Order your yearbook by this Fri 5/25!

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Click here for more info!.

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As we switch back to summer reading mode, HCL librarians will present this year’s Summer Reading Program during reading classes on Tues 5/29 and Weds 5/30.  We’re confident we’ll be adding a second trophy to our collection.

In the meantime, all Media books were due back Tues 5/22.

Congratulations to all Falcons for your strong reading culture.  Please remember to your Media books tomorrow (or as soon as possible), and participate in the HCL Summer Reading Program!

To browse a fuller set of books from our collection, click the screenshot below.

To browse a fuller set of books from our collection, click the screenshot below.

Eighth graders! Borrow a Sci Fi or Fantasy book with at least 150 pages.  The authors below have written some of the most successful books in these genres, several of which have been made into movies!

Click any name to search our PAC:

SCI FI
Anderson, M.T. – Feed
Card, Orson Scott – Ender’s Game
Collins, Suzanne – Hunger Games series
DuPrau, Jeanne – Books of Ember
Lowry, Lois – The Giver series
Patterson, James – Maximum Ride series
Pfeffer, Susan – Last Survivors series
Westerfeld, Scott – Midnighters series, Uglies series

FANTASY
Becker, Tom – Darkside series
Brewer, Heather – Chronicles of Vladimir Tod
Colfer, Eoin – Artemis Fowl series
D’Lacey, Chris – Last Dragon Chronicles
Delaney, Joseph – Last Apprentice series
Landy, Derek – Skulduggery Pleasant series
Riordan, Rick – Percy Jackson & the Olympians series
Sage, Angie – Septimus Heap series
Schreiber, Ellen – Vampire Kisses series
Scott, Michael – Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series

Welcome back, Falcons!  What’s the best book you read over the summer?  Did you read any stinkers?

Sound off in the comments below …

The Class of 2013 pulled off a MAJOR UPSET by taking the 2011 Super Bowl of Reading trophy!

6th grade – 241 yards
8th grade – 197 yards
7th grade – 46 yards

The 6th grade total was just 2 yards short of all 7th and 8th grade yards combined.  Way to go, 6th graders!

Congratulations to all MVPs who moved their teams down the field, and a hat tip to 8th grade for coming close to 2 touchdowns.

Says Justin: “More prizes are coming in future weeks, so don’t forget to rave your read!  Click the RAVE! button at the top left of this screen, or grab a rave sheet from the Media Center.  I’ll be reading you online.  Definitely.”

Next month we’ll be giving away flash drives.  Submit your best book raves and watch the morning news to see if you win …

• Watch our trout fry survivors

Way to go, trout!  And way to go Ms. Saunderson and Ms. Dillon, who stopped in during the blizzard to keep them fed and happy.

Click here to compare this video against earlier videos.

• Watch our trout fry swimming in same direction

Click here to compare this video against earlier videos.

• Watch an egg hatching, Thurs 1/14
• Watch many alevins wriggling around, Fri 1/15

Oakland Mills Middle is working with Trout in the Classroom to help raise approximately 150 trout to release into a local stream here in Columbia.  The eggs were delivered on Thurs 1/7, and the first eggs hatched on Thurs 1/14.  In the video above, watch one trout move from the egg stage into an alevin.  Stay tuned to see the trout as they grow over the next few months!

And a new Falcon Media website.  Get ready to Tweet Your Read!

What are you reading? Don’t wait to finish the book, just think about what you’ve read so far.  Invent a clever screen name, then write 2 or 3 sentences about what you’ve read.  Come back in a few days and tweet again when you’ve read more.  The best readers share their thoughts, so start tweeting!

Every month we give away prizes, and at the end of the year we give away whoppin’ big prizes.  The more you tweet, the better your odds of winning.

In the meantime, use the poll below to share your thoughts on the beginning of the year with your fellow Falcons …

87 bloggers.  251 blogs covering 30 genres.  29,069 hits.  Congratulations, Falcons!

Most popular?  Breaking Dawn by Brandon.

Most Googled?  How to Draw Hip Hop by Kian.

Most prolific?  Jordan with a whopping 28 blogs!

Never stop reading!  Blog Your Read goes 2.0 next year with more prizes, more interactivity and custom screen names.

ommsfalcons.com

What Are You Reading?

Watch the End-of-Year Announcement here:

People search Google. Google points ‘em here.

Bet you didn’t know that!

So which blogs have gotten the most Google hits? Here’s our top 10 list so far:

10. Do You Know the Monkey Man, blogged by Alex
9. Everest, Book One: The Contest, blogged by Angel
8. The Abduction, blogged by Jackie
7. Breaking Dawn, blogged by Brandon
6. The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets, blogged by Maryknoll
5. Cloral, blogged by Daniel
4. Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy, blogged by Japjyot
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, blogged by Jackie
2. The Face on the Milk Carton, blogged by Insha

And the number one blog Googlers are reading …

1. How to Draw Hip-Hop, blogged by Kian

What makes one blog more popular than others with Google? It depends partly on what people are searching for, and partly on whatever’s in Google’s special sauce.

However it works, whenever you blog your read there’s a good bet someone on the world wide web is paying attention.