinary partnerships between school library media specialists, art teachers, classroom instructors and other educators. *Picturing America* will provide 500 public and private schools with: - A collection of 20 double-sided, laminated posters depicting works of American art. - A 100-page resource booklet with information about the paintings, sculpture, architecture, and crafts reproduced. The booklet contains essays for each poster, teaching suggestions, and quick introductory exercises geared toward different grade levels. - The Picturing America Web site, which will contain links to extensive lesson plans and other educational resources organized by poster, themes, and subjects (history, social studies, and other disciplines). Public, private, parochial, charter, and home school consortia (K-12) are eligible to receive *Picturing America* awards. Applications may be submitted on behalf of the schools by school librarians, art teachers, classroom teachers, other educators, and school administrators. The online application is available at http://publicprograms.ala.org/picturingamerica. NEH estimates that the complete application process will take one hour to complete. A list of *Picturing America* images, as well as guidelines and applications, are available online at http://publicprograms.ala.org/picturingamerica. Online applications will be accepted January 8 through March 19, 2007. Awards will be announced in May 2007. *Picturing America* collections will be distributed in September 2007 for use during the 2007-2008 school year. If you have questions, please contact the ALA Public Programs Office at publicprograms@ala.org. Lainie Castle Program Officer, Communications Public Programs Office, American Library Association http://www.ala.org/publicprograms PAGE 4 MEDIA MATTERS Congratulations to our new Nationally board certified media specialists! Anne Browning Henry County Marsha Bryant Bleckley County Myra Clark-Johnson Liberty County Frerra Fambro Lamar County Juli Gilbert Clayton County Keisha Robinson Atlanta City Tina Share Cobb County Kathryn Swearingen Fulton County Kimberly Thames Gwinnett Count Mary Thomas DeKalb County Deborah Touchton Bibb County Bruce Williams Atlanta City Greatness occurs when your children love you, when your critics respect you and when you have peace of mind. Quincy Jones VOLUME 5, NUMBER 7 What is my budget? The Library Media Center budget for FY07 is $13.03 per FTE. FY 2007 Expenditure Tests/QBE Formula Test Funds Test 4_100% of the funds designated for Media Center Costs for such costs at the System Level. (Program 1310). PAGE 5 Media materials are those instructional materials including print, non-print, periodicals, online databases supplies, and equipment that are criteria to the support and enhancement of the school library media center program. These materials are housed in and circulated through the library media center for use by the entire learning community of the school. To find your system's Library Media budget follow these steps: (Since FY 04 only system information is available) 1. www.doe.k12.ga.us 2. Under "Site Index by Subject" choose "Budget Services" 3. Choose "Budget Services Site" 4. Under "Helpful Links" choose "QBE Allotment" 5. Set the year 6. Select QBE003 System Allotment Sheets 7. Choose your system and run report Direct Link: http://app.doe.k12.ga.us/ows-bin/owa/qbe_reports.public_menu?p_fy=2000 Follow steps 5-7 Podcasting at Morrow Elementary Morrow Elementary School has uploaded a QuickTime Podcast on their website at: http://www.clayton.k12.ga.us/schools/115/newhomepage.htm . It introduces great African-American Authors and their books. The podcast is the first of its kind for Morrow and the medium is still being perfected. Much research, and work went into development and final production. The project was piloted, created and produced by Ms. Giselle Escobar, Media Specialist. Currently, they are at work on accommodating an RSS feed, however visitors can still listen online. Future ideas include finding ways to create true video podcasts with RSS feed capabilities through the Windows computers. A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. Maya Angelou Life is short, and it's up to you to make it sweet. Sadie Delany PAGE 6 MEDIA MATTERS History Day in Georgia National History Day in Georgia is a history education program for students in grades 6-12, sponsored by the Georgia Humanities Council. In conjunction with a national theme, students research topics and present their findings in papers, performances, exhibits, or documentaries. Students can work individually, or in all categories except historical papers, they can collaborate in teams of 2-5 students. The theme for National History Day 2007 is "Triumph and Tragedy in History ". National History Day gets students out of the textbook, and into primary sources such as buildings, artifacts, records, interviews, or archaeological sites. Students can research any topic they would like, but they must also remember to look at available primary sources on their topic. Students present their research at a series of contests. There are eight regional contests in Georgia. Students who place first, second or third at regionals qualify for the state contest. Contact Laura McCarty, state coordinator, for more information on how to participate. STATE COORDINATOR Laura Thomson McCarty Georgia Humanities Council 50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 595 Atlanta, GA 30303-2915 (404) 523-6220 ltmc@georgiahumanities.org State Contest Date: April 28, 2007, Macon State College Love in the library Congratulations to Cathy Wojcik Dickerson of Sims Elementary (Rockdale County) who was married on December 29, 2006. Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power. Barbara Jordan I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. Michael Jordan VOLUME 5, NUMBER 7 The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every child; it is whether we can afford not to. Marian Wright Edelman PAGE 7 Our sympathy to the family and friends of Darlene O'Brien of Forsyth County and formerly of Gwinnett. Darlene passed away in December. She will be truly missed. An 8th grader looks at Georgia Read More Georgia Read More is a project designed to encourage 3rd grade children to read and for parents to get involved with their children to promote literacy and libraries. Although Georgia Read More was made to focus on 3rd grade children, I found that this program is great for children of all ages! I created a project out of Georgia Read More to present to children and parents. I also got our school's chapter of FCCLA involved with Georgia Read More. In the project, I focused on why parents should encourage reading among children, tips on how to do so, and how they could use the Georgia Read More program to help them. Whenever I got the chance, whether it was at school or in the community, I promoted Georgia Read