Book Club

We will read I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai for our first meeting in September. Happy Reading!

Club Meetings

read for the fun of it This Summer

Now that summer has arrived, I look forward to perusing my overflowing bookshelves to find something fun to read. Perhaps I will grab an intriguing biography, a compelling young adult novel or a page-turning thriller. What will you read this summer?

Here are some suggestions I have gleaned from my GoodReads page:

Emma a Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith Still Life by Louise Penny All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie The Beach Club by Elin Hildebrand Home Front by Kristin Hannah Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal The Photograph by Penelope Lively Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh Atonement by Ian McEwan The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain Travels by Michael Crichton A Trip to the Beach by Melinda Blanchard Penelope’s Daughter by Laurel Corona Left Neglected by Lisa Genova When the World Spoke French by Marc Fumaroli The Most Beautiful Walk in the Word: a Pedestrian in Paris by John Baxter In the Woods by Tana French

If you do read something interesting, entertaining or memorable this summer, please share it with our SJP reading community by adding a review to the SJP Book Reviews page on our website. Just click the Submit your Book Review link and fill out the form!

Happy Reading, everyone!

Contents

Research Across the Curriculum 2

Imagine Traveling Vicariously 2

Virtual High School Update 3

Discover Helpful Resources 3

Recent Acquisitions 3

Book Review 4

Learn Interesting Facts 4

Book Club News 4

SJP

Libra

ryREAD,

IMAGINE,

DISCOVER

AND

LEARN

MAY/JUNE 2015

My Period 7 Study

Research Across the Curriculum

One of the final projects Mrs. Osborne assigned to her freshmen Biology classes was a research paper on a genetic disorder. Each student was required to investigate the causes, history, symptoms, treatment and medical research of an a s s i g n e d d i s o rd e r. T h e s t u d e n t s researched and wrote about a variety of diseases including, Huntington’s Disease, S ick le Ce l l Anemia , Osteogenes is Imperfecta and Cri-du-Chat syndrome.

In conjunction with this project, the students visited the Library. Before they began their research, I presented a lesson on employing effective search strategies and evaluating their resources. I began by showing them an informative video called “Web Search Strategies in Plain English.” The video explains how search engines work and offers tips on how to enter combinations of search terms to refine the results. I also recommended that they venture beyond the Google-sphere and use other more academic search engines like RefSeek or SweetSearch. We also talked about the elements to consider when evaluating resources. For example, students should ask themselves the following questions (among others) when evaluating resources. Who published the information? What is the purpose or intent of the source? Does the resource suit my needs for this project?

As always, I emphasized that the true purpose of conducting research is to LEARN about the topic. At the end of their quest for information, Mrs. Osborne’s students should have read extensively about their subject in a variety of resources to become experts on their assigned genetic disorder.

Summer is an ideal time to vacation and catch up on my joy reading.  Why not combine the two by traveling somewhere new with the characters of a great summer read?  As Emily Dickinson so astutely observed, a book can take you worlds away.  Last summer, I took a vicarious trip to Florence, Italy with Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s Inferno and another journey to London in the pages of A Conspiracy of Friends by Alexander McCall Smith.

Right from the opening pages of Inferno, Robert Langdon is on the run, desperately trying to solve a life or death puzzle. Quickly turning page after page, I experienced the wonders of Florence as I followed in the Harvard professor’s footsteps in his race against time. His chase takes him to Venice and Istanbul as well, but I was particularly captivated by the scenes set among the  the iconic museums, churches and gardens of Florence. Thanks to Professor Langdon’s hurried travelogue, I now have a sense of the bucolic beauty of the Boboli Gardens, the

grandeur of the Pitti Palace and the sanctity of the Baptistry of San Giovanni.

After my breakneck journey through Florence, I was happy to meander more slowly through the neighborhoods of London with the residents of Corduroy Mansions. In A Conspiracy of Friends, William, Caroline, Barbara and even Freddie de la Hay are confronted with the sometimes puzzling nature of friendship. William receives a surprising revelation from the wife of his oldest friend. Caroline and Barbara struggle to distinguish the fine line between friendship and true love,  Freddie, through no fault of his own, is parted from his devoted master.  At the end of their individual days fraught with worries, these Londoners gladly return to their respective Pimlico flats, happy to be home.

Where shall I travel this summer?   Lisa See’s novel Shanghai Girls beckons to me from my bookshelf.  Perhaps a trip to China is in order. . .

May/June 2015 2

Sophomores visit the Library during their period 2 Study.

IMAGINE traveling vicariously this summer

Did you read the May/June issue of The TIE? Pick up your

copy in the Library today!

