Welcome Back to my blog!

I've taken a bit of a break from blogging (like several years) and have begun a blog for our community at https://athenscommunityofreaders.blogspot.com/.  Please consider following that blog to hear about what our community is reading during this time of distanced learning!  I hope to also share here at Middle Media Center Madness about the professional side of being a distanced learning librarian too, but we shall see if that happens.

Thanks,
Shawn Hinger

3D Printing and More in the Library Media Center

Since receiving our MakerBot 3D printer through many generous donations with DonorsChoose.org, we have been able to do some exploration and have now started our more serious projects.  I was so nervous to begin with about how to work with the 3D printer, but I feel really comfortable using it now AND also feel comfortable allowing students to use it.  Any chance I can, I want to have the kids to do all of the making, converting and button pushing.

Anytime the MakerBot is printing we draw a crowd! 

Tinkercad is web based so kids can access on various computers

This week in the CMS Library Media Center, we printed the geodes our 6th grade science students made in Tinkercad during their investigation of the contribution of minerals to rock composition.  We have had quite an interesting array of designs.

Next week, we hope to begin printing the winning 3D product designs that our 6th grade social studies classes are creating as they learn about economics and environmental issues.  

In a few weeks, our next, and more ambitious, project is to use the FREE 123D Creature iPad app to design monsters that will inspire our writing.  Right now, we are in the testing phase by creating test designs and attempting an export from 123D Creature and then into MakerBot.

One of our students suggested we make a video of a MakerBot build and speed it up, so I told her to have at it.  She set up the iPad in front of the Bot and we recorded away.  After a bit of editing in iMovie here you go.....

News from the CMS Media Center--letter to parents

Celebrate International Literacy Day with CMS by having a 'turn off the TV and read night' at your home this evening!

OWLS Read Poster Contest--As another way to celebrate literacy at CMS, we are hosting a Read Poster contest.  We will select a winner for each of the following categories:  student, faculty and parent/guardian.  Snap a picture of yourself or your child reading, and if you like, edit the picture in photo editing software, and then send the picture to Mrs. Hinger at CMS.  We will print these in posters to hang outside the media center, and a winner will be selected from all entries received by September 19th.  Winners will receive Jittery Joe's Gift Cards (thanks JJ for the donations)!

Owls Read Program--Once again this year we are using the Owls Read program to promote reading both at CMS and at home! Students are encouraged to get 'caught reading' at school when they have any downtime, to read at home and report back their at-home-reading to their ELA teacher and to do a good job on reading assignments during class.  When we see students doing these things CMS faculty will reward students with Reading Talons.  Once students have earned 35 Reading Talons, they can turn them in for a free OWLS READ long sleeve t-shirt.  This shirt is very special because it may be worn on Fridays, on special OWLS READ Days AND can be worn any day of the week over a uniform shirt. The only way students can get this shirt is by earning it through reading.  Students cannot purchase the shirt.  So, please encourage your child to read, read, read and earn a shirt ASAP!

Personal Learning Device Updates (student computers, laptops, Chromebooks, netbooks, etc.)

If you have not already done so, consider coming in for one of our parent orientations for the personal learning device so that your child can take theirs home from CMS soon.  Here are a few opportunities for you to get this quick orientation.  

Tuesday, September 9th 4:00 p.m. CMS Media Center

Friday, September 12th at the end of the parent coffee in the CMS Media Center 

Saturday, September 13th at the Parent University (for more info cavinli@clarke.k12.ga.us)

If you cannot make one of these orientations, just let Mrs. Hinger know a time that you are available, and she will schedule a personal orientation for you then.

CMS Media Center's MakerBot 3D Printer--Our brand new MakerBot 3D printer has arrived (thanks to Mr. Simpson and all the donors on DonorsChoose.org) Students are already submitting designs to be printed. We've printed several student created 3D objects today! We are hoping to begin using it for classroom projects in the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, I am challenging the students to play in 3D design software and MAKE whatever they like so that they can begin experiencing what can be done with the MakerBot and 3D design.  I will print the most unique and exciting 3D designs that are sent to me!  A super user friendly and free online software is TinkerCad  Tell your child to check it out, or feel free to help them explore other 3D design products.  Students should share any designs with Mrs. Hinger via email or Google Drive.

