May News from the library

May has been a busy month in the library. We had 160 classes using the library this month despite being closed for STAAR testing for several days.

In a week, we'll be saying good-bye to our senior library aides Anyi, Kaitlyn, Nina, G.G., Carly, Chase and Devanshi. We wish them the very best in their futures.

We learned that the new librarian will be Mrs. Laura Gladney-Lemon. She currently is a GT social studies teacher at Clear Creek Intermediate. We welcome her to Clear Creek High School and wish her the very best for her future.

Finally, we're ending the school year with the awesome news that the library received the Clear Creek Education Foundation Grant for $2952.43. See how excited we are? The money will be used to purchase e-books for the library collection.

Mrs. Sanders & Mrs. Gisch

News from the librarian

It's with a sad but hopeful heart that I say good-bye to Clear Creek H.S. and CCISD. I've been with the district for twenty years as a librarian.

I began my career at Wedgewood Elementary in Friendswood which opened that year with 950 students grades PK-6. It was a challenging four years as I was a former high school English teacher and had no elementary training.

I then moved to Clear Brook High School working with Lynn Marchesi and then Michelle Buckley. I stayed at Brook for seven years. When Mary Clark retired from Clear Creek H.S., I tranferred here and worked with first Janel Salmen, then with Danna Kubacak. I have been here for nine years.

I have been very blessed to be with such a fine district, but now I'm off for a new adventure to another great district in Conroe ISD. I will be the librarian at Caney Creek High School---still CCHS, but changing from Wildcats to Panthers. I will miss the outstanding faculty and student body at Creek, but I look forward to meeting new people and helping to inspire the love of reading in new patrons.

Keep reading Wildcats!!!! You'll always be in my heart.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sanders

April News

Last night, April 4th, we had our pizza party celebrating the participants of our League City High Schools Read program. It was small so every student who attended received free pizza, gift certificates to the Cheese Cake Factory or Starbucks and a certificate of participation. Each student read one of three books and joined into the E4

discussion of their book. Our participants were Faliha Gilani, Logan Graves and Lacie Helmen.

April is National Poetry Month. We have poetry books on display. Ms. Graham may have a poetry reading planned in the library soon. Listen to the announcements.

Today, April 5th is National Librarian Day. Our library director and members of the Friends of the Library visited all 43 schools in the district and delivered gifts to the librarians and their aides. We really liked those jelly beans!

Finally, we currently are displaying masks from Mr. Wooldridge's 10th grade classes. The projects were based on the novel Shattering Glass by Gail Giles. They sure are awesome!

Money, money, money!

Football player/HiLife sports editor presents check to librarian Tina Sanders and assistant Andi Gisch. Ron Carter Cadillac Hyundai Clear Lake gave a $5000 grant to CCISD football. The top award of $2,500 went to Creek with the most votes. Wildcat football donated $1,500 of that to the library. The CCHS library thanks the athletic department!

Battle of the Kids' Books

"School Library Journal’s fifth annual Battle of the Kids’ Books tournament, affectionately known as “BOB,” is about to begin! Modeled after college basketball’s March Madness, the tournament pits 16 of 2012’s best books for young people—everything from fantasy to nonfiction to wicked good romance—against one another in a winner-take-all online elimination contest kicking off on Monday, March 12." Read more about it in the SLJ's online newsletter by clicking the link below.


SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books

Lilibeth Andre Visits the Library

Artist/Author Lilibeth Andre from Houston visited the library today and talked about her book The Lady of the Turquoise Pendant. The self-published book is about an Aztec princess who must fight for her father's kingdom that is doomed to fall into the hands of the evil and bloodthirsty high priest. The 8 illustrations were painted by the author and include all of the main characters in the story.

Ms. Andre talked to nineteen classes which included Spanish, English and art classes. The teens had many interesting questions such as her inspirations for the different faces in the art, if artists today use live models, and why she chose to self-publish versus the traditional path.

Thank you Ms. Andre and we look forward to the next book in the story!

