Media Center- Mrs. Heidi Garguilo - Media Specialist

We were slow to get started with AR this school year because the county had some internet issues. We are now back on track and able to access AR without issue, most of the time. Since students and teachers were unable to access AR for the first several weeks of school, the first nine weeks AR school store and Road to reading Success will be adjusted. 

Welcome back everyone! I hope you had a great summer and were able to enjoy some great books! This will be our last year at Brown. As we prepare for the move to the New Smyrna School, the media center will not be ordering a lot of books this year since all of the books & materials will stay at Brown for the incoming schools to use. I will be spending media center funds for online subscriptions such as Glogster for the students to use for multimedia projects. I will purchase some books per requests from students and teachers, but will focus on technology subscriptions for students use. 

I hope everyone is able to stay cool in this horrible heat wave~! A great place to cool off and stay entertained is the Smyrna Library! They have great books and summer reading reading program as well as a HUGE variety of materials! They even have videos you can rent! Remember reading helps you grow! Enjoy the rest of the summer and come see me in August!

Our Ruffin Reading Bowl Team did a fantastic job on Saturday at the county competition! They were model students and displayed their amazing talent!!! We scored 300 points in 6 rounds, doubling our points from last year. We will have a celebration to honor all the students on Wednesday, january 25th 2:30 - 6:00 in the MC. Parents of the students on the team are welcome to attend. I am very proud of all of them!

Welcome 2012! I hope you all had a wonderful break and holiday season. We are back in school and already working towards new AR goals! If you have not signed up for home connect I encourage you to do so. You can view each AR test & score your child takes and you have the opportunity to sign up for email alerts. You can also see your child's AR goal for the 9 weeks. Each child has a comprehension, point, and book level goal. If you have questions about your child's goals, you can contact his/her teacher. I encourage parents to get involved with their child's AR progress by using home connect as a communication tool. A comprehension score of 80% is the minimum score accepted for passing. If your child is scoring below 80% he/she may not be fully comprehending what he/she read. There are a few things parents can do to encourage optimum comprehension. First, ask your child questions about the book. Who were the characters, what was your favorite part, what happened in the book, how would you change the ending, and other questions that engage your child to think about what he/she read. Secondly, parents should either sit with their child while reading and read with him/her or just listen but either way be engaged. Thirdly, show an interest in reading yourself. Make trips to the public library together, read books, magazines, or any other reading material to show your child you enjoy reading. Above all enjoy spending time with your child and encourage a love of reading by setting the example.