The Park Forest Elementary Media Center is run by Dr. Mary Jo Kelly, or "MS Dr. Kelly" as she is called by the students.  Our "Book Doctor" has been a part of our pirate crew for the past 8 years.    Dr. Kelly works collaboratively with the teachers to help them plan units and teach lessons.  The library is a busy place, with 12  computers for students and faculty to create, do research and use the internet.  We also have equipment cameras, scanner, photo printer, CD/DDVD burner, poster maker, laminator to make multi-media projects in our library.

Several times a year, librarians from the Greenwell Springs Publlic Library come to visit our school, tell stories, give out library card applications, and tell us about what is happening at the library.

 

Miss Mary from the Greenwell Springs library branch, tells first graders how to apply for their own library cards.

ON January 28th, 2009, in a special ceremony at the Barnes and Noble Book Store on Corporate Drive, our school was awarded 600 new books as part of the Public Education Project's Holiday Book Drive held by the store in November and December.  Our school was one of five elementary schools that were selected to receive books. 

The donation was gratefully received and the books were used to suppliment classroom libraries in the classes added at each grade level this year.  Books were distributed according to reading level and grade suitability.  Pre K received 10 books, K received 8, First Graders received 30 books.  Second graders received 56 books, and 3rd grade received 168.  Since we have five sections of 4th grade, 220 books were distributed to those classes, and fifth grade received 72 books.

Thirty six of the titles were not in our library collection, several of which were professional titles.  THose were kept in the library and accessioned as part of our holdings.

Again, thanks to the members of the Public Education Project and the employees of Barnes & Noble for their wonderful gift!!!

On January 30th, Park Forest Pirates in grades 3-5

used ballots to choose their favorite book from the fifteen chosen

by the Louisiana Young Reader Awards Committee and the

Louisiana State Library.  The top three books, according to

the students are:

3rd place:  Room One:  A Mystery or Two

2nd place:  Night Boat to Freedom

1st place:  The Diary of a Killer Cat

Excerpt From The Nation’s Report Card: Fourth-Grade Reading 2000

Reading For Fun

q       Students who reported reading for fun on their own time every day had higher average scores than students who reported reading for fun less frequently.

q       In 2000, 75 percent of fourth-grade students reported reading for fun on their own time at least weekly.

Discussing Studies and Talking about Reading

q       Students who reported discussing their studies at home daily, weekly, or monthly had higher average scores than students who reported never or hardly ever having such discussions.

q       Students who reported talking about their reading with family and friends on a weekly basis had a higher average score than students who reported engaging in such conversations daily, monthly, or never or hardly ever.

q       In 2000, 61 percent of fourth-grade students reported talking about their reading with family or friends at least weekly.

Reading Materials in the Home

q       The average score for students who reported having all four types of reading materials (books, magazines, newspapers, encyclopedia) in their home was higher than those who reported having fewer reading materials.

q       In 2000, a lower percentage of students reported having all four types of reading materials in the home in comparison to 1994.

Children First/ website of the National PTA  http://www.pta.org/

Family Education Network  http://familyeducation.com/home/

Parent Tech  (middle school resources) http://www.parentech.org/

Help For Parents (National Education Assn.)  www.nea.org/parents/

Parental Involvement (Edutopia)www.edutopia.org/parentinvolvement 

Reading is Fundamental for parents   http://www.rif.org/parents/

Reading is Fundamental:  Reading Planet for Kids  www.rif.org/readingplanet/ 

Scholastic for Kids                 www.scholastic.com/kids/

EBRP SUMMER READING LIST

Park Forest Destiny Card Catalog  http://destiny.ebrpss.k12.la.us

Students should log in using  their school computer log in name and password

World Book Online (ID:  lahome Password:  student)

           www.worldbookonline.com 

EBSCO data bases                                                  (ID:  student, password:  EBSCO )             http://search.ebsco.com

Louisiana Pass  (password:  tiger)www.louisianapass.org

Grolier Online ( ID:  baton, password:  rouge)  http://go.grolier.com

Book Fair Results - 96% Success

Took in $4,028.99

Total Profits Received $1,796.88:

$450 in Books

$716.88 in Vouchers

$130 Bonus

$500.00 Cash

 

35 children and 22 adults participated in Family Night.  Class Winners for having the most families present at night events:  1^st Place – Ms. Austin $25, 2^nd Place – Ms. Morrison $15, 3^rd Place – Ms. Berthelot $10.

Art Winners:  Jekyra F, Steven F, Myandra G, Shazley J, and Araceli B.  CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

We are doing Accelerated Reader this school year.  Students in grades 2-5 have been checking out books to read so that they can take tests.  Hopefully the new AR program will begin being used second nine weeks.  In January and May we will have a "Sock Hop" for students who earn ten or more points for their test-taking.  We will publish a group photo and list their names on this page.