I have finished my responsibilities for Nutmeg 2018, after emailing off my ranking order of the 22 books that made the cut to be on the final list. We have one more meeting, when our chair will announce the official 10 nominees (and 2 alternates, in case a publisher can't get a suitable number of paperbacks in time).
Soooo....here's to the return of my book reviews!
Very soon I'll be publishing my review of Gemina!
I am still reviewing for School Library Journal, one book per month. I am happy to announce the WHHS LMC will be subscribing to SLJ, so now you can read those reviews in print!
I'm also very excited to be representing West Haven at the Connecticut Association of School Librarians conference Tuesday!
See you all very soon!
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
Love reading? Love writing? Submit a book review to The Westie Review corner in The Rostrum! I'm co-advisor to both!
Opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W. :)
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Please Vote! WHHS vs. ND This Week!
The WHHS v. ND Game/Soderman Bowl is up for game of the week on both WFSB and WTNH.
Please vote!
Game of the Week on WFSB
Thursday, October 6, 2016
We are ONLINE! Follett Destiny has come to WHHS!
I'm thrilled to announce the WHHS LMC FINALLY has an online catalog. Along with Bailey and Carrigan, we now have Follett Destiny!
Thank you to Mrs. Lynch, who worked for TEN YEARS to bring this program to West Haven!
To access the catalog:
whschools.follettdestiny.com
For students, your sign is firstnamelastname and your password is your lunch number.
For teachers, your sign in is firstnamelastname and your password is your paycheck number (you may need to add leading 0s).
We are sooooooooo excited for this change!
Thank you to Mrs. Lynch, who worked for TEN YEARS to bring this program to West Haven!
To access the catalog:
whschools.follettdestiny.com
For students, your sign is firstnamelastname and your password is your lunch number.
For teachers, your sign in is firstnamelastname and your password is your paycheck number (you may need to add leading 0s).
We are sooooooooo excited for this change!
Sunday, October 2, 2016
GAFE Google Apps for Education Summit
( I know it's called G Suite now, but old habits...)
I spent the weekend with a ton of other educators from CT, MA, NY (and more) who have a passion for Google like me. Mrs. Porto and I represented West Haven at the Summit and I LEARNED SO MUCH. I thought I knew Google pretty well before, but seriously, I know so much more now!
I live tweeted from the Summit @RamblingsLMS. Please check out my Twitter feed to see some of the amazing things!
If you are an educator, please get yourself Google Certified and attend a Summit!
I spent the weekend with a ton of other educators from CT, MA, NY (and more) who have a passion for Google like me. Mrs. Porto and I represented West Haven at the Summit and I LEARNED SO MUCH. I thought I knew Google pretty well before, but seriously, I know so much more now!
I live tweeted from the Summit @RamblingsLMS. Please check out my Twitter feed to see some of the amazing things!
If you are an educator, please get yourself Google Certified and attend a Summit!
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Fall Update
Hello Loves! It's been awhile since my last post, so I wanted to check in!
Last week I had the summer list meeting for Nutmeg. 29 books whittled down to 4 (bug eyed emoji here!). We have one more rotation for October's meeting. Then each committee member makes a list of their top 20 from the final list. That will be November's debate.
I also received my next assignment for SLJ. It's one I've been wanting to read, so I'm happy about that. My first review got great feedback!
Those of you who completed summer reading should've received an invitation to our pizza party Friday. I'm supplying the pizza as a thank you!
Hopefully I'll be back to blogging reviews soon!
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Last week I had the summer list meeting for Nutmeg. 29 books whittled down to 4 (bug eyed emoji here!). We have one more rotation for October's meeting. Then each committee member makes a list of their top 20 from the final list. That will be November's debate.
I also received my next assignment for SLJ. It's one I've been wanting to read, so I'm happy about that. My first review got great feedback!
Those of you who completed summer reading should've received an invitation to our pizza party Friday. I'm supplying the pizza as a thank you!
Hopefully I'll be back to blogging reviews soon!