More. Some of the things I did were create two tri boards where one had pictures of the celebrities that helped with Georgia Read More, and the other had information about Georgia Read More and what our school's chapter of FCCLA did with Georgia Read More. I also created a brochure about Georgia Read More and collected things such as vocabulary sheets from books, reading activity sheets, and reading level stats. I prepared a presentation in which I present my tri boards, discuss Georgia Read More, hand out information sheets and I read a children's book to demonstrate a possible way to read a book to a child. I did research on reading levels in Georgia and found that the reading levels should be higher. I notified the parents about this and demonstrated ways that they could use Georgia Read More to help with this concern. I also let parents and teachers know that even though Georgia Read More is for Georgia, they could use the same program and turn it into their state's program. With my project, I received many thank-yous and compliments. Lea Copeland 8th Grade Babb Middle School President, Babb Chapter of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America FCCLA clubs around the state have adopted Georgia Read More as their annual project. PAGE 8 MEDIA MATTERS What's a Buffalo soldier? Keven Lynch is a fourth grade teacher at Sanders Elementary School in Cobb County, and an adjunct instructor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Kennesaw State University. Her first children's book, "What's a Buffalo Soldier?" was recently published and is the first in a proposed series entitled, "The Historical Adventures of Amber and Trevor." The series revolves around pre-teen cousins who travel back in time to share adventures with historical African American heroes and heroines. The magical mystical force that creates a portal to the past is connected to Trevor's ignorance regarding history. In this book, Amber and Trevor come face to face with the Buffalo Soldiers, the African American cavalry men who fought in the Native American wars after the Civil War in the late 1800's. Keven was prompted to create this series because as an educator she found there to be few resources that provide opportunities for children to learn about African American history in a fun and entertaining format. It is intended that this series will introduce children to African American figures they know little to nothing about, through characters much like themselves. Keven says: Several Cobb County schools have purchased sets for their libraries, and guided reading book rooms. Many Cobb County students have also purchased the book. The book correlates to Georgia's fourth and fifth grade Performance Standards related to the Civil War. For more information Keven can be contacted at keven.lynch@cobbk12.org. 2007 Book Honors Caldecott: Flotsam by David Wiesner Newbery: Higher Power of Lucky: Susan Patron Coretta Scott King Author Award: Copper Sun: Susan Draper Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award: Moses: Illustrated by Kadir Nelson Michael Printz: American Born Chinese: Gene Luen Yang VOLUME 5, NUMBER 7 PAGE 9 Using NoveList to Find Books for Black History Month Condensed from Karen Minton's article sent out on the GALILEO list service. Celebrating Black History Month provides us with an opportunity to share the many ways that NoveList can assist in supporting readers who want to learn more about African American literature or African American experiences through stories. Novelist includes professionally prepared lists of African American authors as well as Author Read Alkies, Book Discussion Guides and Teaching with Fiction articles on African American fiction. The extensive searching capabilities can help you find a wide selection of books for your readers. Lists of African American Authors Lists of African American authors for adults, children and young adults are contained in NoveList's Annotated Book Lists section. For Black History Month, the list of over 600 African American authors for adult readers ("African American Fiction Writers") and the list of African American children's and young adult authors ("African American Children's Authors") are also linked from the February 2007 Home page. Please note that only the list of children's and young adult authors is available in NoveList K8. To quickly locate these lists of African American authors once they are no longer linked from the Home page, try the Article and List Search: 1. Click the Search Our Database tab. 2. Select the link for Article and List Search. 3. Type in "African American" and change the drop down menu option to Annotated Book Lists [in NoveList K8,change the menu option to Teaching with Fiction]. 4. Click Search. In addition to the ready made lists of authors mentioned above, this NoveList search returns many other annotated book lists of interest to readers of African American fiction. Be sure to check out (in NoveList only) David Wright's "Hot Topics: Street Fiction," which features such authors as Sister Souljah, Solomon Jones, Y. Blak Moore, Keisha Ervin, and many more. Sunday February 2007 GaDOE Library Media Services Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 1 1884 : Oxford Dictionary debuts Friday 2 1882 : James Joyce is born 1887 : First Groundhog Day Saturday 3 1953 : Cousteau publishes The Silent World 4 5 6 1826 : The Last of 1631 : Roger 1937 : Of Mice the Mohicans is Williams arrives and Men is published. Who in America published wrotethe book? 7 8 9 1812 : Earthquake Boy Scouts foun- causes fluvial ded: 1910 tsunami in John Grisham Mississippi born: 1955- 1944 : Alice Walker is born 10 1992 : AlexHaley dies 11 1990 : Nelson Mandela released from prison 12 1809 : Abraham Lincoln is born 13 14 15 16 17 1991 : Long-lost Twain Huckleberry Finn manuscript authenticated 1929 : Penicillin 1898 : The Maine discovered. explodes. What Who discovered does this mean? it? 1923 : Archaeolo- 1801 : Thomas gist opens tomb Jefferson is ofKing Tut. elected Who was the archaeologist? 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1931 : Toni 1847 : Donner Morrison is born Party rescued 1952 : Amy Tan's birthday John Glenn orbits W.H. Auden the earth: 1962 born: 1907-1973 Birthday of George Washington:1732-1799 W.E.B. DuBois President Johnborn: 1868-1963 son impeached: 1868. Why? 25 26 The 1st African World Trade American congr- Center bombed: essman sworn 1993 in: 1870. Who was it? 27 28 John Steinbeck born: 19021968. Longfellow born: 1807-1882. 1st basketball game televised: 1940 January S M TW T F S 123456 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 March S M TW T F S 123 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Throughout my formal education I spent many, many ho urs in public and school libraries. The current definitiv e answer to almost any question can be found within the four walls of most libraries. Arthur Ashe