Lessons Brought to Life

Mepham High School is the proud owner of two SMARTBoard interactive whiteboards. The school library has the privilege of housing one of these SMARTBoards. We were able to see students become more engaged and motivated during lessons used with this technology. The whiteboard is a touch-sensitive screen that connects to a computer and digital projector to display the computer image. Teachers and students are able to control computer applications directly from the whiteboard, write notes in digital ink, and save their work to share later. Classes can now explore and manipulate Internet resources as a group. The SMARTBoard has been used by every curricular area and at every grade level. Educators’ resources for the SMARTBoard are available at http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-us/.

Image taken from SMART™Technologies

Recommend a Good Book

Is there a book you would like to see in our school library? Post the name here and we will try to add it to our collection.

Home Stretch

Many of our students have already begun to work on their final English projects. We have many online resources that can be accessed in the school library or at home. Some of these online databases include Britannica Online, Galenet: Opposing Viewpoints, ProQuest (magazine and periodical database) and NoodleBib (use this database to help create a works cited page). Click here for a complete list of the databases that Mepham High School subscribes to. See Ms. Schneiderman or Ms. Sereno for a list of the usernames and passwords.

Don't forget about those wonderful old-fashioned print resources! We have books, newspapers, and magazines as well. Need help finding information on your topic? Just ask. We are here to help.

Image taken from Getty Images

April is National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month was established by the Academy of American Poets as a month-long, national celebration of poetry. In our school library we have a "Poet Tree." Bring in any original poem and your name will be added to a leaf and placed on our tree. Let's see how many leaves our tree will produce this spring!

Check out these websites:
Poets.org from the Academy of American Poets - daily poems, poet biographies, discussion forums on writing, audio, and don't forget to sign up for a poem each day in your inbox during the month of April.

Teen Poetry Wiki from the Internet Public Library for Teens - express yourself freely in words and find new ways to do it.

Wordsmiths from the New York Public Library- an anthology of writing by teens (ages 12-18) on the Web.

Author Patrick Jones Visits Mepham

Librarian turned author, Patrick Jones visited Mepham High School on Friday, April 13th. His visit coincided with the kickoff of National Library Week. Forty students from the National English Honor Society (NEHS) and Literary Circle (Mepham's Book Club) had the opportunity to read Jones' first novel, Things Change, which was named by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) as a best book for reluctant readers, and then participated in a group discussion with the author. There was a question-and-answer period and students had copies of his book autographed.

What an Amazing Year!

What an amazing year we have had in the Mepham High School Library! It started way back in September with the Freshman Orientation Pirate Scavenger Hunt. Then it continued with our first Scholastic Book Fair in November. We raised more than $960 for our school and over 150 books were donated to non-profit children's charities. The library hosted its first Craft Day in December, just in time to make some homemade gifts for the holidays. We launched our new and improved website at the beginning of 2007 and it is being updated all the time. Author Patrick Jones stopped by in April to discuss his book Things Change and much, much more is being planned. Check back often!