Happy Thanksgiving!

From us to you....The library wishes you a very happy, healthy and hearty Thanksgiving! Take this time to slow down, relax and read a good book. We have lots of new ones to choose from!

 A Review of Literature: Annotated Biology Project

This week I had the pleasure of working with Ms. Tully's biology classes for their year long biology project. This is one of my favorite collaborations of the year. Students choose a topic they are passionate about that relates to any aspect of biology. They spend the next few months researching, analyzing and developing an argument on their topic. I love the freedom of being able to look at biology from any lens they choose. It creates a more personal and enjoyable experience for students and teachers! While in the library, students begin the research process, developing topics, finding search terms and using credible sources to find academic information. They will then use Noodletools to create their annotated bibliography.

 To Be Thankful

This has been a long week at school and just when you think you may not make it to the end  you remember why we do this. Working with children is truly rewarding! The  preschoolers have been so enthusiastic over the books we have been reading together lately. They recall the stories and like to share their favorite parts of previous books. Thursday Ms. Morrissey and Ms. Toomey's class lifted my spirits with their letters of thanks!

Food Drive, Teachers As Students and Projects Galore

 Food Drive

Natick High School is once again participating in the annual food drive for A Place To Turn. Last year the high school gave A Place To Turn's it's largest donation of canned food/toiletries/household items for those in need in our community. This year we hope it will be even bigger! Through our Community Seminar groups students and staff are taking on Mr. Harrigan's challenge to bring in 6,000 item!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teachers Take a Turn as Students

Tuesday November 8th the Natick Public Schools had their annual Innovation and Learning Day. The district met at the high school and became the students as we took classes, seminars, and trainings to continue to build our toolbox and support our students and our own professional growth. A successful day for all!

 Student Work

One of the things we enjoy the most in the library is displaying student work. It brightens up the library and reinforces the connection between class and research. This week we are fortunate to have Ms. Roger's freshmen English projects related to the novel The Forgotten Fire / Adam Bagdasarian and Ms. Histen's Anthropology projects based on their "Race and Identity" assignment.

 

Spooktacular Happenings in the Library!

 Preschoolers and Seniors Full of Tricks Or Treats

 From our youngest to our oldest, The high school was in full spirit for Halloween this week!

 Pumpkin Wars! Vying for Decorating Supreme

Not to be outdone by the students, the faculty participated in the second annual
"Pumpkin Decorating Contest" sponsored by the Access Program. Each department decorated a pumpkin and students voted for their favorite during lunch. While we TOTALLY thought we had this one in the bag this year, the grand winner was the Special Education department with their Movie Theater inspired pumpkin!

Winner of Pumpkin Decorating 2016

Library Entry: A Bad Case of the Stripes

 In honor of Halloween and all things spooky, check out this list of fears from the "Science Zone"

1. Coimetrophobia is the fear of cemeteries.
2. Ailurophobia is the fear of cats.
3. Odontophobia is the fear of dentists.
4. Scolionophobia is the fear of attending school.
5. Herpetophobia is the fear of reptiles.

6. Frigophobia is the fear of the cold.
7. Phasmophobia is the fear of ghosts and spirits.
8. Aerophobia is the fear of flying.
9. Categelophobia is the fear of being ridiculed.
10. Iophobia is the fear of poisons.
11. Rupophobia is the fear of dirt.
12. Agyrophobia is the fear of crossing the street.
13. Triskadekaphobia is the fear of the number 13.

There is nothing like a good, scary, spooky thriller! Here are a few examples of some of our best picks for a good scare! Check out the rest of the list at: Best Young Adult Horror Novels

 

 A Monster Calls / Partick Ness

Winner of the 2012 Carnegie medal, Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls, based on an original idea by Siobhan Dowd, tells the story of grief and loss and the truths that are sometimes too painful to face. Thirteen year old Conor O’Malley is awakened just after midnight from the horrible nightmare that he’s had every night since his mother began chemotherapy treatments. When he wakes up, he finds a monster that looks suspiciously like a twisted, humanoid version of the yew tree in his garden standing at his window. The monster claims that Conor has called for him and threatens to eat him, but first the monster will tell Conor three stories, in return, if he doesn’t want to be eaten, Conor must find the courage to tell the monster his own story. Read this book with a box of tissues because you’re about to get your heart ripped out. That’s not to say that it’s not a fantastic book. It absolutely is! It’s just heart-rending and beautiful. The monster is not so scary as the nightmare that haunts Conor every night, but it is the truth of what Conor feels that scares him the most. It is never fully explained where the monster comes from, and that just adds to the atmosphere of the tale. Is this a monster of Conor’s mind or a supernatural entity out to torment or heal Conor? A Monster Calls is a beautiful and haunting tale.

