I Dream of Reading...

Author/magician Chad Crews performed for our students right before our Thanksgiving break. I think you can tell by the photos that a good time was had by all! He amazed us with his feats of magic and while doing so, also impressed upon our students how important it is to be good readers. I must admit that even after seeing all four shows, I still have NO idea how to do any of his wonderful magic. I guess I will just have to get a book and read up on magic! Our students will be able to do the same, as we sold 100 copies of "So You Want to Learn Magic: The Sequel" by Chad Crews - a record number of books for any of our author visits. We also have several new books about magic in the Media Center that will be available for check out soon!

Welcome Chad Crews!

Continuing our tradition of inviting special performers to our school, we have arranged for popular Magical Educator Chad Crews to visit our school. Chad will present one of his educational assembly programs, the “I Dream of Reading Extravaganza!”

Chad will WOW our students with incredible feats of hilarious magic, comedy and live animals. Students will participate onstage in the magic, witnessing things they never thought possible! Best of all, our students will learn that good readers can learn all kinds of things, meet all kinds of people, and go on all kinds of adventures. We are so excited to be able to bring this special guest to our school!

As a way to reinforce the importance of reading for our students, our school will be selling copies of Chad’s unique book, “So You Want to Learn Magic: The Sequel” which contains lots of amazing magic tricks that are super easy to learn, and the tricks themselves are in the back cover! We encourage you to participate in this exciting opportunity. If you would like to purchase a book for your child, please return the order form that was sent home last week and return it with your child.

Please make checks payable to Brookwood Elementary or you may send cash in the exact amount. The cost is only $10.00 per book! A portion of the book sales go back to our school so that we can have future programs!

(If you can not locate the form, a note with your child's name and their homeroom teacher will do!) All orders should be turned in to the Media Center by Wednesday, November 14th.

We will post pictures after the visit, so be sure and check back later!

Literacy Night

The Brookwood PTA is hosting Literacy Night on Tuesday, November 13th. There will be a PTA meeting at 6:00 pm followed by several sessions for parents that will be hosted by grade levels. I will also be in the Media Center to show parents some of our resources, such as BookFlix, TrueFlix, Follett Shelf, Destiny Quest and iPad apps for literacy.

Where did October go?

I can't believe we are already at the end of October! We have had quite a busy month.
Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders have learned to use our new OPAC (Online Patron Access Computer) System. They have enjoyed being able to connect with their school friends and recommend books to other students, too. 5th graders have also used the Destiny Quest App on the iPad, learned how to post their own reviews of books they have read on Quest, and conducted online research with Destiny Quest for their 4H projects. PK through 1st graders have enjoyed fall and Halloween stories this month on their weekly visits and 2nd graders have been learning about tooth customs from around the world. (Of course, we have had a Halloween story or two, also!)


So far this year, we have already circulated 10,180 books! Wow!

Don't Forget!

Our online book fair continues until October 5th. All orders will be shipped FREE to your student at Brookwood after the fair closes on October 5th. Click HERE to visit the online book fair!

If your child pre-ordered the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Third Wheel at the book fair (whether online or while it was at school), those books will be received in November after the book is released.

Please consider downloading the FREE app, Storia, from Scholastic through our Book Fair Link located on the right hand side of this page or by clicking HERE and then clicking for the "Get Storia" button. This app can be downloaded to a tablet or mobile device and also can be used on a computer. You will receive 5 FREE books when downloading through our site and in addition, our media center will receive fifty cents in Scholastic dollars (up to $200). Scholastic dollars were used last year to not only pay the yearly subscription fee for BookFlix, but also to purchase summer reading incentive prizes.

Book Fair

Thanks to everyone who shopped at our book fair. A BIG thank you to Ginny Carson for organizing and recruiting volunteers to work at the book fair and to all of those who graciously donated their time. Our wonderful PTA operates this book fair and the proceeds help us bring special programs to our student and purchase books and supplies for the media center.

Our theme for this book fair was "All Stars" and the Dalton High School Football Team and Cheerleaders created excitement by visiting and helping our students with their purchases.

QR Code Scavenger Hunts

Over the summer, we worked hard and made lots of changes to the Media Center. In order to help students learn the new layout, I created a scavenger hunt using QR codes as clues. Students used our iPods to read the codes which were spread throughout the library. The clues sent students all over the media center to find items and in the process, they learned about the media center.

Students who turned in their summer reading lists and/or contributed a reading photo over the summer, were invited to a special celebration on Wednesday, August 29th. Students received a special treat bag which they filled with prizes & goodies, including books (of course!). Special books were also awarded to all students who sent in photos either by email or print. You can view a slide show of pictures that were emailed by looking at the blog entry dated June 4th (that's the day of the first photo). Printed pictures that were not sent via email are currently posted in the media center.

Brookwood READS! What & Where are YOU Reading this Summer?

A slide show using submitted pictures of students and staff members will be posted here throughout the summer. See what your friends and teachers are reading this summer.  Pictures should be emailed to Mrs. Wagner.  Don't forget to fill out your summer reading log, too!

REMEMBER - You can read ebooks by clicking the link on the right hand side of this page.  We now have 42 ebooks on Follett Shelf.

In addition to our own summer reading program, you can sign up to read and win prizes from Scholastic.
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IF THE SLIDE SHOW DOES NOT START,PLEASE TRY THIS LINK and click on the slide show icon at the top left corner of the screen.

End of the Year!

We have had a wonderful, busy year. Don't forget that many of our media center activities are documented on this blog - just check out the archive on the lower right hand side of this page to see older posts.

Our students have checked out a total of 20,971 books this year.  In addition, teachers, staff, and parents have checked out an additional 4,066 items. 

We hope everyone has a safe and happy summer!  Remember to keep READING!!! Students who return their summer reading logs will be invited to a special party in August.

Also, don't forget to email your summer READING pictures to Mrs. Wagner.  Keep watching this blog for pictures to be posted.