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Welcome
to the Milne Grove
Learning Resource Center
Library and Computer
Lab
March, 2010
Spring is on its way...
Library
News
Milne Grove students have
been busy as usual in the library as we wait, wait, wait for Spring to arrive.
Upon returning from Winter Break many students turned in snowflakes telling
everyone how many books they read over break and which was their favorite.
It’s fun to see what everyone is reading!
We have finally finished reading our selection of this year’s Illinois
Monarch Award nominated books – they were all so good, I don’t know how
I’ll choose between them! We cast our ballots for our favorites during the
last week of February – I’ll let you know the outcome in the next
newsletter. We should also have the statewide results by then. Some of the
nominees we read are: The Perfect Nest,
The Gingerbread Girl, Max’s Words, The Little Red Hen, Recess at 20 Below,
Baa-Choo!, Scaredy Squirrel and On the Road. Ask your child which one she
liked best!
Please help encourage your child to become responsible for his or her own
library books. Too often on library day we hear children saying, “My mom
didn’t put it in my backpack!” As part of our school’s emphasis on
learning and following the Six Pillars of Character, the children need to learn
to be Trustworthy and Responsible!
There
are a few points regarding book checkout that you should keep in mind:
- Library
books are checked out for a one week period. If your child forgets a book,
please have them bring it in the next day. The teachers
will send a child to the library on the following day if they bring a book
in late, but this is dependent on whether classwork is completed and time
allows. The best way to guarantee your child a new book is to help them
remember to return books on the correct day!
- Any
book may be renewed if the student brings it in on library day to be run
through the computer.
- If
a library book is ever lost or damaged while checked out to your child,
please let me know! I may be reached at 815-838-0542, x122 or ltumino@d91.net.
If I know you can’t find a book, I can give you more time to search for
it. If I know about damages, I can often repair them myself at no cost. Please,
if a book ever gets wet, make sure I know about it! It takes much longer
than you might think to completely dry out a book, and I need to continue to
dry it here in order to prevent the growth of mold.
Reading
Incentives
Six
Flags Read to Succeed – This
program came to an end on February 19th. Students who turned in
completed reading logs can expect to receive their free tickets sometime in May.
Jammer’s
Book Buddies – Jammer himself will
be coming to school to kick off his reading program on March 25th.
Students may earn free tickets to Joliet Jackhammers games by reading books.
Look for details on the flyer that will come home in late March. Mark
your calendar and be sure to join your classmates and teachers and their
families at the Jackhammers game on Tuesday, June 8th! Your
child can earn free tickets for the whole family.
Creative
Publishing Student Author Program –
The student author program, co-sponsored by our PTO, has come to a close.
Students who turned in manuscripts should be receiving their published books by
late March. It was so nice to see the great stories the 35 participating
students submitted. These books will also be available for student checkout from
our library.
Computer Lab
News 
As usual, all classes have
been very busy in the lab. Our favorite websites have been getting lots of use,
with new lessons covered all the time. For example, the kindergarten classes get
a lot of benefit from the Starfall website by covering a different letter sound,
reading skill or holiday each week, depending on what they are doing in the
classroom. The other grades do much the same thing, working with math, spelling,
reading, logic, vocabulary skills and more on sites like Starfall, Spacey Math,
Math-U-See, Spelling City, Harcourt Reading, and so much more. Plus, third
graders have also been practicing for the ISAT and utilizing the many great
links on Miss Podwika’s page.
Remember, all these links can be used at home as well by going to the MG
LRC’s page of the District website, www.d91.net.
Just click on the globe at the top of the LRC page.
All D91 students have their own username and password, which follows them
through 8th grade. We don’t use them a lot here at MG, but once the
kids get to Kelvin Grove they will need this information every time they use a
computer. We have been going over this with the students, as they will need to
log on to use the music program this month (see below). Please remind your
student that their password is PRIVATE, personal information, to be shared only
with family, and NEVER with other students. Occasionally a child may see or hear
another student’s password – please remind your child that he or she should
attempt to forget this information immediately, and should certainly never share
it with another student.
March is Music in Our Schools Month, and Mrs. Randolph will be holding her
Music classes here in the Computer Lab. All students will have the opportunity
to learn to read and write music as they work their way through the Music Ace
program. Did you know that Music Technology at Disctict 91 is funded by
donations and fundraisers? When Mrs. Randolph needs Tag Day volunteers, or asks
people to sell
America
’s Valucards, this is where the money goes. Be sure to ask your kids about the
program!
Please be sure to
visit the MG LRC page on the District website, www.d91.net
for library and lab info and for links to some of the websites we use at school.
Just click on the globe at the top of the page! You should also take a look at
the KG LRC page (Cyberlibrary) for tons of information and links to our database
and research subscriptions.
 Remember,
Milne Grove provides “community” headphones for student use in the lab, but
you are welcome to send in a set of your own if you would rather not have your
child share with others. Just be sure to mark them with your child’s name and
put them in a zip-style bag, also marked with their name. Any inexpensive
headphones (like what you use for a personal CD player, etc.) will work, but we
do not recommend the earbud style – kids’ ears are too small.
Volunteer
Corner
We all owe a great, big THANK
YOU to Kristy Greene for many hours of
invaluable volunteer service to our students. I was out several times in recent
weeks, and many times we did not have a guest librarian available. Mrs. Greene volunteered
to check in books, run overdue reports, and check out new books to our students,
all for free. If not for her generosity of time, many students would not have
been able to have library services on those days. Countless other people who
work with our kids each day also stepped up to help out. My sincere thanks to
all who lent a hand!
As always, I am grateful to Carmen Mancera, who comes in faithfully every
Friday to put away the hundreds of books that build up on my return cart. I also
would like to express thanks to Donna Romano and Diane Cotter, who also come to
lend a hand and seem to have a knack of showing up just when I need them!
I
could always use help reshelving books, so if you have any time to spare, and
like to restore order to things, keep the library in mind – we’d be grateful
for any time you can give us! Just contact me at ltumino@d91.net
or 815-838-0542, ext. 122.
Please
contact me if you may be able to help!
815-838-0542,
ext. 122 or ltumino@d91.net
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