Library Night!

It's the 3rd Tuesday again... you know what that means! Tonight is Library Night. The library will be open for special hours today for our students and their families. We'll see you at 4:30!

We are also having the second installment of our Parenting Series Tonight. Pizza will be served at 5:30 in the cafeteria, followed by the Literacy@Home lecture here in the library. I will be giving a presentation on how to make the library work for your student at home. I will distribute flyers with usernames and passwords to all who attend in order to access our wonderful databases and subscription websites at home! There will also be special breaking news from my six ace reporters- Mackenzie, Quimara, Andy, Daniel, Angili and Nick!

See you at 4:30, Eagles!

Sylvan Dell eBooks free online!

Hello, Forest North Eagles! I'm here to tell you about another great resource we have available for our students to use at school and home.

Sylvan Dell Publishing is now producing an online reading program with 45 eBooks, each with selectable English and Spanish text and audio. The books are fun, fictional stories involving animals and nature and with spectacular art, but there is a lot more. The back of each book has a 3-5 page educational section called For Creative Minds that you can explore with your child.

Also, each title has its own homepage loaded with 30-40 pages of cross-curricular teaching activities and three interactive quizzes and it is all free online. We think you’ll find this program an interesting integration of fun reading with the option of serious science, math, geography and language learning. It is all online, so with broadband access from home or the library you can make this a family reading and learning event.

Because our school has this eBook site license, you and your family have complete access to this resource from your home computer and we encourage you to enjoy it with your children. A flyer was sent home this week with instructions on how to access this resource at home. Call the library at 464-6790 if you need help, or attend any Library Night for a flyer with the passwords for all of our wonderful resources! I will also be discussing these resources at length on our Literacy at Home Parenting Series on 12/15 from 5:30-6:30. Pizza will be served in the cafeteria at 5:00 pm.

TeachingBooks.net

Have you heard of TeachingBooks.net? All Round Rock schools subscribe to receive this awesome book resource. Get reading guides, author interviews, and reading lists to inspire your students and children to read! You can access the site at school, but also from home or at the public library. Contact the Forest North library or Kristen Fournier, librarian, for the remote access login username and password. Happy reading!

Thanksgiving Holidays

Thanksgiving holidays begin Wednesday and go through the rest of the week. I hope everyone has a wonderful break with lots of things for which to be grateful! Along those lines, I'd like to thank my fabulous library volunteers for all they do to help their students' library run smoothly!

Thank you, D'Anna Youngman, Brenda Speck, Hamid Velji, and Alison Seerley! I couldn't do it without your help!

Library Night - Science Research!

Last night was another monthly Library night. This time we focused on science experiment books for students and books on positive discipline for parents. We also featured BookFlix on our library computers!

BookFlix is a website we subscribe to where kids can see a short movie version of a book, paired with a similiar nonfiction text that can be read aloud as they turn the pages. You can even check out BookFlix at home! Look in your child's folder this week for a BookFlix instruction sheet with the Forest North username and password, and happy reading!

We hope to see you at our next Library night- it's 12/15, 4:30-6:00. Come check out books, math or science kits and check out some of our educational subscription websites! I hope to see you there. There will also be pizza served at 5:30 before the next Parent Education Series, also taking place in the library.

Math and Science Books and Kits!

Help your child succeed!

Forest North is proud to announce our new collection of science books and kits and math kits specifically for parents to help their children. Explore our solar system, experiment with force and motion, or learn zany animal facts together. It’s a great way to be involved in your child’s education and will familiarize you with our curriculum.

Our science Activity kits include vocabulary cards, ideas for experiments, and all the supplies needed for the experiments. They also include fun stuff like rubber stamps, stopwatches, balloons, magnifying glasses and electric circuits! Here are the kits we have available:

Animals
Electricity
Force & Motion
Insects
Matter
Plants
Properties of Earth
Rocks & Soil
Solar System
Weather

These books and activity kits can be checked out and taken home. We have special library accounts just for parents, so come by to set one up! The library is open to parents before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays or at our monthly Library night (next one is 11/17 4:30-6:00). Parents can check out anything from our regular collection as well as from our special parenting section. Our parenting section includes books on being a parent and helping your child become a successful, contributing member of our community both socially and academically. Help your son or daughter succeed through the library today!

Economics Fair!

Friday, October 30th, was the 3rd grade's economic fair. Third graders have been learning about different parts of an economy- goods and services, spending and saving money, supply and demand, and how pricing and selling affects profits.

To show off their new knowledge, they hosted an economics sale, selling entirely handmade goods and services. They generously donated all of their profits to the Make a Wish Foundation.

