Homework Kansas

The new school year will be starting soon and homework will become a part of life for many students. Have you ever wanted to get some help with your or your favorite student's homework? If so Homework Kansas is for you!

This online service will connect students with live tutors to help them understand their homework assignments. The tutors will help with the questions but will not give the answers.

Subjects for assistance include math, science, English and social studies. Assistance in Spanish is offered in the subject areas of math, science and social studies. An interactive screen is available for students to see how math problems work. You can upload a file so that you and the tutor can work on it together.

Help is offered through a K-12 Center, College Prep Center, and Adult Career Center.

People at any of the centers can work with a live tutor or use the Skills Center: Resource Library that has thousands of worksheets, tutorials and study guides.

New to the service is college entrance practice tests like ACT and SAT, graduate school exams like GRE and LSAT, Advanced Placement, ASVAB and TOEFL, and GED prep tests. HomeworkKansas will also offer assistance with sample resumes and cover letters, financial literacy and assistance with proofreading of papers.

You can get to Homework Kansas by going to our library website http://www.cvillepublib.org/ then clicking on the Young Adult link, then clicking on the words "Homework Kansas"

Check or Die

We have begun an inventory project at the library. While we are going through all of the books we find some that look interesting but no one has checked them out. We are putting these lonely books on a special display called "Check or Die"

If someone finds one of these books interesting and checks it out, the book is saved. It will go back to its place on the shelves. However if it stays on the display for three weeks and no one chooses it, it will die. Well, it will not really be destroyed, but it will be put in the book sale where we hope someone will give it a home.

Review a Book

Joy has started a book review page on our website. If you would like to have your book suggestions on the page, just email her at jduval@cvillepublib.org. or you can pick up an easy form at the library. You will get a neat canvass tote bag, just for telling her what you liked about a book.

You can review any book, fiction or non-fiction. You do not have to like the book to review it. Sometimes knowing that a book is not worth reading will save other people the time of reading it.

To review a book send Joy the title of the book and the author. Tell here what the book is about, what you espceailly liked/disliked about it, then rate it 1. Don't bother, 2 Only as a sleep aid, 3 It's worth reading 4. Really good! I'd recommend it! 5. A Must Read!

New at the Library

We now have Wii gaming for children and teens! Children can come to the library on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 and Wednesday afternoons at 3:00 to play on the new library Wii. Miss Cindy will be organizing the games in the Junior side of the library.

On Tuesday afternoons at 3:00, teens will be able to play the Wii games in the Community room. We have basketball, tennis, golf, and boxing, some brain games and a Dance, Dance Revolution.

Friday afternoons at 2:00 we are showing a children’s movie on our new 42” monitor. Families are welcome to come and enjoy a cool hour or two watching a favorite Friday Flick.

We are able to present these programs thanks to the efforts of the Coffeyville Public Library Foundation, which purchased the Wii console, games, monitor and cart. The Foundation provides its support through the quarterly book sales and memberships. Membership in the foundation is $10 for individuals and $15 for families yearly. In addition to knowing that you are helping the library, foundation membership allows you half price for the community room rental, photocopying and fax services, and fines.

We are giving Library Foundation canvas tote bags to people who help us share there opinion about books. If you write a review, you will receive a tote bag. The review is simple. We ask that you tell us the title, the author, what the book is about, what you especially liked/disliked about it and a rating of don’t bother; only as a sleep aid, its worth reading, really good I’d recommend it, or a must read. With your permission, we will post the review on our website and have it available to people at the library.

You can see some reviews that are posted on our website, cvillepublib.org. Click on the Book Reviews tab at the bottom of the list on the left.

How To Make a Comment

If you have a favorite western book or any book that you would like to share with others, you can post a comment to this blog entry or any other 'post'. To make a comment, click on the word comment below and and new page will pop up.

In the box that says 'post a comment' write what you would like to share.

Your comment will appear in a day or two.

I would really like to hear what you have to say about the library, books, internet sites or any form of information.

Don Coldsmith

Don Coldsmith was an American author of primarily Western Fiction. A past president of Western Writers of America, Coldsmith wrote more than 40 books, as well as and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. His “Spanish Bit Saga,” a series of related novels, helped to re-define the Western novel by adopting the point of view of the Native Americans, rather than the European immigrants.

In addition to his career as a writer, Coldsmith was a medical doctor in Emporia, until 1988, when he chose to concentrate on writing. In addition, Coldsmith and his wife Edna were catttle ranchers and breeders of Appaloose horses.

Coldsmith attended high school Coffeyville and joined the U.S. Army in 1944. His role in the Pacific Theater of World War II led him to Japan, where he was among the first occupying troops. He was assigned to provide medical care for Japanese war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, the prime minister.

Coldsmith periodically taught history classes at Emporia State University. He was awarded the Golden Spur award for best original paperback for The Changing Wind of 1990. Other honors include Distinguished Kansan (awarded by the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas in 1993) and the Edgar Wolfe Award for lifetime contributions to literature (1995). Coldsmith was in high demand as a speaker, especially when the subject was the High Plains and the American West.

Coldsmith died on June 25, 2009 after a stroke.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The library has a display of Western books by Don Coldsmith and other western authors.

Let me know which of the western authors you like best.

Value of Summer Reading

Summer is a lot of fun at the library. Children are coming in for storytimes, crafts, music, magic and more. They are participating in the Summer Reading program and getting bags, prizes and goodies just for reading. We have programs and activities for young people from birth through high school.

Why do we go to so much trouble and effort to keep the young people reading in the summer? Studies have shown that children who read four or five books during the summer can prevent the reading achievement losses that normally occur over those months. In a study in the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk in 2004, researcher Jimmy S. Kim found that regardless of race, socioeconomic level, or previous achievement children who read more books fared better on reading-comprehension tests in the fall than their peers who had read one or no books over the summer.

This summer slump has been recognized by educators for a long time. In order to encourage their students to participate in the library summer reading program, the principals of Coffeyville Community Elementary and the South Coffeyville Elementary school will have a special surprise for their students who bring their completed Summer Reading Certificates to school in August. Also the library will give a certificate to the school that has the largest percentage of children participating in the reading part of the summer activities.

Entering the summer reading program is easy. Come to the library, pick up a bag and fill out a registration form. You can do this anytime the library is open. As the children read during summer, they will receive a ticket for attendance at programs, number of books read or time spent reading, reading the special Bookshelf books and completing the program. At the final session, July 30th, these tickets can be redeemed for prizes. If you cannot come to the final session, you can redeem the tickets at the library from July 30 through August 15. You will get your Summer Reading Certificate when you get your prizes.

Reading with your child/grandchild/special friend during the summer is one of the best things you can do to help his/her school achievement and success in life. Participating in the summer reading program at the library can make it fun.