October Newsletter - Graphic Novels, Common Core Booklists, Novelist

Menasha Joint School District Library News
October 2012

Welcome to the first district library newsletter.  In the newsletters I hope to inform staff about new materials, databases, and technology available to them through the library.  If you have suggestions please feel free to email me!

What to Read Next? Just finished a book and now want something similar? Have you ever finished a book or a series, and wanted to continue to read books that were similar?  The district has a subscription through Badgerlink to a program called NoveList that can help you or your students find that next book.  Simply type in the name of the book you have read, and then click on one of the links below the book description that say Title Read-alikes, Author Read-alikes, or Series Read-alikes. Students and Staff can find links to Novelist under students links and then Libraries.  NoveList is also a great site for finding books based on genres, subjects, reading levels, writing style (descriptive, conversational, pun, etc), pace, tone, etc.

Graphic Novels in Elementary Age Appropriate Graphic Novels Graphic Novels help meet visual and verbal literacy, as well as divergent text structure mandates of the Common Core Standards.  Over the past five years or more there has been an increase in the number of graphic novels published. Do you need help finding a graphic novel that is age appropriate for elementary students?  Here is a starter list of some graphic novel series that are appropriate for elementary students: Graphic Novel Starter List for Elementary

Science Books for Middle School Common Core Part of the shift of the Common Core Standards is reading throughout different disciplines.  So I have put together a short start list middle school level science books available through our district libraries along with various resources to use with them.  Science Book List

Informational Text for High School Common Core The high school library offers many informational texts.  Here is a starter list of several informational text titles, many with additional resources such as lesson plans. Informational Text for High School

Searching the Libraries

Looking for a book or video?  Do you know you can search all of the district libraries from a single page? Under the staff links and libraries is a link where you can search all libraries at once. If you find something you want from another library, simply email or call the library paraprofessional at that building and they will send it to you via interschool mail.

New eBooks on Overdrive If you haven't tried it yet, Overdrive is our district site where you can download eBooks and Audiobooks for free. Students can use their student ID number to login, and all staff uses their library number (which you can get from any library paraprofessional).  Here are some books new to Overdrive this month: