JMS Library Update
Dear JMS Community,
As we transition into 2024, we would like to provide you with an update on the exciting developments and activities happening in the Jefferson Middle School (JMS) Library.
September Recap:
Chromebook Check-Out: We kicked off the school year by checking out Chromebooks to our students, ensuring that they have the necessary tools for effective learning.
Device Maintenance: Throughout September, we diligently worked to ensure that all devices are in excellent working condition to support our students' educational needs.
Library Access: We opened up the Library for morning and lunchtime access, providing a welcoming and enriching environment for our students.
Teacher Booking: We established dedicated times for teachers to schedule Library sessions for their classes, facilitating educational support and collaborative learning experiences.
Book Suggestions: We encouraged students to suggest titles for our collection, allowing us to curate an engaging and diverse selection of books for the school year.
Upcoming Plans: As the month progressed, we started planning for after-school homework support and began adding valuable resources to our website for students to use in school research projects and for personal interests.
October recap:
Online Resources: In October, we will focus on maximizing our online resources to support both in-class and remote learning. Students can access a variety of valuable tools, including World Book Online, Destiny Library Systems, Sora, MyTRL, Gale, and more.
Banned Books Week: We are excited to celebrate Banned Books Week from October 1st to 7th. This important event promotes the freedom to read and raises awareness of censorship issues. Join us in celebrating the power of literature and intellectual freedom.
Scholastic Book Fair: Mark your calendars for our Scholastic Book Fair during Conference Week from October 23rd to 27th. This is a fantastic opportunity for students and families to explore a wide range of books and support our library. More details can be found on the Scholastic Book Fair Website: https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/jeffersonbookfair.
November Recap:
Native American Heritage Month: We are reading a Book by David A Robinson called When We Were Alone and learning about The Fish Wars, which took place in the Pacific Northwest in the 60s and 70s.
Typing Club: All students took the Typing Club Pre Assessment by November 3rd. Now students can work independently on their typing skills from home and at school using the Typing Club program. Students that show the most growth in the Fall will get to attend an incentive party in the Library in February. We will have the festivities for the top 40 students in each grade level showing growth in their accuracy and words per minutes.
Destiny Library Review: Students are reviewing how to see what books they have checked out, how to write a Destiny book review, how to place holds, and how to find Non-Fiction books at JMS. We have been working to organize the Non-Fiction section to be on one side of the Library and in an order that flows through the section. Students will have a scavenger hunt to find titles this month during their Library time.
Replacing spine labels: There are a lot of books at JMS that need new spine labels that tell where the book is located. For the Fiction Section, it'll say F and the first four letters of the author's last name. For the Non-Fiction Section, it'll have the Dewey Decimal Number followed by the first four letters of the author's last name. We have TAs and volunteers helping with this project, which makes finding books much easier at JMS.
December Recap:
Students learned about being Digital Detectives and how to have a balanced media life. We explored a variety of digital creation tools. We released the 12 Battle of the Books Titles and students are reading the books in teams to complete in March here at JMS. The finalist team will go to Thurgood Marshall Middle School on Tuesday, April 9th, for the cross district battle, which takes place at 5:30pm. We received a $1500 Grant from the Olympia Education Foundation for more crafting areas in the Library and a $3000 Grant from WEA Chinook to promote community engagement events in the Library. For instance, students will participate in Read Across America the week of March 4th, going to Garfield and LP Brown Elementary Schools to read picture books to students.
Students that are interested in Battle of the Books need to turn in their Team Trackers by Friday, January 12th. Students that are not on a team but want to be placed on a team need to complete the Google Form in the Library Google Classroom Stream. Students that are not on teams will be placed on teams by Friday, January 19th.
For January, we are learning about deescalating digital drama, being an upstander and allies when cyberbullying occurs, and putting a stop to hate speech online. MAP Testing takes place on Thursday January 11th (Math) and Thursday January 18th (ELA).
We are excited to expand the amount of space that students can use in the Library before school, during lunches, after school, and during Library times. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Mr. McKaughan, National Board Certified Teacher-Librarian
[email protected]
Frequently Used Research Sites:
In addition, use these specialized search engines:
- Sweetsearch, a search engine limited to quality sites selected for students.
- RefSeek, a commercial-free search engine for web pages, books, encyclopedias, & newspapers.
- Google Scholar, a search engine used to find peer-reviewed scholarly articles.
Find a Book:
Read the News:
Read theolympian to get local and national news. For school news, see the Jefferson and the Olympia School District websites.
Technology:
- Any
student enrolled in the district is eligible for a Chromebook regardless of grade level. Families need to schedule only one appointment to checkout Chromebooks for all their Olympia School District students.
- Students needing to repair their Chromebooks should call 360-596-8530, the student tech repair voicemail number.