Cell phone novels & other creative writing outlets

Figment, a free creative writing site for teens, is barely 6 months old but is already teeming with creative energy! Profiled in the New York Times, the site offers teens a place to share their writing - poetry, fiction, short stories, biography, and even cell phone novels.

Young writers can read and comment on one another's work. Some publishers have even joined the site! With summer break just around the corner, this might be the perfect time to sign up with Figment and start writing...

What's going on in 5th grade?

Rounding out our recent survey of what's happening at various grace levels, 5th graders have been learning about RADCAB. This handy acronym helps students consider whether a particular website suits their needs or not.

Relevancy (Is it related to what I want to know?)
Appropriateness (Is the reading level just right for me? Is the content appropriate for someone my age?)
Detail (Are there page headings or a site map to help me find what I need? What about a works cited page or a search engine? Is the site too general or too specific for me, or just right?)
Currency (How recently was this website updated?)
Authority (Who wrote the content for this site and how do I know whether I can trust him or her?)
Bias (What viewpoint was this information written from?)

Each week we've looked at a different aspect of RADCAB and discussed it as a group. Next, students explored the websites individually trying to determine on their own where the "mission statement" or "last updated" or "about the authors" or "contact us" sections of the site were, among other things.

Finally, we again got together to review as a class the areas that were most challenging for the majority of students, visiting many of the websites in question to help clear up any difficulties.

If you ever search the web with your student, I strongly suggest you work together to think about and discuss each of these points above. This will help him or her with future online research and also contribute to his or her general information literacy. These are valuable skills to have when reading news stories, watching advertisements on TV or listening to debates.

Our book fair starts tomorrow!

Our annual book fair at the downtown Bellevue branch of University Book Store will take place beginning tomorrow, Friday, May 13th through Sunday, May 15th during normal store hours (see below).

The school library gets 25% of the sales as store credit. Combined with our 20% educators’ discount, this adds up to a lot of books! Just show your OWS/Vista book fair voucher when you shop for books, gifts, art supplies, stationery and more. Vouchers will be sent home with students next week and will also be available in the farmhouse, library, main office and at the bookstore.

At 10:30am on Saturday, May 14th, Ms. Arends will lead the OWS recorders group in a concert at the store. And don’t miss the beautiful Matisse-inspired self portraits created by our 2nd graders in Ms. Leggitt’s art class that will be on display for the duration of the book fair!

Thank you for helping to support your school library!

Questions? Contact Ms. Simeon at library at ows dot org

University Book Store has free underground parking and is conveniently located near Bellevue Square mall!

990 102nd Ave NE, Bellevue
425.462.4500 ~ ubsbelle@u.washington.edu
Hours: Friday 9am–7pm, Saturday 10am–6pm, Sunday 12pm–5pm

What's going on in 4th grade?

Fourth graders continue to practice important information literacy skills during library classes that help them locate information more efficiently whether they are searching for books in a library catalog, articles in a database for a homework assignment, or websites in a search engine just for fun.

Unlike the days of hunting high and low to find enough information for your needs, today we all face the opposite challenge: too much information is out there and at times it threatens to overwhelm us!

Two of the most important skills students need to acquire are efficient search techniques and the ability to evaluate the quality of the content they retrieve.

We have been focusing on the former skill during library classes as students have practiced using search engines to locate answers to specific questions (such as the most popular dog breeds in Seattle or the top tourist destinations in the United States). They have also searched the library catalog for books that might interest a classmate, following a brief interview about his/her reading tastes.

These exercises have shown how challenging such relatively basic tasks can be for students of this age. One challenge is spelling! Another is being able to search in a flexible way. If your first search doesn't work (and is spelled correctly!), what other keywords could you try before deciding that the database has "nothing" about your topic or that there just aren't any good websites out there? We've focused on brainstorming a variety of related keywords to help make this type of flexible thinking a habit.

Take a look at my past blog posts on the topic of research to find out more!

What's going on in 2nd and 3rd grades?

Recently 2nd and 3rd grades have been enjoying books about individuals who struggled to overcome hardship in pursuit of their dreams. Most of the books we've been reading have been biographies - a genre which has come a long, long way since the rather dry books many of us parents and teachers remember reading as kids!

These days there are captivating, richly illustrated biographies of individuals both famous and not-so-famous. One thing their stories all have in common is persistence in the face of what can seem like insurmountable odds!

Students were fascinated to learn about Billy Wong, the Arizona-born son of Chinese immigrants who became El Chino, a famous bullfighter in Spain. Noted Japanese American author and artist, Allen Say, writes that Wong's "search for self-identity became the inspirational force for the story."

This was a theme at work in the story of Wilma Rudolph as well. Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull tells the remarkable tale of her triumph over debilitating diseases to become one of the greatest athletes of her time.

The public library's biography reading lists for kids and teens will help you find more great books to enjoy at home!

May 13-15: The OWS/Vista Academy Book Fair!

Our annual book fair at the downtown Bellevue branch of University Book Store will take place from Friday, May 13th to Sunday, May 15th during normal store hours (see below).

The school library gets 25% of the sales as store credit. Combined with our 20% educators’ discount, this adds up to a lot of books! Just show your OWS/Vista book fair voucher when you shop for books, gifts, art supplies, stationery and more. Vouchers will be sent home with students next week and will also be available in the farmhouse, library, main office and at the bookstore.

At 10:30am on Saturday, May 14th, Ms. Arends will lead the OWS recorders group in a concert at the store. And don’t miss the beautiful Matisse-inspired self portraits created by our 2nd graders in Ms. Leggitt’s art class that will be on display for the duration of the book fair!

Thank you for helping to support your school library!

Questions? Contact Ms. Simeon at library at ows dot org

University Book Store has free underground parking and is conveniently located near Bellevue Square mall!

990 102nd Ave NE, Bellevue
425.462.4500 ~ ubsbelle@u.washington.edu
Hours: Friday 9am–7pm, Saturday 10am–6pm, Sunday 12pm–5pm