Rot and Ruin / Johnathan Maberry

The 2011 Printz Award winner Rot and Ruin is a zombie book about what it means to be human. Benny is a normal fifteen year old boy. He fights with his brother; he notices girls; he collects trading cards, but Benny has grown up fourteen years after First Night, the night of the zombie apocalypse. At fifteen, it’s time for him to get a job in the small community of Mountainside or risk having his rations halved. Rather than be an apprentice to the brother that he despises but everyone else in the town looks up to, Benny tries every job imaginable until he’s out of options. When he joins his brother, Tom, in the family business of zombie hunting, Benny learns that not all monsters are of the undead variety. If you’re looking for a zombie-killing romp, this book will be a gut punch. Rot and Ruin is as much a story about Benny’s coming of age and learning to reconcile with his brother Tom as it is a wild adventure off into the “rot and ruin”. It’s a deeply moving story, but that’s not to say that there aren’t any action scenes or scary parts. There are, and they are awesome! The book is just so much more than that. If you like the heartfelt drama of the zombie apocalypse, like The Walking Dead, why are you reading this review? Go read Rot and Ruin and the rest of the Benny Imura series right now!

The Graveyard Book / Neil Gaiman 

Winner of the 2009 Newbery Award, the 2010 Carnegie medal, and the 2009 Hugo Award, The Graveyard Book is a spooky and fun story about a brave young boy who longs for human contact and his adventures growing up among ghosts. In the first few pages, a killer named “the man Jack” slaughters an entire family, except for one toddler who has wandered away and down to the nearby cemetery. He is adopted by a group of ghosts. They name him Nobody (or Bod for short) Owens. Bod grows up in the safety of the graveyard and learns all the tricks of the ghosts. As he gets older, he makes friends and tries to venture out into the world outside the cemetery. This is like The Jungle Book of gothic horror. In fact, Neil Gaiman actually said that The Jungle Book served as an inspiration for The Graveyard Book. The Graveyard Book is not so much scary as it is spooky and fun. Bod grows up and explores the graveyard with not much danger to himself. Sure, the graveyard has some creepy monsters, but Bod knows how to deal with them from growing up there. The only true danger that he is in is when Bod becomes restless and wants to leave the graveyard because “the man Jack” may find him. If you’re looking for a fun, but spooky Halloween read, definitely give this one a try!

Anna Dressed in Blood / Kendare Blake

This book is riveting, a ghost story, a love story, a school drama, and a thriller, all wrapped up in one incredible package. Along with his herb-witch mother, Cas travels the country looking for ghosts, preparing himself to face the one that killed his father. Case moves to Thunder Bay for one reason: to find and kill the ghost called Anna Dressed in Blood. With Anna, Cas gets more than he bargained for. She is a tragic figure, and her loneliness is similar to that of Cas, a boy who, by necessity, lives on the fringe of society. The two are drawn to each other, and though, you know their story cannot end well, you will be surprised. This story will blow you away and make you beg for more. (Luckily, there is a sequel, Girl of Nightmares.) The characters are so full of life that they explode off the page. Anna is terrible and cruel, but at the same time vulnerable and caring. She is, by far, the star of the show. Cas is a brooding hero that will make any fangirl swoon, but he’s also a typical teenage boy with typical teenage boy concerns, such as he doesn’t like it when his mom fusses over him. The tension and suspense will have you speeding through the book, and there are some genuinely spooky scenes that will keep you up at night. Seriously, if you like to be scared at all, you need to read Anna Dressed in Blood.

Check the Tag...

This week has been choppy with two days off but we are still working hard gathering research in the library!







Some Global Awareness classes are working on a really cool project called "Check the Tag." Students are researching the environmental and social responsibilities a company has to the community. After choosing a clothing/shoe company, students research the company website to see what polices they have regarding their commitment to the environment. After that they will dive deeper into the companies policies and look at different news articles that will either confirm or deny the company's stance. It has been great to see the freshmen in the library beginning to really develop their research skills.

Celebrating Our Right To Read!

Open House was a big success this week at Natick High. The library looked great and was filled with many parents relaxing during their child's study hall, asking questions about our resources, and chatting with friends, it felt just like a normal day with the students!

We have been celebrating Banned Book Week in the library! 

(From bannedbookweek.org:) Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association.

Taken from the American Library Association, this explains Banned Book Week and it's importance to our students, staff and community!

"Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community; librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types, in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. Check out the frequently challenged books section to explore the issues and controversies around book challenges and book banning. The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read."