September 2007 CMC Newsletter

Welcome back! I trust that your year is off to a rousing start. The newsletter this year will be published here at the CMC blog, rather than at the website. As the year goes on, please use the Newsletters label in the column on the right to access previous issues of the newsletter. The CMC blog is used primarily for announcing all new resources that are added to the CMC. Please check often to stay up-to-date on what's new or subscribe to the RSS feed in the column to the right.

The 40th Anniversary of the CMC

During this academic year, we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the CMC. During this time, the CMC has been located at various places across the campus, including Williams Hall, where it was once part of the education department. Stay tuned for announcements about our celebration.

Visiting Children's Author

Last year, children's author and illustrator Kevin O'Malley visited the CMC, where he spoke with Dr. Sweigard's children's literature class. This year's visiting author will be children's author and illustrator Adam Rex. Adam has drawn the illustrations for a number of children's books, including the popular Lucy Rose series by Katy Kelly. He has also written and illustrated several books, including Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, Tree Ring Circus, and Pssst! His visit is made possible through a cooperative agreement with the Xenia Community Schools Visiting Author program, and we are indebted to the Xenia Schools for this exciting opportunity.

Featured Resource

The CMC subscribes to a series of educator guides to free teaching materials. These include guides to such things as free science, social studies, multicultural, and health resources, as well as guides to free videotapes, free Internet resources, and free general curriculum resources. The guides, which are available for all grade levels, are located in the CMC Reference collection.



New Materials

Many new materials were added over the summer, including textbooks, teaching aids, and trade books. For a complete list, click these links: May, June, July, August.

Website of the Month

Yahoo! is developing a new social networking, collaborative tool for teachers called Yahoo! Teachers. It has been quietly tested for several months, and will be released laster this fall. You can sign up to be included in the release announcement at http://teachers.yahoo.com. Yahoo is billing it as an "easy-to-use... peer network designed by and for teachers". Users of the site will be able "to create, modify, and share standards-based curriculum". This could prove to be a very beneficial, helpful site for anyone in K-12 education.

Your Recommendations

As always, suggestions from faculty, staff, and students for materials for the CMC are most welcome. Please send your suggestions to the CMC Librarian, Greg Martin.

New Children's Books

The Girl's Like Spaghetti - Lynne Truss
See how using (or not using) an apostrophe can change the meaning of a sentence.




Lucy Rose: Busy Like You Can't Believe - Katy Kelly
Now in fourth grade, palindrome-enthusiast Lucy Rose learns about the perils of eavesdropping while also confiding in her diary her worries that her recently divorced mother is beginning to date.

Poor Puppy - Nick Bruel
When Bad Kitty won't play with him, Poor Puppy has to amuse himself with an alphabetical list of toys and dreams of playing in an alphabetical list of countries.

New YA Books

The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio - Lloyd Alexander
Naive and bumbling Carlo, his shady camel-puller Baksheesh, and Shira, a girl determined to return home, follow a treasure map through the deserts and cities of the infamous Golden Road, as mysterious strangers try in vain to point them toward real treasures.

The Aurora County All-Stars - Deborah Wiles
For most boys in a small Mississippi town, the biggest concern one hot summer is whether their annual July 4th baseball game will be cancelled due to their county's anniversary pageant, but after the death of the old man to whom twelve-year-old star pitcher House Jackson has been secretly reading for a year, House uncovers secrets about the man and the history of baseball in Aurora County that could fix everything.

Evil Genius - Catherine Jinks
Child prodigy Cadel Piggot, an antisocial computer hacker, discovers his true identity when he enrolls as a first-year student at an advanced crime academy.

New Award Book

The Legend of Hong Kil Dong, the Robin Hood of Korea - Anne Sibley O'Brien
Graphic novel treatment of the life and career Hong Kil Dong, the Korean equivalent of Robin Hood. Asian/Pacific American Award book

New Christian Education Resources

Fishin' Game
This game is based on the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale. For ages 3 and up. For 2 to 4 players.






Creation Memory Match
For ages 3 and up, this game contains three different activities: Memory Match, Go Fish, and telling the creation story.

New Teaching Aids

Tooth Model









Compound Words Puzzle Cards
Set of 20 two-piece puzzle cards that introduce and practice compound words. For ages 5 and older.





Picture Words Flash Cards
Contains 96 word cards for ages 5 and up.





Dinosaur Bingo
For 2-4 players, ages 4 and up.






Sight Words in a Flash Bingo
Reinforces sight word recognition; includes reproducible notebook chart. For 1-36 players, grades 1-2.





Classifying
Fourteen picture puzzles that require user to match similar objects. No reading required. For ages 3 and up.




First Words
For ages 3 and up, this game requires players to match pieces of picture puzzles, which in turn show the spelling of the word for that object.



Human Body Flip Chart
Three-dimensional, full color detailed illustrations of body parts, muscular system, digestive system, nervous system, circulatory system, and skeletal system.





Flipper Charts in the following subjects:

Science Terminology
Contains definitions for 275 science terms.

Earth Science
An introductory guide to 49 earth science terms featuring illustrations and definitions.

Math 1
An introduction to mathematics terminology, featuring over 225 rules, definitions, and examples.

50 States
Contains information for the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and territories of the United States.

Phonics
A basic reference for all vowels and consonants, as well as vowel and consonant combinations.

Opposites
For ages 3-6, this teaching aid helps young children recognize words by using both text and pictures.

New AIMS Science Curriculum

In addition to the K-3 curriculum already in the CMC, we have added the curriculum for Grade 4 (teacher and student editions). This curriculum series is aligned with the Ohio Content Standards for Science.

Life Science








Earth Systems and Processes








Physical Science

New Activity Book

Five-Minute Activities for Young Learners - Penny McKay and Jenni Guse
A selection of short activities organized around six themes: Animals, Journeys, Fantasy and adventure, The world around us, Healthy bodies, and About me.

New Science Activity Books

The following are all from AIMS Education Foundation:

Counting on Coins - Linda Fawcett
Provides concrete experiences through games and activities as children come to understand the importance of money and the role it plays in everyday life. For grades 1-2.




The Budding Botanist: Investigations with Plants - Evalyn Hoover
Students investigate how the structure and function flowers, leaves, roots, and stems help plants live, grow, and reproduce. They will examine cone-bearing plants (gymnosperms) and flowering plants (angiosperms), observe photosynthesis and transpiration, sort and dissect seeds, explore germination, and model the structure of plant cells. For grades 3-6.


Field Detectives: Investigating Playground Habitats - Suzy Gazlay
Encourages students to look closely at the diverse habitats in and around their school playground. They can search for evidence of life and clues to understanding the relationships among the plants and animals living there. For grades 3-6.



It's About Time - Linda Fawcett
A series of investigations designed to build a conceptual understanding of time and its measurement. Experiences included have students sequencing events, measuring duration of time (long time/short time), and reading clocks. For grades K-2.