I was lucky enough to buy a pet rock from Desiree for $.25 and a bookmark from Aaron for $.50. My pet rock (named Desiree, of course) is now happily living on the library circulation desk, and my bookmark is trustily keeping my place in my book!

Red Ribbon Week for Healthy Lifestyles

This is Red Ribbon Week here at Forest North. Every day we are showing off our healthy lifestyle and our choice to not do drugs! We are also collecting canned goods to donate to an area food bank to prove "I can... you can.. we can have a healthy lifestyle!"
On Monday, we wore red to show we are "Reddy to Live a Healthy Lifestyle." Tuesday was "Hats off to a Healthy Lifestyle"... I saw sombreros, baseball caps, toboggans, fedoras and berets! Wednesday, we wore our shirts backwards to "Turn Your Back on an Unhealthy Lifestyle."
Today, Thursday, we decided to "Sock it to a healthy lifestyle!" We are wearing wacky, silly, odd socks to celebrate our choice to not do drugs! Here are some of the wacky socks that were spotted in the library:


Pictured: Abby in 3rd, Ariel in 2nd, Mrs. Benson, Erbey in 2nd, Ms. Lajaunie, Ashlyn in 2nd, Mrs. Decker, Stephanie in 2nd, Mrs. Fournier, Shelby in 4th, Mrs. Young and Mrs. Mills

Spirit Night at Double Dave's!

Tonight is Spirit Night at Forest North Elementary! Meet us from 5:30-8:00 at Double Dave's Pizzaworks, located at 183 and Anderson Mill (13343 Highway 183 North). Double Dave's has generously offered to donate back a percentage of their profit earned tonight back to Forest North. Come support our school in a fun way- through pizza! See you tonight, Eagles.

Library Nights!

Hello, Forest North Eagles! It was lovely to see you at the October Library Night, and especially to welcome our new principal, Ms. Jacobs, to our school with a cake and punch reception!

I wanted to invite you to come to each monthly Library Night. We will have books for students, of course, but I'd also like to highlight our wonderful section of parenting books. Forest North has been focusing on this section to help our students succeed at home and at school!

The Library will be open from 4:30 to 6:00 pm the 3rd Tuesday of every month.
Those dates are as follows:

November 17th
December 15th
January 19th
Feburary 16th
March 23rd (this one is delayed a week for Spring Break- have fun!)
April 20th
May 18th

I look forward to seeing all of you on November 17th for an extra special time to checkout books with parents!

Forest North Welcomes Ms. Jacobs!

Forest North Elementary is very excited to have our new principal, Ms. Amy Jacobs. The library hosted a reception to welcome her on Tuesday, October, 20th. Besides checking out books, we also had cake and punch!

Forest North is Exemplary!

Congratulations, Eagles! Forest North has been recognized as an "Exemplary School" for this year! Many of the Forest North staff attended a district celebration to note the achivements of our faculty and students.

Pictured: Kristen Fournier, Librarian. Carolyn Potral, student. Kathy Potral, PE Teacher.

Fall 2009 Book Fair!

The Forest North Book Fair will take place October 5th-9th during regular school hours. We will have a special Book Fair night on Monday, October 5th from 5:30-6:30 pm. Come out and support our school and library. We'll see you then!

Kristen Fournier, new librarian

Hello everyone! I am the new librarian at Forest North Elementary. My name is Kristen Fournier. This is my first year as a librarian and I'm so excited to be here! I've been teaching the past three years in Austin ISD while earning my Masters in Information Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. I also worked for two years at the Austin Public Library in Youth Services, as well. I live in Austin with my husband and our two dogs, Cricket and Grover. I look forward to meeting all of you!

Book Fair Evening Event

Thanks to all who came to the book fair night. We enjoyed popcorn, book sales, and a fun raffle. Thanks to Ms. Newberry for being our raffle caller.

Congratulations to all of our raffle winners who won $10 in free books!

Ruby Newberry
Paul Sonnenberg
Sarah Henson
Melkon Harutunian
Francia Harutunian
Nicky Butler
Mary Harris
Conner Harris
Claudia Guerra

and one unclaimed number 719052. If this was you, bring in your ticket stub to recieve $10 in books.

Book Fair Rescheduled

Due to the district concern over the Swine Flu, we have rescheduled our book fair for May 11th - May 15th.

Thanks for your flexibility!

Attention 5th Graders and Parents!

Middle school libraries are hosting evening meetings for fifth grade parents entitled "Your Child @ the Middle School Library" to better acquaint parents of next year's sixth graders with the middle school library and the types of resources and services offered. There will be a short presentation and a question and answer session to follow. Parents who plan to attend should try to attend the meeting at their designated middle school campus, but are welcome to choose a session at a different campus if need be.

