Club Boulevard Media Center

1st Graders kicked off their Camp Read-a-Lot celebration by coming to a campfire sing along in the Media Center. Students, teachers, and even a few parents dressed up as their favorite book character! Individual classes visited the Media Center throughout the day to hear a favorite spooky tale told by Miss Stitsinger. Children sat in tents while a glowing fire crackled in the background. What a fun way to celebrate books and reading!

After researching Pablo Picasso’s life and visiting his exhibit at the Nasher Art Museum, Mrs. Harrison’s 4th grade students chose one painting that interested them and wrote a poem in response to the painting. Please enjoy the students’ readings of their poetry while standing in front of the painting that inspired them!

These star readers went above and beyond this summer by either participating in the Durham public library’s summer reading program or the DPS Summer reading initiative. The students kept track of their reading and then turned in their reading log to Miss Stitsinger during the first week of school. Today the students were recognized by Mr. Copeland on the morning announcements and came to the Media Center to receive their prizes. Each student was awarded a certificate, a gold medal, a bookmark, and a book to keep! Congratulations to these students who made reading an important part of their summer!

Congratulations to 70 of our fourth and fifth graders who participated in a summer reading program sponsored by Communites in Schools of Durham (http://www.cisdurham.org). These students were mailed 10 books over the course of the summer and they wrote postcards after finishing each book to tell about their reading. The students celebrated their hard work today with pizza in the Media Center. They were also awarded a gold medal for their success! Thank you Communities in Schools for this wonderful opportunity!

Welcome back Club Blvd. families! I can’t wait to hear about all the great books you read over the summer This school year will be the best one yet in the Media Center! Our school theme this year is Metamorphosis and I am amazed each year at how much our students grow and change as readers. I know this year will be no exception!

Just a few quick reminders… Open circulation occurs each day for students from 8:45-9:05am and 3-3:30pm. Parents may also come in with their child before or after school to check out books. I am looking for volunteers to help reshelve books and work on other small projects. Ideally it would be great to have one person for each day of the week! So far, I have one person committed to Mondays. Our students love to read and I usually can’t get the books back on the shelves fast enough. ANY help is greatly appreciated!

On Tuesday, May 5th, Club’s 5th grade Battle of the Books team competed in the district competition at the Staff Development Center. These students read 12 novels this year and met every other Friday in the Media Center to discuss the books and prepare for the battle. The team place second after losing by just a few points to Pearsontown in the tie-breaker round. Congratulations to these students for all their hard work and accomplishments!

On Monday, March 23, Club’s faculty took on George Watts in a basketball game at DSA to raise money for the PTA. Many families from both schools came out to support their teachers, staff, and principals. A good time was had by all!

Two groups of Club students presented their work with technology at the DPS Educational Technology Showcase on March 19th. The Showcase featured dozens of exhibits that illustrated to parents and other attendees the infusion of technology in virtually every aspect of instruction across the district.  Our second graders displayed their “Mixbooks”–online books they created after researching an animal’s habitat and life cycle. Our fifth graders talked to parents about the Wiki they used to help them prepare for the Battle of the Books competition.

Check out these pictures from the fifth grade field trip to Washington, D.C. A few of the highlights were our visits to the Capitol Building, Library of Congress, Union Station, the Whitehouse, several monuments, and the museums on the Mall.

Last week our fifth graders had the amazing opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to the Whitehouse and the students were buzzing with excitement! Listen as a few of our students answer the following questions: “If you could ask President Obama one question, what would it be?” and “What would you tell the President about Club Boulevard School?”