Learning Resource Center
Learning Resource Center
Staff Book Chats
Click on icon to view
At Holmes we do our best to select library books that are appropriate and will appeal to our middle grade students. Sometimes this includes selections from the “young adult” section. For more information and the permission slip, click on the above link.
RESOURCEs
This year we have a new library circulation system called Follett Destiny. Students use Destiny to search for library books, place holds, and locate ebooks. Students also have the opportunity to recommend books to other students and to write book reviews.
Login-Username: FULL email address
Password: ID number
Open eBooks
Open eBooks is an app containing thousands of popular and award-winning titles that are free. These eBooks can be read without checkouts or holds. Students and families can access these eBooks, which include some of the most popular works of the present and past, using the Open eBooks app and read as many as they like without incurring any costs. The goal of Open eBooks is to encourage a love of reading and serve as a gateway to children reading even more often. Students will receive a username and password from the librarian to use with their tablets.
This is taking the place of the AR program. It is similar to AR and easy to use. If students need to check to see if the book they are reading has a test, this is the place to look. When finished reading the book, bring the white pass from the Language Arts teacher and take the test like in the past.
This site allows students to search for book titles based on authors, subject, series, or titles of books to see if they have an RQ test.
Login-Username: FULL email address
Password: ID number
Axis 360 gives library and school users the ability to search, browse and discover ebooks and/or digital audiobooks available for lending through their public library or school with ease.
Login-Username: FULL email address
Password: ID number
Lexile –
Lexile Framework helps connect students with instructional resources that match their individual reading ability.
DATABASES
World Book combines technology with traditional excellence to produce unbiased information. The content is carefully written to be easily understood. Illustrated with attention-grabbing photos, useful diagrams and maps, the books are designed to engage even the most reluctant reader.
At School | At Home* | |
Log-in ID: | Directly connects within the district | D59home |
Password: | database |
This is an online research database for those seeking information and opinions on hundreds of today’s hottest social issues. It features continuously updated viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
Login Password: holmes
Student Resources in Context –
This is an online research database for those seeking information on a wide array of subjects. This database has continuously updated content with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
Login Password: holmes
proporciona acceso a peridicos y revistas especializadas de lengua espanola y portuguesa. La base de datos ofrece una amplia gama de contenidos sobre America Latina.
Login Password: holmes
Discovery Education offers student resources that bring learning to life both inside and outside the classroom using interactive games, videos, contests, virtual labs and activities designed to help you dive deeper into a topic —and have fun too!
Login/Password: sign in with google
To fascinate, collaborate, and educate.
That’s the vision of our lrc team!

Click above image for more information about the Battle of the Books challenge.
Click on the book cover to see the book trailer. Sign up immediately. Click here for permission slip.
Spine Book Poetry
In celebration of National Poetry month we thought we would we would try something different. Volunteers from Mrs. Lannert’s class were excited to participate in the activity. Students chose books based on their titles and that related to their chosen theme, then stacked them to create a short poem.
Take a look at these book trailers!
Click here
CHECK OUT THESE BOOKS!
Loot
F WAT
On a foggy night in Amsterdam, a man falls from a rooftop to the wet pavement below. It’s Alfie McQuinn, the notorious cat burglar, and he’s dying. As sirens wail in the distance, Alfie manages to get out two last words to his young son, March: “Find jewels.”
The Testing
F CHA
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one and the same?
The Seven Stages War left, much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing.
The Saturday Boy
F FLE
If I’ve learned anything from comic books, it’s that everybody has one thing that can totally ruin their day without fail. For the wolfman it’s a silver bullet. For Superman it’s kryptonite. For me it was a letter.
With one letter, my dad was sent back to Afghanistan to fly Apache helicopters for the U.S. army.
Now all I have are his letters. Ninety-one of them to be exact.
Shark Attacks of 1916
PBF TAR
Based on true events! It’s the summer of 1916 and the Jersey shore is being terrorized by a Great White shark. Can 10-year-old Chet and his friends survive a swim in the local creek?
Shark Girl
F BIN
On a sunny day in June, at the beach with her mom and brother, fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood went for a swim. And then everything — absolutely everything — changed. Now she’s counting down the days until she returns to school with her fake arm, where she knows kids will whisper, “That’s her — that’s Shark Girl,” as she passes.
F GOW
Jimmy Gownley’s graphic novel memoir about the “dumb” idea that changed his life forever!
What if the dumbest idea ever turned your life upside down?
At thirteen, Jimmy was popular, at the top of his class, and the leading scorer on his basketball team. But all that changed when chicken pox forced him to miss the championship game. How did Jimmy turn things around, get back on top at school, and land a date with the cutest girl in class?
PRISONER OF SNOWFLAKE FALLS
F LEK
Fifteen-year-old Henry Holloway isn’t immoral, he’s just hungry. His mother died when he was nine, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Andy and his friends, all amiable small-time crooks. Uncle Andy and his criminal friends draw him into a plan to rob the citizens of Snowflake Falls. Will Henry be loyal to his uncle or will he break with the past and do the right thing?
