Dance Party

Today Ms. Salter's 5th grade researchers read aloud some of the National Geographic articles they wrote about the triangular trade routes. They wrote as if they were reporters who had sailed the "nasty triangle" and were reporting on the slave trade. After they read a few of their articles in the library they had a dance party to celebrate the end of the project. (If you want to know more about the project, see our Nasty Triangle Research Guide.)

Happy day!

I love loading kids up with books before a break! 

Wikipedia Races

It's the end of the day and these upper learning students are having Wikipedia Races. Someone names a random topic (like bananas or sock monkeys) and each competitor clicks "random article" in Wikipedia. From there they click and click to try to be the first to get to the Wikipedia article on that topic. It definitely takes higher-level thinking to make quick connections and navigate through multiple sites. I think I see a tournament in our future!

A day in the library

People were awfully paranoid about the iPad taking pictures in the library last week, even when I said it was just a time lapse video experiment. Here's a day in the library in 20 seconds—be sure to look for Samuel and the spinning clock.

Poetry Reading #2

Thanks to everyone who participated in our second-ever poetry reading in the UL library. It was a great morning to be a listener. We heard poems by Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou, Billy Collins, Shel Silverstein, and by Galloway poets including Mary Kate, Molly, and Kayla. We also heard poems in German and Spanish. And, of course, a lot of Nutella and croissants were consumed as well. Thanks especially to all the teachers and staff who attended from EL, ML, and UL. Click here to see more photos in our library photo gallery. 

And the victor is...

Congratulations Max P. for winning the Galloway Library Hunger Games! See more photos here. Thank you to Cameron, Michael, Connor, Darya, and Jennifer for taking charge of the reaping. And thanks to all the tributes, too.

Effie Trinket is Here

Don't miss The Hunger Games Reaping TODAY at lunch in the UL courtyard. The Capitol invites all 7th-12th graders to participate or observe The Games!

The Games Are On!

Readbox

Here's our new Readbox—created by Lakota and Cameron, our UL library aides. So many movies of YA books are coming out soon. We are pretty excited for the Nov. 22 premiere of Catching Fire. There will be a reaping in the UL courtyard on Nov. 21 for 7th-12th graders. Put your name in the bowl if you think you can survive the Quarter Quell!

Hot Chocolate Friday

The weather has turned cold (well, cold for Atlanta) so we celebrated with free hot chocolate in the library today. We gave away 160 cups of hot chocolate and 5 bags of marshmallows. We also enjoyed some guitar music from Samuel P. Donovan D. summed it up by saying, "Hot chocolate warms the soul." Thanks everyone for coming by. We will have a poetry reading in November and more hot chocolate in December.

Teens Top 10

Every year the American Library Association announces the "Teens Top 10" list of books. Teens all over the country recently voted for their favorites. The list was announced this week and we have most of them in the library (some are brand new and are on the shelves by the copiers in our library and others are in the catalog and on the regular bookshelves). Take a look at the website to learn more about them. http://www.ala.org/yalsa/reads4teens/read4teens

Unbound

The Unbound Book Club has fantastic weekly meetings, insightful book discussions, and amazing snacks (as you can see from this photo). Yesterday we had our first official book discussion of The Familiars, Because of Mr. Terupt, and Maximilian. I was so impressed with my group's strong opinions and their ability to be respectful of differing viewpoints. We argued and laughed and varied widely in what we thought of The Familiars, but I think we all understood why others felt differently about the book. If you want to know more about our book club, see the Unbound Book Club website.

New Releases

Lots of new books are being released in October and we are getting them in as they are published. We already have House of Hades by Rick Riordan, Unsouled by Neal Shusterman, The Grimm Conclusion by Adam Gidwitz, and The Eye of Minds by James Dashner. We are also buying them for our Kindles, so come check them out!

Gene Yang

It was a big week for authors at Galloway. Yesterday we hosted Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese. He is on tour promoting his new books, Boxers and Saints, but he spent most of the time telling us how he came to write American Born Chinese. He was funny and fascinating and now everyone wants to read his books. Thanks again to The Little Shop of Stories for arranging this visit.

