Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Digital Citizenship Week October 16-22

Digital Citizenship is using appropriate, responsible behavior when interacting with technology.

This week's tip: THINK before you post online

THINK
Is it TRUE
Is it HELPFUL
Is it INSPIRING
Is it NECESSARY
Is it KIND

Think before you post.

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Why Do My Citations Look Different?

For those of you who are working on research projects, you may have noticed that some of your citations look a little different. MLA (Modern Language Association) which is the style most often used at Bird Middle School to write research papers and cite your sources has recently updated to MLA 8th edition. To learn how this 8th edition is different from MLA 7 you can click on the following web pages:
MLA - What's New in the Eight Edition
Purdue Online Writing Lab - MLA Eighth Edition: What's New and Different

How will this affect you right now? Unfortunately, not all of the tools we like to use at BMS to make citing sources easier have updated to MLA 8th edition. For example:
* Online Encyclopedia Britannica - the cite tool has already updated to MLA 8
* Gale Research Databases - the citation tool is currently using MLA 7 and will change over to MLA 8 in mid-October
* EasyBib website www.easybib.com - the current default is MLA 8 however, you can still select MLA 7
* EasyBib Add-On tool to Google Doc - currently using MLA 7 with no ETA for upgrading to MLA 8

To view how to create a Works Cited list using MLA 8th edition click the link below:
Purdue OWL - Creating a Works Cited list using MLA 8th edition

If you have any questions, stop by the Library Media Center.

Friday, September 2, 2016

Happy New School Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed a relaxing summer break. If you have your summer reading activity (book poster, book review, book tweet, or book talk), please feel free to bring it down to the Media Center for display.


The Media Center is open every morning at 7:15 am.
You can also visit during Working Lunch on Days 1,2,4,5,6,7.

Homework Club begins on Tuesday, September 13th in the Media Center.

Stop by to check out a book for silent reading time. All books are checked out for 2 weeks and can be renewed once.

Mrs. Theodore and I are happy to help you find a particular book as well as provide a few book recommendations.

Happy Reading,
Mrs. O'Malley


Thursday, May 26, 2016

Summer Reading!

Summer Reading List 2016

Bird Middle School students are required to read a minimum of two books during the summer. All students have one required title based on their grade level.

Students Entering 6th Grade - Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

Students Entering 7th Grade - Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

Students Entering 8th Grade - The Wave by Todd Strasser







Students may choose one other book of their choice from the Summer Reading List, for a total of two books.

Firegirl by Tony Abbott (Fiction, 160 pages)
Tom and his seventh-grade classmates learn that Jessica was badly burned in a fire, and will be attending their school while receiving medical treatments. Despite her appearance and the fear she evokes in him, as well as most of the class, Tom slowly develops a friendship with Jessica that changes his life.

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin (Fiction, 352 pages)
After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced the true cause of the tragedy must have been a rare jellyfish sting. She crafts a plan to prove her theory. Suzy's achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe...and the potential for love and hope right next door.

The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brulkaker Bradley (Historical Fiction – World War II, 320 pages)
Nine-year-old Ada, is a disabled child who has never left her apartment until she is shipped out of London with her little brother Jamie to escape the war. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan Smith, the woman who takes the two kids in.

How they Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg (Nonfiction, 192 pages)
Over the course of history men and women have lived and died. In fact, getting sick and dying can be a big, ugly mess-especially before the modern medical care that we all enjoy today. How They Croaked relays all the gory details of how nineteen world figures gave up the ghost.

Al Capone Does My Shirts (Tales from Alcatraz Series, #1) by Gennifer Choldenko (Fiction, 288 pages)
There are twenty-four other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards, cooks, doctors, or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to.

Powerless by Mathew Cody (Fiction – Fantasy, 288 pages)
Twelve-year-old Daniel, the new kid, learns the truth about his new friends: one can fly, one can turn invisible, and another controls electricity. The superkids use their powers to secretly do good, but they're haunted by the fact that the moment they turn thirteen, their abilities disappear. Is a memory-stealing supervillain sapping their powers?

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney (Fiction – Mystery/Suspense, 208 pages)
Janie Johnson glanced at the face on the side of the milk carton—an ordinary little girl, a three-year-old who had been kidnapped twelve years before from a shopping mall in New Jersey, and felt overcome with shock. She recognized that little girl—it was she. Something is terribly wrong. Are Mr. and Mrs. Johnson really her parents?

The City of Ember (Books of Ember Series, #1) by Jeanne DuFrau (Fiction – Dystopian, Adventure, 288 pages)
The citizens of Ember live underground where they face daily blackouts, food shortages, and corrupt politicians. With the source of light waning, young Lina and Doon struggle with clues in an ancient message in order to reveal both the history of their city and a way to save the population before their source of light dwindles away to nothing.

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl Series, #1) by Eoin Colfer (Graphic Novel – Sci-Fi/Fantasy, 112 pages)
Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius, and above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories; these fairies are armed and dangerous.