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Friday, September 9, 2016
I Work at a Public Library by Gina Sheridan
This book was a recommendation from a public youth librarian on the Nutmeg committee with me. Unless you (a student of mine) is considering a career in Library Science, this review is for my adult followers, especially those in LMS/ML(I)S fields.
Ask someone to describe a library and a librarian. Hushed voices, old books, glasses, bun, etc. the answer?
Those stereotypes could not be any farther from the truth (although my hair is usually in a bun and I wear glasses).
My library, the West Haven High School Library Media Center, is a bustling hub of activity. We take ID pictures, print and deliver them. We maintain the COWS and their wrangling. 62 networked PCs and all their issues. A copier than jams daily. A color printer that never has ink. The teacher printer that needs paper ALL THE TIME. 120 kids from cafe and on passes. 2 and sometimes 3 full classes. Google, wifi, and Powerschool setups. The laminator I'm not allowed to touch. Archives of Savin Rock and West Haven history. The Rostrum and the Honors Committee. An outdated catalog system. 2 Library Media Specialists, a clerk, a tech para, and a part-time para. 15,000 books, 9 databases, 12 magazines, a professional collection, and curriculum DVDs. Speakers and LCD projectors. Crazy. Every minute of the day.
I wouldn't change a thing.
But the reality is a lot of funny stuff, sometimes good and sometimes bad, happens. This is a collection of all those events, curated from the blog of the same name, and organized by Dewey (who I happen to hate).
A great read for my peeps in the stacks.
Tweet what you're reading #whhs #read and follow me @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Ask someone to describe a library and a librarian. Hushed voices, old books, glasses, bun, etc. the answer?
Those stereotypes could not be any farther from the truth (although my hair is usually in a bun and I wear glasses).
My library, the West Haven High School Library Media Center, is a bustling hub of activity. We take ID pictures, print and deliver them. We maintain the COWS and their wrangling. 62 networked PCs and all their issues. A copier than jams daily. A color printer that never has ink. The teacher printer that needs paper ALL THE TIME. 120 kids from cafe and on passes. 2 and sometimes 3 full classes. Google, wifi, and Powerschool setups. The laminator I'm not allowed to touch. Archives of Savin Rock and West Haven history. The Rostrum and the Honors Committee. An outdated catalog system. 2 Library Media Specialists, a clerk, a tech para, and a part-time para. 15,000 books, 9 databases, 12 magazines, a professional collection, and curriculum DVDs. Speakers and LCD projectors. Crazy. Every minute of the day.
I wouldn't change a thing.
But the reality is a lot of funny stuff, sometimes good and sometimes bad, happens. This is a collection of all those events, curated from the blog of the same name, and organized by Dewey (who I happen to hate).
A great read for my peeps in the stacks.
Tweet what you're reading #whhs #read and follow me @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Captured! by Stanton T. Friedman and Kathleen Marden
I want to believe. I want to believe aliens have visited us and that UFOs appear in the night sky. I want to believe Betty and Barney Hill (yes, there is a street in West Haven named Barney Hill Road, a very strange coincidence indeed) saw a UFO in September of 1961 in the place I've spent a week or more of nearly every summer for 36 years.
But after reading this, and I wish I hadn't, I think maybe yes, they saw something that night, but the rest of their tale is nothing more than fantasy.
I have never read The Interrupted Journey, the first full length book regarding the Hill's experience. For the first few chapters of this book I had every intention of requesting it, but now, not so much.
Let's go back a bit. Most of those following this blog know my love of the strange, and Ancient Aliens is my favorite show. Just about every summer, first as a child and now as a parent, I've spent in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, specifically the Lincoln-Woodstock area. For years I've seen the marker at the start of Franconia Notch at the end of Indian Head Resort, where we stayed once in a cabin, marking the site of a supposed alien abduction in 1961. A local gas station has a mural dedicated to the visitors. This summer I vowed to finally read more about this couple and their story.
A quick Google search tells of a normal (albeit interracial, which wasn't so normal in New Hampshire in the 1960s) couple heading back from Montreal to their home in Plymouth. This would take them through the Notch, adjacent to Cannon Mountain, on Route 3, now Interstate 93. They, and their dog, encountered a UFO in the early morning hours.
