5th Grade Writes Book Grabbers

I did a fun project with 5th grade before winter break called "Book Grabbers."  Remember those flyers where you pull a tab at the bottom for a phone number?  Our tabs were the call numbers of books we recommended.  Students were all encouraged to use these summaries to film a Book Talk from the Bathtub after winter break, as well!  Stay tuned for those on our YouTube channel, but in the meantime, check out a bunch of the ones we've already filmed!

Comic Book Club

Comic Book Club has zoomed by the past few weeks, and we already find ourselves at our last meeting.  It has truly been a joy to work with these awesome kids.  Comics unites the coolest kiddos!  I hope when we do a spring session, we have more kids involved in it.  At yesterday's meeting, we made our own comic books.  Check out the geniuses at work below.  

We also have developed an awesome roll call system where one of our members announced our special secret superhero names, and then we say our catchphrase.  I am Library Girl (secret's out!) and my catchphrase is "Check it out!"  

Next week, at our last meeting, we have a special secret guest who works at Forest North but also has prior experience coloring comics professionally!  I can't wait to hear her stories & experiences!

Our comic book club members hard at work creating their own comics.

Z Man's comic.  I love this!

5th Grade Studies Paul Revere in the Library

5th grade is studying the American Revolution.  Last week, we studied context clues in Colonial art.  This week, we're studying the myth and reality of Paul Revere's Ride.  Check out the ThingLink below to learn all about Paul Revere's ride!

Students studying up on Art about Paul Revere

Watching the background knowledge video on SchoolTube about Paul Revere

Studying the actual map of Paul Revere's ride

Studying the famous poem about his ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Art experts presenting their findings

Hour of Code on Library iPads!

Mrs. Young & I were so excited to work this week with Mr. Brewton, Forest North Instructional Technology Specialist, to celebrate Hour of Code!  I worked with our Kindergarten & 1st grade classes, and Mrs. Young helped out with PreKindergarten.  Hour of Code is a global celebration happening this week to teach kids about computer programming and how fun it can be!  I was astounded at how quickly our kids picked it up- these digital natives will be great engineers one day!  Thank you so much for including us in your celebration & teaching, Mr. Brewton!  We love collaborating with you!

2015 Barnes & Noble Book Fair a success!

Forest North 2015 Barnes & Noble Book Fair by Slidely

Mrs. Pieper, PTA Treasurer, and Mrs. Fournier

We had buckets of fun at Barnes & Noble over the weekend.  Here are some photos of our many events- we had a different performance or demonstration every thirty minutes for most of the day.  Our initial estimates show us to make almost $1000!  Thanks to PTA for throwing this amazing event, and allowing the library to help coordinate!  We have a blast - thanks so much for all you do for our school.

Comic Book Club Members SERGEANT OPTIMISTIC & The Blur gave a demonstration!

Mrs. Stewart & Mrs. Miller volunteered their time to wrap gifts for tips!

Two awesome members of my Ghetto Cowboy Book Club. They led an awesome expert panel on the book.  

 

Next Gen Digital Classroom update

Mrs. Young & I were thrilled to attend the Next Gen Digital Classroom Conference for RRISD last week.  We learned a lot to help use our iPads with students.  Thanks for a great day, Technology Department!  I'm most excited to use iMotion and ClassKick with students, and am interested in checking out Book Creator (and applying for a PTA grant to get the money to buy it for our students!)

Book-a-thon: Wrapping Up

Thanks for a great Book-a-thon, Eagles.  We had a great time.  Don't forget to reflect on your reading.  Did you meet your goals?  Did you accomplish what you wanted?  Did you keep your reading skills sharp over Thanksgiving break?  

Mrs. Bordic, our interventionist, was proud to send me a photo of these lists.  3 of her 4th grade students did a lot of great reading over Thanksgiving break!  You go, readers!

Book-a-thon: Reading Recommendation Tree

Each student at Forest North got a leaf.  Each leaf had a book title on it.  Each book title was something someone wanted to read over Thanksgiving break.  Thanks to teamwork, all of our amazing Eagle readers helped make this beautiful tree!

Special thanks to Mrs. Mills, former FNE staff member, for volunteering her time to sculpt the trunk and cut out the leaves!  Year-round, but especially at this time of year, I am so thankful to be surrounded by so many amazing educators and community members who will spend their time and energy making sure our Forest North students are getting the best education possible.  Thanks for putting our kids first!

Book-a-thon: Book Character Dress Up Day

Book Character Dress Up Day was so much fun!  Tons of students and staff dressed up like a favorite book character to promote reading over our Thanksgiving break.  Check out some of the staff's costumes!

Book-a-thon: Share Your Reading Life

Part of our reading celebration this week is to share our reading life.  Check out these photos of students reading at home and at school to show us how they do!