Book Bento Boxes Sneak Peek

Those Book Bento Boxes created by Mrs. Desmond's College Photography Class came out brilliantly. Here is a sneak peek of just a few of them! After the holiday break, the class with mat the photos and we will display them throughout the library with short blurbs containing information about the book, explanations for the items with the book, and a recommendation for who would enjoy reading the book. 

 

Holiday Magic

Happy holidays from the Mepham High School Library! May we all have a better 2021!

Mepham High School Library Bookshelves

Book Bento Boxes In Progress

Mrs. Desmond's College Photography class came to the library last week to create Book Bento Boxes. It was part history lesson,  part English lesson, and part photography lesson. The students learned what a bento box is - a Japanese term for single-serve take away meal that is served in a box, traditionally lacquered wood with separate sections for different portions. Applying this structure to a literature response strategy results in book bento boxes. Students selected their favorite books and got to work brainstorming what objects they would include in their boxes (the box structure can be somewhat flexible in this strategy and most do not have compartments for different portions). The requirements were: 5-7 physical objects that hold meaning or represent something from the book (no photos of objects); the photo had to be square, and make it clever.

Mrs. Desmind went over flat lay photography. She discussed lighting, background, props, composition (symmetrical vs asymmetrical).  The students reviewed her cell phone rules - no flash, no filter, no zoom! Below are photos of the students putting their book bento boxes together to be photographed. 

The students will be presenting their book bento box photographs to the class later this week. The presentation will also comprise a written component including: a summary of the book, a review of the book, an explanation for why they selected the artifacts, and specifics about how the artifacts are important to the story. We will be displaying the final book bento box photographs throughout the library to promote reading. 

Social Action and Global Citizenship

Donna Rosenblum, a former Program Supervisor of Nassau BOCES School Library Services, returned to Mepham High School on November 23, 2020, via Google Meet to discuss her role on the board of the non-profit organization, Reason2Smile, with the School and Community Leadership students.

This organization is on a mission to help provide educational opportunities for children attending the Jambo Jipya School and support the needs of children living at the Jambo Jipya children’s home with food, clothing, and healthcare. By doing so they hope to positively impact others and to encourage individuals around the world to be in service to others.

Students had the opportunity after Mrs. Rosenblum's presentation to create bracelets made from African recycled-paper beads. Her presentation focused on social action and global citizenship. It also included a snippet from the book, Neema's Reason to Smile by Patricia Newman and illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini, which is based on the Jambo Jipya school. 

Old Buildings

Wellington C. Mepham High School was completed in 1939. Old buildings are beautiful, but require lots of TLC. Our HVAC system was causing condensation to build up in our library dome and the paint and plaster started to peel. Our head custodian brought the concern to the Director of School Facilities & Operations and Security & Chief Emergency Officer and they decided to hire an outside company to repair the damage. We are currently about a week and a half in and you can see the progress from the photographs below. The work should take another few days to complete, but already it looks so much better. They have also started to insulate the surrounding area to prevent this from happening in the future. Stop by the library next week to see the final look. 

Interesting side note: The paint is white, but the LED lights that surround the dome give it a blueish-grey tint. In person, it looks much more white than it appears in the photos.  

Grateful

This year looks a lot different than years past, including the tempo of the Mepham High School Library. The precautionary measures put in place by the school district has limited the number of students in the library, but not the spirit of the students! While we are not currently hosting our normal ELITE events and our MakerSpace is temporarily closed, that has not stopped our gracious students from creating these beautiful placemats that will be used in our Thanksgiving baskets. We give over 100 baskets to our local community through the Bellmore-Merrick Community Cupboard. 

While this year has been hard on so many of us, there is still so much to be thankful for this holiday season. If you are struggling and need help, there are resources here at Mepham High School to assist you. Reach out to our amazing counseling services or any teacher for help.  

“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” – Albert Schweitzer

Word of the Year 2020

As of now, Oxford has not yet released the word of the year. Perhaps, quarantine, lock-down, social-distancing, coronavirus, essential worker, Tik-Toker. Any suggestions?

Earlier Words of the Year

2019 - climate emergency 

2018 - toxic

2017 - youthquake
2016 - post-truth
2015 - 😂 

2014 - vape
2013 - selfie
2012 - omnishambles (UK) & GIF (US)
2011 - squeezed middle
2010 - big society (UK) & refudiate (US)
2009 - simples (UK) & unfriend (US)
2008 - credit crunch (UK) & hypermiling (US)
2007 - carbon footprint (UK) & locavore (US)
2006 - bovvered (UK) & carbon-neutral (US)
2005 - Sudoku (UK) & podcast (US)
2004 - chav

UPDATE: Multiple words were chosen and they include bushfires, Covid-19, WFH, lockdown, circuit-breaker, support bubbles, keyworkers, furlough, Black Lives Matter, and moonshot.