December 14 - December 18

Mrs. Grau's social studies class have been in the library this week doing research using our database CultureGrams to gather information and images about a specific state.  Students will then take the information they gather and create a presentation for their fellow classmates using either Google Slides or Powerpoint.  Student were instructed in how to use Noodle Tools for their citations as they work on their project.

Ms. Poz's class finished up the week having her students view presentations that students made on Native American tribes and completing an acrostic with information gathered from the presentations.

The Winter Around the World project was compiled and completed.  Mr. Weiler's art classes completed paintings to include in this collaborative book that showcases work not only from classes in the United States, but from the China, Australia, United Kingdom, and Dubai.  Art work by our PVMS students starts on page 99, but check out the work by all the student, it's pretty incredible.

Winter Around the World Project

The Hour of Code

The Hour of Code was in full-force this week.  Students were learning coding skills in a variety of classes and the library encouraged all students to spend some time in the library practicing those coding skills.  Students worked in the library coding during study hall, but some high school teachers from the IT academy also stopped in to help the 8th grade math students learn some coding skills. It was great watching as students did problem solving and helped their fellow classmates who were stuck.

A variety of resources were used by the students for The Hour Code, a sample of what students worked with is:

Made With Code
Code.org
Scratch

December 1 - December 4

Everyone came back this week after a long Thanksgiving break and were refreshed and ready to go.  It was great hearing about all the places the students traveled over break, the books they read, and the fun that they had.

This week Mr. Rixmann's world language students came in to find books for their papers on a German topic.  We discussed the variety of topics they may want to look at, from German cars and animals to cities and countries.  We also discussed how the history and biographies could be included in their paper.  Students then used Destiny to search for a book that was of interest to them, checked the book out, and began reading to gather their information.

Mrs.Nowak's science class came in to work on research on a metallic element.  We went over using techniques for searching online.  We discussion using databases like World Book and Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as how to spot a good website when doing research.

Student were hard at work helping decorate the library.  Students using the Maker Room during study hall helped to create a paper tree on the Maker Room door and a Grinch hand that was displayed with some holiday titles.  It's great to see the creativity that comes from within our building.