Book Spine Poetry Contest -- National Poetry Month -- April 2016

If This, Then What?!?

I've been trying to get a handle on my social media posting.  Basically I want to be able to post once and have it feed to all of my media outlets.  I finally figured out this recipe through ifttt.com...

If I post to Instagram, it posts to Twitter -- picture and text...

Twitter posts forward to Facebook.

If I post to YouTube, it posts to Twitter...then to Facebook.

If I post to Instagram, it saves a copy of the picture and the text to an IFTTT Google folder.

Then it hit me....what about folks not on social media?  So, I added a PGM Announcements blog:  pgmannouncements.blogspot.com

Now, if I post to Instagram, it creates a new post on the pgmannouncements blog.

January/February 2016

January and February have been rough months this year....

Wanting to drum up reading to kick off 2016, I started 16 Reading Resolutions for 2016.  Students who complete the 16 resolutions by May 11 will be invited to the library picnic in May.  Here are the resolutions:

1. Read a new book from your favorite author.
2. Read one book related to your favorite subject in school.
3. Read an autobiography or biography.
4. Read a book that takes place in another world or another part of our world.
5. Read a book that your best friend recommends.
6. Read a random book from the library.
7. Read a book from a series.
8. Read a book your teacher recommends.
9. Read your parent’s favorite children’s book.
10. Read a blue book.
11. Read an historical fiction book.
12. Read a book that is also a movie.
13. Read a book you can finish in a day.
14. Read a book published in the year you were born.
15. Read a Newbery Award or Honor book.
16. Reread your favorite book of all time.

Students pick up a log from the library to record their meeting the resolutions. Here's that log. Feel free to make a copy, edit, and use.

I also took the Getting Going with GAFE course from Richard Byrne and learned A LOT! (Resources from the class saved in Google Drive in the folder GGWG.)

We prepped for a Groovy Book Fair that even though we did a Family Night with free Spaghetti Supper, still didn't do very well. I don't think February is the ideal time to hold one with folks still recovering from Christmas. The STEM Night, however, was great with our three grade level BLAST groups showcasing their current project.

Here's the Save the Date:

Here's the Agenda for the night:

The event was covered by the Valdosta Daily Times, and here's the article.

We then connected with a class in Ontario, Canada and another in Maryland via Twitter and Google Hangout to discuss biodiversity among our three vastly different areas.  

We also rebranded our social media so that we maintained the same handle across all platforms.  We went from being either PGMVikings OR PineGroveMiddle to being just PGMVikings.  That way when we are tagged on one social media channel, and those posts are forwarded on to other social media, we are tagged there as well.  Well worth the time and effort to simplify.

March Madness kicked off at the end of February so that we have enough time to narrow down our brackets from a starting lineup of 50 books to the final matchup.  The brackets are hung in the hallway with the starting 32 that made the cut.  Folks can vote to narrow 32 down to 16 through Sunday, March 6.  Here's what the hall looks like: