Green Holly Elementary School
"Home of the Gators"
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Media Center

Francine Brooks, Media Specialist

Rachel Litz, Media Assistant

                

 

  Dear Green Holly Families,

My name is Mrs. Brooks and I am the Media Specialist/Librarian at Green Holly. This is my fifth year as the Media Specialist and my seventeenth year teaching. Ms. Litz is the Media Assistant. This is our fifth year together and we look forward to helping your children discover new authors and develop their reading and technology skills.
Pre-K comes to Media once a week for book checkout. In addition, they will be having Story Time once a quarter beginning in mid- September.    Students in grades K-5 have a 45-minute Media class once a week. During this time students will listen to a story or a chapter from a book, check out new books if they have returned all their books and complete an activity. Students in Grades pre-K to 1 check out one book at a time. Students in Grades 2-5 check out two books at a time. Both books must be returned before a new book can be checked out.
Books that are lost or damaged must be paid for. The money is used to replace the book. To avoid lost and damaged books students should have a safe place to keep their book when they are not reading it. Books are checked out for two weeks but we encourage the students to return them each week so they can choose a different book. Late slips go home weekly.   Books may be renewed but the student must bring the book to Media to renew it.
Students with books out from last year will not be checking out books until their account is cleared.   If you have any question, please call the school or email us for additional information.
In addition to learning how to choose and care for books, we also teach technology skills including cyber safety and research using the web. Please refer to the school handbook for the rules and regulations guiding out internet usage.   Please remind your students that the use of the internet at school is for learning purposes.   Students will be bringing home brochure with information about online resources, homework help and the county network policy. Please keep this close to your computer for future use.
SMCPS offers free access to World Book Online, SIRS Databases and Culture Grams among others. They should be accessed through the SMCPS website, Parents/Students Tab then Online Data bases. The password for these sites is available in the Online Resources brochure.
 
Important Dates:
The Fall Book Fair will be October 4- October 12. Volunteers to set up and work at the fair are needed and appreciated. This is NOT the BOGO Fair.
 
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WE FOLLOW THE SMCPS NETWORK USAGE POLICY AT ALL TIMES.
 
Here some other websites you might find useful:
 
Moodle: For students in Grades 2-5
http://moodle.smcps.org
Moodle is an online resource for students and teachers. Teachers create assignments, then upload links and provide resources for students to use to complete the assignments. Students may be asked to respond to questions from the teacher using a Learning Forum. Students can view their work from home and, if given permission, can add to the assignments from home.
 
Grades 1-5
Study Island: www.studyisland.com who use this program will bring home log in and password information.
Students
Grades K-2
Education City: www.educationcity.com
This program is for students in grades K-2. Students will be bringing home password and log in information by Mid-September.
Homework Help?
Visit the St. Mary’s County Public Library site. www.stmalib.org
Click on the KIDS or TEENS tab to find resources to help children with homework. Students do need a St. Mary’s County Library Card to access many services. You can apply for one online.
Additional Free homework help sites:
http://www.askusnow.info/   is a link to the Ask Us Now website. You can ask a librarian a question and receive an answer in minutes.
http://www.freemathhelp.com/ is a great FREE site offering math help and lessons for children in grades Prekindergarten to 8th Grade.
Great Free Websites for Kids:
A great site with educational videos and games: www.neok12.com
For help and information about Cyber Security for students, teachers and parents: www.netsmartz.org
Games and activities for Preschool on up: www.sheppardsoftware.com
Games and Songs for Prekindergarten and Kindergarten: boowakwala.uptoten.com/kids/boowakwala-home.html   Or Google Boowa and Koala.
Reading activities for grades prekindergarten and up: www.starfall.com
Math Games for younger students. : www.coolmath4kids.com/
www.coolmath.com is for older students.
 
 Network Usage Standards
  • All use of the network and email communications must be in support of education, research and professional usage that is consistent with the purposes of St. Mary's County Public Schools.
  • Any use of the network to facilitate illegal activity is prohibited, including copyright violations.
  • Any use of the network for commercial or for-profit purposes is prohibited.
  • Users shall not intentionally seek information (i.e. passwords, files, settings) about other users, or misrepresent other users on the network.
  • All communications and information accessible via the network should be assumed to be private property.
  • No use of the network shall serve to disrupt the use of the network by others.
  • No hardware or software shall be destroyed, modified, or abused in any way.
  • Malicious use of the network to develop programs that harass other users, or to infiltrate a computer or computer system is prohibited.
  • Hate mail, harassment, discriminatory remarks, and other antisocial behaviors are prohibited.
  • The illegal installation of copyrighted software for use on school computers is prohibited.
  • Use of the network to access obscene or pornographic material is prohibited.
Disregard of the smcps network standards may be subject to disciplinary actions.