Elizabeth Wein at Galloway

Galloway 9th and 10th graders got to meet author Elizabeth Wein today. She is the author of the World War II spy novel Code Name Verity and her latest WWII novel, Rose Under Fire. She spoke about writing historical fiction and about her love of aviation. She is shown here with Mrs. Fillyaw (9th grade English), Mrs. Klein (10th grade English) and Ms. Kochel (librarian). Thank you, Little Shop of Stories for sending her to us.

Unbound is Back

The Unbound Book Club is back. We will meet weekly on Wednesdays after school. We had 28 kids in attendance and more that will join us when fall sports are over. Be sure to see our Unbound web page for updates. Our first order of business is to make new READ posters for the library.

Meet Joe the Library Monitor

There's been a lot of eating and loud talking in the library at lunch time this school year. We really hate to get mad at students, but this week even nice Ms. Pierce lost her patience. So we have hired a new library monitor to keep the peace. So watch out for Joe!

Gordon Korman!

We were so so so excited to host author Gordon Korman at Galloway last Friday. He spoke to our 4th, 5th and 6th graders about his new book, The Hypnotists, and about many of his other books for kids. Ms. Starkman and I even got to pick him up at the airport and take him out to lunch, which gave us lots of time to talk to him about his books and writing and life in general. He graciously autographed every book that was purchased or brought to him, and even autographed a few sticky notes as well. Thank you, Little Shop of Stories, for bringing us this fabulous author event.

UL Book Club

Ms. Chapman and I were THRILLED to start the UL book club today with 19 opinionated and talkative readers. We'll be reading Beautiful Creatures for September. Stay tuned for the date and time and a name for the club. Thanks to all who came—you made our day.

Wonder

All of middle learning has been reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio this summer. Now it's time to talk about Auggie, Jack Will, Summer, Julian, Via and all the other characters. How were they kind to each other? When were they not as good of friends as they should have been? What can we learn from how Beecher Prep welcomed Auggie to school? We are hoping this is the beginning of a year-long conversation about how we can be a more caring community.

Welcome Back!

Me in Cambodia this summer.
I held and ate a tarantula.
What did you do this summer?

Only a few days until school starts and there is a lot to be excited about. It has been fun to already see some students at school—and especially great to have ML and UL students coming through and offering to help us get the library ready for next week. Here are some of the things I am excited about right now.
1. Upper Learning book club meetings will be on Thursday, Aug. 15. I can't wait to hear how those discussions go. I hope you all read and enjoyed your books.
2. Upper Learning excursion! I get to go backpacking with 14 great students on the Appalachian Trail.
3. We have two authors coming to Galloway very soon...and they are biggies. Gordon Korman and Lemony Snickett. Can't wait for these events!
4. There are lots of new teachers at Galloway this year and I can't wait to work with them.
Welcome back to Galloway!

Summer Reading

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer reading—especially all the Middle Learning students reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Here is one 7th grader reading Wonder this summer (his mom sent it to me and she swears it's not staged). I re-read Wonder and loved it even more the second time around. I'm also re-reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which is my Upper Learning book club selection. It's even better than I remembered, but I can hardly stand to finish it this time. By the way, UL students can find the summer book club list here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050E48A8A823A75-ulsummer

Summer Checkout

It's time for summer book checkout! If you are returning to Galloway next year and you will be in Middle or Upper Learning, you are welcome to come by and check out up to 25 books to read over the summer. If you have outstanding books or fines from this school year you will need to take care of them before checking out books for the summer. We will be checking out books starting today until the end of the school year. If you want book suggestions, be sure to check with Ms. Kochel or Mrs. Zupancic. And don't forget that summer reading assignments can be found here: http://www.gallowayschool.org/reading/

ML Summer Reading

This summer all Galloway Middle Learning students will read the same book for summer reading. Wonder by R.J. Palacio is a funny, sad, uplifting book about courage, hope, and kindness.  Today at assembly we gave the book to all the 5th-7th graders and listened to some teachers read the first few chapters out loud. ML students—see the summer reading webpage for more details about what to do with Wonder and what other books to read.

