Hello Students and Staff

April 23, 2007

Wow! I apologize I did not do as well at getting back into the swing of things. I really wanted to help you acknowledge some interesting & important dates. These dates are important to note because they establish an importance to community service and our environment. Cesar Chavez Birthday (March 31) & April’s Poetry Month are brought together in this book shown to the right. Cesar : si, se puede! = Yes, we can! Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 47). Tells the life story of Cesar Chavez, whose efforts as a labor leader in the mid-twentieth century brought better working conditions to migrant farmworkers in the U.S FYI: Our Stockton Unified School District Proclaimed in Resolution No. 06-73 Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning states, “On March 31 or the week leading up to Cesar Chavez Day, which is March 31, 2007, public schools and educational institutions throughout the state may include exercises, funded through existing resources, commemorating and directing attention to the history of the farm labor movement in the United States and particularly the role there in of Cesar Chavez. The State Board of Education shall adopt a model curriculum guide to be available for use by public schools for exercises related to Cesar Chavez Day.” Earth Day-April 22^nd :These Iroquois understand the importance of a give-and-take relationship with nature, The First Earth Day April 22, 1970. Native American people, for example, the Iroquois, have long recognized and celebrated in story and song the interdependence of the earth and all its creatures. For the 20th anniversary of Earth Day in 1990, they were joined by more than 200 million people in 141 countries participating in celebrations of the planet that supports us. How do you show your appreciation of Mother Earth? Ask your friends and family how they celebrate Earth Day.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." John Muir (1869), one of the founders of the environmental movement.
Poetry for American High School	Check this site out from the Library of Congress Poetry for American High School : by Billy Collins Former Poet Laureate of the United States Read in a normal, relaxed tone of voice. It is not necessary to give any of these poems a dramatic reading as if from a stage. The poems selected are mostly written in a natural, colloquial style and should be read that way. Let the words of the poem do the work. Just speak clearly and slowly. What’s a Poet Laureate? The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress serves as the nation's official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.The Poet Laureate is appointed annually by the Librarian of Congress and serves from October to May.

From February 5, 2007 bulletin

Our library is used in various ways: reading, individual studies, Study Groups, Chess, Internet research, waiting.

Since February is “Love Your Library” Month, I would like to take this time to politely ask for your help.

At certain times of the day our Library is physically challenged. We do not have a lot of space. This is how you can “Love Your Library” during these busy times and anytime.

© Do not wait until your last minute to leave to get to class. Students who do this may forget their flash drives, papers, and belongings. I would like to suggest that you use that extra minute to set yourself up for the start of your next class.

From January 8, 2007 Bulletin:

As I was searching for images for this page, I keyword searched Greetings and this is what I found. I thought it was something we could enjoy! Is Reading a verb or a noun?

Hello all!

Before winter break, I looked over the textbook room and I noticed these books:

7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

by Sean Covey

Life Strategies for Teens

by Jay McGraw

In Sean Covey’s book there is a section on page 95 Go for the Goal Key No. 4: Use Momentous Moments. There is even a picture of a calendar with the words New Year’s Resolution. I thought how hard it is to get back into our work modes once we have had time off. However, this chapter gave some positive counter points for getting back to work now as a momentous moment and before finals. As you return to school, I hope you can create a plan which helps you enjoy your work at Weber.

I would like to offer a couple of ideas.

1. The Weber Library is open at 7:00A.M. and closes at 3:30P.M. I hope you can find this helpful. I know I need a quiet place, where I can stay focused and get my work done. When I get home, it takes a while before I get that time in my evening.

2. Make a goal. If you read 30 minutes every day for 9 weeks you can increase your reading level by about 2 grade levels. (I got this in some statistical chart. Really!) Get a reading habit going! The easiest way to build your vocabulary, learn good grammar, and expand your knowledge in any aspect of life is to read. Reading is the only place you see grammar in action. A person speaking has many paralinguistic qualities to help language function, whereas writing relies on form which needs good grammar to help the reader stay on track with what you are trying to express.

I can relate to Sean Covey’s description of the personal bank account. Improving your reading habit can help your personal bank account.

From December 18, 2006 Bulletin:

Hello Students and Staff,

As this week goes by, I wanted to leave you with a thought for your winter break reading.

First step to help your pleasure reading grow:

Get a Book and have it hanging around. The List below reflects what we have in the Weber Library

General Suggestions: Pulled from Fiction-Reading Search

Jesse by Gary Soto. Two Mexican American brothers hope that junior college will help them escape their heritage of tedious physical labor.

American eyes : new Asian-American short stories for young adults edited by Lori M. Carlson ; introduction by Cynthia Kodahata. These ten stories reflect the conflict Asian-Americans face in balancing an ancient heritage and an unknown future.

The outsiders S.E. Hinton. Rivalry between rich and poor gangs in 1960s Oklahoma leads to the deaths of three teenagers and intense soul-searching for one of the youths involved, a sensitive fourteen-year-old writer named Ponyboy.

Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury. A book burner in a future fascist state finds out books are a vital part of a culture he never knew. He clandestinely pursues reading, until he is betrayed.