VHS UPDATE All of our VHS students successfully completed their online classes this year. I hope their experience with online learning has helped them to develop the time management and independent learning skills they will need in college.

Eleven students have signed up for Virtual High School for the 2015-2016 academic year. The majority of them have chosen to enroll in Advanced Placement classes. They will be taking online courses in AP Spanish Language and Culture, AP Physics, AP Economics, AP French Language and Culture, AP Music Theory, and AP Computer Science, as well as Engineering Principles and Programming in Visual Basic.

If you are interested in learning more about teaching online or blended learning, VHS has great professional development opportunities. Take a look at the Professional Development page on the VHS website this summer!

When students begin a research project, their first stop for reference resources should be the Library Electronic Resources webpage. This page includes links to our online encyclopedias, statewide databases, E-book collections and other helpful websites. From this single page, students will be able to find journal articles, images, video clips, authoritative websites and nonfiction books covering any and all subject areas.

In addition to the terrific online resources, I have also provided research tools for our students, making them available on the Electronic Resources page. Students can download research guides including the necessary steps for conducting effective research and lists of suggested resources. They can also download and print graphic organizers and worksheets to help them organize information and evaluate and cite resources as they investigate their research topic.

By exploring the links on the Library webpage and using the available research tools our scholars should be able to set out undaunted on their next quest for information.

May/June 2015 3

DISCOVER Helpful Resources on SJP Website

Leo studies for finals.

We have added some exciting new titles to our FollettShelf Ebook collection. During the summer break, take a moment to look at these helpful new ebooks. Each of

these new resources allow multi-access, so more than one person at a time can read the book.

• Ancient Construction • Genetic Disorders Sourcebook • Global Warming and Climate Change • Personality of Abnormal Psychology

• Changing Ecosystems • Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders and

Birth Defects • Exploring the Life, Myth and Art of

Ancient Rome • How to Analyze the Works of J.K. Rowling • Bloom’s Guide to Poets and Poems • Bloom’s Guide to Romeo & Juliet

Recent Acquisitions

New additions to our FollettShelf.

BOOK REVIEWThe Photograph by Penelope Lively

While cleaning out a cupboard in the home he shared with his deceased wife, Glyn Peters, stumbles upon an old photo of her furtively holding hands with her brother-in-law. Immediately, he begins to question his memories of his marriage to Kath. Was her involvement with her sister’s husband an anomaly or had Kath cheated with other men too? Glyn begins a quest to learn more about Kath’s life and realizes he never really knew who she was.

This bittersweet character study of a beautiful, but misunderstood young woman depicted through the eyes and thoughts of the key people in her life is insightful and satisfying. It will captivate readers who are looking for a multi-faceted novel inhabited by imperfect, but fully developed characters who confront universal questions about love, life and happiness.

I enjoy Penelope Lively's beautiful writing style and her perceptive portrayal of the interior lives of her characters. I will definitely read more of her intriguing novels.

Did you know that the first player to win the Wimbledon men’s single championship was Spencer William Gore in 1877 and that women did not compete at Wimbledon until 1884?

Did you know that the spire of Salisbury Cathedral is the tallest in Britain (404 feet) and tilts 27 inches to the southeast and that the cathedral also contains the oldest working clock in Europe, dating from 1386?

This year, I have augmented the Library webpages with interesting facts gleaned from all areas of study. Whenever I stumble upon a tidbit of information that piques my interest

either in my reading or while watching Jeopardy, I make a note of it and file it away for future reference. Some of this fascinating information has ended up on the Library webpage. With each Did you Know posting, I include an intriguing fact accompanied by a link to a webpage with further information about the topic.

Visit the Library webpage to check out the Did You Know fact of the moment and learn something new!

May/June 20154

The Book Club talks about the novels of Jodi Picoult.

LEARN interesting facts on the SJP Library page

Book Club News

At our final meeting for this school year, the Book Club had a lively conversation about the novels of Jodi Picoult. We each read a different book written by the best-selling author and shared our impressions with the group. We talked about Mercy, Handle with Care, Plain Truth, My Sister’s Keeper and Keeping Faith.

Each of the storylines revolves around an essential ethical question and involves medical and/or legal issues. In Mercy, a devoted husband kills his terminally ill wife at her request to end her suffering. A mother

initiates a wrongful birth suit to secure her disabled daughter’s future in Handle with Care. In each of the other books we talked about, Picoult explores equally controversial issues while just as skillfully delving into the thoughts and emotions of her characters. To learn more about her career and body of work visit her website (www.jodipicoult.com).

Recently, Picoult has ventured into the world of young adult literature. She has co-authored two YA novels (Between the Lines and Off the Page) with her daughter, Samantha Van Leer. I look forward to reading them this summer.