Ready to Start a New Year

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was busy and fun in the library.  Spanish students came in and took pictures so they could write sentences in Spanish showing that they understand the language.  This was a great opportunity for students to incorporate using their phones or cameras, downloading those photos, and uploading images into a presentation while working on their Spanish skills.

Mrs. Arenz's Careers class used virtual reality to see a few different occupations: a metal artisan, lawyer, pilot, and animal explorer.  Ms. Paikowski's class when on tours of some of the United States national parks.

Mrs. Grau's social studies classes were in working on research and creating presentations on different states. Students used Google's explore tool to allow them to find image that they are free to use and modify.  For the students previous presentations they were shared with students in New Glarus who gave great feedback on what worked well and what they found challenging with the students presentations.  Mrs. Grau's students used the information given to improve their presentations this time around.

Many of the language arts classes had their students come to the library to check out books for the winter break.  It is always fun to help the students pick out books and discuss their book selection with them.

Book Club was held in the library where the discussion of the books the students read was incredible. The students shared great insight on the books they read and had many suggestions for books to read next month.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they like next months books.

Study hall students have been using the Sphero balls, Ozobot, and Makey Makey to create a variety of things in our MakerSpace.  After winter break students will be working on creating art with our new 3D pen.

2017 is bound to bring many great projects, activities, books, and learning in the library!

Happenings in the Library!

Wow!  It's been a while, but it sure has been busy.  Students have been using the library to expand their independent reading.  The language arts classes have been bringing students in to check out books of their choice.  It's been great helping them find books and seeing them come back to pick out new ones after they finish.  I love all the great readers we have here at Park View.

The library has also spent time sharing Google Expeditions Virtual Reality with some of the classes.  This is a great way to take students on trips to places they could otherwise never go on.  We had a social studies class travel to Churchill, Manitoba.  Family and Consumer did college visits as part of college and career readiness by showing a large university and a smaller private college.  A Spanish class explored a Day of the Dead festival.  It's exciting to have the opportunity to give our students experiences that they may not be able to have in a format that is engaging.

Projects have been going on here as well. Students in Ms. Paikowski's social studies class created comics using Pixton.  They were focusing on the United States and have to incorporate the five themes of geography into their comic.

Another web tool that has been used is Thinglink.  Student created projects focusing on cities of the world using Thinglink.  They included audio, video, images and text. Spanish classes showcased their language skills by completing sentences in Thinglink.

Students have been creating videos for both STEM and art, using the green screen and spaces within the library to do their creating.

The last week of September

Wow!  It's hard to believe that September is almost over.  The students are all acclimated to the middle school.  This week was a great week of research as well as helping students find books.  Mr. Pratt's students came in to find realistic fiction novels to read.  It was great having the chance to tell the students about some of the excellent books we have in our library. It was even more fun helping them pick out a book that spoke to them.  I can't wait to hear what they have to say about the books after their done reading them and I look forward to helping them pick out new books next month.

Ms. Horne was in with her students working on researching the country of Cambodia.  The students were introduced to the different databases that Park View has available to them. We also discusses search terms and ways to help themselves be successful when searching for information.

Homecoming Week

Homecoming week is always exciting in the middle school.  Students and staff dressed up for some fun spirit days.  Our annual super blue and gold picture was taken.....in the rain for 8th graders and rescheduled for 7th graders, but the spirit is running through the building no matter what the weather.

This week Mrs. Kelly's students were in the library throughout the week using MovieMaker to complete movies that tied in with their Where I'm From poems.  It was awesome seeing the hard work student put forth in their movies and the poems they wrote were exceptional.

I also saw Mr. Rixmann's WLEX students who came in to check out books for their reports on German topics.  A great variety was chosen, such as: the Berlin Wall, dachshunds, biographies, World War II, and porsche.  I visited Mrs. Schriendl's science class for two days.  One was discussion our Acceptable Use Policy, the other was helping sign students up for Twitter and setting their security for Twitter.  Mr. Pollnow's class rounded out the week where the Acceptable Use Policy was reviewed.  All students, with the exception of absences, at PVMS have reviewed our AUP form and are aware of the expectation we have in our building when they are using school technology or technology they bring in to school.