League City High Schools READ

Clear Creek, Clear Falls, and Clear Springs HS libraries have started a reading program called League City High Schools READ. Students can choose one of three books to read and discuss with students in all three high schools. Click the link above to read more about it.

Thank you Kathy Eldon!

Last week was an awesome week at Clear Creek High School library. We had four great days with the Dan Eldon exhibit donated to us by the Creative Visions Foundation. The climax of the week was a visit by Dan's mother Kathy Eldon.

Ms. Jameson, Mrs. Sanders, Kathy Eldon, & Mrs. O'neil

The exhibit was very colorful and Dan was so inspiring in what he accomplished in his short life. His mother is so positive. It makes you want to get out there and make a difference in the world. Thank you Kathy for showing us that life is precious! For more information, visit the Creative Visions Foundation.

Upcoming January Events

While the semester is winding down for students and teachers, the library is planning three programs for January. The first program begins the day students return. We are fortunate to have the Dan Eldon Exhibit January 8-11 with a visit by his mother on January 10th. Who is Dan Eldon, you ask?

Dan was an artist, activist, adventurer, and war-photojournalist born in London and raised in Africa. On his first official war assignment, he was tragically killed by a mob in Somalia in July 1993 along with three other journalists after a bombing by UN forces killed over 70 innocent people. He was only 22-years-old. Dan left behind several artistic journals which have been published and his art displayed all over the world.

His mother Kathy started the organization Creative Visions Foundation which inspires "the use of media and the arts for positive social change around the globe." His sister Amy became a journalist and helped to make an Emmy-nominated documentary called Dying to Tell Their Story. Other books and a movie have been made about Dan and his life: The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon (1997) and the book and movie Dan Eldon: Safari as a Way of Life (2011). All copies are available in the library.

We will launch Read Across League City High Schools also in January. Students can choose between three books to join an online discussion group with students of the three high schools in League City: Clear Creek, Clear Falls & Clear Springs. Participants will be able to attend a three-school pizza party and get prizes and MAYBE credit in their English classes. More details to come.

Finally, on January 25th, the library will host Houston artist and author Lilibeth Andre who has written her first young adult novel called The Lady of the Turquoise Pendant. Students may pre-order her book before December 21st at nearly half off the publisher's price. Forms are available in the library. We look forward to her visit.

January is shaping up to be an exciting library adventure!!!

Happy Holidays from CCHS Library

Holiday Book Fair

The library is having its annual Holiday Book Fair sponsored by Scholastic November 26-30th. We have cases of YA fiction & graphic novels, middle school nonfiction, a case of preschool books, and cookbooks. The library receives free books based on the total sales. Come and do your holiday shopping with us!

Also, we've been celebrating College Week (thus the A&M shirt) all week and Thursday, retired teacher Robin Thac came by to sell her jewelry creations. We provided hot apple cider & cookies. My aide Anyi and I wore festive hats in celebration! Happy Pre-Holidays!

Thankful

The library has celebrated our Veterans this past week with displays of books about soldiers from past wars. I especially like our book From Baghdad, with Love : a Marine, the War, and a Dog named Lava by Jay Kopelman and Melinda Roth (2006). Just the cover alone makes me smile. Once on the display table, it soon disappeared.

As we remember our veterans (past, present & future), let's be thankful for their sacrifice and courage. And speaking of thanks, Mrs. Gisch and I want to wish all of our staff and students a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I'm thankful for the time with my family and my own two dogs. I'm hoping for beautiful weather where we can get outside. Finally, I'm hoping everyone returns a little healthier and rested. Be safe and give someone you love a hug.

Creepy Craft Success!

Yesterday, we celebrated Teen Read Week with our Creepy Craft program. We had 12 students and one staff member create spooky book bags. It was a lot of fun and the kids asked if we could do crafts again for Christmas! We'll see....

Creepy Craft @ the Library October 17, 2012

The theme for this year's Teen Read Week is "It Came From the Library!"  To celebrate, the library is offering a Creepy Craft day on Wednesday, October 17th, from 2:30-3:30. We'll be decorating spooky book bags so we have something in which to carry all of our scary books! Any interested student needs to sign up in the library between now and October 16th in order to participate. We want to make sure we have plenty of supplies.

