Kindergarteners Check it Out!

All of our kindergarten classes have now been "trained" to use shelf markers (also called red strips) and are now finding and choosing their own picture books. They are doing a great job and having fun, too!

Battle of the Books!

Yesterday our Battle of the Books Team traveled to Gainseville, Georgia to compete in our very first Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl(HRRB). This competition uses the chapter books that have been nominated for this year's Georgia Children's Book Award. We owe a huge thank you to Dalton City Schools for providing our bus and to Mrs. Bliss Jones and Mr. Bob Wagner for chaperoning this trip. Thank you to all of the parents for supporting us throughout this experience, too. I also need to thank Kelley Mitchell, Media Specialist at Blue Ridge, for her help and support as she is a HRRB veteran. Brookwood and Blue Ridge shared the bus and the whole day's adventures. We had a wonderful time and stopped at Amicalola Falls on the way back for a mile hike on the Appalachian Trail and dinner. I am SO PROUD of these kids!!!

Little Free Library

Have you visited the new library yet? We have partnered with United Way and are taking care of the new Little Free Library (LFL) located at Lakeshore Park. The concept is simple - take a book - return a book. If you have any books you would like to donate, you may send them to our media center so we can replenish the LFL as needed. Of course, you are also welcome to add books directly to the library itself and maybe choose a book to take while you are there!

Thanks for Your Support!

The book fair closed at noon today, but if you missed out or still want to shop, our ONLINE BOOK FAIR will be open until February 10th. If you purchase books online, they will be shipped to your child at school and should be received just before our mid-winter break. Thank you to everyone who shopped at the book fair!

Book Fair

We are having a great time at our "Under the Sea" Book Fair - except for an issue with the registers this morning, everything has gone very smoothly. We would like to thank everyone for their patience this morning when the registers decided not to take credit cards. All is well now and we are happy to report that Scholastic is sending us extra registers on Monday - just in case we have any more problems! Here are a few more pic.

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Come to our Book Fair!

The Book Fair opens tomorrow, January 22nd at 8:00 a.m. We will be open during school hours until next Thursday, January f29th when the book fair will close at noon. Please remember that students need to be accompanied by an adult to shop before the bell rings (otherwise, we would have EVERYONE in the book fair!). There are so many great books this time. Which ones will YOU chose?

Radio Show

Welcome back and Happy New Year! Did you know that we have our very own Brookwood radio show? Our broadcast is only available in the immediate vicinity of the school, so be sure to turn your radio to 99.9 FM, The Lions' Roar, the next time you are in the area. Fourth and fifth grade student assistants are responsible on a rotating basis for writing, producing and directing the show.

More Coding!

Second and third graders have been coding this week. Programming the lights on the Georgia Christmas tree in Washington, D.C. has been one of their favorite things. To see some of their pictures, scroll down to the December 10th entry.
In case you want to try this yourself, here is the web address to code the tree.

New Books, Databases and E-books!

We have lots of "presents" for our students and teachers! I just finished entering over a hundred new books that I purchased at the Scholastic Book Warehouse on Saturday. Some are already on the shelves and the rest will be as soon as we finish processing them. The titles have been added to the "New Books December 2014" resource list on Destiny Quest. There are over 200 new books on this month's list!!! Thanks to our PTA for funding this purchase!

We also now have two more awesome research databases - PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next. Students and teachers were asked to compare and help make the purchase decision (see entries about this below). You can connect to both of these databases either through the school website under "Quick Links" or through the home page on Destiny Quest (click "exit" then "home").

We also will soon have new e-books (electronic books) that can be accessed through Destiny Quest. These books all have unlimited access which means there are no limits on how many students or teachers can use them at one time - isn't that great? I was awarded a matching grant so I was able to purchase 42 new ebooks for the price of 21. As soon as we receive the computer records for the new ebooks, I will add them to a resource list - "New E-books" to make them easier to find in the system. Of course, just entering "ebooks" in the Destiny Quest search box will find ALL of our ebooks - so if your child is looking for something to read over the holidays, don't forget these books can be downloaded to your computer, tablet or phone and can then be read off-line. Students may check out as many ebooks as they like and they will automatically "return" to our library after two weeks - they are NEVER late - how cool is that? Again, thanks to out PTA for purchasing these e-books for our students and teachers!

Julie Cook's Visit

Author Julia Cook visited K - 3 in the media center at Brookwood today.  We enjoyed the stories and books she shared with us and learned some important lessons along the way. We liked the way students followed her instructions when leaving the media center, too - you could have heard a pin drop as all of the students and teachers excited back to their rooms! Be sure and ask your child about the program.  Orders for her books will be accepted until December 18th.  (Remember - free shipping and no tax when you place your order through the school.)  Mrs.Cook will autograph the books (and her dogs will, too, if you check that box) and mail the books to us after the Christmas break.  If you need an order form, either send a note to the media center or print one from her website: www.juliacook.com