Clarke County School District Library Media Specialists Hanging Out Live with LibraryGirl

Clarke County School District Media Specialists Hanging Out Live with LibraryGirl @jenniferlagarde

Live Google Hanout: Careers and Education in STEM with Rebecca Byler from Georgia Tech

The 6th Grade Math Research ELT is studying careers in STEM and today we had a guest from Georgia Tech.  Rebecca Byler is a senior studying biomedical engineering and will continue her studies in graduate school at Yale after the first of the year.  Rebceea spoke with us about the many fields of study at Georgia Tech and all of the exciting carrers in STEM that may result from these studies.  These students will research a career, create a presentation and we will publish our presentations to share with the world.

A Reflection on Literacy Events for Families

We had a nice turn out for our Family Literacy Night again this year.  I have had many different variations of our family night: a reading carnival, a reading pep rally, and the the current version: an evening of many literacies.  During the last two years, in the spirit of participatory learning, (which got me all excited when I learned about it from Henry Jenkins) students have led sessions for parents on several different #literacies  (which is one of my passions brought on from the teaching of great Donna Alvermann at UGA and all of my PLN friends in the area of  #literacies  Anna Smith, Emily Pendegrass and Buffy Hamilton just to name a few).  Parents rotate among the classes to experience all of the student-led sessions.  Probably my favorite part about this year's fam lit night was our collaboration with the teen services librarian at Athens Regional Library.  Lauren came and provided activities for the middle schoolers while the parents were in the sessions.  We have done quite a bit of collaboration with Lauren from the library this year, and I'm super excited to share more about that....in another blog post soon.

I found our current lit night model to be pretty successful, and the parents seem to be impressed with the student experts and many literacies for learning, but I wonder how we could get more parents to attend.  I've used the trick of having kids perform or be involved to get more participation with orchestra and step team performances as well as student presenters, but sometimes the parents come begrudgingly to the literacy sessions b/c their only real motivation for coming is to watch their kid perform in the orchestra/step team, etc.  With the 600 students in our school, I guess I'm an overachiever to hope we could pull more than the 50 or 60 parents that show for the evening.  Do you think this is a reasonable turnout?  Do most schools have a family literacy night or event to promote literacy with parents?  How do you get more parents to participate?

CMS Family Literacy Night is this Tuesday!

Please join us for the CMS Family Literacy Night this Tuesday from 6-7 p.m.  We will have the book fair open for your shopping pleasure and will have literacy sessions for parents, middle school students, as well as the younger siblings. 

Students will lead sessions for parents on Digital Literacy, Writing 6 Word Memoirs, Book Talks, and Information Literacy. CMS Middle Schoolers will be able to participate in exciting activities provided by Mrs. Lauren, Teen Services Librarian, who will be visiting CMS from next door at the Athens Regional Library.  AND the elementary and preschool age children will be have a chance to participate in foreign language literacy activities with the CMS Foreign Language Staff, so bring the whole family for this ultra engaging night of learning and fun! 

For our entertainment during Family Literacy Night, we will have performances by the fantastic CMS Orchestra Ensembles and the world famous CMS Step Team.  The Books for Keeps Staff will be at CMS collecting donations of new or used books to support this very important local charity.  Students who bring in books to donate will be rewarded with one OWLS Read Talon for each book they donate up to five (of course we will take as many books as you bring).  Books for Keeps will take book donations of any type.  

Tuesday will be an OWLS Read t-shirt day at CMS, so if your child has earned an OWLS Read shirt, they may wear it to school with uniform bottoms this Tuesday to help us celebrate literacy. If your child hasn't earned their OWLS Read shirt yet, encourage them to read at school and home to earn the 35 Owls Read Talons soon!

We can’t wait to see you on Tuesday night, so grab the whole family, and maybe a stack of books to donate, and come on out to the CMS Family Literacy Night!