I have no doubt the Hills, a couple with much at stake--Betty a social worker with the state, Barney a civil right activist and postal worker--would not come up with such a tale out of the blue. I truly believe they did in fact see a UFO that night. I have ridden the tram at Cannon, jogged on 3 at sunrise, been driven through the Notch at night. Nothing in those experiences would create an illusion of UFOs--the Cannon observatory or restaurant, search lights, etc. That part of the story cannot be explained.
I wish that was all I knew. I could accept that. The Hills were initially ok with keeping the story to just friends and family. But then they underwent hypnotic regression and their story of abduction spread. Soon they were famous. Would Barney have been invited to a presidential inauguration as just a local civil right leader, or did his notoriety help get the Hills that ticket?
The tales Betty spun are fantasy at best. What is even worse is how this book, coauthored by her niece, is written. Alternating between a familial type narrative and a lot of science I just don't understand (I last studied physics in 1997) from her coauthor, I was disheartened by the tone of the authors when presenting the opposing viewpoint. I'm not a skeptic; I believe in aliens. The condescending tone was unnecessary and off-putting.
I would like to lose time, like Betty claims the Hills did, and forget I read this. Instead of smiling at the marker I'll pass heading north on 3 to I-93, I'm probably going to scowl.
Don't forget summer reading is due FRIDAY by 1:45 p.m. Use Google Forms to submit; all the links are on the LMC page,
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS Tweet what you're reading using #wwhs #read
All opinions appearing on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
But after reading this, and I wish I hadn't, I think maybe yes, they saw something that night, but the rest of their tale is nothing more than fantasy.
I have never read The Interrupted Journey, the first full length book regarding the Hill's experience. For the first few chapters of this book I had every intention of requesting it, but now, not so much.
Let's go back a bit. Most of those following this blog know my love of the strange, and Ancient Aliens is my favorite show. Just about every summer, first as a child and now as a parent, I've spent in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, specifically the Lincoln-Woodstock area. For years I've seen the marker at the start of Franconia Notch at the end of Indian Head Resort, where we stayed once in a cabin, marking the site of a supposed alien abduction in 1961. A local gas station has a mural dedicated to the visitors. This summer I vowed to finally read more about this couple and their story.
A quick Google search tells of a normal (albeit interracial, which wasn't so normal in New Hampshire in the 1960s) couple heading back from Montreal to their home in Plymouth. This would take them through the Notch, adjacent to Cannon Mountain, on Route 3, now Interstate 93. They, and their dog, encountered a UFO in the early morning hours.
I have no doubt the Hills, a couple with much at stake--Betty a social worker with the state, Barney a civil right activist and postal worker--would not come up with such a tale out of the blue. I truly believe they did in fact see a UFO that night. I have ridden the tram at Cannon, jogged on 3 at sunrise, been driven through the Notch at night. Nothing in those experiences would create an illusion of UFOs--the Cannon observatory or restaurant, search lights, etc. That part of the story cannot be explained.
I wish that was all I knew. I could accept that. The Hills were initially ok with keeping the story to just friends and family. But then they underwent hypnotic regression and their story of abduction spread. Soon they were famous. Would Barney have been invited to a presidential inauguration as just a local civil right leader, or did his notoriety help get the Hills that ticket?
The tales Betty spun are fantasy at best. What is even worse is how this book, coauthored by her niece, is written. Alternating between a familial type narrative and a lot of science I just don't understand (I last studied physics in 1997) from her coauthor, I was disheartened by the tone of the authors when presenting the opposing viewpoint. I'm not a skeptic; I believe in aliens. The condescending tone was unnecessary and off-putting.
I would like to lose time, like Betty claims the Hills did, and forget I read this. Instead of smiling at the marker I'll pass heading north on 3 to I-93, I'm probably going to scowl.
Don't forget summer reading is due FRIDAY by 1:45 p.m. Use Google Forms to submit; all the links are on the LMC page,
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS Tweet what you're reading using #wwhs #read
All opinions appearing on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
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