Discovery Blue Ribbon Celebration

Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Crawford are in Washington, DC to receive the Blue Ribbon award on behalf of Discovery Middle School.

What's Happening?
You can follow the celebration on twitter
use hashtag #nbrs2013

FOLLOW THE LIVESTREAM!
http://liveeventaccess.com/blueribbon/
8:00 - 9:30 - Investing in Leadership
12:10 - 3:30 - Awards Ceremony

Crime and Punishment?

Why is Mrs. Harper in jail? And smiling?

FMA Live comes to Discovery!

See story on WSBT - Students get in to hip-hop with physics!

Hat Day!

Music is in the COMPUTER?

Our very own Murray Weaver, All School band teacher, was featured in the South Bend Tribune. Mr. Weaver's classes use the program Smart Movie to help students practice. Students are then assessed by the program and it alerts them to what they need to work on!

Read all about it here!

Eleanor & Park Book Trailer by Orabelle

by Orabelle

The WDMS students created slideshow book trailers as part of their final grades.  Each student could choose any book they wanted, as long as I'd read the book. Up to 2 students could read the same book.  

The project was inspired by Jennifer Fountain of Fountain Reflections.  I created a rubric and modified Jennifer's directions to fit my students and our equipment.  Let me know if you want to see those items!

13 Reasons Why Book Trailer by Alex and Jordyn

The WDMS students created slideshow book trailers as part of their final grades.  Each student could choose any book they wanted, as long as I'd read the book. Up to 2 students could read the same book.  

The project was inspired by Jennifer Fountain of Fountain Reflections.  I created a rubric and modified Jennifer's directions to fit my students and our equipment.  Let me know if you want to see those items!

by Alex

by Jordyn

Hoosier Family of Readers - an IDOE initiative

Glenda Ritz, Superintendent of Public Instruction for Indiana, has initiated a great reading program; 

Hoosier Family of Reading. 

This includes authors and organizations coming together to illuminate the joy of reading.  The Hoosier Family of Reading includes access to over 3,000 e-books! Many of the books are downloadable to personal devices. Each book has almost unlimited access!! This is amazing! Take a minute to watch Dr. Ritz's video and then check out the resources. 

MyOnBooks - http://www.myon.com/login/Hoosier/ 

School: Hoosier Family of Readers, Indiana Department of Education
Username: read
Password: read

 Don't forget to "like" the IDOE Facebook or follow them on twitter for more updates!
IDOE Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HoosierFamRead
IDOE Twitter - https://twitter.com/HoosierFamRead
Hoosier Family of Readers Resources - http://mustang.doe.in.gov/dg/reading/welcome.html

Getting Ready For ISTEP

Music teacher made this fun ISTEP prep video with a few teachers!

One Book, One School 2013 Kickoff

Friday, we kicked off our Third Annual One Book, One School reading!
Students got to spend 15+ minutes reading as part of our Friday Reads initiative!

We will have daily trivia questions, weekly selection quizzes, several game shows, some minute to win it games, and a Battle of the Book.  This year we will also culminate with an author visit! So exciting!








Here are some pictures of students enjoying this book:

The only unfortunate part of this is the cover change.  The old cover was so much better!!

Oh, I got to meet Kenneth Oppel at NCTE in 2011.  Here he is signing my book!

Oh what fun we will have!

WDMS Students (Harlem) Shake it Up in the Library

The WDMS students visit the library. Those books must be fantastic!

DMS Math Counts Team Sweeps the Chapter competition

Congratulations to the Discovery Middle School Math Counts team! Coached by Professor Kirgios and Kevin Latimer, the team took first and took the the top 3 individual spots!!! Go DMS! WNDU Video on Demand -

This Month in Book Clubs - February 2013

These are our last free reads before our One Book, One School kickoff next month.

6th Graders - Wonder by RJ Palacio

One student has already told me how she passed Wonder around to people in her family. That's what you want to hear!




Wonder Discussion and Educators Guide - Random House
Choose Kind anti-bullying campaign

7th Grade Randolph - The False Prince (Ascendence Trilogy, 1) by Jennifer A. Nielsen

A favorite of mine and Mrs. Randolph's. Hope the students love it as much as we do.


False Prince Discussion Guide - Scholastic
Are You a False Prince? - quiz from Scholastic also includes excerpt from book
Jennifer A Nielsen blog

7th Grade Roberts - Starters (Starters and Enders, 1) by Lissa Price

8th Graders had mixed reactions to this one. My reluctant readers seemed to really like it and my avid readers gave it about 3.5.  We'll see how this group reacts.



Starters Readers Guide - Random House
Q and A with Lissa Price
Starters 1st Chapter
Starters Facebook Game
Reading Strategies using Starters - Youth Voices

8th Graders - Blood Red Road (Dustlands, 1) by Moira Young

This was the unanimous vote for this month's book. I need to re-read it and then dive into book 2!



Blood Red Road Discussion Guide - Simon and Schuster
Rebel Heart excerpt

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

Youth Media Awards

The ALA Youth Media Awards were announced this morning! It's a special day for librarians across the land because we finally get to see what our esteemed colleagues have decided were the top books in a variety of categories! Many of us use those lists to purchase for our patrons.

Caldecott - picture book illustrations
Honors
Creepy Carrots by Reynolds
Extra Yarn by Barnett  - (personal favorite)
Green by Seeger

Winner: This is Not by Hat by Jon Klassen - (personal favorite)

Newbery - distinguished children's book
Honors
Splendors and Glooms by Schlitz - (personal favorite)
Bomb by Sheinkin - (personal favorite)
Three Times Lucky by Turnage

Winner: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (personal favorite and I have a signed copy!)

DMS Students on the News

Congratulations to Kristina,  a 7th grader at Discovery. She won the NFL Pass, Punt, and Kick National Championship! One of our news stations came to the school to interview her and decided to let two of our morning news show students take the lead!

Fox 28: South Bend, Elkhart IN News, Weather, Sports

So cool! Way to go Reis, Emily, and Kristina!

This Month in Book Clubs - January 2013

4 of 5 book clubs will meet this month to discuss books read over Winter Break. One will meet to discuss a previously read book, due to a missed meeting.

6th Grade - January 11 - The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

I'll share the Official Book Trailer


Some information about Katherine Applegate (and her husband Michael Grant). I was lucky enough to hear Ms. Applegate speak back in August, shortly after The Real Ivan died. And if conversation lulls, I'll share the Harper Collins Children's Discussion Guide.

7th Grade Howard - January 11 - Boy21 by Matthew Quick

Here's the trailer


Here's a bio of Matthew Quick.  And some questions for Boy21.

7th Grade Roberts - January 18 - Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

The trailer

The blog of Tahereh Mafi and some information about Shatter Me movie rights which were sold even before the book came out!  Also, a recording of Ms. Mafi pronouncing her first name! On her official website you can see a trailer for book 1.5 Destroy Me.

7th Grade Randolph - January 25 - Partials by Dan Wells

The trailer

 Dan Wells' bio as well as a trailer for the next book, Fragments.

8th Grade - January 24 - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Trailer


Laini Taylor's Blog. Those UK covers are so much better! Love their simplicity.  A few discussion questions from LitLovers.