Also, on Thursday October 11th from 11:00-12:00, the library will be showing a live webcast of author J.K. Rowling announcing a new Harry Potter reading club. The webcast is sponsored by Scholastic. Students may stop in during their lunch and sneak a peak.

Happy Howling Little Ghouls.

Banned Books Week @ the Library

This week marks the annual celebration of our freedom to read whatever we want. It's also a reminder that sometimes those freedoms are challenged when people try to censure what we read. It's not uncommon for schools to become targets of censorship. However, high school is the place where children become young adults. One thing this age group begins to learn is that they are able to practice self-censorship without having to ban titles from other library patrons. This is what adults do. We pick up a book and start to read it. If we don't like it or find it unsuitable, we put it down and pick up another book. Unfortunately, sometimes a person picks up a book, finds it unsuitable and decides it's unsuitable for the entire population. They want the book removed from the library or the curriculum. They make the decision for every student and every teacher and every parent in the community that no one need bother to read this book. That's scary. I want to make that decision for myself, and so should you. This week, celebrate the freedom we have in this country to read whatever we want. Perhaps you might like to choose a book someone else tried to remove from some library or school. See if you agree with their opinion and then be thankful that you have the freedom to form your own opinion.

Bye Bye Shuttle

On Wednesday, September 19th, the shuttle Endeavor flew over our school. The kids weren't here, but some of the teachers got to see it fly over Clear Creek High School. Although it was a wonderful gesture, I have to agree with the city of Houston that it was bittersweet. Many of our students are from NASA families whose parents have worked on the shuttle program. We are certainly thankful to Florida's space center for giving us the mock up shuttle though. One teacher said students will be able to tour the mock up while the other shuttles won't be touchable. Ah well, it was still an exciting day to see the Endeavor on it's last journey. I look forward to seeing what's next in the space program.

New EasyBib app

EasyBib is now offering its free mobile bibliography application for both the iPhone/Pad and the Android phone. Writers can use their smart phone to scan a book’s barcode, or type the book’s name and an accurate MLA, APA, or Chicago style citation is immediately created for their bibliography page. For more information visit


http://drafts.easybib.com/post/5581628341/easybib-releases-mobile-app

“Hot Stuff and Other Things.” Library Media Connection (May/June 2012): 43. Print.

A New Take on the Star Spangled Banner

Yesterday, we remembered those victims of the tragedy of September 11th. In my email, I received a link to a rock band who heard people complaining about the Star Spangled Banner as being too hard to sing and a stupid choice for the National Anthem. The band Madison Rising recorded their version of the song to re-inspire a generation to feel proud of the National Anthem and being an American. Be prepared to be rocked! I hope you enjoy it.
Mrs. Sanders

Star Spangled Banner

Welcome Back Wildcats!

It's been a long hot summer, but school is starting again and the library staff is excited to see everyone! Hope everyone had the opportunity to do something exciting this summer. The librarian, Mrs. Sanders  spent a week in Alaska. It was a "cool" vacation, pun intended. Mrs. Gisch went to Kansas and Branson, Missouri. It was 107 degrees, so she didn't escape the heat.

Construction on the library has been completed over the summer. You won't be able to see a difference though because the air conditioners were replaced, but maybe we'll be cooler in there.

Hope everyone has a great beginning to their school year. Remember that we open every morning at 6:45. We close at 3:00 on Monday and Friday and are opened until 3:15 Tuesday-Thursday. See you soon!

Free e-books this Summer!

I've mentioned it once before, but one more time, get free ebooks over the summer!

Teens can get a jump on their required reading, too, with the 2012 SYNC Summer audio program. Audiobook publishers and AudioFile Magazine have put a great twist on titles being offered this summer, matching a bestseller with a classic. The opening pair, available June 14 at SYNC, will be The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Two new titles will be made available each week through August 22.
This article originally appeared in School Library Journal's enewsletter SLJTeen.