Bring it on!

If the world ends in 2012... at least ____________________! Fill in the blank.

Feeling ILL?

Do you know what ILL is? Well, it doesn't stand for ill, but it is pretty sick. Ba-dum-DUM-TSH! ILL stands for interlibrary loan. Have you ever wanted a book that we don't have in the library? Have you ever found an article that you need for research, but only have access to the abstract? Need the full text? You can request the book or the article on the Mepham High School Library homepage, by clicking on the "ILL" tab on the left-hand side. Interlibrary loan allows us to borrow books and articles from other libraries. Request are processed in a day and we usually have the item in a few days. Just another great service offered to you by your school library.

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Good Advice

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ONE for Books!

Turning Dollars and Coins Into Books and Smiles!

"One for Books® provides an easy and effective way to unite the school community and provide more books for kids and teachers. All funds collected through One for Books are used to buy more books from the Book Fair. Funds can be used to:

• Give more students a chance to participate in the Book Fair.
• Add books to the school library.
• Help teachers add more books to their classroom shelves.
• Donate to another school or community organization that could use more books.

Each year, thousands of schools across the country participate in One for Books. Scholastic matches the monetary donations schools generate, with a donation of up to one million books to three national non-profit organizations dedicated to helping kids and families in need: Kids in Distressed Situations, Inc., the Kids In Need Foundation, and the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

By working together, we can help connect kids with more books than ever before."

To the Book Fair and Beyond!

The whole school is excited about our sixth annual Scholastic Book Fair, starting on Monday, November 28th - Wednesday, November 30th. An amazing selection of books is headed our way! At the Book Fair you will find the latest and finest titles for kids, as well as books of interest to parents. Mark your calendar for our Family Event - Monday, November 28th at 6:00 p.m. - where the whole family can join in the fun! The Book Fair is a great way to get everyone excited about reading. See you there!

Proceeds from the Fair will be used to buy books for children’s charities, the school library, and to support activities of the school’s chapter of the National English Honor Society (NEHS), such as our annual author visit.

thank·ful adj \ˈthaŋk-fəl\

What are you thankful for?

Image by Cyd Converse for The Sweetest Occasion.

YouTube.com/Teachers

"Curious about how to effectively incorporate YouTube into your classroom? Looking for ways to engage the visual learners in your group? Want to access a vast array of free educational content to support your lectures? Hoping to extend the power of your teaching to a global audience through video? Look no further than YouTube.com/teachers, a resource for educators of all levels that will empower you to learn, teach and share through YouTube." - From the Google Teacher Newsletter

Search This Blog!

You can now search this blog! Scroll down on the left-hand side and type in your search term. Brought to you by Google Custom Search.

New Online Databases!

In order to use our online databases from home, you need a username and password. Stop by the library to get a handout.

Britannica’s Image Quest – Easy access to more than two million rights-cleared
images from one convenient site!

Learning Literature (Proquest) – Offers a comprehensive literary resource for original, full-text works, 3,000 author biographies, and contemporary criticisms in one integrated source covering 600 years of literature.
Literary Reference Center Plus (EBSCO) – Includes full text plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, articles/essays of literary criticism, author biographies, literary journals, book reviews, and contemporary poems, classic and contemporary
short stories, author interviews, classic texts and much more.

ProQuest PQ Central K12 – The largest journal collection delivering millions of articles from more than 4,600 full-text scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers. Includes ProQuest AP Science – A comprehensive collection of more than 500 magazines and journals designed to support advance placement and college-prep level science studies.

Soundzabound Music Library – We have 5 new soundtracks: background, sports, production, animal and scary sounds that are royalty free, copyright compliant, audio files. These can be use as background music for your podcasts, videos, PowerPoint, and any other forms of multimedia.

Picture It @ your library

Be part of Teen Read Week 2011! Join us for Picture It @ your library, October 16-22. Pick up graphic novels, art books, photography guides, fantasy titles and more. Stop by today and find something that inspires you, just for the fun of it! Click here for a PSA from Josh Robert Thompson, voice of Geoff Petersen on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Brought to you by YALSA.

