have your heard of Glogster?

Hey, I just learned of a free, online poster making website that is fun and easy to do. Here is a link to one I made for an example:
http://lindakay.glogster.com/glog/

Take a look and see if you want to make your own!

Inspiration at school!

We have new software in the library called Inspiration. It's a program that helps you organize your thoughts in a very visual way. A few classes have used it, but I think more students will be taking advantage of Inspiration on their own. If you have trouble getting started writing papers, getting your notes organized, or just thinking about what to do on a writing assignment, why don't you give it a try. With one little click you go from a graphic organizer to a outline that you can download to a Word document and continue on writing. All thirty of the library computers have it loaded and the icon is on your desktop. Begin with Inspiration on your next assigment and you'll find how much fun it is.

Evergreen Young Adult Book Award

Have you read any of these ten books? They are this year's nominees for the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award. To be eligible to vote, just read at least two of these books and return you ballot to Mrs. Hightower by March 14. You can read more about each book - just look at the display in the library. I predict Twilight will win this year, but you never know how students will vote. Take the challenge and read some new books this year and don't forget to vote!

College? It's not too early to start thinking about it!

"Happy New Year!" Wow, 2008 is here and I'm finally getting back to this blog. I came across a very helpful website that could help you start thinking about college:

http://www.transitioning2college.org/index.html

This website from Kent State University is fun and very teen friendly. There are videos to watch and links to insights on succeeding in college. You'll be in college before you know it. Get a head start and take a look at some good advice.

book awards

A couple of weeks ago during my Friday book talk with the freshmen I shared about Sherman Alexie's new book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian". I predicted then this book would get a lot of attention. Well, guess what? I was right! Alexie just received the National Book Award's prize for young adult literature and received $10,000 for being the winner. The CHS library has two copies of his book, a semi-autobiographical story of a American Indian at an all-white school, and they are flying off the shelves. Apparently CHS students think this book is a winner also.

End of the quarter woes

Last week was the end of the first quarter at Cashmere High School. On Friday I observed a lot of students in the library working on their projects and homework. As they freaked out and begged for more time on the deadline, I thought of some study habits I try to keep (yes - I'm still going to school, now I'm working on my master's degree). So, if you don't mind, here we go with Mrs. H's "How not to freak out at the end of the quarter" list.
1. Start way before you think you need to.
2. Pace yourself, do a little everyday. Don't put it off any longer - just do it.
3. When working at the school computers, DO NOT SIT BY YOUR FRIENDS! They always will distract you and you won't get as much done.
4. Things happen, so be ready for unseen problems like: the electricity goes off, the printer's ink runs out, the printer paper runs out, the teachers you need is gone, the Internet goes down, your email won't open, your project partner doesn't show up, or your computer crashes. Be prepared! Save your work on a thumb drive and get your project done early in case something goes wrong, it probably will.

What are we reading at CHS?

I looked at the top books circulated from the C.H.S. library since the beginning of school and here they are:

Being by Kevin Brooks

Boy2Girl by Terrance Blacker

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer (Third book in the series, comes after Twilight and New Moon)

Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper (First book in the Vampirates series)

Shattered Mirror by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (another vampire book by a very young author)

If you are looking for a good book, try these popular titles. We can reserve them for you too, just ask. Mrs. H.