September is Moving Along!

This week I had the opportunity to work with our 8C House, 8A House, 7C House, and 7B House.  We reviewed the school district's Acceptable Use Policy and made sure the students understand the expectation the school has when they are using district technology or their own technology within our building.  This was an excellent review for our students and a great reminder to read the agreements that we sign.

Mrs. Kelly's language arts students came in throughout the week as well.  They were working on scanning pictures for a movie they are creating.  Scanning is something not many of our students were familiar with, so this gave them a great opportunity to learn a new skill.

My favorite part of the week was all of the students that came in to check out books.  It was great seeing the students asking each other as well as myself about the books they have read and what they recommend.

Our display of all of the 7th graders favorite books is down and located in the library for all to come view.  As the title says, "Books Make Life Sweet."

The 2016-2017 School Year has Begun!

The beginning of the school year, a time of excitement, new opportunities, and learning; not only for students but for staff members as well.  This summer I had the chance to read many amazing books, especially some of the books off of the Battle of the Books list. I also had time to explore new technologies, listen to podcast, be part of educational twitter chats, and work on new curriculum, all of which will help me help the students and staff in the building.

This week all 7th grade students came to visit the library technology center to learn the expectations of the library, make sure all students were able to log into the various tools online that they will use throughout the school year. All the 7th graders recommended a book that they loved reading which will be part of a library display. It's been great meeting all the new 7th graders.  I'm impressed with their manners, enthusiasm, and interest.

May 16 - May 20

Students throughout the school are finishing up projects and papers.  This week I spent some time helping Mrs. Nowak's students do research using the GALE database, World Book Online, and Encyclopedia Britannica.  Students have been finishing up their independent novels and completing their reviews of the novels.  Mr. Chitwood's 8th grade math classes worked on video taping demonstrations to incorporate into their Google Slides presentations that they are working on in groups.

Some examples of the Digital Citizenship projects that Mrs. Jones' class worked on the past week are below.

Digital Citizenship   
Cyberbullying

Staying Safe Online with Social Media

May 9 - May 13

This week has been one of my favorite week's -  students have been selecting independent novels to read for their ELA class. It has been great helping students find books that interest them.  I look forward to reading the reviews they have of the books when they are complete.  Mrs. Jones students finished up their Digital Citizenship presentation using Thinglink on Monday and presented their topic to the class throughout the week.  I've been impressed with the information they gathered and their excellent presentation skills.

Below are some of the European commercials that Mrs. Honn's class created using Animoto.

Italy 
Malta 
United Kingdom
Norway

May 2 - May 6

Whew....what a busy week it has been.  Mrs. Honn's students have been working on creating commercials about European countries using Animoto.  The work they have done has been amazing. The research the students have done and the images they have found are impressive.  I've been helping Mrs. Serkowski's computer applications classes when the time allows with their technology innovations project.  They are using the program Buncee to explain how technologies have impacted our world, for better or worse.  They also have the option to choose a technology leader to focus on. The students have chosen some interesting topics and are off to a good start with the program.  Lastly, Mrs. Jones' Communications students have been in this week discussing digital citizenship, what it means, and why it's important.  Students are now working on creating a presentation relating to the a variety of topics that encompass digital citizenship to present next week.

April 23 - April 27

This week ends state Forward testing, so I'm excited to get into some fun projects with students next week!  Mrs. Honn's class will be in researching and working with Animoto to create commercials for a European country.  This is a project that always excites students.  Mrs. Jones' Communications class will be working with me on a digital citizenship lesson.  We'll be incorporating Nearpod into the introduction.  Students will be doing a simulation where they will see how your digital footprint makes an impact both good and bad.  To finish up the lesson students will create a Thinglink on a topic that focusing on digital citizenship which they will present to the class.  As times provides next week, I'll stop in to Mrs. Serkowski's class to see how students are doing on creating a buncee presentation that focuses on a technology, person in technology, technology company, or cyberbullying.