Kid Owner by Tim Green (Fiction – Sports, Football, 336 pages)
When Ryan's estranged father unexpectedly dies, Ryan learns that he has inherited the Dallas Cowboys. As owner of this NFL team, Ryan has high hopes that he can be more than just a middle school misfit. Maybe he can even get off the bench and into the starting lineup of his own football team.

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt (Fiction, 288 pages)
Every time Ally lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read. However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. She discovers that there's a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don't always think alike.

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson (Graphic Novel, 240 pages)
Astrid has done everything with her best friend Nicole. But after Astrid signs up for roller derby camp, Nicole decides to go to dance camp instead. Astrid struggles to keep up with the older girls at camp, hang on to the friend she feels slipping away, and cautiously embark on a new friendship as the start of middle school draws near.

The Tail of Emily Windsnap (Tail of Emily Windsnap, #1) by Liz Kessler (Fiction – Fantasy, 224 pages)
For as long as she can remember, twelve-year-old Emily Windsnap has lived on a boat. When her Mom finally agrees to let her take swimming lessons, Emily makes a startling discovery — about her identity (she’s half mermaid), the mysterious father she's never met, and the thrilling possibilities and perils shimmering deep below the water's surface.

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine (Historical Fiction – integration of Little Rock schools in 1958, 320 pages)
Twelve-year-old Marlee doesn't have many friends until she meets Liz, the new girl at school. Liz is bold and brave, and always knows the right thing to say. But then Liz is gone, replaced by the rumor that she was "passing" as a white girl. Marlee decides race doesn't matter. Marlee and Liz are willing to take on integration and the dangers their friendship could bring to both their families.

Heat by Mike Lupica (Fiction – Sports, Baseball, 256 pages)
Twelve-year-old Michael Arroyo lives in the shadows of Yankee Stadium, home of his heroes. He hides from the officials who would separate him from his seventeen-year-old brother if they knew the two boys were living on their own. Baseball is Michael's only salvation until a rival accuses Michael of being older than the league limit.

Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers (Nonfiction – Memoir, 224 pages)
Walter Dean Myers was quick-tempered and strong as a boy, always ready for a fight. He aspired to be a writer, but while growing up in a poor family in Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s, his hope for a successful future diminished as he came to realize fully the class and racial struggles that surrounded him. He began to doubt himself and his values attending high school less and turning to the streets and to his books for comfort.

A Long Walk to Water: A Novel based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park (Historical Fiction – lost boys of Sudan, 128 pages)
Told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours' walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay.

The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall (Fiction – inspired by the work of American folk artist James Hampton, 288 pages)
Arthur T. Owens grabbed a brick and hurled it at the trash picker. He had his reasons, and the brick hit the Junk Man in the arm, not the head. Instead of juvie the Junk Man asked the judge to give Arthur 120 hours of community service . . . working for him. Arthur is given a rickety shopping cart and a list of the Seven Most Important Things.

Bystander by James Preller (Fiction, 256 pages)
Eric is the new kid in seventh grade. Griffin wants to be his friend. As Eric gets drawn deeper into Griffin's dark world, he begins to see the truth about Griffin: he's a liar, a bully, a thief. Eric wants to break away, do the right thing. But in one shocking moment, he goes from being a bystander . . . to the bully's next victim.

Story Thieves (Story Thieves Series, #1) by James Riley (Fiction – Fantasy, Adventure, 416 pages)
Living in the real world with homework and chores is boring. But everything changes the day Owen sees the impossible happen—his classmate Bethany climb out of a book in the library. It turns out Bethany's half-fictional and has been searching every book to find her missing father, a fictional character.

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) by Rick Riordan (Fiction – Fantasy, 377 pages)
After learning he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (Fiction, 112 pages)
When May dies suddenly while gardening, Summer assumes she'll never see her beloved aunt again. But Summer's Uncle Ob claims that May is on her way back–she has sent a sign from the spirit world. Summer isn't sure she believes in the spirit world, but her quirky classmate Cletus Underwood does. They set off in search of a Medium, whom they hope will explain May's departure and confirm her possible return.

Byrd & Igloo: A Polar Adventure by Samantha Seiple (Nonfiction – Biography, 192 pages)
A narrative nonfiction book that tells of the daring adventures of legendary polar explorer and aviator Richard Byrd and his lovable dog explorer, Igloo. Byrd is known for being the first to fly a plane over the North and South Poles, while Igloo is famous for being the only dog to explore both the North and South Poles.

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen (Fiction – Romantic Comedy, 224 pages)
The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, and not much changed by the seventh. Suddenly in the eighth grade everything is flipped. He's thinking there's more to her than meets the eye, she's thinking that he's not quite all he seemed. A romantic comedy of errors told in alternating chapters with hilarious misunderstandings and missed opportunities.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Narrative Poetry, 336 pages)
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement.

Monday, May 2, 2016

Please Return Your Library Books

The end of the school year is near. All library books need to be returned to the Media Center by Friday, May 27th! Please check your locker, house, family car, etc. for any books you have borrowed. Students will need to pay for a replacement copy for any books that are lost. Thank you!

Books will not be checked out after Friday, May 20th.
Librarians will be conducting inventory of the library in June.