“You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.”

Dr. Seuss

WOMS celebrated Read Across America Day to commemorate Dr. Seuss’s birthday on March 2nd!  The National Education Association began this special program to celebrate the joy of reading.  Something magical happens when adults share the love of reading with young people. Anyone can participate in Read Across America by picking up a book, grabbing a few loved ones and reading.

WOMS invited community members and school leaders to read to our English Language Arts students in grades sixth, seventh and eighth.

Mr. Charlie Smith, Mrs. Suzanne Bardwell and Mrs. Linda Kennedy 
are pictured above.

Mrs. Karen Dickson, Mr. Michael Gilbert and Mrs. Mitzi Neely are picture above.

Mrs. Claire Koonce, Mr. Scott Floyd and Mr. Ronnie Hinkle are 
pictured above. 
Not pictured is Mr. Don Wayt, but his participation is 
greatly appreciated.

I would like to give a special thanks to our English Language Arts department for their help in making our Read Across America celebration a success-Jody Velde, Kim Iske, Stacy Shellhorse, Debra Cline, Cindy Coones, Chesley Kelley and Monica Floyd.

Tired of students saying they don’t have time to come to the library? Bring the library to the students! 

Each week Library Lady pushes a cart of awesome books to the cafeteria at lunch. She rolls her cart to all the tables and visits with the students. You can’t miss her! She is always dressed in an outlandish costume. Watch out! She may make an appearance at your cafeteria soon!

The Roughneck Book Club has been busy making plans for the spring semester.  Currently, we are taking nominations for WOMS March Madness 2016. We will begin with sixteen books, and we will vote until we crown an overall winner. Make your nomination today!

We are also planning a WOMS Poetry Slam for National Poetry Month in April. We are inviting all poets and all who love poetry to come to the media center and participate. Stay tuned for more details.

Whose is ready for some WOMS Reader’s Theatre? Do you love dramatic readings? Mark your calendars for the month of May! The book club will host a reader’s theatre for the students by the students!

As always…happy reading!

The Roughneck Tech Club met this week to invent, tinker and create with LittleBits circuits.  Magnetic circuits allow students the opportunity to build foolproof circuits instantly. The students are only limited by their imagination!

My favorite part was the teamwork that occurred in each group. Motivated to create something awesome, the students shared ideas, parts and a great attitude!  The students kept asking ‘what if’ questions, and trying to predict what would happen when they put different circuits together. Sometimes it did not go as planned; therefore, the students went back to the drawing board. They determined the problem and came up with a solution. The students were so focused on their inventions that I had to remind them to eat lunch!

Roughneck Tech Club Invents 2016

Are you ready for March Madness in your library?  Let’s nominate our favorite books, and see which one will be crowned the favorite at White Oak Middle School this year.  At the beginning of March, we will create a sweet sixteen bracket. Every week we will need YOU to vote for your favorite books! Who will be the winner?

This week we had a new arrival at the White Oak Middle School Media Center. Thanks to a Donors Choose grant, we received four Spheros.

The Roughneck Tech Club received a crash course in operating the robots. They quickly learned to maneuver Sphero using the iPad app.  Students loved making the robot dance, jump and change colors. Some enterprising students decided to start the missions, and off they went to complete the tasks! Stay tuned for more news to come on the Sphero project!

Made with Code has a Music Mixer program that allows students to code music visually!  Students can pick a genre of music such as acapella, country, hip hop, electronic, pop and rock. Once a genre of music is selected the students can add in a shape of their choice for the visual display of the music.  By selecting the number of notes and speed desired, students create their first composition.  Up to six sound rings of music can be coded at once. Students may adjust the notes and speed to fine tune their creations.  The Roughneck Tech Club had a blast composing their songs and then combining new notes to create original music. Please enjoy a sample of their music by clicking on the picture below.

The Gingerbread Man Escapades

The Roughneck Book Club’s gingerbread man escaped!  Our students asked anyone who had sighted him to send a postcard informing them of his whereabouts.  Helpful people from across the United States sent postcards from places the gingerbread man has been sighted.  As each postcard arrived, the book club mapped his sighting on Google Earth.  If you click on the picture or link above, you can view all the areas he traveled. All the postcards and the descriptions of his adventures can be viewed on the Google Earth Tour Builder.  Thank you to everyone who participated in ‘The Gingerbread Man Escapades!’