Media Center

Card Catalog (OPAC)

Welcome to the media center where our goal is to inspire a love of reading, provide opportunities that develop lifelong learners, and ensure that our students are effective users of information and ideas. 

 Media Center Policies

1. The media center is open from 7:15 am to 3:15 pm daily.  
2. Students may have two books checked out at a time for two weeks.
3. 5th graders are not permitted to AR test in the media center.
4. 6th-8th graders must have their reading folder with their book signed in to AR test in the media center.

3rd Quarter AR Deadline Days:

25% of goal: Thursday, January 26

50% of goal: Friday, February 10

75% of goal: Tuesday, February 28

100% of goal: Thursday, March 22

The Scholastic Book Fair is Coming!

Join us on Wednesday, January 25- Friday, February 3 for lots of exciting new books!  Thanks for supporting the media center and I hope to see you there!

For more information, visit the Book Fair webpage, http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/vcms.

 AR Book Lookup

Curious if your book has an AR test?  Want to know the level and points?  Go to www.arbookfind.com to find out.  You can search by title or author.

AR HomeConnect

Do you want to check your child's AR information from home?

Go to AR HomeConnect

You will use your child's log-in information for this site. 

PI Opportunities

We are always accepting donations of new or gently used books.  If they are items the library currently needs, we will award PI time, based on the retail value of the book, as well as the condition.  Thank you so much to everyone who had donated books to our medis center this year!  Books we are currently in need of include:

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney
• The Death Cure by James Dashner
• Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry
• The Forgotten Warrior by Erin Hunter
• Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
• The Lost Stories by Jonh Flanagan
• The Outcasts by John Flanagan
• The Magykal Papers by Angie Sage
• Monster High 3 by Lisi Harrison

Parent Involvement Reading

You must have a student enrolled at the middle school to test on the titles below.  Parents will be awarded two PI hours for each book read with a passing score on the accompanying AR test.  After reading the book of your choice, you will need to take an AR test on that book in our school’s library. A score of 60% or higher is considered passing and once achieved, 2 hours of informational involvement time will be added to your parent involvement account.  Limited copies of these titles will be available in our school’s library.  Parental selections are as follows:

For 2011-2012 School Year 

• Dream So Big: a parent's guide to helping your child believe & achieve by Christopher Pearman (NEW!)
• What in the World are Your Kids Doing Online by Barbara Melton
• Boys! Shaping Ordinary Boys into Extraordinary Men by William Beausay
• The Five Love Languages of Teenagers by Gary Chapman
• Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman
• Homework Without Tears Lee Canter
• The Tween Years by Donna Corwin
• 7 Worst Things Good Parents Do by John C. Friel
• Positive Discipline A-Z by Jane Nelsen
• Raising Self Reliant Teens in a Self Indulgent World by H. Stephen Glenn
• Parenting Teens with Love and Logic by Foster Cline

Research

Here are some accurate, reliable resources to use for research:

Proquest eLibrary: includes magazine and newspaper articles, maps, reference books, images, and website recommendations. http://www.proquestk12.com/myproducts (username and password available in media center)

World Book Online: an online version of the World Book Encyclopedia.  Includes an atlas and a dictionary.  www.worldbookonline.com (username and password available in media center)

InfoTrac Database: contains access to magazines, newspaper articles, reference books, and biographies. www.infotrac.galegroup.com (username and password available in media center) 

MLA Format

Students are required to write their research papers in MLA format.  That means that the assignment must be formatted properly and all resources that are used must be cited. 

Formatting an MLA paper

·   Double-spaced

·   12 point font

·   black ink

·   Times New Roman

·   1-inch margins

·   indent the first line of all paragraphs

Please see the pdf documents below for: citation examples for print and online resources, MLA guidelines for a works cited page, a sample works cited page, and tips for Internet research.  For extra help citing your sources try:  MLA Citation Maker (a website that will create MLA citations for you!) or MLA Citation Worksheets (worksheets that guide you through the citation process)

Sunshine State Young Readers Program

There are lots of great books on the Sunshine State Book List this year!  Students who read and pass the AR tests on all 15 books for their grade level by the end of March will earn a pool party and barbeque field trip at the end of the year!  Go to myssyra.org for more information and the book lists.

Happy Reading!

Mrs. Alison Norton

alison.norton@tvcs.org

Media Center Acrobat(.PDF) Documents

3rd-5th Grade - Sunshine State Book List
6th-8th Grade - Sunshine State Book List
Internet Research - Helpful Tips!
Works Cited - MLA guidelines and a sample works cited page
Works Cited examples - MLA format for books, online sources, and more

Media Center Links

Book Adventure - Create book lists, take tests, earn prizes!
Home Connect - AR link to Home Connect
InfoTrac Database-password and user available in media - Great Online Research Database
Just Read Families - Just Read Family Information
Juvenile Series and Sequels - Lists of hundreds of series. Easy searches!
Kids Reads! - Great descriptions of series books.
ProQuest - Great Online Research site
Scholastic - A varied resource for parent and student use
Sunshine State Books - 2011-12 Sunshine State Book Lists
Works Cited Format - Works Cited Format
World Book Online - A great encyclopedia (password available in media center)