Access more books during school closure

Posted on March 23, 2020 by caroleoglesby

Creative E-learning, University of South Florida

Many incredible online resources to encourage children’s reading are now free through June, to support families during these challenging times. Here are Mrs Oglesby’s favorites for reading or listening:

Epic! Digital Library for Kids 12 & Under: Instantly access 35,000 full-length, well-known books. If your child’s classroom doesn’t plan to use this service, ask Mrs. Oglesby to sign you up for free access, at carole.oglesby@colchestersd.org.
World Book Online: In addition to their children’s encyclopedia, choose from 25,000 e-books about animals, crafts, mysteries and wonders, world cultures, and more. Not to mention games, webquests, science projects – really, you should check this out! Log in as Username: wbsupport and Password: distancelearn
Audible has released free streaming audiobooks at: https://stories.audible.com/start-listen, including elementary favorites ‘The Birchbark House’ and ‘The Terrible Two’, and tween favorites ‘Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare’ and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s ‘Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry’ (which is on next year’s Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award list!)

Welcome Back to MBS – Stop By Your School Library!

Posted on September 12, 2018 by caroleoglesby

Welcome back to school! In the library this year, we will:

Read incredible Red Clover books, and make art – both with tech and traditional tools, that ties to these books
Learn about how to find great books, both in this library and beyond
Design and build using the engineering design process, especially in enrichment classes
Learn about interesting topics that you choose, while improving our research skills
We’ll continue to become good digital citizens
Learn about money and business, using a program run by the Vermont State Treasurer’s office
And much more!

Remember that you can stop by the library for new books any day, not just on your library day.

I look forward to seeing you – Mrs. Oglesby

The Oscar Times first edition goes live!

Posted on December 20, 2017 by caroleoglesby

Oscar Times, First edition

5th graders in Lighthouse have been working hard to spread the news to MBS! These intrepid reporters, editors, and artists have been meeting at the library during Monday enrichment periods to design a newspaper for the school. Many also came in during recess, or worked on their stories at home. We were fortunate to enjoy a visit from Michaela Halnon, a reporter for the Colchester Sun, who encouraged us and gave us tips for writing for a newspaper. The paper features school news, polls, staff spotlight, sports, entertainment, performance news, and comics.

Let the Oscar Time staff know what you think, and look for more issues in 2018!!

Marina Cohen Author Visit!

Posted on October 16, 2017 by caroleoglesby

On Friday, October 13th, MBS was spooked – that is, visited – by Marina Cohen, author of The Inn Between, and other spooky books for kids. Mrs. Cohen talked with 4th and 5th graders about her path to becoming an author, took questions from students, and had a mini-workshop (using drama and student helpers) on how to write suspenseful scenes

Thank you, Marina Cohen!!

Lighthouse students love to Code:

Posted on May 10, 2017 by caroleoglesby

Students design their own games on MIT’s Scratch, or hack (and improve) the games of other coders. Some students are mastering Lightbot – which is a lot of fun – or experimenting with Tynker or Minecraft coding.

Coding for Kids!

Posted on February 8, 2017 by caroleoglesby

Many MBS students are learning how to code during weekly enrichment time (and beyond). Some students learn by playing coding games like Lightbot and Tynker. Others create games, or other programs, using the fairly sophisticated Scratch.

Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically. Scratch is designed and maintained by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab.

And MBS students love using it!

‘Maker’ Enrichment

Posted on December 8, 2016 by caroleoglesby

During Hour of Code week, students chose to either program with Scratch, or make pop-up cards. Check out the fun and creative designs!

Thanks to All for a Successful Book Fair!

Posted on November 22, 2016 by caroleoglesby

A big thank you to all the parents, students, and staff who supported our school library by purchasing items at our Scholastic Book Fair last week! We exceeded our goal with a grand total of $10,800 in sales- our best book fair yet! A significant amount of the funds will be used to buy new books for our school library. Your generosity at the fair also supports other reading incentives.

A very special thanks to the hard working volunteers who offered their time to help out: setting up the fair, running the registers, and keeping the library running smoothly during the event. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Maker enrichment kids challenged by . . . a marshmallow?

Posted on November 9, 2016 by oglesbyc

Maker kids faced a challenge this week: how high could they raise a marshmallow off a table with only 20 pieces of spaghetti, and a yard each of string and masking tape? One Summit House group managed to get a negative number (their structure dipped below the surface of the table). Many teams succeeded: raising marshmallow up to 21 inches (!), and less successful teams brainstormed solutions to try next time.

Next week: Build-a-Boat challenge!

Red Clover Books for grades 3&4

Posted on October 24, 2016 by oglesbyc

3rd and 4th grade students are reading, evaluating, and voting for their favorite Red Clover books! Every year, 10 excellent picture books published the previous year are chosen award program. Children all over the state of Vermont read these 10 books – if a child moves to Milton or Brattleboro, they’ll read the same books. A mix of fiction and information picture books, Red Clover titles represent excellent reading!

Imagine. Discover. Explore.

Malletts Bay School Library