That was then, this is now S.E. Hinton. Sixteen-year-old Mark and Bryon have been like brothers since childhood, but now, as their involvement with girls, gangs, and drugs increases, their relationship seems to gradually disintegrate.

Suggestions for each Academy

Medical : Monster : a novel by Jonathan Kellerman. When a nonfunctional psychotic who is locked up in an institutions for homicidal madmen begins predicting a series of brutal murders, Dr. Alex Delaware joins forces with Detective Milo Sturgis to stop the killer before it is too late.

Technology: Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee

The best and brightest minds on Earth are assembled to intersect with Rama II. Informed of Raman technology, they still are not prepared for what they encounter.

Automotive Subject search: The car by Gary Paulsen.

A teenager left on his own travels west in a kit car he built himself and along the way picks up two Vietnam veterans, who take him on an eye-opening journey.

Freshmen: Subject search-sixteen :

Billy by Laura Roybal. Billy, a sixteen-year-old boy who becomes reunited with the family he was kidnapped from by his natural father six years earlier, tries to sort out his identity.

That was then, this is now by S.E. Hinton. Sixteen-year-old Mark and Bryon have been like brothers since childhood, but now, as their involvement with girls, gangs, and drugs increases, their relationship seems to gradually disintegrate.

No easy answers : short stories about teenagers making tough choices 808.8 NO edited by Donald R. Gallo. A collection of sixteen short stories, by Louise Plummer, M.E. Kerr, Jack Gantos, and others, about teenagers in situations that test their character.

Coast to coast with Alice by Patricia Rusch Hyatt. Sixteen-year-old Hermine Jahns relates her experiences traveling on the first cross-country automobile trip with a woman driver in 1909.

Friends to die for By Jane Sughrue Giberga. Sixteen-year-old Cristina is forced to evaluate her sophisticated world of elegant New York apartments, private schools, and rich friends when a girl she knows is murdered after a party they both attended.

In your dreams by Colin Neenan. Sixteen-year-old Hale's life becomes very complicated when he helps his older brother woo the girl he is secretly in love with himself.

Kidnapped : the adventures of David Balfour By Robert Louis Stevenson ; illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. A sixteen-year-old orphan is kidnapped by his villainous uncle, but later escapes and becomes involved in the struggle of the Scottish highlanders against English rule.

Banner in the sky By James Ramsey Ullman. Sixteen-year-old Rudi dreams of being the first to climb the highest mountain in Switzerland.

Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti. In the summer of her junior year, sixteen-year-old Ruby McQueen and her mother, both nursing broken hearts, set out on a journey to reunite an elderly woman with her long-lost love and in the process learn many things about "the real ties that bind" people to one another.

Chanda's secrets By Allan Stratton ; [line drawings by Warren Clark]. Chandra Kabelo, a sixteen-year-old in a small South African town, faces down shame and stigma in her efforts to help friends and family members who are dying of AIDS.

The chocolate war by Robert Cormier. A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school's annual fund raising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies. California Blue by David Klass. When seventeen-year-old John Rodgers discovers a new sub-species of butterfly which may necessitate closing the mill where his dying father works, they find themselves on opposite sides of an environmental conflict.

Rats saw God by Rob Thomas. In hopes of graduating, Steve York agrees to complete a hundred-page writing assignment which helps him to sort out his relationship with his famous astronaut father and the events that changed him from promising student to troubled teen.

The moves make the man: a novel by Bruce Brooks. A black boy and an emotionally troubled white boy in North Carolina form a precarious friendship.

The outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Rivalry between rich and poor gangs in 1960s Oklahoma leads to the deaths of three teenagers and intense soul-searching for one of the youths involved, a sensitive fourteen-year-old writer named Ponyboy.

The last mission by Harry Mazer. In 1944, a fifteen-year-old Jewish boy tells his family he will travel in the West but instead enlists in the United States Air Corps and is subsequently taken prisoner by the Germans. Shabanu : daughter of the wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples. When eleven-year-old Shabanu, the daughter of a nomad in the Cholistan Desert of present-day Pakistan, is pledged in marriage to an older man whose money will bring prestige to the family, she must either accept the decision, as is the custom, or risk the consequences of defying her father's wishes. Doing time : notes from the undergrad By Rob Thomas. Contains ten stories about the experiences of students at the fictional Robert E. Lee High School as they set out to fulfill the graduation requirement to perform two hundred hours of community service.

The contender by Robert Lipsyte. A Harlem high school drop-out escapes from a gang of punks into a boxing gym. He learns being a contender is hard and often discouraging work and that you don't know anything until you try.

Lord of the flies : a novel After a plane crash strands them on a tropical island while the rest of the world is ravaged by war, a group of British schoolboys attempts to form a civilized society but descends into brutal anarchy. To be Continued

EAST: Subject search: Conservation:

Changes in latitudes by Will Hobbs. A family trip to Mexico changes a cocky teenager's attitudes as he becomes exposed to his brother's consuming interest in saving endangered species, to his parents' problems, and to his own selfishness.