Born to Rock by Gordon Korman

Born to Rock tells the story of Leo who finds out as a high school senior that he was adopted...and not only that but his real dad is punk rock superstar King Maggot.  Leo gets swept up in a whirlwind world tour with his dad and has a ton of fun travelling with him.
-Mrs. Ekstrom


Amazon summary: Leo Caraway—high school senior, president of the Young Republicans club, 4.0 GPA, future Harvard student—had his entire future perfectly planned out. That was, until the X factor. As in Marion X. McMurphy, aka King Maggot, the lead singer of Purge, the most popular, most destructive band punk rock has ever seen. He's also Leo’s biological father. 

When Leo discovers that his real father is a punk rock legend, he is disgusted.  Not only is Leo not a punk rock fan, but he believes the X factor (the Maggot blood that is running through his veins) is a dangerous time bomb just waiting to explode.  And sure enough it does—Leo stubbornly defends the unlikeliest of people, thereby getting himself falsely accused of cheating on a test.  

Because of the blemish on his record, the once star pupil finds his scholarship to Harvard taken away.  So he hatches the crazy plan of going on tour with King Maggot for Purge’s summer revival tour, all the while secretly hoping to convince Maggot to pay for his tuition. But life on the road is even crazier than Leo ever bargained for, and before the summer is out, he will finally discover the surprising truth about his dad, his friends, and most important, himself. 

Six Innings by James Preller

Two best friends...no longer best friends.  Sam is battling cancer and Mike is playing on a baseball team set to win the championship.  Sam used to play on the team but now is the announcer.  Sometimes in life, things get complicated.  Will the game bring them closer together...or push them farther apart?  -Mrs. Ekstrom

Amazon summary: Two teams, six innings, one game.

A lively cast of characters―baseball-loving boys between the ages of eleven to thirteen―are playing the biggest game of their lives. With acrobatic catches, clutch hits, dramatic whiffs, and costly errors, this game is full of action. But as the book unfolds, pitch by pitch, a deeper story emerges, with far more at stake: Sam and Mike, best friends, are trying to come to terms with Sam's newly diagnosed cancer. And this baseball diamond becomes the ultimate testing ground of Sam and Mike's remarkable friendship as they strive to find a way to both come out winners.

This is for the championship.

This is for life.

The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck

This book is hysterical!  Russell begins the new school year feeling like he's dodged a bullet when Miss Myrt Arbuckle dies in August.  But----Russell is shocked and stunned to discover that his new teacher.....wait for it.....is his OLDER SISTER!  Russell begins to plot some epic schoolroom pranks....    -Mrs. Ekstrom


Amazon summary: "If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it," begins Richard Peck's latest novel, a book full of his signature wit and sass. Russell Culver is fifteen in 1904, and he's raring to leave his tiny Indiana farm town for the endless sky of the Dakotas. To him, school has been nothing but a chain holding him back from his dreams. Maybe now that his teacher has passed on, they'll shut the school down entirely and leave him free to roam.

No such luck. Russell has a particularly eventful season of schooling ahead of him, led by a teacher he never could have predicted--perhaps the only teacher equipped to control the likes of him: his sister Tansy. Despite stolen supplies, a privy fire, and more than any classroom's share of snakes, Tansy will manage to keep that school alive and maybe, just maybe, set her brother on a new, wiser course.
As he did in A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder, Richard Peck creates a whole world of folksy, one-of-a-kind characters here--the enviable and the laughable, the adorably meek and the deliciously terrifying. There will be no forgetting Russell, Tansy, and all the rest who populate this hilarious, shrewd, and thoroughly enchanting novel.

A Traitor Among Us by Elizabeth Van Steenwyck

I loved this book!   Once Pieter realizes that there is a person in his village who is not to be trusted, he decides to investigate.  The author kept me guessing the whole time who the traitor in Pieter's village might be during World War II in Holland.  Will you solve the mystery before the author reveals the traitor?   -Mrs. Ekstrom

Amazon summary: In the fall of 1944 in Nazi-occupied Holland, thirteen-year-old Pieter, who's part of the Resistance movement, knows there's a traitor in his village. But who is it?

Voss: How I Come to America and Am Hero, Mostly by David Ives

Get ready for a wild goose chase!  When Voss comes to America from Slobovia, he makes the long journey smuggled in an industrial sized vat of cheese puffs.  When he arrives, he meets a wealthy girl who wants his to accompany her around New York City.  Add to this that gangsters are trying to get their hands on the cheese puffs and it all adds up to a wacky adventure you'll never forget!  -Mrs. Ekstrom

Summary from amazon:  In a series of letters home to his friend Meero, Vospop Vsklzwczdztwczky (Voss for short) tells the hilarious story of how he smuggles himself to America in a crate of black-market cheese puffs with his gloomy father Bogdown and his nutty uncle Shpoont.

Settling into the rundown Slobovian section of town, Voss soon finds his first job by opening the door for debutante Tiffany McBloomingdale (an unheard-of act of politeness), rescues his father from a sinister hospital, and even gets the girl of his dreams, though not the one he expects!

Through Voss's comically broken English, readers will find a remarkably fresh view of America. Brimming with pointed satire, a healthy dose of action, and a one-of-a-kind narrator, Voss's crazy adventures are sure to leave a lasting impression.

Coding sites to Try in TEAM

Coding Sites to Try in TEAM

All Levels:

http://hourofcode.com/us   

http://code.org/learn

https://www.madewithcode.com/projects
(Use Chrome to use the site above)

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/

More Advanced:

http://www.scratch.mit.edu/

http://www.ipl.org/div/kidsweb/

If You're Done With Your Animoto...

Choices and Cheaters
If you are ahead and you've finished your animoto, get a pair of headphones and take a look at this website called "Choices and Cheaters".  It's an interactive game where you make different decisions.  First, play the game and make good choices.  Next time you play, make bad decisions and see what changes.

Choices and Cheaters website: http://www.nsteens.org/Comics/ChoicesAndCheaters

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Videos 
After you've played the game, play each of these videos on different topics: http://www.nsteens.org/Videos

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stand Up or Stand By?
This game also lets you make decisions like Choices and Cheaters does.  An embarrassing photo of a classmate was taken-what do you do next?  Make different decisions each time you play.

Stand Up or Stand By? website:: http://www.nsteens.org/Comics/StandByOrStandUp

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6 Degrees of Information 
Remember this video?  Check out the 6 Degrees of Information video again to see how important our digital footprints are:

6 Degrees of Information video: http://www.netsmartz.org/RealLifeStories/6DegreesOfInformation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quizzes for Fun:
Check your knowledge with these quizzes: http://www.nsteens.org/Quizzes

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Games: 
Play these games that have to do with being online: http://www.nsteens.org/Games

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bios:
Read about some of the characters on the NSTeens site:  http://www.nsteens.org/Bios