Dittos to Digital

ATTENTION TEACHERS: Do you have dittos that you want to convert to a Microsoft Word document or SMART Notebook? Now you can. It’s easy! ABBYY FineReader is OCR software for text recognition, which turns scans and digital photographs into searchable and editable documents. We now have this software on the 2 library computers attached to our scanners. Come on in and we will show you how to use it!

Have you seen me in the library?

QR codes are coming to Mepham Library! On the left is an image of a QR code. SCAN IT with a QR code reader and see where it takes you!

So what is a QR code? QR is an abbreviation for quick response, and it is a new technology sweeping the world. Just ask Japan. You might already have seen the familiar black square popping up on billboards, magazine ads, websites, business cards and even t-shirts!

We are even using it here in your school library. On some of our books you will notice they have a QR code attached to the front cover. A QR code allows you to connect to, and gain information from the online world by scanning the black box image with your smart phone, iphone or ipad equipped with a QR code reader app. When you scan the QR code on one of our books, it will take you to a book trailer. This will help you with your decision when choosing a book. Stop by your school library and try out this new technology with our QR books on display.

Prepared and Written by Michele Rudzewick

Read for the Record

Join us on October 6, 2011 for Jumpstart's Read for the Record- a national campaign to close the early education achievement gap by setting a reading world record. More than two million people will read Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney, including the seniors in Senior Experience and Participation in Government. In honor of this event and the service learning efforts of the seniors, we have been granted a faculty dress down day for Thursday October 6th. Please wear red to show your support and instead of the typical $5, we are collecting children's books for ages 5-8 (Grades K-4). Donation bins will be set up in the main office.Thanks for your support!

We Have eBooks! Yay!

eBooks have arrived. When you go to the Mepham High School Library Website, click on the “Follett eBooks” icon in the upper left hand side. Students, faculty and staff can log in using the same username and password that you use to log in to our school computers. Guests can log in using the username: mepham and password: mepham. Once you are logged in, you can click on a title and view the book online. You can then “check out” the book. The eBook will automatically return itself to the eShelf in 2 weeks. Our new titles include a few books from the summer reading list and some of the classics.

These are the eBook titles we have so far:
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Color of Water by James McBride
Complete Novels of Jane Austen by Jane Austen
Crucible by Arthur Miller
Feed by M. T. Anderson
Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Remember Our Favorite Author Robin Palmer?

UPDATE! Click here for the Geek Charming Full Movie Preview Trailer! It premieres on the Disney Channel on Friday, November 11th at 8 p.m. Congratulations Robin Palmer!

Remember back in the winter of 2009, when we had the lovely Robin Palmer, author of Cindy Ella, join us for an author visit? We had an in-depth book discussion, Q&A, book signing, and photo op. Well, we have exciting news! Her book Geek Charming has been turned into a movie starring Sarah Hyland and Matt Prokop!!! We will keep you posted on the release date.

Official released synopsis:

"Dylan Shoenfield is the pink princess of the upscale Los Angeles Woodlands Academy. She has the coolest boyfriend, the most popular friends, and a brand-new it bag that everyone covets. But when she accidentally tosses her Serge Sanchez bag into a fountain, this princess comes face-to-face with her own personal frog, self-professed film geek Josh Rosen. In return for rescuing Dylans bag, Josh convinces Dylan to let him film her for his documentary on high school popularity. Reluctantly, Dylan lets F-list Josh into her A-list world, and is shocked to realize that sometimes nerds can be pretty cool. But when Dylans so-called prince charming of a boyfriend dumps her flat, her life and her social status comes to a crashing halt. Can Dylan win the Woodlands Academy Fall Formal Leaf Queen crown? Can Josh win the Woodlands Academy 10th Annual Film Festival? Can Dylan, with Joshs help, pull the pieces together to create her own happily-ever-after?"
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For New (and Old) Pirates!

Hey pirates! Take a virtual tour of our awesome library in just a few minutes. This video shows you all the cool ways in which you can use your library. Then come by and actually use it!