ORIGAMI YODA
F ANG
It tells the story of Dwight, a student at McQuarrie Middle School and a “total loser”, who uses an origami finger puppet to offer quite sage advice. Origami Yoda predicts the date of a future pop quiz, knows who has a crush on whom, and helps some kids from being humiliated. Tommy, a classmate of Dwight’s can’t figure out how Origami Yoda is so wise, and yet Dwight is not. Tommy and the other classmates attempt to solve the mystery behind the supposedly Force-using finger puppet. There are five more books in this series. Be sure to “check them out”!
PB F NOR
When Davey wakes, just as the sun is rising, he can’t wait to slip out of the crammed hotel room he’s sharing with his family. As the sparkling ocean entices him, he decides to test the water, never mind that “No Swimming” sign. But as the waves pull him farther from shore, Davey finds himself surrounded by water — and something else, too.
F BAR
When Jack is sent to Hazelwood, Iowa, to live with his strange aunt and uncle, he expects a summer of boredom. Little does he know that the people of Hazelwood have been waiting for him for quite a long time.
When he arrives, three astonishing things happen: First, he makes friends — not imaginary friends but actual friends. Second, he is beaten up by the town bully; the bullies at home always ignored him. Third, the richest man in town begins to plot Jack’s imminent, and hopefully painful, demise.
DEADLY
F CHI
THE SCHOOL FOR THE INSANELY GIFTED
F ELI
Daphna Whispers is insanely gifted.
At age two and a half, she composed her first sonata.
When a mysterious man breaks into Daphna’s small New York apartment, Daphna discovers that her mother’s disappearance wasn’t a random accident. Her mother knew something—and now somebody is after Daphna. What starts out as a simple fact-finding trip to the basement with her friend’s spirals into an international expedition.
COLIN FISCHER
F MIL
Colin Fischer cannot stand to be touched. He does not like the color blue. He needs index cards to recognize facial expressions.
But when a gun is found in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate’s birthday celebration, it’s up to him to prove that Wayne Connelly, the school bully and Colin’s frequent tormenter, didn’t bring the gun to school.
B HOU
BIOGRAPHY
How did he walk through walls, escape drowning, and shatter iron chains that were tightly wrapped around him?
The rare photos in this book might help you figure it out. So might the exclusive update about the rumor that Houdini was poisoned. But just remember, a true magician never reveals his tricks. . . .
HELP OUR SCHOOL EARN FREE TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT.
Please bring used printer cartridges and cell phones to the LMC. The school earns points that can be used toward technology equipment.
To date we have used points to obtain a scanner, printer, and digital camera…all for free.
Staff Book Chats
Click on icon to view
At Holmes we do our best to select library books that are appropriate and will appeal to our middle grade students. Sometimes this includes selections from the “young adult” section. For more information and the permission slip, click on the above link.
RESOURCEs
This year we have a new library circulation system called Follett Destiny. Students use Destiny to search for library books, place holds, and locate ebooks. Students also have the opportunity to recommend books to other students and to write book reviews.
Login-Username: FULL email address
Password: ID number
Open eBooks
Open eBooks is an app containing thousands of popular and award-winning titles that are free. These eBooks can be read without checkouts or holds. Students and families can access these eBooks, which include some of the most popular works of the present and past, using the Open eBooks app and read as many as they like without incurring any costs. The goal of Open eBooks is to encourage a love of reading and serve as a gateway to children reading even more often. Students will receive a username and password from the librarian to use with their tablets.
This is taking the place of the AR program. It is similar to AR and easy to use. If students need to check to see if the book they are reading has a test, this is the place to look. When finished reading the book, bring the white pass from the Language Arts teacher and take the test like in the past.
This site allows students to search for book titles based on authors, subject, series, or titles of books to see if they have an RQ test.
Login-Username: FULL email address
Password: ID number
Axis 360 gives library and school users the ability to search, browse and discover ebooks and/or digital audiobooks available for lending through their public library or school with ease.
Login-Username: FULL email address
Password: ID number
Lexile –
Lexile Framework helps connect students with instructional resources that match their individual reading ability.
DATABASES
World Book combines technology with traditional excellence to produce unbiased information. The content is carefully written to be easily understood. Illustrated with attention-grabbing photos, useful diagrams and maps, the books are designed to engage even the most reluctant reader.
At School | At Home* | |
Log-in ID: | Directly connects within the district | D59home |
Password: | database |
This is an online research database for those seeking information and opinions on hundreds of today’s hottest social issues. It features continuously updated viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
Login Password: holmes
Student Resources in Context –
This is an online research database for those seeking information on a wide array of subjects. This database has continuously updated content with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
Login Password: holmes
proporciona acceso a peridicos y revistas especializadas de lengua espanola y portuguesa. La base de datos ofrece una amplia gama de contenidos sobre America Latina.
Login Password: holmes
Discovery Education offers student resources that bring learning to life both inside and outside the classroom using interactive games, videos, contests, virtual labs and activities designed to help you dive deeper into a topic —and have fun too!
Login/Password: sign in with google
To fascinate, collaborate, and educate.
That’s the vision of our lrc team!