The Maker room will be showcasing A- MAZE-ING MAY with our new Sphero ball.  There will be mazes throughout the library that student will need to code our Sphero through using the Tynker app. There is a lot to look forward to in May.

April 11 - April 15

The majority of this week students were in the library completing their ELA testing for the Forward test.  During the times that were open students came in during study halls to finish up projects and get daily assignments completed.  We also had students work on book page poetry and book spine poetry to support our efforts in promoting National Poetry Month.

The library received the two Sphero's for our Maker Room this week so a few students started figuring out how they work.  Our next step will be to make a variety of mazes for students to complete by coding the Sphero through them.

Google Expeditions

How lucky was Park View to get the opportunity to participate in Google Expeditions?  Well, after seeing over 400 students participate and hearing the excitement coming from them, I would say we were pretty lucky.

Google Expeditions is a new product, not available to the public yet, that allows teachers to take their classes on virtual field trips.  These field trips bring abstract concepts to life and give students a deeper understanding of the world beyond the classroom.  The trips that students take are a collection of virtual reality panoramas that are annotated with details, points of interest, and questions that allows them to be incorporated into the curriculum already used in schools.

Our World Geography teachers and Spanish teacher took their classes on Expeditions such as Machu Picchu, coral reefs, Burj Khalifa, Moscow, Barcelona, and Greenland just to name a few.  It was a great ways for student to have the opportunity to learn about places they may never have the chance to visit in person. Overwhelming students thought this experience was unique and allowed them to see places in a unique way that helped them understand the area better.

We thank the Google Expeditions team for stopping at Park View and giving us the opportunity to explore the new technology that is coming.

April 4 - April 8

With spring break just finishing up we were able to come back to Park View with Google Expeditions.  Monday was spent exploring various places in the world through virtual reality.  Teachers were able to take their students on Expeditions to a variety of places by guiding them with a tablet.  It was a fun day and the students had a great time.  There were a lot of "wow's" and "oh my's" throughout the day.  We are very grateful that we had the opportunity to test drive the Google Expeditions and we look forward to the future of this new tool.

Mrs. Turk's class was in to check out independent novels later in the week.  It's always fun helping students find a book that interests them.  It's was also wonderful to see the students talking about books they loved with their fellow classmates, guiding them in some of their decision making.

On Thursday, we began Forward testing and finished up the week with testing.  So far, Mrs. Horne's students have completed their first Language Arts session.  Eighth graders will start their testing next week.

March 14 - March 18

I had the great fortune to attend the Google Summit conference this week on Monday and Tuesday, and boy did I learn a lot of new things to share with the staff at Park View. With technology changing all the time it's important to step outside of our school district and see what's happening elsewhere.  So after spending a couple of days immersed in Google I came back to work with Mrs. Grau's class on creating movies on a European country.  Students began their research, found images, and got a reminder on how to cite sources.

Friday Mrs. Turk's class came in to finish up their writing assessment and Mrs. Lynch's classes came in to work on book reviews that will eventually been digitized to QR codes and placed on the books for other students to see their review of the book.

March 7 - March 11

This week has been a week full of students learning how to create a website.  Students in Mrs. Honn's social studies classes worked on creating websites on an African country.  Student learned how to use the Wix website builder to create their website.  Students researched information on their country last week, cited their sources while gathering information, and completed a storyboard before they began their website.  The students are doing an excellent job of creating websites that no only have great information, but websites that are visually stunning as well.

Ms. Czerwinski's students came in to check out books on different states in the United States as they are working on researching for their state projects.  I'm looking forward to hearing their completed presentations.

Writing Assessment for the 8th grade students finished up this week.  Teachers will be assessing the writing in the next few weeks.