A Day of Service

To commemorate the 10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001, we have set aside Friday, September 9th as a Day of Service at Mepham High School and throughout the district.

All schools in the district will be collecting non-perishable food items for donation to local food pantries. There is a significant need for baby food and formula. We will also be collecting “gently used” backpacks with school supplies for those families in need. Students throughout the district are asked to bring items to their Period One class. Parents and community members may place items in the bins located in each building’s main office.

In addition, we will be sponsoring a District Blood Drive at Brookside School (1260 Meadowbrook Road) from 2 – 8 PM for the entire school community.

We hope you will participate in these activities as we focus our attention on ways we can continue to build a supportive and understanding school community.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back Pirates! Welcome to the Class of 2015! We have a lot of new teachers at Mepham High School, mostly from Grand Avenue Middle School, and we welcome you too! We are so pleased to have you here. Stay tuned for our new books, e-books (yay!), new databases (including awesome clip art) and a whole lot more! Check out our new signage. Doesn't the blue really pop? We are pysched for a great school year.
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Summer Reading Sizzles!

We are pleased to present the 2011 Summer Reading Lists. Each student is required to select a book from the appropriate grade-level list below. If you are having trouble choosing a book, ask a parent, teacher, librarian or the English department chair for help. The Mepham High School Website has pamphlets on each list and the titles below are linked to Amazon.com with more information to help make your selection easier.

Incoming 9th Grade Summer Reading List (E1):
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Driver's Ed by Caroline B. Cooney
Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

Incoming 10th Grade Summer Reading List (E2):
Feed by M.T. Anderson
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

Incoming 10th Grade Honors Summer Reading List (E2H):
And Then There Were None* by Agatha Christie
Catcher in the Rye* by J.D. Salinger
*Only required for 10th Grade English Honors students at Mepham High School

Incoming 11th Grade Summer Reading List (E3):
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer

E3 AP English:
Freakonomics*by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
The Things They Carried* by Tim O'Brien
*Only required for E3 AP English students at Mepham High School

Incoming 12th Grade Summer Reading List (E4):
For One More Day by Mitch Albom
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

E4 AP English:
How to Read Literature Like a Professor* by Thomas C. Foster
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
*Only required for E4 AP English students at Mepham High School

Testing Tips

Brought to you by Ms. Dennis, Ms. Gellar, Ms. Kyriacou, and Ms. Miller

While I was out, some of your favorite teachers put together a bulletin board in the library with wonderful testing tips. My favorite was "Eat Breakfast." Below are the rest:

1. Read all directions carefully
2. Have a positive attitude. It goes a long way toward success.
3. Be prepared - pens, pencils, calculator, etc.
4. Review your answers.
5. See your teacher for extra help.
6. Use all available time. If you finish early, review your work.
7. Cover answer choices with your hand as you read the question.
8. Find key words or phrases in the question that will help you find the correct answer.
9. Relax, breathe and stay focused.
10. EAT BREAKFAST!

image: Always With Honor

Welcome Ms. Gellerman!

She may have helped you find a book, or lent you a calculator, or print a paper. Welcome Mrs. Gellerman, our new library clerk! She comes to us from Calhoun High School... but did you know that when she first came to this district 11 years ago, she worked right here at Mepham High School in the registrar's office? She is already a wonderful addition to our staff and we are thrilled to have her. If you haven't met her, please stop by and say hello. She's super nice, I promise.

A Letter to our Senator

Dear Senator,

As your constituent and a school librarian, I am writing to ask you to reject the governor's budget proposal, which will allow school districts to use Library Materials Aid to purchase textbooks and software.

Currently, school districts receive $6.25 per pupil in Library Materials Aid towards the funding of books, magazines, and on-line materials for the school library. In many high-needs school districts, this $6.25 per pupil is the only money available to purchase reading materials for students. These funds are meant to be the minimum amount spent on these library materials, especially since the $6.25 only represents 25-30% of the real cost of a book.

