Giving Thanks @ FSMS

I am thankful....

• For the expression, "Better Late Than Never" - The 2014-15 Password Chart is finally updated with NEW subscription resources. Look for it in your email! I am happy to instruct teachers and students in best practices for these new resources which include:
• Britannica School Online, which provides STEM and ESL/ELL resources, plus support for Differentiated  & Project Based Learning along with reliable resources for student research
• Soundzabound, a royalty-free music/sound effects library for students to use in projects without violating copyright
• American Indian Histories and Cultures database - with one of the strongest archival collections on American Indian history in the world.
• American West database - which explores American expansion from the early eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century through multiple primary resources
• TexQuest databases - which includes Student Resource Junior and Infotrac Newstand
• For Follett Shelf ebooks - students now have accounts within the Destiny Follet Shelf library catalog so they can check out and read ebooks for free on their devices. Teachers can do so, too. More info coming about how the non-fiction ebooks can be used for text analysis.
• For the Dallas Morning News online - with the Sunday-only subscription print version received every Monday at FSMS, teachers and students have access to the DMN online econtent!
• For amazing FSMS teachers who daily guide and instruct their students. I'm here to give teachers and students a L.I.F.T (more info about this coming soon)! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Shuffield

The beginning of the new school year 2014-15 offers many choices in the FSMS Library:

• choices about which books to read and in what format (print, ebook, or digital audiobook)
• choices in ways students can be involved in the FSMS Library
• book clubs and discussions on Edmodo
• booktrailer productions
• FabLab where students can create and code
• advisory panel to Mrs. Shuffield for which books she should purchase
• WCUB - a NEW radio broadcast opportunity

So, come "CCARV"out a place in the FSMS Library this year and catch yourself on FSMSLibrary Instagram, too!

C=Create

C=Code

A=Advise

R=Radio broadcast

V=Video booktrailer production

Mrs. Shuffield

Summer Reading Through Follett eBooks & Audio Books!

This summer I hope FSMS students will read newly purchased ebooks and audio books on their own personal devices. It's easy to use, it can be done from anywhere with the installed apps, and books automatically check in on their own!! Check out this link and other links on this website to read more about it!!

March Madness! We're in the final days of the FSMS Library's Final Four. Students have been selecting which books of the most-checked-out FSMS Library books they think should win! The Final Four most popular books checked out from the FSMS Library are: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The House of Hades by Rick Riordan, and Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins.

Vote for which most-check-out FSMS fiction library book you think should win the favorite book so far this year @ http://goo.gl/TqhiBO!

In honor of Valentine's Day on Friday, the library is offering a "Blind Date with a Book" this week! Students can come to the library to request a specific genre of book to be wrapped and picked up later OR they can come and get an already-wrapped book from the "Blind Date with a Book" table. Students will only know the genre of the book; they won't know what the book is until the unwrap it. Will you find a book you absolutely LOVE? Come check out a "Blind Date with a Book" in your FSMS Library!

CHANGE - it never seems easy, and for most of us it is associated with a negative connotation. This school year has begun with changes, some that have been time consuming and difficult, but other changes have been refreshing and more evidently beneficial.

Two books I've recently read involve characters confronted with changes: Cinder, by Marissa Meyer, and Flying the Dragon, by Natalie Dias Lorenzi. Both involve young people who are faced with big changes to their circumstances, and they don't like it! But as all who go through changes learn, with difficulty comes growth and opportunity to better oneself. (By the way, Cinder is a current Lone Star book and Flying the Dragon is on this year's Bluebonnet nominee list).

Changes sometimes involve the unknown, so maybe that's one reason we don't (or do) like change! The theme of this year's Teen Read Week is "Seek the Unknown at Your Library!" I'd like to challenge students to read a genre of book they've never read before, exploring something new, even though it may be a change for them.

CHANGE - it can be good! Sometimes I handle it well, sometimes not so well, but it's common ground in the human experience. As the unknown continues to come, I want it to be a growth for good and an opportunity for positive experiences. I hope that's the same for you. Seek the unknown and see what unexpected and amazing things can happen!

Welcome back to the 2013-14 school year, FSMS students!

I hope that you can catch a dream this school year by reading and exploring many print and ebooks.

This summer, I've been reading through this year's Bluebonnet and Lone Star books. There's some great books in these two lists. One of my favorites is R.J. Palacio's, Wonder, which is a wonder of a book and encourages all of us to "choose kind."

What good books have you read this summer? I'd love to hear from you!