Hunger Games Official Trailer 2012

I'm excited about this movie! You still have time to read the series before it comes out on March 23, 2012!

North Central Regional Library - ebooks for Kindles!

Use your library card and download a book today @ http://www.ncrl.org/

xtranormal movie "Buy a Yearbook!"

Here's a little video I made on the xtranormal website: http://www.xtranormal.com/

fun Facebook page: this is teen

Scholastic has launched a new Facebook page you might enjoy: facebook.com/thisisteen, a place for teen readers to interact with friends and favorite authors like Libba Bray, Meg Cabot, Maggie Stiefvater, Markus Zusak and Kevin Brooks. Check it out to particpate in weekly author Q&As, event listings, book suggestions, videos, and more.
PS: sorry, but you'll have to check this site out at home, Facebook is blocked at school :-(

Be smart, be safe

Our Josten's yearbook rep, Tim Corrigan, sent this website that has some good recommendations about online safety. Anyone who participates in any type of personal publishing such as YouTube or Facebook needs to think about their safe and responsible use of technology. As we share more personal information and communication online, we all need to stop and think about keeping smart and safe. I'm going to be sharing with Mrs. Gemeinhart's 9th graders this week and discussing with them the importance of online safety, but I hope we all think about it. Another great online resource, NetSmartz, offers more information. Please take a moment to look into this serious and important topic of keeping safe online.

Question: What do you do to demonstrate safe and ethical use of online resources?

QR Codes . . . "Quick Response Codes" ????

OK, so I try to keep up, but today I feel woefully behind. I just looked at a glog about QR codes. Maybe you use them or at least know about them, but I have been in the dark. I really need to update my phone and here's another reason to do so. Anyway, if you don't know what they are, here's a great explanation, just click here. I went to an free online CR code generator and this is what I got for the CHS website. I don't know if it works or not (remember, I need to get a smart phone), but if it does, please let me know. If you are the first one to show me, I'll buy you a candy bar from Mr. G's. Update: Thanks Ian Cochrane for showing me the QR code for CHS - he was the lucky winner and got a Reese's candybar from Mr. G's on 9/13/2011!

Is your Google search the same as your friends?

Did you know many internet searches use social media data to rank a website's importance?

Watch this informative TED talk about the "invisible algorithmic editing of the web."

Summer Reading - Vacation time!!!

Prevent Summer Slide
Keep your kids in the reading habit during the break so they don’t fall behind when classes resume.

It is wise as a parent of a struggling reader to try to stop "summer slide" — the backsliding that may occur when students are out of school. Try these strategies to help your child improve her reading during the summer and beyond:

Six Books to Summer Success: Research shows that reading just four to six books during the summer may keep a struggling reader from regressing. When choosing the books, be sure that they are just right — not too hard and not too easy.

Read Something Every Day: Try to take advantage of every opportunity to read. In the morning, encourage newspaper reading — even if it is just the comics. During the day, your child can read schedules, TV guides, magazines, etc. For example, if your child watches the food channel, help him look for a recipe online. End the day by having your child read to you from the book he is currently reading. Have him rehearse a paragraph, page, or chapter before reading to you.

Keep Reading Aloud: Reading aloud benefits all children and teens, especially those who struggle. One benefit is that you can read books your child can't, so she will be building listening comprehension skills with grade-level and above books. This will increase her knowledge and expand her experience with text, so that she will do better when she reads on her own.
It’s hard to keep up a reading routine with many summer distractions. These suggestions are meant to fit into a busy schedule and to make reading fun!

(article provided by Scholastic Inc. Reprinted by permission)

More ideas:
EDSITEment's Recommended Reading List for College-Bound Students

What do you want to read?

Dear CHS Students,

I will soon be ordering books for next year and I want to know what you want to read. We don't have a lot of money to spend, but there will be some new books here in the fall and I hope you will like a few of them. Please leave a comment and tell me what you want me to order. I can't guarantee I can, but I will take your recommendations seriously under consideration. Just click the little comment button below and leave your suggestion. Please sign or initial in case I need to ask you something.
Thank you very much! Mrs. H.
PS: The Cheetos photo was taken by my husband :-)

YouTube Copyright School

Do you know about copyright laws? This little video from YouTube clarifies what is legal or not.

April is National Poetry Month

Did you know April is National Poetry Month? I try to acknowledge this every year. Visit http://www.poets.org/ for good ways to celebrate. Today happens to be "Poem in your Pocket" day. This morning Randi Zodow picked up this poem on the library counter and shared with me how she really liked it.

I Am Not Yours

I am not yours, not lost in you,

Not lost, although I long to be

Lost as a candle lit at noon,

Lost as a snowflake in the sea.

You love me, and I find you still

A spirit beautiful and bright,

Yet I am I, who long to be

Lost as a light is lost in light.

Oh plunge me deep in love - put out

My senses, leave me deaf and blind,

Swept by the tempest of your love,

A taper in a rushing wind.

by Sara Teasdale

Read to children - Early childhood literacy

One early literacy skill every child needs to learn is book knowledge and appreciation. My granddaughter Siobhan is learning that now and I am anxious to help her in the future by reading to her whenever I can. Story times, checking books out and having lots of reading materials around the house are all things you can do to provide a literacy rich environment for children. Reading to children is one of the best things you can do for their future learning and we have many great resources available through the NCRL. Take a child to storytime or to the library to check out a book or read one of your favorite books to a child. It's fun and you'll both enjoy it!
To learn more about early literacy, click here.

Steampunk comes to CHS!

Have you read Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan or Behemoth yet? These two books in Westerfeld's newest trilogy proved to be great reads and I can't wait until the third, Goliath , comes out in October. Set in 1914 in Europe in an alternative reality, the protagonists Alek and Deryn take us on adventures completely unheard of before. I thought Westerfeld's two warring kingdoms, the Clankers and the Darwinists, were unique and imaginative. I think you'll love these books that have gotten rave reviews like this one from School Library Journal, "Full of nonstop action, this steampunk adventure is sure to become a classic." .

Something to think about . . .

I came upon this quote yesterday while I was looking through a book called Readicide. I thought the quote was really good, so I thought I would share it.

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."

Bradbury, Ray on Books - Reading
Quote from Quotations Book

It is my job to help CHS students find good books to read and think about. So, help uphold, build, create and protect our culture, check out a book and READ!

Flocabulary and the 5 elements

I don't know if you ever have seen "The Week in Rap" by Flocabulary. Well here is another great Flocabulary video for all you English buffs out there. I can just see Mrs. Gemeinhart lovin' this, can't you?

Flocabulary - Five Things (Elements of a Short Story) from Flocabulary on Vimeo.