Research studies conducted by nineteen U.S. states on their public school systems all concluded that: a professionally-staffed and well-stocked school library has a positive impact on student academic achievement. The most recent study conducted by Syracuse University, for example, revealed that students in New York state schools with a quality library program scored 10 points higher on the 4th grade ELA exam in contrast to those students in schools without a quality library program. Based on the results of these studies, it stands to reason that all available state funding designated for purchases for the school libraries should neither be compromised nor diluted by the state.

If, however, school districts are allowed to use Library Materials Aid for other purposes, students will lose out on access to quality reading materials, especially those in high-needs districts, where books are in short supply at both school and home.

For many economically disadvantaged students, exposure to the books in their school's library may be the only opportunity to select their own books to read for pleasure, research and to increase their knowledge in any given area. By maintaining a well-stocked library, my belief is that students will begin to value their school library and develop and appreciation for reading that will last a lifetime.

Please reject the governor's attempt to merge Library Materials Aid with Text Book and Computer Software Aid, as it will result in a diminished access to books in our schools, especially those serving low-income communities.

Shari Stack, Mepham High School Librarian

There's an APP for That!

Search Our Gale Databases From Your Mobile Device!

After a one-time log-in (password provided by Ms. Stack, your school’s media specialist), AccessMyLibrary School Edition mobile app supplies you with free, unlimited access to your school library's Gale online resources -- anytime, anywhere! Download this free app from the app store. There is an app available for Andriod, and one for the iPhone, iTouch and iPad. Your one-time login provides access until the end of the current school year.

Before Hollywood Ruins Them

Check out these books that are coming to a theater near you:

In rural Ohio, friendships and a beautiful girl prove distracting to a fifteen-year-old who has hidden on Earth for ten years waiting to develop the Legacies, or powers, he will need to rejoin the other six surviving Garde members and fight the Mogadorians who destroyed their planet, Lorien.

Ninety-year-old Jacob Jankowski finds himself haunted by memories of his past in the circus and the freaks, exotic animals, and other people he encountered as a performer.

Celebrate World Read Aloud Day

Librarians, authors, adults, teens, and children from all over the globe will celebrate the power of words and stories today during the annual World Read Aloud Day.

Sponsored by the New York-based literacy organization LitWorld, participants are asked to read with loved ones and friends to help reach a goal of 774 million minutes of reading to honor the 774 million people worldwide who are illiterate.

Mix and Mash @ your library!

Learn Create Share at Your Library March 6 – 12! Libraries are chock-full of tech toys like CDs, DVDs and Flip Video Cameras, and they're a great place to get connected to homework help, research resources, gaming, music, the Web and more. Stop by our school library or visit our Web site during Teen Tech Week today.

1942 Library Pass

This W.C. Mepham H.S. Library pass was recently found at a garage sale in Bellmore, NY by a friend of Ms. Sirof's (Thanks!). I've tried to track down the person whom it belonged to - M. Kleiberg to no avail. The pass is dated December 15, 1942. We have checked four yearbooks ('43, '44, '45 and '46) and no one by that name is listed. It remains a mystery. Are you a man or woman? Did you get married before high school ended and changed your last name? If anyone knows who this person is, please contact me at (516) 992-1532.

P.S. - Can you imagine a time in which you needed to have your library pass signed every time you entered? I would be signing passes all day long!

Black Friday or the Mepham Library?

This is the conversation that took place as I am opening the library doors this morning.

Student: Ms. Stack, do you ever feel like your opening the doors to a popular store on Black Friday?
Me: Yes, yes I do! (I'm thinking this is the best compliment I could have gotten from a student.)