Skyping with Roland Smith

Galloway seventh graders are Skyping with author Roland Smith right now and asking him questions about his book Peak.

Poetry, the Read In, and Summer Book Clubs

The Upper Learning Poetry Reading was a big success. Thanks to everyone who came and to those who read poems. We will definitely have more poetry readings in the library! See the photo gallery here.

We had 43 middle learning students spend the night in the library Friday night. It was a blast as usual. Click here to see our photos.

And last but not least, sign ups for the all new Upper Learning Summer Book Clubs start this Thursday, April 25 at 3 p.m. See the website here. UL students, look for the registration code in your e-mail on Thursday afternoon.

All Night Read In

It is 5:00 a.m. on Saturday and most of us are still awake. The 3rd annual All Night Read In has been lots of fun. We had 43 kids, four teachers, and one high school chaperone here in the library all night. I think only about six of us are asleep. We've done a lot of reading and a lot of other activities, too. A huge thank you to Ms. Starkman, Mr. Dyer, Mr. Emmons, and Darya for volunteering.

Nutella and Poetry

Used under a Creative Commons License
from Wikimedia Commons

Come to the library this Friday morning from 8:30-9:00 for our National Poetry Month poetry reading. UL students are invited to read poems or just listen to other students and teachers reading their favorite poems. You won't want to miss hearing poems read by Mr. Mathis, Mr. McCandless, and Mrs. Klein (reading poems she wrote when she was in eleventh grade!) Thanks to the Creative Writing Club for helping us get organized and for suggesting that we serve lots of Nutella.

April is the Busiest Month

Author Neal Shusterman talking about Unbound and Unwholly

It has been such a busy week! We are planning a poetry reading for Friday, April 19. Eleventh grade CTR Reports were due on Monday. We had a pizza party for the 22 Middle Learning students who read at least 5 of the Georgia Children's Book Award Nominees. Unbound Book Club had some great discussions about The View from Saturday, The Westing Game, and Tangerine. Ms. Lander's eighth graders took on the characters of Civil Rights leaders and had dinner parties to discuss their lives. Ms. Salter's students are giving their presidential briefings about African countries. The sixth graders had a beautiful day for their Field of Streams field trip. And the UL book club is meeting to talk about Starters by Lissa Price on Thursday. We also had a fantastic Google+ call with author Neal Shusterman and all of our eighth graders. The kids asked such excellent questions that the conversation went on for an hour and twenty minutes and Neal wrote this to me via e-mail: "Glad it all worked out!  I really enjoyed speaking with your students today.  I was actually feeling a little under the weather this morning, but chatting with your students really energized me -- now I feel great,and ready to get out there and write!"

Pizza Party Today

Congratulations to the middle learning students who read five or more of the books nominated for the Georgia Peach Children's Book Award. Today we'll have pizza and dessert in the library and vote for our favorite books online. When you're ready to vote, click here.

Spring Break Reading

Every year we have a spring break photo contest for Middle Learning students. We get a lot of great photos of people reading wherever they are on spring break. All the photos are on display in the Middle Learning Commons, but you can also see all the digital submissions in our 2013 photo gallery here.

Science Experiments

This week the library is full of science experiments and ninth graders are giving presentations about their findings. Come take a look at all the fascinating work they have done.

Unbound T-shirts

We have a great middle learning book club this year. Thirty-six 5th, 6th, and 7th graders come to Unbound Book Club meetings every week. Today we are unveiling our new t-shirts designed by UL 10th grader Heather T.

Listen to a Book

The Galloway Library has a collection of digital audiobooks that can be played on computers or any device that takes apps. The app to download is called Catalist Digital or use your computer and go to http://catalistdigital.com. Your login for this site is the same as the Galloway database login. If you don't know what it is, ask the library staff. Once you log in you can see all the books in our audiobook collection. It's a great way to read books in the car, while you are exercising, or even on the beach on spring break.

