Library Home Page

Our Library Media Specialist:

Leigh Ann Mayfield (lmayfiel@iusd.org)

Welcome to the

Rancho San Joaquin Middle School
Irvine, California

New Experimental Website Under Construction
Online Tutorial Microsoft 2007

Mrs. Mayfield's Weblog

http://leighannmayfield.wordpress.com/

"Thoughts of a Librarian"

Quote of the week: "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” Zora Neale Hurston

We have a new OPAC (online public access catalog) for our school library.
It is web-based and can be accessed from home or school!

Here is the link: http://destiny.iusd.org

Next click on Rancho San Joaquin Middle School to explore our library collection!

Check out our NEW Book Reviews page by Rancho students! Click here: Book Reviews
Write a book review and email to Mrs. Mayfield http://lmayfiel@iusd.org

Library Hours: 7:50am - 3:30pm each day including Snack and Lunch

As your Information Specialist, from my computer to your computer,

here are some helpful websites, research strategies and ideas
for your school assignments and projects as well as interesting web links.

Click on the links below.

Research Pathfinders
for Current Classes
researching in the library

Mrs. O'Brien's Classes

Solar System Project

Mr. Kingsbury's and Mrs. Leavey's Classes

Meeting of the Minds

Mrs. Van Dam's Classes

The Civil War - Battle Study

General Bulger Newpaper Article

Mrs. Leavey's Classes

My Book of Poetry

Guest Speaker on March 14th, 2008
Professor Ngugi

Click here for his homepage

Our tool for citing your sources and creating a "Works Cited" page (bibliography) and taking notes online!
Ask Mrs. Mayfield for our Rancho username and password to create your account.

http://www.noodletools.com/index.php

Favorite Authors Websites

Helpful Homework Websites

Research Strategies

Writing Strategies

Math Websites

World Book
Online
Ask Mrs. Mayfield
for the Login ID and password

Orange Country
Public Library:

http://www.ocpl.org/

Use the barcode on your
library card
to access more at the library!

Click on the
Research/Resources button
on the homepage for online databases.

Newport Beach
Public Library:

http://www.city.newport-beach.ca.us/nbpl/

Check out
the Teen Page

Useful Search Engines
http://google.com
Going deeper into google...
http://www.google.com/help/features.html

http://yahoo.com
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com
http://ask.com
http://www.kidsclick.org/
http://kidinfo.com/

Useful Search Engine using the Dewey Decimal Classification
for academic subject areas
http://www.bubl.ac.uk/

Useful Metasearch Engines
"Searches the search engines"
http://clusty.com/
http://kartoo.com/
http://www.mamma.com/
http://www.dogpile.com/
http://www.fazzle.com/
http://mooter.com/

Useful History Websites
Ancient History
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook.html
Medieval History
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
Modern History
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html

Primary Sources
http://www.primarysourcelearning.org/

Useful Online Links
for Research
http://news.google.com/
Search online news sources
http://scholar.google.com/
Search online scholarly papers
http://lii.org/
Librarians have searched for you for trusted websites by category

Useful Directories Online
"Searches by subject"
http://www.about.com/
http://www.itools.com/
http://infomine.ucr.edu/

IUSD suggested search link for images

by title:

by Author:

2007/2008 Rancho Reading Counts Reward Levels

25 Points Level = Pencil, Bookmark and Starbursts or Smarties

50 Points Level = Cookies & Ice Cream with Music in the MPR

100 Points Level = Build Your Own Sundae and Games Galore Party in the Library

250 Points Level = Pizza, Popcorn & Pop Party in the Library

375 Points Level = Subway Sandwich, Chips, Drinks and Dessert Party and Gift Card to Barnes & Noble or Blockbuster

500 Points Level = Awards Night Presentation and the End of the Year Midnight Madness Party from 3:00 - Midnight at Rancho

Special thanks to members our Student Crew for choosing our rewards this year! Great Job! ~ Mrs. Mayfield

2nd Trimester Reward Week is coming soon!!!!

Best New Website of the Month: http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/bookreportnow/index.html

Lots of you are writing book reports now - here is a helpful website!
It even has some suggested books and some book report templates to help your report "look good."
Here is a link to some tips I wrote on "How Do I Pick a GOOD Book!"

Animated Teenager Hey, Mrs. Mayfield! Ya' got any good books?

I'm glad you asked!

Here are some links to teen book reviews for YA - Young Adult Literature!

Check these out!!!!

http://www.teenreads.com/

Awesome site!!! My fave!

http://www.teenink.com/Books/

Cool new site with reviews written by teens

http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/7th.html

Suggested books for 7th graders

http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/8th.html

Suggested books for 8th graders

http://flamingnet.com/
Books reviewed by over 50 student reviewers.

THE BOARD is a bulletin board designed for people to chat back and forth, especially about books.

Authors are encouraged to leave messages about books they have written.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/swyar/

Cool site from Scholastic
http://www.spaghettibookclub.org/title.php3