6th GRADE RESEARCH PAPER

A few hints for you as you work on your research paper: www.easybib.com will help you cite your resources, use this with all webpage citations you need and you can use this webpage to help verify your book, newspaper, magazine or database resources. http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/workscited/ is another webpage that will help you cite your reseources for your bibliography cards. Please see me in the library and I can help check your resources cards and their accurate format.

Pathfinder for 7th Grade Language Arts Classes: Japan

7th Grade Lanhuage Arts Students, here are two webpages I found to help with your projects on Japanese culture.



http://www.japan-zone.com/
You will find red tabs at the top of the page, these tabs will link to information about, "Modern Japan", "Cultural Japan" and "Japan Omnibus". The omnibus tab will give you information about history, religion, climate and government. Remember this is a commercial site, so they are trying to "sell" you something. Please remember never to give out personal information(phone number, email, etc,) on these type of webpages.



www.atlanta.us.emb-japan.go.jp/cggreeting.htm
A link to the Japanese Embassy in the Metro Atlanta area, a wonderful resources for you to begin gathering information.

6th Grade Lunch Book Group

Just announced today the first meeting of the 6th Grade Lunch Book Groups:


Thursday, December 9, 2010
6th Grade Girls

Please join me in the library during lunch as we discuss Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes.

Summary: On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, tweleve year old Martha gains perspective on the death of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings for an older boy, and on her plans to be a writer.

Find more information about this book from the author's website. Click here.



Friday, December 10, 2010
6th Grade Boys

Please join me in the library during lunch as we discuss Go Bog or Go Home by Will Hobbs.

Summary: 14 year old Brady and his cousin Quinn love extreme sports, but nothing could prepare them for the aftermath of Brady's close encounter with a meteorite after it crashes into his Black Hills, South Dakota, bedroom.

Fine more information about this book from the author's website. Click here.



Copies of both titles can be checked out from the Middle School library, you may need to visit the public library to find a copy or purchase a personal copy from a bookstore. Please sign up in the library if you wish to attend.

GUYS READ

For a few years Jon Scieszka, a noted children's author has created a webpage www.guysread.com

This mission of this webpage is to make boys "self-motivated and live long readers". Jon and his fellow guys read authors have created wonderful lists of books, magazines, and cereal boxes for guys to read with the hope that we will create new readers.

I have decided The Davis Academy needs to get involved with the Guys Read project. Today I created a book display of Guys Read titles and strategically placed guys read logos in the hallways to spark conversation (it's worked so far...a few students have asked questions: YEA!)

I have printed off a Charter Application from the Guys Read webpage and invite all Guys to become charter members of The Davis Academy Chapter of Guys Read. Please stop by and sign the charter! Click here for a copy of the charter.

Renaissance Reader Challenge #3: One Million Words

Time for our 3rd challenge of the year: The One Million Word Challenge

This Challenge is open to all students, parents, family, faculty and staff to read ONE MILLION WORDS.


Challenge starts: September 28, 2010 and ends on May 14, 2011


Renaissance Reader Challenge Guidelines: One Million Words

1. Pick up a Word Count Form in the Middle School Library, or create a form of your own
2. Read age appropriate books
3. Determine word count for each book (see formula below)
4. Turn in your form to Mr. Williamson in the library upon completion of this challenge.
5. (For students only) Books must not be class assigned books.


How to determine your word count for each book:
1. Grab a calculator (unless you are a mental math genius)
2. Open your book toward the middle
3. Count the number of words in three lines
4. Average the number of words in the three lines (add three lines and divide by three)
5. Count the number of lines on a page
6. Multiply the average words per line by the number of lines per page. (this will give you an estimate of words on a page)
7. Find the total number of pages in your book
8. Multiply the number of pages in your book by the estimated number of words on a page.
9. This final number will be used to determine your number of words per book.

EXAMPLE:
The line word total =33 (average 11)
Number of Lines per page = 28
Number of pages per book = 118
11x28x118 = 36,344 words


Good Luck, I think you'll be surprised how fast your word count increases. You can complete this challenge in combination with the other challenges issued by combining books on more than one list.

September 25-October 2: Banned Book Week

The last week of September is a very important week in the lives of libraries across the United States. Each and every year this week is set aside to celebrate our freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. We celebrate our right to read, open access to information and to bring into the spotlight the harms of censorship.

Take a look at the American Library Association's webpage about Banned Books here and learn about the subtle differences between a banned book and a challenged book and find information about "challenged books" here (to include information about our 8th grade Summer Reading book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee).

Smile and enjoy your week of reading!

Georgia Children's Book Award Information and Video posts

Last Friday I spent the day with all of the 7th grade Language Arts classes and we discussed the Georgia Children's Book Award program and watched some cool videos about a handful of these books.

Today I get to talk to the 6th grade classes about this program; if you remember this is the program where all middle school students across Georgia are invited to read (up to) 20 selected books and then vote for their favorite.

Click here to access the 2010-2011 Nominees.

Remember you do not have to read all 20 titles to vote in the spring, but you have to read at least three (3) books to vote. Some books may not appeal to each and every student, select the books you want to read.



If you want to see some of the videos we watched in class, please click on the book title and that will link you to the specific video.


SAVVY by Ingrid Law SAVVY (Video #2)

Golly-Whopper Games by Jody Feldman

Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel Darkwing (Video #2)

Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji

Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes

Bringing the Boy Home by N.A. Nelson



I hope you enjoy these books and this program. Look for lunch-time discussions of these books in the near future.