Book Bling

On February 28, Middle Learning celebrated its third annual Book Bling Day. Students and teachers wore the names of the books they are reading and lots of beads were distributed all day long.

Awesome Shirt of the Day

A great t-shirt for fans of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. (Greta says she got it at Barnes and Noble.) Upper learning students—if you haven't read this book you really should. It's amazing.

Skype with Laura Resau

Today our seventh graders Skyped with Laura Resau, author of Red Glass and The Queen of Water. Many of the students read her books in literature circles earlier this school year. Students read books relating to countries in Central and South America in language arts class and in geography class they researched the geographical and cultural questions that arose from the books. They then wrote research papers explaining how their geographical questions helped shape their understanding of the novels. (The other two books that students read were Before We were Free by Julia Alvarez and Red Midnight by Ben Mikaelsen.) Laura told about how she came to write both of her novels based on her own life experiences and her time spent teaching English in Oaxaca, Mexico. She answered a lot of questions about the writing and publishing process. Thank you, Laura Resau, for giving us your time today. 

Author Peter Lerangis

It was a privilege to host author Peter Lerangis today in Galloway Middle Learning. He spoke to our 5th and 6th graders about his new book, Colossus Rising. He was entertaining and very gracious, and took a lot of time to autograph books and be interviewed by Galloway 6th graders. Here they are holding up the orb (you have to read the book to understand this). Thank you to The Little Shop of Stories for sending him and to Ms. Pierce, Ms. Starkman, Mr. Boswell, and Ms. Eisenman for helping to coordinate his visit.

Free Hot Chocolate

Today we gave out hot chocolate and Valentine candy before school in the library. We gave out about 115 cups of hot chocolate. It was a cold morning and the end of a tough week at Galloway so it was nice way to start off the day. Next winter we will do it more often!

Author Peter Lerangis Coming to Galloway

On Friday, February 15 Galloway will welcome author Peter Lerangis, who will be speaking to 5th and 6th graders about his upcoming book called Colossus Rising. It's the first book in a new series called Seven Wonders. The book will be published on February 13, but the publisher sent us a few advance copies so teachers have been reading it to the kids to get them excited about the presentation. Here Ms. Starkman is reading chapter four to some of her sixth graders in the library. Thank you, Little Shop of Stories, for giving us the opportunity to meet Peter Lerangis.

Great Depression Photographs

Ms. Lander's 8th graders are coming in this week to look at photographs from the Great Depression. Ask yourself these questions:

What do I see?
What do I wonder?
What would I want to ask these people?

Here are the links to the photos.

Library of Congress: 15 Most Popular Photos
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/requests.html

Library of Congress: 15 Staff Selections
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/selections.html

Library of Congress: All Depression-Era Photos (black and white)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?st=grid&co=fsa

History.com Photos
http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/photos

A Photo Essay on The Great Depression
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/photoessay.htm

Spirit Week

You never know who you are going to see in the Galloway Library.

The Circle of Life

Photo by Henry W.

This is what was in the courtyard today. It flew in with the dead squirrel in its beak and stayed for hours giving many students a chance to see the circle of life up close. You never know what you will learn in our library!

Thank You to Our Assistants

Heather has been our library assistant for graphic design for the first semester this year. She has made lots of posters and other great looking projects for us. She is almost always accompanied by her loyal assistant (otherwise known as the assistant to the assistant) and sometimes by the assistant to the assistant to the assistant. Thanks, Heather and your assistants for all you've done for us.

ML Reading Bowl Team

The first-ever Galloway Middle Learning Reading Bowl Team will be competing in the Fulton County Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Competition this Saturday, January 12. We have 10 team members and one alternate who have been reading the Georgia Children's Book Award nominees and practicing for several months. (Most but not all of them are pictured here.) Good luck team!