Click above image for more information about the Battle of the Books challenge.
Click on the book cover to see the book trailer. Sign up immediately. Click here for permission slip.
Spine Book Poetry
In celebration of National Poetry month we thought we would we would try something different. Volunteers from Mrs. Lannert’s class were excited to participate in the activity. Students chose books based on their titles and that related to their chosen theme, then stacked them to create a short poem.
Take a look at these book trailers!
Click here
CHECK OUT THESE BOOKS!
Loot
F WAT
On a foggy night in Amsterdam, a man falls from a rooftop to the wet pavement below. It’s Alfie McQuinn, the notorious cat burglar, and he’s dying. As sirens wail in the distance, Alfie manages to get out two last words to his young son, March: “Find jewels.”
The Testing
F CHA
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one and the same?
The Seven Stages War left, much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing.
The Saturday Boy
F FLE
If I’ve learned anything from comic books, it’s that everybody has one thing that can totally ruin their day without fail. For the wolfman it’s a silver bullet. For Superman it’s kryptonite. For me it was a letter.
With one letter, my dad was sent back to Afghanistan to fly Apache helicopters for the U.S. army.
Now all I have are his letters. Ninety-one of them to be exact.
Shark Attacks of 1916
PBF TAR
Based on true events! It’s the summer of 1916 and the Jersey shore is being terrorized by a Great White shark. Can 10-year-old Chet and his friends survive a swim in the local creek?
Shark Girl
F BIN
On a sunny day in June, at the beach with her mom and brother, fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood went for a swim. And then everything — absolutely everything — changed. Now she’s counting down the days until she returns to school with her fake arm, where she knows kids will whisper, “That’s her — that’s Shark Girl,” as she passes.
F GOW
Jimmy Gownley’s graphic novel memoir about the “dumb” idea that changed his life forever!
What if the dumbest idea ever turned your life upside down?
At thirteen, Jimmy was popular, at the top of his class, and the leading scorer on his basketball team. But all that changed when chicken pox forced him to miss the championship game. How did Jimmy turn things around, get back on top at school, and land a date with the cutest girl in class?
PRISONER OF SNOWFLAKE FALLS
F LEK
Fifteen-year-old Henry Holloway isn’t immoral, he’s just hungry. His mother died when he was nine, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Andy and his friends, all amiable small-time crooks. Uncle Andy and his criminal friends draw him into a plan to rob the citizens of Snowflake Falls. Will Henry be loyal to his uncle or will he break with the past and do the right thing?
ORIGAMI YODA
F ANG
It tells the story of Dwight, a student at McQuarrie Middle School and a “total loser”, who uses an origami finger puppet to offer quite sage advice. Origami Yoda predicts the date of a future pop quiz, knows who has a crush on whom, and helps some kids from being humiliated. Tommy, a classmate of Dwight’s can’t figure out how Origami Yoda is so wise, and yet Dwight is not. Tommy and the other classmates attempt to solve the mystery behind the supposedly Force-using finger puppet. There are five more books in this series. Be sure to “check them out”!
PB F NOR
When Davey wakes, just as the sun is rising, he can’t wait to slip out of the crammed hotel room he’s sharing with his family. As the sparkling ocean entices him, he decides to test the water, never mind that “No Swimming” sign. But as the waves pull him farther from shore, Davey finds himself surrounded by water — and something else, too.
F BAR
When Jack is sent to Hazelwood, Iowa, to live with his strange aunt and uncle, he expects a summer of boredom. Little does he know that the people of Hazelwood have been waiting for him for quite a long time.
When he arrives, three astonishing things happen: First, he makes friends — not imaginary friends but actual friends. Second, he is beaten up by the town bully; the bullies at home always ignored him. Third, the richest man in town begins to plot Jack’s imminent, and hopefully painful, demise.
DEADLY
F CHI
THE SCHOOL FOR THE INSANELY GIFTED
F ELI
Daphna Whispers is insanely gifted.
At age two and a half, she composed her first sonata.
When a mysterious man breaks into Daphna’s small New York apartment, Daphna discovers that her mother’s disappearance wasn’t a random accident. Her mother knew something—and now somebody is after Daphna. What starts out as a simple fact-finding trip to the basement with her friend’s spirals into an international expedition.
COLIN FISCHER
F MIL
Colin Fischer cannot stand to be touched. He does not like the color blue. He needs index cards to recognize facial expressions.
But when a gun is found in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate’s birthday celebration, it’s up to him to prove that Wayne Connelly, the school bully and Colin’s frequent tormenter, didn’t bring the gun to school.
B HOU
BIOGRAPHY
How did he walk through walls, escape drowning, and shatter iron chains that were tightly wrapped around him?
The rare photos in this book might help you figure it out. So might the exclusive update about the rumor that Houdini was poisoned. But just remember, a true magician never reveals his tricks. . . .
HELP OUR SCHOOL EARN FREE TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT.
Please bring used printer cartridges and cell phones to the LMC. The school earns points that can be used toward technology equipment.
To date we have used points to obtain a scanner, printer, and digital camera…all for free.