Good-bye CHS . . .

Well, I'm retired and not coming back to Cashmere High School. This makes me sad, but then I think about all the adventures I hope to experience in the future and I'm not so sad. I will miss the students and staff at CHS, for the past 23 years this has been my happy place. I loved my job, but now it's time to travel with my husband in our new little Casita travel trailer and be with my family and friends. I will miss the conversations in the library, the yearbook staffers, the good books and this wonderful school. Don't take it for granted, this is a special place where many people care deeply about you.

I will miss the students in the hall, seeing what they are wearing and who they are hanging out with. I'll miss dressing up during Homecoming. I'll miss standing in the hall with Ms. Fall and other teachers. I'll miss opening up boxes of new books and showing them to students. I'll miss the peace and quiet of the library after a busy day. I'll miss the great staff of CHS and my friends I have made over the years. I'll miss working on the yearbook. I'll miss my paycheck :-). I'll miss recommending a book to a student and them telling me they really liked it later. I'll miss laughing with my students, you are great!

I won't miss the mess of the remodeling and dealing with the changes that are to come. I won't miss dealing with overdue books. I won't miss students not wanting to read. I won't miss keeping up with technology. I won't miss yearbook deadlines. I won't miss driving 20 miles to work everyday. I won't miss thinking about what I'm going to wear to school. I won't miss trying to keep up with sequels. I won't miss trying to read all the books in the library. I won't miss trying to remember everyone's name.
 
 Giddy-up, it's time for me to head out for new adventures!

        

NCRL Teen Summer Reading Program 2018!!!

Our awesome local Cashmere librarians visited CHS today to share about the summer reading program. I hope you take time to sign up, read and win lots of prizes this summer and take advantage of the fun activities they have for teens. Have fun!

NCRL Summer Reading Program - it's not just for kids!!!

Please check out the summer reading program at your local library, it's not just for little kids! Bring your siblings too and read together this summer. Click here for more info:

Cavalcade of Authors

On April 21 a group of students from CHS attended the Cavalcade of Authors in West Richland. They went to several workshops and met young adult authors. We all had a great time!

 The CHS students wait for the Cavalcade to begin.

 The authors all were introduced at the opening session.

 My favorite author panel: Alan Gratz, Jennifer Donnelly, Adam Gidwitz and Trent Reedy.

 Mr. Smith was thrilled to meet Alan Gratz.

 We got to meet Jennifer Donnelly

 Fonda Lee, Jonathan Maberry and Lissa Price

 Tim Clarke got to meet Jonathan Maberry and get his autograph.

 The author panels were a lot of fun.

Sam Wilson enjoyed hearing the authors.

The winner is . . . And remember to SYNC!

It's time for the summer audiobook program, Sync!

Download two books a week through July and keep them forever. Click here for more information.

and the winner is . . .

TIME TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE!

Have you read at least two books from the Evergreen Teen Book Award nominees? Then you qualify to vote. Please vote online, click here for the ballot. Please vote by April 1st.

If you want a paper ballot, see Mrs. Hightower before spring break.

I am SO jealous!

Our CHS Civics class had the opportunity to travel to Seattle and see the Broadway production of Hamilton at the Paramount Theatre on March 8th. The class had to go through a rigorous curriculum before they were allowed to see the show. One assignment the class did was to create a performance of a historical event that they were studying. Each class voted on the best presentation and then those were judged from the 39 schools that came to watch Hamilton. The best 15 performed in front of the 2000+ students and teachers and our own Tim Clarke and Jorge Rodriguez got chosen to perform AND were highlighted in the Seattle Times! I and about the whole staff of CHS wished we could of gone to see Hamilton;, but oh well, that's life. If you haven't had a chance to see the article and watch a video of their performance, here is the link:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/before-they-saw-hamilton-students-from-around-washington-performed-their-own-take-on-american-history/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_left_1.1

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I hope you are having a great Valentine's Day! 

Mrs. Kert showed me an awesome feature in Office 365 yesterday. Did you know you can isolate verbs, nouns and adjectives in your document?  You also can have it read to you, just think how this might help your English papers!  To do this, open your document in OneDrive in your Office 365 account. Go to "View" and click "Immersive Reader".

Once you are in the Immersive Reader mode, click the little "Grammer Options" button (it looks like little books on the upper right). From there you can select what parts of speech you want highlighted.  Ask Mrs. Kert to show you or come by the library if you need help. Just looking at your verb choice this way could really help your papers. Remember, ACTION VERBS, not passive verbs, creates an interesting paper to read.

 

 

Pick my YA!

Do you ever run out of books to read? Do you run out of authors or ideas of what to read next? Well, Mrs. Kert just introduced me to Pick My YA. On this site you can use the book generator to help you find books you might enjoy. There are also author interviews and the site uses teen editors to help make sure it's authentic. A class came into the library today and they found books to check out. I hope you check this fun site out. 

GoPro CHS!

                       

I applied for a small grant through the Community Foundation and received enough money to buy two GoPro cameras for CHS! Mr. Groce has been helping me figure out how to use them. He downloaded the app on his phone and that was a big help in making the videos. He says it's EASY!

Click here for a sample

Hopefully we can think of a lot of ways to use these cameras in our classes, activities, sports and clubs. If you need to borrow one of our GoPro cameras, please let me know.