Mark October 3, 2012 on your calendar to celebrate Banned Websites Awareness Day, sponsored by AASL. Check out this page for details and support information.   Kt

Know of any high school students who might be interested in a career in the construction trade?  If they haven't heard of the district's Construction Academy send them to the District webpage for information. One deadline to sign up is August 23rd but there are other opportunities later on. Word is there are lots of slots at both the Hutchison and North Pole High locations!! See who you can enlighten about this great deal....siblings, friends, children of staff!

This Common Sense Media article by Regan McMahon is something you might want to share with parents. And...you might want to check out some of the linked lists, like their Graphic Novels recommendations.  Katie

Doug certainly found a great way to get our attention with this poster but his comments on that first letter home to parents in this Blue Skunk Blog post are even more worth reading.

How do you want parents & students to perceive YOU and  the library???  What do you think of Doug's advice?                                                       Katie

Do you like to honor authors by recognizing their birthdays? Well here is a website that might help you out. This stay at home dad used to be a teacher and continues his practice of this with his four boys AND with his  blog. Read and see how he honored Cherie Stihler this last week with his photos of making a Sourdough Man with his kids.
                                                                                  Katie

SLJ has generously made available PDFs of Betsy Bird's Top 100 Novels and Top 100 Picture Books.
Print them out and post them with a question for your students,  "How many have YOU read??"                 Katie

I happened across this among my Poem-A-Day posts from Poets.org and thought it would make a great tie to the Harry Potter books, not that most need a lead to that collection. Might be nice to point out to studentsthat JK Rowling didn't create everything from her imagination.  You could use this now with its 'fall' related title and let your students puzzle about the connection to the photo and Harry Potter or save it for April's Poetry Month -  Katie
An August Midnight
by Thomas Hardy 

I

A shaded lamp and a waving blind,
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor:
On this scene enter—winged, horned, and spined--
A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore;
While 'mid my page there idly stands
A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands...

II

Thus meet we five, in this still place,
At this point of time, at this point in space.
—My guests besmear my new-penned line,
Or bang at the lamp and fall supine.
"God's humblest, they!" I muse. Yet why?
They know Earth-secrets that know not I.

I'll be very surprised if you haven't seen this on one social media  source or another. But if not I'm happy to share it with you.

Words for teenagers
Northland College principal John Tapene has offered the following words from a judge who regularly deals with youth. “Always we hear the cry from teenagers, ‘what can we do, where can we go?’

“My answer is this: Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons and after you’ve finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun.

“The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent so that no one will be at war, in sickness and lonely again. In other words grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It’s too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you!”

I have a prize for the first person who can find the name of the judge!!!         Katie

Our own Sharon Woloshen submitted this article, called "iPads-Not Just for Games" to the AkASL Puffin newsletter. Take a look and when you've digested all the great information she shares be sure to check out the other articles in the newsletter.   Katie

Check out this Digital Shift blog post, titled "Top Chrome Apps to Help Students Stay Productive Online," listing Google Chrome apps that will help students (and some adults) make better use of their time.  I'm not too sure about the last "bonus" app called the Panic Button. Just sounds like an easy way for a student to hide what they're doing from anyone looking over their shoulder.  Like they need more help with that!!     Katie