Welcome to Ward-Highlands Elementary School's Media Center 

Mr. Christopher Lanza, Media Specialist  christopher.lanza@marion.k12.fl.us

MCPS Online students may check out books online and pick them up at Ward-Highlands Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:00-8:30 and 10:45-11:15. Please use the video for directions to check out a book online through Destiny. Then use the Destiny link below to log into Destiny. 

 Quick Links:

• TeachingBooks Great resources for teachers and students
• Mr. Lanza Reads Hear me read some of my favorite picture books online, anytime. 
• MCPS Destiny Destiny is the our library media center catalog. Not only is it available at your school computer, but now teachers, students, and parents can log in and access it from home to check out the Marion County library collections anytime, anyplace, anywhere!
• AR BookFinder Program To view a complete list of which books have AR quizzes.
• Accelerated Reader Students will have access to take AR Quizzes at home while we are participating in Distance Learning. Please use the following link to the AR site.
• Harry Potters Wizarding World at Home
• Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks
• www.storylineonline.net -- Stories read by celebrities
• www.kidlit.tv -- Read alouds, book trailers, activities, and more
• www.imaginationlibrary.com – “Goodnight with Dolly” Country Music superstar and longtime children’s literacy advocate Dolly Parton reads bedtime stories to children
• Dave Pilkey at Home – Author of Dog Man and Captain Underpants. Dave Pilkey at home will feature new video content created by Pilkey himself on Friday mornings at 8 a.m. ET on social media channels and the websites of the Library of Congress and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company. Beginning April 1, fun and free activities will be available online including how-to-draw demonstrations, engaging read-a-louds and inspiring resources from the Library’s collections. Additional videos and content will be shared periodically throughout the week and will feature downloadable activities, conversations about books and creativity, and tips for kids and families to create their own characters and act out scenes from Pilkey’s Dog Man book series.

Great Resources to use at Home: Access them through your student portal.

Kidinfo bits - an engaging online experience for information on a broad range of topics.  Access through student portal under Library Media Resources, simply click the Gale resources tile.

Worldbook Online - Online encyclopedia and a resource for educational learning and research. Access through student portal under Library Media Resources, click on Worldbook tile and select kids tile with the balloon.

myON! - Access to many books you can read at home.  Click on the myON! tile on your student portal.  

Mission Statement:

Provide students access to instructional resources and multimedia-based educational materials to advance their reading skills as a critical component of their learning experience.

Hours:

7:20 - 7:30 -- Morning check-in / check-out books

7:45 - 8:00 -- News Show

8:00 - 2:05 -- Classes and check-in / check-out books

2:05 - 2:15 -- Afternoon check-in / check-out books

2:30 - 3:00 -- Planning & Teacher Services

Circulation Policy:

• Each student in Pre-K, kindergarten, and ESE may check out one book per week to be kept in the classroom. 
• Students in 1st grade may check out 2 books until their next assigned day in the Media Center. 
• Students in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade may check out three books until their next assigned day in the Media Center.
• Students may renew a book for an additional week. 
• There are no fines for overdue materials.
• Students may only check out second chance books if they have overdue, lost, or damaged books that have not be returned or reimbursed.
• Parent/guardians may create a WHE Media Center account and check out five additional books for their child.  Parents/guardians can request an account by visiting Ward-Highlands Elementary School and meeting with a Media Center representative.

Gift Policy:

Gifts are always appreciated. They may be added to the media center collection, given to the classrooms, or given to students. All gifts will be accepted and evaluated as follows: Is the gift appropriate for students? Does the gift support the curriculum? Is the gift in good condition?

Sunshine State Young Readers' Award:

Sunshine State Young Readers' Award program includes SSYRA JUNIOR for grades Kindergarten – 2^nd and SSYRA for Grades 3^rd – 5^th. Each program presents a collection of fifteen books chosen for their quality and appeal, and represent some of the best in children's literature today. Students participating in the programs and meeting the minimum requirements for books read are eligible to vote for their favorite book. The author of the book with the most statewide votes is presented with the Sunshine State Young Readers' Award.

SSYRA Junior (Grades Kindergarten – 2^nd):

The Sunshine State Young Reader's Award Jr. program is intended to develop student interest in reading for pleasure by exposing them to a wide range of appropriate literature. Sunshine State Jr. books are selected for their wide appeal, literary value, varied genres, curriculum connections, and/or multicultural representation. Students are encouraged to listen to these books read to them, read them in a small group setting, or read independently to develop skills in fluency and comprehension. 

Students will be eligible to vote in the spring after listening/reading at least three of the books.  The winning author and illustrator will be recognized at the annual FAME conference.  

click here to visit the SSYRA Jr. site

SSYRA (Grades 3^rd – 5^th):

The Sunshine State Young Readers' Award program presents a collection of fifteen books chosen for their quality and appeal, and represent some of the best in children's literature today. Students in grades 3 through 5 are encouraged to read at least 3 of the 15 books to be eligible to vote for their favorite book. Every year, the author of the book with the most statewide votes is presented with the Sunshine State Young Readers' Award.

click here to visit the SSYRA site

TV Studio:

Our studio televises live announcements each morning.  Student recognition is also featured.  Students operate the entire show with supervision from the Media Specialist.  The crew consists of anchors, camera and sound technicians, announcers, video mixer, and assistants.

 Morning News Show

Ward-Highlands morning news show is broadcast from our TV Studio each morning between 7:45am and 8:00am.  The purpose of our show is to inform students and staff about our school’s daily and near term events and schedules.  Teachers can submit requests to have special classroom activities and information presented on the show that they would like to share with the school.  Requests can be submitted to the Media Specialist.

5^th grade students who qualify are selected to work on the news show with the Media Specialist.  They learn how to uses video cameras and sound boards, how to write scripts of the show, and how to speak and act in front of the camera.  To qualify, students must demonstrate the following qualities:

• A positive attitude
• Responsibility
• Teamwork
• Dependable
• Hard Working
• Good Communication Skills
• Positive Attitude
• Good attendance
• Good grades