All You Can Read!

Forest North is proud to announce our spring Book Fair next week! The theme is "All You Can Read: Book Fair Diner."

Mon 5/3 Wear '50s clothes to celebrate!
Tues 5/4 Preview Day, Book Fair Grand Opening 4:30-6:00 PM
Wed 5/5 Early Release Day, Book Fair open 7:30 AM - 3:30 PM
Thur 5/6 Book Fair open 7:30 AM - 3:30 PM
Fri 5/7 Book Fair open 7:30 AM - 3:30 PM

We are celebrating the book fair on Monday, 5/3, by wearing 1950s-inspired clothes, so dust off your poodle skirts, saddleshoes and Buddy Holly eyeglass frames.

On Tuesday, 5/4, we will have our Preview Day. Each class will come through the Book Fair with a wish list to write down a few items they'd like and their cost. We will remind students to bring a little extra for tax.

Also on Tuesday, 5/4, we will have our Grand Opening Family Night! Families are welcome to attend the Book Fair after the PTA Meeting as part of our Special Areas rotation. See our art gallery, hear some music, meet a robot and buy a book- what could be a better way to spend your evening? We'll see you then from 4:30-6:00 PM.

The Book Fair will be open Wednesday, 5/5 at 8:00. We have an Early Release that day, and parents are welcome to come check out the book fair when they pick up their kids at 12:45. We will be open until 1:30.

On Thursday and Friday, 5/6 and 5/7, the Book Fair will be open from 8:00-3:30. Please feel free to stop by anytime and peruse our selections.

Thanks so much for supporting the Forest North Book Fair! Profits go directly back into a fund to buy books for our school. Our Fall Book Fair raised enough money to have Lucas Miller, the Singing Zoologist visit in February, and for us to have Elizabeth Kahura, African Storyteller at Night of the Eagles in March. Without your support, we wouldn't be able to have exciting events like these at Forest North! Thanks, Eagles!

Earth Day Recycled Art Contest

Happy Earth Day, Eagles!

Mrs. Lajaunie and Mrs. Fournier love our Earth. We decided to celebrate by having a Recycled Art contest here in the library. Students could put together recycled goods in any artistic combination to submit them to the contest. This open-ended challenge was perfect for our creative students! We were so amazed at the art we received!

All of Forest North Elementary was invited to walk through our gallery of recycled art. Our panel of esteemed judges were astounded at the level of inventiveness and perspective our artists demonstrated.

All 37 of our talented artists won two hypercolor Earth Day pencils that turned from green to yellow when you touched them. Fifteen participants were invited to the library at the end of Earth Day for a party! Mrs. Lajaunie arranged for donations from Home Depot! Home Depot was kind enough to donate kits that could be built into herb garden birdhouses, cool orange aprons, and special pins, too! We had a snack of Sun Chips in special compostable bags, and water from recyclable water bottles. The water bottles were already reused for a project in Mrs. Rugerio's Pre-K class.

Thanks so much for all 37 participants, and congratulations on your wonderful art.

Launch Into Summer surveys

Our teachers are planning a Parent Learning night to give tips on keeping kids' academic skills sharp during the summer. We'd love input from our parents to let us know what they'd like to learn about. Please take the following survey to give us your two cents!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L3T3XC5

Thanks for helping us make Forest North a better place where learning goes on in the evenings, too!

Volunteer Tea!

This Library Night, we focused on thanking our Volunteers! All Forest North parents were sent home a flyer to invite them for a special Volunteer Tea. We had food, friendship and fun gifts! Thanks, volunteers, for all that you do! The event was sponsored by the Special Areas team- Mrs. Lanahan the art teacher, Ms. Potral in PE, Mrs. Hermansen in Music, and myself. Teachers were kind enough to bring a dish to share! Parents received mugs with a variety of tea bags inside.

In the spirit of volunteerism, my special librarian thanks go out to all the book shelvers and rubber stampers! I couldn't do it without you- your help enables me to better serve your children and I am so grateful for that. Volunteerism is a special trait that speaks louder than words. There is no greater gift than your time. Thank you so much!

(photo: Brenda Speck, volunteer. Lisa Perkins, Kindergarten teacher. Annie Muir, volunteer)

Mrs. James' class loves to write!

Mrs. James class read a special book last week that they checked out from the library called Max's Words. Youngest brother Max doesn't collect stamps or coins like his brothers- he collects words like "slithered" or "pancakes." One word leads to another until he has a whole story to tell!

Mrs. James' class was so inspired by Max's collection of words, they found their own interesting words in magazines, cut them out, and made complete sentences with them. Check out some of their masterpieces!

Mrs. Fournier is attending the Texas Library Association Annual Conference this week in San Antonio. She is learning about new books and new ideas to keep our library rockin' and rollin'!

One panel Mrs. Fournier really liked was on books and censorship. One author who spoke on the panel was Jude Watson of the 39 Clues series! Mrs. Fournier knows we have a bunch of 39 Clues fans here at Forest North, so she asked Jude (her real name is Judy!) for a picture!

See you next week, Eagles- I miss you!

The library is the heart of the school!

April is National School Library Month. In April, we are celebrating the library a different way every day! Today, we wanted to prove the library is the heart of the school. Every student was given a red heart to write why they love the library, and we posted them outside our doors.

Thanks so much for all the wonderful reasons you love the library, Forest North. It was such a special day and made Mrs. Young and I feel special too. We love our jobs! <3