When I began teaching here at Mepham High School five years ago I has one goal: turn the library into a place where kids want to be. The crowd of students outside my door every morning prove that we've met this goal... and then some. Our library is a place where students feel welcome, safe and encouraged to learn and explore their world. They have the freedom to express themselves through literature, music and images. I'm so happy that our students thrive in this type of environment and will continue to work hard to create opportunities for them to learn and create.
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The Girl Next Door

Author Selene Castrovilla visited Mepham High School and hosted a book talk, Q&A, and book signing. Over 50 students attended this ELITE event hosted by the NEHS and. We raffled off 10 copies of her books, The Girl Next Door and Saved by the Music, which she autographed. Past author visits have included former Mepham alumni Lee Krinsky, Robin Palmer, author of Cindy Ella and Geek Charming, Jen Calonita who wrote the very popular series, Secrets of My Hollywood Life, and Patrick Jones who has written many teen novels including, Things Change, which is on our ninth grade summer reading list.

Happy Valentine's Day

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Selene Castrovilla

Author Selene Castrovilla will be visiting Mepham High School on Tuesday, February 15th at 2:15 p.m. in the school library. This event is sponsored by the National English Honor Society. All students are welcome to attend.

From when Castrovilla could hold a pencil in her hand she knew that being an author is what she was destined to be. Castrovilla did not become successful overnight. She had to work hard and faced rejection. But she was so persistent and passionate about her work that she never gave up. Castrovilla writes about different genres such as historical fiction having to do with the Revolutionary War. But she loves to write about people and what really is in their hearts and what drives them. In Castrovilla’s most recent novel, The Girl Next Door, sixteen year old Samantha has been best friends with Jesse since she moved into the New York high-rise apartment next door. Jesse is the school's poster child for popularity: good-looking, a star athlete, even Romeo in the school play. On opening night he collapses on stage. That's when doctors discover the unthinkable: a tumor on his spine. His type of cancer is virtually incurable. The Girl Next Door addresses the universal question: In an unpredictable world, how can we possibly feel safe?

Cupid in the Library

Back in its heyday the library club was one of the most prestigious after school activities at Mepham High School. They had monthly teas in the library where they would decorate the table with lace and centerpieces. On one particular Saint Valentine’s Day, “sixteen members of the Library Club were hostesses to the Norfolk, Virginia wrestlers, their over-night hosts and our own victorious team at a party given after the wresting match.” Of course Mr. Calhoun was chaperoning this event.

On another date, the Library Club presented a play entitled, “Non-fiction Party,” with the help of some of the boys of the student body, Sounds like we need to reinstate this club! Any takers?

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Good Luck Mrs. Hirsch!

No one has served the Mepham High School Library better than Mrs. Hirsch. Known to many students and staff as Chrissy, she has dedicated herself to us for the past eleven years. Now it is time for her to move on to the East Meadow Public Library as the Head of the Circulation Department and a Young Adult Librarian. On a personal note, the professional relationship I have with Chrissy is a “thing of untellable splendor.” She cannot be replaced. While I am so proud of her accomplishments, I will miss her dearly. Please stop by in the next few weeks to say farewell and good luck to our colleague and friend.

Do you judge books by their cover?

While reading a recent blog post, the blogger's daughter admitted she sometimes judges books by the cover!?! True confession: I do too! I mean it's difficult not to because the cover is usually designed to give the reader an idea about what is inside. A bad cover is not a deal breaker with me, but it might take me a while to pick it up. So, do you judge books by their cover? Have you ever read a book with a great cover and a terrible story? Or have you seen a bad cover, but an awesome story? I want to hear from you!

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Get Carded: Library Cards for Every Mepham Student!

The clerical staff at the North Bellmore Public Library are superhereos! They issued brand new library cards to every student at Mepham High School. Our students now have access to thousands of books, DVDs, CDs, databases and so much more. Our students and community benefit greatly when we all work together. We appreciate your hard work. Thank you to Director Tom Bazzicalupo and the Board of Trustees.

Current Issues: Health

From HW Wilson comes Current Issues: Health. This database is a great way to find out about issues pertaining to health. From eating disorders to food safety, from alternative medicine to cloning, from euthanasia to travel and health, this is a resource to enrich your understanding of issues at the leading edge of health and medicine. Each topic includes a broad overview and then is divided into subtopics. This database is not only for schools and universities, but is beneficial for the general public as well. See the librarian for the username and password.