The dates/times are as follows:
Canyon Vista MS - Wednesday, May 27 at 6 p.m.
Cedar Valley MS - Monday, May18 at 6:30 p.m.
Chisholm Trail MS - Thursday, May 7 at 6 p.m.
Deerpark MS - Wednesday, May 20 6 p.m.
C. D. Fulkes MS - Thursday, May 28 at 6 p.m.
Grisham MS - Tuesday, May 26 6:30 p.m.
Hopewell MS - Monday, June 1 at 6 p.m.
Ridgeview MS - Tuesday, May 19 at 6 p.m.
Walsh MS - Thursday, May 21 at 6 p.m.

Evening Hours at the Library

I'm excited to announce that Forest North will be opening its doors for evening library hours! Everyone is welcome!

Please note that for the May 26th date you will have to be in good standing with the library to participate. This means that all books from the school year will have to be turned in and any lost/damaged fines paid by that point.

I'm looking forward to spending some fun time with everyone soon!

Feel free to contact me with any questions at 464-6790.

~Mrs. Thrift

Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day today, I have found a great educational game to play! Check it out at http://www.scholastic.com/growgreen/virtualforest/

Enjoy!

Okay, students, I want to know what you think about this latest technology! Let's put our thinking caps on and ask some important questions. Do you forsee any problems or useful applications for this technology? Please watch the video and add your thoughtful comments below!

Check out the Third Grade Blog!

Our third graders have begun book clubs this week!

They have been to the library to practice their blogging skills, and now they are ready to blog about the books they are reading in class.

You can look at their blog here: www.fnthirdgradeteam.blogspot.com

BookEater's Begin!

Check out the video from our first meeting! We learned about podcasting and voicethreads.

Night of the Eagles Enjoyed by All!

Thanks to all who came out for a restful evening of stories after the TAKS test! We had a great time listening to our teacher readers, then coming back together in the cafeteria to eat milk and cookies before our professional storyteller, Greg Rodgers came and told us some Choctaw legends.

Here are some photos, and yes, that is me in my pajamas playing the drum!

~Your Rhythmically Challenged Librarian

Book Clubs are in full Swing!

Eagle Girls Book Club has decided to start with two different books. Fourth graders are reading Rivers of Fire by Patrick Carmen. It is the sequel to the first Atherton book that was such a hit on the Bluebonnet reading list! Fifth graders are reading Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. Several girls reported reading it in one sitting, they loved it so much!

The BookEaters Book Club is learning about how to make a VoiceThread. When we have our first VoiceThread ready to publish, look for it here!

~Mrs. Thrift

New Book Clubs coming soon!

Be on the lookout for permission slips coming home soon! Our book clubs are about to start up this semester!

BookEaters Book Club
Rather than being centered around a single book, 4th and 5th grade boys and girls share what they are reading and hear about what others are reading. This book club will integrate technology in new ways, using wikis, blogs, and podcasting. Your child should come to each meeting ready to share about what they have read. Your child will bring his/her lunch into the library during discussion time. The Spring session runs from February 2 to April 30. Ten slots are open.

Eagle Girls Book Club
This book club is open to 4th and 5th grade girls. We will be reading from several fiction genres. The students will be responsible for reading one chapter a week. We will discuss the chapter in the library on Wednesdays during lunch. Your child will bring her lunch into the library during discussion time. The Spring session runs from February 2 to April 30. Ten spots are open.

Eagle Girls Book Club Wraps up the Semester!

December also saw the end of the Eagle Girls book club. We read Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day. The book was a hit with the girls in the club. We enjoyed making a poster of our own favorite rules from the book (and a few of our own made up rules, too)! Because so much of the book talks about the theme of friendship, we made friendship bracelets as a culminating activity!

Thanks for a great semester!

Sci-Fi Book Club Wraps up the Semester!

We had a great fall semester in the Sci-Fi book club. We read City of Ember by DuPrau. The students enjoyed the book! You can read their comments below.

As a culminating activity, on the last day of book club we performed short circuit experiments. Using sample models and batteries, wires, and light bulbs, we predicted which models would light the lightbulb based on the arrangement of the elements. Then we tested each model to see if we were right!

Thanks for a fun semester!

Science Fair Projects!

Students:

The deadline is rapidly approaching! If you need help with your science fair project research, please talk to me as soon as possible. I am more than happy to help you find the information you need.

In addition, I will be hosting a research day in the library, dedicated to helping you with research all day. This will probably take place the week of the 12th. If you think you need help, tell your teacher and have them sign you up on the schedule to work with me!