Media Center – Northfield Public Schools

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Center Basics

Students and staff are welcome to visit the media center at any time—our hours are 7:35 a.m. to 3:35 p.m.

Media Center Staff

Dustee Phenow, Media Specialist
Lee Murray, Media Assistant
PHONE: 507.664.3332

Daily School Announcements

Mrs. Phenow’s Media & Technology Blog

Checkout Procedures

Please return books on time so others can enjoy them, too! Check with your classroom teacher to find out which day students will visit the media center. Kindergarten students are allowed to check out one book. Students in grades 1-5 are allowed to check out two books. Books are due seven days after checkout. Students must pay for lost or damaged books.

Online Catalog

Search for books or check your account online. Use your 4-digit lunch number for both your username and password. To check your account, click on My Info after logging in.

Go to the Online Catalog

Media Online

These sites provide student access to reference resources, including newspapers, books, magazines and multimedia content.

Tools & Safety
Google – Access Google Apps (Student User Name: firstname.lastname@northfieldschools.org)

Evaluating Websites – Watch this 14 minute video about things to keep in mind when researching on the internet. How do you find what you’re looking for? How do you evaluate what you find?

Search Safety
Reference Databases
Fun Learning
Activities
- Kids.usa.gov
- Literacy Center Activities – Students can explore a variety of topics including letters, colors, words, writing, and keyboarding. This site has activities in four different languages.
- PBS Kids
- Read Write Think – Fun activities for students to use in your classroom or at home.
- Starfall – Activties that help students to learn to read.
- Storyline Online – Popular stories are read to students.
Authors
- Biography.com
- Scholastic Author Biographies
- Scholastic Author Page – This is a great site to find out information on all kinds of authors. They also have links to author homepages as well.
- Cornelia Funke – Author of “Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath”
- Dav Pilkey
- Jan Brett
- Judy Blume
- Laura Goering – Author of “Whistling Wings”
- Nancy Carlson – Minnesota author
Literacy
- Adolescent Literacy (4th-12th grade) – This is the sister site to reading rockets, which is full of great booklists, articles, tips and strategies for struggling readers.
- Book Adventure – Students can create book lists according to their reading level and interest.
  Students may also register themselves on this site and then take quizzes on the books they have read.
- Colorin Colorado! – The sister site to Reading Rockets and Adolescent Literacy which has great resources for English learners.
- Reading Rockets (PreK-3rd grade) – This is a site that has great booklists, articles, tips and strategies for struggling readers.
Kindergarten
- Raz Reading
- Keyboarding Zoo
- Swtich Zoo – Create new animals that might belong in the zoo.
Grade 1
- Kids Dinos
Grade 2
- Animal Information
- Spark Video
- Tyrannosaurus Rex 1
- Tyrannosaurus Rex 2
- Baseball 1
- Baseball 2
- Florida
- Bulldogs
- Dogs
- Football 1
- Football 2
- Hockey
- Cows
- Seals
- Penguins
- Mexico
- Tennis 1
- Tennis 2
- Soccer
Grade 3
- Lewis and Clark
Grade 4
- Inventors – Learn more about famous inventors
- Presidents – More information on Presidents.
- Presidents (whitehouse.gov) – Look up information on presidents, government and other information about our country.
- Quick State Facts
- States
Grade 5
- Biography – This is great website to use for finding information about famous people.
- Digital Citizenship
- Minnesota Zoo – Find information about the zoo before you go.
- Eye Witness to History- Great resource for looking up events in history.
- History Central

Maud Hart Lovelace Award

The Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award is a children’s choice book award. Its purpose is to encourage recreational reading. Nominated titles are works of fiction of recognized quality selected by independent regional reading groups. Students in grades 3-5 who have read or listened to at least three titles from the Division I nominee list and students in grades 6-8 who have read or listened to at least three titles from the Division II nominee list are eligible to vote for the award.