Media Center

The library media center exists to support the curriculum of the school. Its purposes are to provide high-quality reading materials for students, encourage and promote reading for pleasure, provide information resources for students and teachers, assist students in becoming responsible users of information, and integrate instruction in Information Literacy Skills and technology instruction so that students may be successful lifelong learners.

     It’s hard to believe that October has arrived!  We have been checking out hundreds of books each week to students who have been busily reading and taking AR tests. We have also been processing new books and materials for both student and teacher use.

     I’d like to encourage students and parents to follow the “5 Finger Rule” when evaluating whether or not a book is too hard to read.  While admirable, students often want to select and read books way beyond their reading level and then get easily frustrated when they cannot read and comprehend them.  By following these easy to remember steps, students can confidently select books appropriate to their reading level: 1. Choose a book and read the first one to two pages. 2. Hold up one finger for every word missed. 3. If all five fingers go up while reading, the book is too hard.  4. If only two to three fingers go up, the book is just right

     The nominees for this year’s 2022 Children’s Sequoyah Book Award are on the media center page of our website.  Any student that reads or hears three of the books is eligible to vote on their favorite in the spring.  The first Sequoyah Children's Book Award was given in April, 1959, making the award the third oldest children's choice award in the nation.  The awards are given annually, usually as an event at the Oklahoma Library Association's Annual Conference. The Oklahoma Library Association honors Sequoyah for his unique achievement in creating the Cherokee syllabary, the 86 symbols representing the different sounds in the Cherokee language.  His statue is one of the two representing Oklahoma in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.  The son of a Cherokee mother and a white trader father, Sequoyah, Cherokee for "Lame One," was also known by his English name, George Guess.  A cabin built by Sequoyah as part of a United States government grant still stands near Sallisaw. This grant was the first given for literary achievement in the United States.    

     During the month of September, students enjoyed the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.  Although short in words, it is big in meaning!  We had great discussions about the power of encouragement and perseverance.  We all enjoyed dressing up in dots to celebrate the book on International Dot Day.  I know that our NPI students are going to “make their mark” in many amazing ways in the coming years!  We also celebrated Constitution Week in the library by discussing the history of this wonderful document and what the preamble means.  Finally, we ended the month by learning how to use Destiny (library search software) to locate books and how to find books within a specific AR level.

     As fall approaches, keep in mind this quote by Elizabeth Lawrence: “Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.”  I’d like to encourage you to sit and watch another type of “leaf” turn as well—the pages of a good book!

Click on the image below to fill out an online application for a library card with the Metropolitan Library System.

1. Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor by Ally Carter
2. The Great Pet Heist by Emily Ecton
3. A Place at the Table by Saadia Faruqi & Laura Shovan
4. The Way Past Winter by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
5. The Mystwick School of Musicraft by Jessica Khoury
6. The Only Woman in the Photo: Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America by Kathleen Krull
7. From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
8. Seekers of the Wild Realm by Alexandra Ott
9. Any Day with You by Mae Respicio
10. Black brother, Black brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes
11. The Elephant’s Girl by Celesta Rimington
12. Gloom Town by Ronald L. Smith
13. Brave Like That by Lindsey Stoddard
14. Tune it Out! by Jamie Sumner
15. Zeus, Dog of Chaos by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb
16. Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk