Exciting Developments for Dixon's Library!

The Snapdragon Book Foundation, www.snapdragonbookfoundation.org, has awarded our library a generous grant to purchase new books. We express our sincere appreciation and gratitude for the honor of being selected and for the opportunity this affords us.

Our application, entitled Dealing with Diversity: Building Bridges with Books, outlined our circumstances and described some of the objectives in place for the library. In our increasingly global world of information students must be taught to seek diverse perspectives. Our current student-body comprises a large element of diversity. We need materials which will help students gain a sense of personal identity and attachment to their own cultural heritage, books that will help students increase in understanding and appreciation of both their own heritage and that of other people. Books with protagonists who face the challenge of physical or mental handicaps can also instill in our students an appreciation of how these individuals have already and are now making  contributions to our society. We hope to help our students develop a sense of shared membership in a larger community comprised of many others from diverse and valued backgrounds. Such sensibilities can only serve to benefit them now and in the future as they interact with others in our ever expanding, diverse global environment.

Activities Planned:

As learning is enhanced by opportunities to share and learn with others our plans include several means by which this may be accomplished:

1) Shared Book Reviews

As students complete the reading of a title dealing with diversity they will be invited to do a book review on the form provided. On this they will comment on how their "view" has been altered, their understanding affected. Having done so they will receive Panther Paw Prints, one little print to be placed in a container for a monthly drawing, one larger print to be placed on the wall or ceiling between the two Panthers which mark the beginning and ending of the "Bridge" across the main span of our library. The book reviews will be placed in a file in a location accessible to all.

As the literal bridge of paw prints extends from one side of the library to the other, we hope a      symbolic bridge, formed of new perspectives, knowledge, understanding and sympathy, will be
formed within our students to help them on their journeys from the present to the future.

2) Jeopardy Games

These will be staged in the library throughout the year during i-time. Questions for each game will be generated from information presented in certain books, the titles of which will be announced in advance.


3) Parent Book Club

Interested parents are invited to e-mail me at tessar@provo.edu  We can meet periodically at lunch time in the library. Parents can participate in the creation of our Panther Bridge if desired.

Reading For Hope = A Great Success

         Our Evening of Culture and Literacy produced great dividends for all participants. Our students collected over $3000.00 through Read-a-thon pledges for The Mali Rising Foundation. The funds will be used to help build a school in a rural village in Mali. We would like to thank our students for their efforts in this fund raiser, well done.

MRF Board of Directors member Dr. Steve Waters accepts a check from students at Dixon Middle School who have raised over $3000.00 so far as part of their Reading for Hope campaign."

Three ambitious students brought in over $800 dollars in combined pledges, qualifying for a set of Utah Jazz tickets generously donated by Nu Skin Enterprises.

   
 Performers from Wassalonka delight audiences with traditional West African drumming and dancing as part of the celebration held for students of Dixon Middle School who are working to build a school in Mali.





      "As English teachers, we couldn't be more pleased," says 7th grade teacher Lon Young. "Our students devoured thousands of books. They reached out to their own community in getting pledges. There was something beautiful about watching them work so hard to help kids on the other side of the planet. Because it allows students into the mind and heart of another person, reading cultivates empathy. We see our students at Dixon turning that empathy into action as they set aside their own interests and serve others."

A Reading Adventure - Wednesday April 4th

Dixon, come celebrate reading at 6:30 pm in our Library. It is the culminating activity of our Read-a-thon!

M.L. Foreman, author of the Adventurers Wanted Series, will be present. He will discuss his new novel, Slathbog's Gold and autograph your books.

Entertainment for this Evening of Literature and Culture will include African drummers, school choirs, poetry reading and Pickin' and Strummin' with Benson, Jewkes and Issak.

Everyone will also have the opportunity to walk through the display of photo art, Faces of Mali, which has been on loan from the Utah Arts Council for the duration of this read-a-thon.

At 8:30 pm the Mali Rising Foundation will be presented with a check, the figure on which represents the amount collected by our students through all their pledges for the read-a-thon: Reading For Hope. Please join us in the Library for this celebration!

Author Rick Riordan to Visit Provo

Provo City Library is thrilled to announce that New York Times best-selling author Rick Riordan will be joining us in May to celebrate his newest novel, The Kane Chronicles: The Serpent's Shadow. He will speak to us on Wednesday, May 2nd at 7:00 pm in the Timpview High School Auditorium.

Free tickets are available to Dixon Middle School students in our library. We are requesting that you have your parents sign a slip indicating that you have transportation and are able to go at the designated time. Please bring that slip with you when requesting tickets.

In an effort to accommodate as many patrons as possible, the event is being held at Timpview instead of at the Provo City Library. Mr. Riordan will be speaking exclusively, and pre-signed copies of his books will be available from the BYU Bookstore.  

Walk Like An Egyptian!  Students who attend the event in Egyptian or Greek costume will be entered to win a signed, hardcover set of Mr. Riordan's novels.

This event is presented by Provo City Library and made possible by Disney Hyperion. Dixon is pleased to be able to participate.

Let's Turn Books into Bricks

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      Later this month, seventh graders at Dixon Middle School will be turning books into bricks. That's right! In an ambitious effort to promote student literacy, cultivate global awareness, and encourage service-learning, Dixon's English Department is sponsoring a Read-a-Thon. This three week-long initiative, called "Reading for Hope", will raise funds to build a school in Mali, Africa. In Mali nearly two-thirds of the more than 11,700 rural villages have no schools.
      Participating students will solicit pledges and donations beginning March 15th and continuing through April 4th. On that day we will celebrate the generosity of students, families, community members, and business leaders in a cultural and literary event in Dixon's Library from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.  Representatives of the Utah-based Mali Rising Foundation will be on hand to receive our donation, as well as education and community leaders.
      As part of our "Reading For Hope" initiative, we are proud to announce that Dixon Middle School has been chosen to host "Faces of Mali", an exhibit celebrating life in the West African nation. Made possible by the generosity of the Utah Arts Council, this exhibit will help students and community members feel a closer connection to the people we're working so hard to help. We invite students and families to visit this striking gallery of framed photographs in our library at any time during school hours.
      If you would like information about how to support our Read-a-Thon, please contact Lon Young at lony@provo.edu, or visit our school website at www.dms.provo.edu.

New in our Library

A Century of Heroes, is a book compiled by Trevor Chadburn of Provo. It contains stories of veterans from World War I right up to the war in Afghanistan. In November of 2011,  as a member of the Timpview High Marching Band, Trevor participated, along with students in twenty-two other bands, in the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Inspired by his experiences and wanting to help preserve the stories of the great men and women who have served this country Trevor set about preparing this book as his Eagle Scout project.

 
Members of our Dixon community will be especially interested in reading the account of Jack Rollins. He is the father of Mrs. Patricia Drussel. The book relates his experience of being shot down over Vietnam and subsequent detention as a prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton. He was held for six and a half years before returning to his family. This book will be an absolute treasure for our students and teachers. We thank Trevor for completing this inspiring project and for giving Dixon a copy.

Additions to our library collection.

Our library has just been gifted the 2012 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia.  Our benefactor is the Hattie D. Munk Foundation. For a number of years now we have received some beautiful reference materials which have been purchased by the State Office of Education with the funds from this generous endowment. We are indeed grateful to the Hattie D. Munk Foundation for providing valuable reference resources for our students.

Provo Reads with Rebecca Stead and Madeleine L"Engle

Newbery Award Winning Author Visits Dixon

This year two Newbery Award Winners are featured in the city's Provo Reads program sponsored by Provo City Library. We hope many of our families are enjoying reading these selections together. It is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, the 1963 Newbery Medal winner. The second selection, When You Reach Me, was the 2010 medal winner.

Author, Rebecca Stead, flew from New York to be in Provo on Tuesday for an appearance at the Provo City Library in the evening. Dixon Middle School was privileged to have Mrs. Stead come for a few hours in the morning. She visited three English classes, then met with a large group in the library. She gave a warm and personable talk about the origins and development of her book, When You Reach Me. A Wrinkle In Time served as a significant inspiration for her book and much of its content was drawn from Mrs. Stead's own experiences growing up in New York.

Both of these books count for the reading contest underway! Remember to sign your English teacher's list when you complete the reading. You can earn a class reward (banana splits or....), and you can help win $$$$ for our Dixon library. That will help us to buy new books.

February - Black History Month

Our students have noticed a great feeling of sadness as they have viewed the Civil Rights era display. The events of the civil rights movement are highlighted by books such as: Getting Away With Murder - The True story of the Emmett Till Case, Rosa Parks - My Story, Hoods - The Story of the Klu Klux Klan, Martin Luther King - Stride Toward Freedom, The Power of One - Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine, Freedom Walkers - The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Riders, and Freedom's Children. As we delve into these stories we gain a solemn understanding of how much effort and sacrifice was required for every little bit of progress achieved. We need to express our gratitude for the courageous efforts of so many who helped America move closer to living the principles upon which our constitution is based.

Now, in February we can celebrate Black History Month. We owe the celebration, and more importantly, the study of black history, to Dr. Carter G Woodson. The son of former slaves, Woodson spent his childhood working in Kentucky coal mines. At the age of twenty he enrolled in high school, graduated within two years and went on to earn a PHD from Harvard. In his studies he was disturbed to find that history books largely ignored the black American population, and when they did enter the picture they were seen only in the positions of inferior social standing that they were assigned at the time.

Woodson, one who acted on his ambitions, took on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation's history. In honor of the work Dr. Carter G. Woodson has done to promote the study of African American History, an ornament of Woodson hangs on the White House Christmas tree each year.

Our display for Black History Month features many "firsts" for black Americans and highlights how they have enriched our society once they were allowed the opportunity to participate in the various fields of endeavor: Sports, Music and Dance, Film and Television, Military, Science and Medicine, Scholarship, Literature, Government, Law and Diplomacy. Come in and read about some truly awesome individuals.

Martin Luther King Day ~ January 16, 2012

The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.


Welcome to a new calendar year at Dixon! This month, as we approach the national civil rights holiday, on January 16th, we are reviewing some of the events that have punctuated the civil rights movement in our country. Please come to the library and view the 3 D timeline and book display which spotlight Dr. Martin Luther King and his courageous leadership. He helped to guide so many to make the heroic efforts that were needed before simple freedoms and a sense of dignity could be enjoyed by a large number of our population. Those freedoms, even though promised by our constitution, were not given freely to all, in the beginning. It literally took years of blood, sweat and tears to make one small advancement at a time. Do we understand what has happened to bring us to where we are today? Do we understand why we honor Dr. King with a national holiday? Students I would love to give you a school spirit pen for taking a quiz and sharing a personal comment about the civil rights movement.  See you in the library.