Congratulations Readathon Winners!
April 25th, 2012The results are in for the annual Green-Gold Word Count Readathon! It was a hotly contested battle among the readers, over ten of whom read a million words or more, but Green grabbed the lead from the start and never let go. Here are the official results:
Green: 14,295,439 words, 572 points
Gold: 7,742,818 words, 310 points
Top ten readers, who earned Barnes & Noble or Starbucks gift cards:
1. Nelson,7th 2,412,674 words Green
2. Arun, 6th 1,564,098 words Green
3. Zachary, 7th 1,536,810 words Gold
4. Derek, 8th 1,333,418 words Green
5. Evan, 5th 1,325,133 words Green
6. Harriet, 8th 1,257,086 words Gold
7. Nina, 6th 1,228,549 words Green
8. Abigail, 5th 1,264,966 words Green
9. Sela, 7th 1,107,246 words Green
10. Maria, 6th 1,044290 words Green
Project Week in the Library
April 17th, 2012The Library was a hive of activity during Project Week, as we hosted the ‘Written & Illustrated By…’ project for the second time–it’s amazing how fifteen students engaged in writing and illustrating their own picture books can fill up a library capable of seating 100! This project is run by me, Rebecca Moore, librarian, and Karen Mihata, 8th grade English–we have been teaching it jointly for seven years, and never get tired of seeing students’ creativity brought to life. During the projects, students write a story, illustrate it (this takes the longest amount of time!), sew the book together, glue in their text and illustrations, glue on binder board covers, and create a jacket to hold it all together.
We are always amazed with the creative stories the students come up with, and the artistic skills exhibited even by those who claim they have none! This year we had our first pop-up book, our first dystopias (I think we can thank Hunger Games for those!), some steampunk, some nonfiction, a “scrapbook,” a book incorporating both drawings and photos of the author’s adorable pug dog, and so much more! Below are some pictures from our exciting and creative week, and the books are now on display in the library for a short time before their creators take them home.
New Materials Received in March
March 30th, 2012Hunger Games Mania!
March 26th, 2012In celebration of the new Hunger Games movie being released last Friday, the Library sponsored four days of Hunger Games activities. On Tuesday and Wednesday we played Hunger Games Jeopardy in the Library (see picture), and on Thursday and Friday we played Hunger GamesTrivia in the Campus Center. Many tributes came to sacrifice themselves in the reaping for Green/Gold points, and in the end, the Green District was victorious with 394 points to Gold’s 296. “May the odds ever be in your favor!”
Photo Finish Contest Winners!
March 6th, 2012This year, the Library ran its second annual ‘Photo Finish’ contest for Middle School students. Students were presented with a box of cut-out magazine photos, and had to choose three to incorporate into a story. Faculty and staff voted on the winners.
Students created a staggering 75 entries, which make for a lively and colorful display!
New Materials Received in February
February 29th, 2012Complete annotated list, no cover images
Organized by call number/subject
Selected annotated list, with cover images
Battle of the Books!
February 14th, 2012The Battle of the Books is a combination reading contest and game show in which students compete in teams to answer questions from a set list of books. Half of the books were chosen by students in December, and half were chosen by librarian Rebecca Moore to balance the list for age level, gender, diversity, and genre. Teachers help read the books and write up questions, and many wonderful parent volunteers help out with snacks, timekeeping, scorekeeping, and general crowd control–thank you!
At Overlake we hold two separate Battles; all fifth graders participate in the fifth grade battle, and students in sixth through eighth grade participate in their own Battle on a voluntary basis. This year the voluntary Battle was especially popular and lively–36 students signed up to participate!
For more information about the Battle, click here for rules, 5th grade booklist, and 6th-8th grade booklist.
Check out some pictures from this year’s Battles:
6th-8th grade teams competing in a battle. Picture by Ann Ewel.
A 6th-8th grade team waits for the next question. Picture by Ann Ewel.
Eager 5th graders tell their captain the answer. Picture by Heidi Kelly.
5th grade teams listen to the question. Picture by Heidi Kelly.
Faculty Favorites Book Recommendations 2012
February 13th, 2012Every year the Faculty and Staff take the time to send in book recommendations to the library, which we put together in an annotated list with cover images. Please enjoy some reading suggestions that will keep you busy for months to come! Do note that most of the titles are for adults, so may not be appropriate for younger students.
New Materials Received in January
February 1st, 2012Complete list, with annotations but no cover images
Selected lists, with annotations and cover images
New fiction and graphic novels
