The 7th grade students visit the Middle School Library once a month to select independent reading materials under in various genres or themes. The theme for November was Young Adult Realistic Fiction. Each student picked out a YA novel. After having read the novel, each student analyzed the themes and literary elements common to most young adult realistic novels in a written paragraph.
They returned to the library and shared their books in a speed-summary activity. In randomly assigned pair, one student summarized his or her novel first in 45 seconds while their partners listened. They then switched roles.
After the first round, new partners were paired up and students had to summarize the same books but within 30 seconds. The final challenge was to produce a summary that captured the most essential parts of the novel in 15 seconds. This is to prepare for their next assignment: writing a pithy summary for a free-choice book — fiction or nonfiction. (Inspiration of the next assignment came from the very short annotations for American Library Association’s Notable Books for Children Lists.)
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Great to see everyone with so much energy and a big smile this morning at the 89th street building. The elevators are crammed (as always) and the sound of friends reconnected is loud and ruckus, as it should be! But the library is a quiet oasis for those who are already studying or dealing with their schedules.
The Middle School Library has many new books. Come and check them out!
Here are just a few outstanding new books for you to enjoy.
What did you read this summer that you can recommend to others?
As a pilot project, the Middle School Library is now offering eBooks via the following link:
http://dalton.lib.overdrive.com
Any student and faculty with valid Dalton ID/PW will be able to check out these eBooks to read on their Kindles or computers and handheld devices that support Kindle Reader and Adobe Digital Edition. (All school issued computers have Adobe Digital Editions.)
Soon the eBook titles will be discoverable by using the Library’s Online Catalog:
We continue to monitor the ever-changing field of digital publishing and will collaborate with other vendors (such as Baker & Taylor’s Axis360 and 3M’s cloud reader interface) to bring our community members easy access to beloved books.
The Summer Reading Lists Are Available through the following links:
Wordsmith.org: Today's Word