Teen Tech Week

Teen Tech Week was celebrated March 7 - March 11.  Students at Park View were invited into the library to try out some different web tools that allowed them to do photo editing, 3D creation, movie making, as well as art and music creation.  The Maker Room was open to all who wanted to try out a variety of gadgets including: Google Cardboard, Little Bits, Ozobot, and the Makey Makey.  Students also were given a variety of cardboard tubing and they created a ball run.  This was started by one group of students and throughout the day students added on to the structure, making it stronger and more reliable. It was great watching different groups of students working together to solve different problems while trying to complete the structure.

February 29 - March 3

Well this week started off with leap day and a weekend that was sixty degrees, a snowy Tuesday, and chilly weather to end the week. Monday I had the opportunity to go to  Mrs. Honn's room and help guide her students in citations for their research project on Africa.  All students created a Noodle Tools account and they each completed two of their citations.  These same students will also be using Noodle Tools in their language arts class this week for a project linked with City of Ember.

Tuesday, I was reading Alabama Moon with a small group of students from Mrs. Somer's class.  We're a little over half-way through and the students are learning more about each of the main characters and their lives.  We're all looking forward to what happens next.

Wednesday and Thursday Mrs. Murphy was in the library working on a video project with her students and practicing their Español.

Thursday we were double booked, which is always fun.  While Mrs. Murphy's students were working on the desktops, Mrs. Horne's students brought in their Chromebooks where they finished up their research and then watched a tutorial on Thinglink and began their project.  The students all have different topics that relate to the book City of Ember, and wow, are they interesting topics.  The students worked hard to gather their information and will be ready to create their Thinglink project when they come back Monday after an extended weekend.

Next week is Teen Tech Week, so keep your eyes and ears out for some exciting announcements regarding activities in the library.

February 23 - February 27

This week started out with professional development for staff members on Monday, and I have to say that I learned a lot and listened to some great, motivational speakers that sparked some new ideas for me.

The rest of this week I've been working with Ms. Horne's ELA class using Publisher to create brochures on The City of Ember.  Many of the students haven't used Publisher before, so they learned the basics and they're creating some incredible brochures which promote the city.

A few other things that have been happening this week:

1. The Battle of the Books winning team competed in the state challenge.  The team was nervous and excited, we are all awaiting the results.
2. The library is getting geared up for Teen Tech Week which is March 6 - 12.  All sorts of fun tech toys, websites, and games will be available for student to explore.
3. Mustang TV is working on using a teleprompter app to help in making the broadcast more professional.
4. Study hall students have been in all week finishing up projects as the end of another trimester is upon us.
5. The library has been the drop-of for Collection for a Cause run by student government.  Students are raising money for Milwaukee's homeless and it's been great to see the students donating to this cause.

February 15 - February 19

This week Mrs. Murphy's class has been working on creating a Quincenera.  Small groups of students have been working together and learning about what a Quincenera is and the traditions that go along with one.  Noodle Tools has been used for citations and our new database GALE Research in Context has given the students some great resources to search through.

Wednesday was Digital Learning Day, so the library encouraged student to try out some of the different technologies were have in our Maker Room.  The Ozobot, an awesome tiny robot that the students can code.  What students really liked about this is they could use markers for coding on paper or they could use an app to code on a device.  We also have Little Bits, these are electronic building blocks that the students can use to build just about anything. Our Makey Makey was tried by students as well.  This is a product that allows students to turn everyday objects into touchpads.  The students really enjoyed making their mouse work via play dough.  Students found that virtual reality using Google Cardboard could take them all over the world.  They were able to go underwater in the Great Barrier Reef, visit the White House, and see the Eiffel Tower.

Google Cardboard

Study hall students have the opportunity to use the Maker room at the PVMS library.  One of the new items that students have been experimenting with is Google Cardboard.  Google Cardboard is a virtual reality platform that can be used with a mobile phone. The students had a fun time checking out some of the different apps that went along with this new technology