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Welcome to the Centennial School Media Center!
708/364-3417 - Media Center
Penny Grisham - Media Center Specialist
Mary Jo Noreikis - Media Center Associate
About the Media Center
The Library Media Center serves as the information hub of the school. Its purpose is to provide opportunities for students to become critical seekers of information, users of media in all formats, and independent, lifelong learners. The Library Media Program has three components: Literature Appreciation, Library Skills, and Resource Based Learning.
- View our program philosophy and components
"Just Right" Books
- Choose a "Just Right" book by title
- Choose a "Just Right" book by author
- Choose a "Just Right" book by grade level
Parent Reading Tips
Keeping Safe on the Internet
- Internet Safety Curriculum Map
Online Resources
Databases
Students at Centennial School have access to two online databases subscribed to by District 135. Passwords are necessary for World Book Online and EBSCO and have been given to your child. If you need assistance, please call the Media Center at 364-3417 for the usernames and passwords. Both of these databases are valuable tools that can be used by the student for research at home.
World Book Online
www.worldbookonline.com
EBSCO
search.epnet.com
Monarch Award Books 2012
Monarch Book Talks
The name Monarch was chosen because of its familiarity to K-3 children and to symbolize the growth, change and freedom that becoming a reader brings. The Monarch is designed to encourage children to read critically and become familiar with children's books, authors and illustrators. The program is open to all K-3 age children in Illinois.
Bluestem Award Books 2012
Bluestem Book Talks
The award is designed for students in grades 3-5 who are ready for longer titles than found on the Monarch list, but not quite ready for the sophistication of some of the Rebecca Caudill titles. Named in honor of Big Bluestem which is the state prairie grass, the award may include both timeless classics and current titles, as well as books that have appeared on Monarch and Rebecca Caudill lists.
The Accelerated Reader Program (AR)
AR is a curriculum-based assessment tool that provides a summary and analysis of results to enable teachers to monitor both the quantity and quality of reading practice engaged in by their students. Students administer comprehension tests voluntarily themselves, and the system is intended specifically to have strong formative effects on subsequent learning.
A student who uses the program selects a book from the more than 132,000 titles on the AR list. If a student or parent would like to check to see if there is an AR quiz for a certain book, the web site AR BookFinder can be used. The site's address is www.arbookfind.com. Each book is assigned a point value based on the number of words it contains and its reading difficulty, as derived from a formula based on the Flesch-Kincaid readability index that considers the number of syllables in words and sentence complexity.
After reading, the student goes to the computer and takes a multiple-choice comprehension test on the book's content. The computer scores the test, awards the student points based on the results, and keeps a complete record. For a book valued at 10 AR points, such as Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, a student would receive 10 points for a score of 100 percent, 9 points for 90 percent, and so on. However, the student must score at least 60 percent on the test to earn any points at all.
As students test on more books, the AR system enables close monitoring of general levels of reading performance. The software provides the teacher with an automatically updated analysis of scores for individuals or whole classes; details include average percentage of correctly answered questions, difficulty of books read, points earned, and other diagnostic information. Computer-generated ""at-risk reports"" enable the teacher to guide each student's reading practice for maximum effectiveness.
Click HERE to access the Renaissance Home Connect to view your child's progress in A.R.! The user name and password will be the same as the one your child uses in school.
- Adapted from http://www.readingonline.org
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