Summertime is a great time for lots of pleasure reading. We will have a visit from the Merchant's Walk children's librarian next week. She will present their summer reading program.
All students books are due back Friday, May 9th to the Mt. Bethel Media Center.
Have a great summer! 
Many thanks to everyone who volunteered at our Spring Scholastic Book Fair. It was a big success! Thanks also to the teachers, parents and students who supported it with their purchases.
From our Fall Book Fair, we were able to purchase many new items for the media center: a new sofa and coffee table, AR tests, AR and STAR technical support, science items for our display case, new paper cutters, paper for our poster maker and many other items.
From our Spring Book Fair, we will be purchasing hundreds of non-fiction books to update our collection.
We will have our Scholastic Spring Book Fair in March. Sales will take place on Monday, March 31-Thursday, April 3 from 7:15 AM - 4:00 PM. On Friday, April 4 it will be open from 7:15AM - 10:00 AM. We will have an additional time to purchase books on Thursday from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM before the PTA meeting.
The Book Fair will be held in the Media Center so come and visit us to see all the newest books published!
Mt. Bethel students will be extra busy reading in the month of March. We are joining thousands of other students in the Read Across America program which is sponsored by the National Education Association to promote reading (http://www.nea.org/readacross/index.
html) .
The students will be participating in many activities using the Dr. Seuss books.
The 2008 Caldecott and Newbery Award Books have just been announced.
The Caldecott Medal Book is The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. For a list of the 2008 Honor Books and award books of the past, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.htm
The Newbery Medal Book is Good Master, Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz. Please be aware that some of the Newbery books are more appropriate for the middle school age group. For a list of the 2008 Honor Books and award books of the past, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal.htm
Mt. Bethel just finished an interesting week with our Cultural Celebrations exhibit. Parents brought in costumes and other items to show the students how different cultures celebrate throughout the world. Each class enjoyed coming in to the media center to experience these customs.
We have been displaying many new books for checkout. Be sure and read some good books during the holidays. Mrs. Wright and Ms. Astrom want to wish everyone a happy and restful holiday season!
We are really having fun with the new technology! Smartboards allow the students to participate interactively in the lesson and we are all enjoying new learning experiences.
Find time to share a book with your children during this Thanksgiving break and make sure that they have plenty of good books to read. We just received a shipment of new books in the media center and have two more on order so they may be bringing home some new titles!
The Scholastic Book Fair has arrived and looks exciting. The students are enjoying previewing the books which will be for sale next week. The Book Fair hours are Monday-Thursday (Oct. 29-Nov.1) from 7:15-4:00 and Friday (Nov. 2) from 7:15-10:00. Come visit the Book Fair and find some wonderful books for yourself or for gifts! 
Please check our photo album to check out our 21st Century Technology!!
The media center has been open to students since the first day of school. We have just added 121 new books to the collection and have more books on order. The students really enjoy using our new computers and it's easy to look up titles in the new Destiny automation system. We hope that all the students will enjoy some "cool" autumn reading.
Pictures of the Mt. Bethel Media Center
