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!

 

Book-a-thon: Share Your Reading Life Family Event!

Wednesday, 11/18, was our Share your Reading Life Family Event at the Forest North Library.  It was part of our weeklong Book-a-thon to get kids pumped up to read over Thanksgiving break. We were thrilled to welcome over 50 Forest North guests!  We had Sophia Chin, our Parent Community Specialist, on site giving away each student a free book to take home, and tips and information about our services to help parents increase their child's reading at home.  We also had the Northwest Austin Rotary on hand (including our RRISD former superintendent Dr. Jesus Chavez!) helping sign children ages 0-4 up for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which mails a free book once a month home to your child from birth until their 5th birthday.  It's an amazing program with high quality books that we're so happy to bring to our community.  Snacks were graciously provided by our PTA.  Jeff Brewton, our Instructional Technology Specialist, was also on hand to help train students on using our brand new Kindles, won with a grant submitted by our PTA Treasurer Amy Pieper.  Thanks so much to the many people who helped make this event special for our students.  We are so lucky to have such an amazing staff and community at Forest North Elementary!

Check out this Animoto video made by Mr. Brewton documenting our event!

Book Talk From the Bathtub: Meriam

Meriam did a Book Talk for "Heidi Hecklebeck Has a Secret" by Wanda Coven.  Check out this YouTube video!

Book Talk From the Bathtub: Ben

Ben did a Book Talk for "Little Lions, Bull Baiters and Hunting Hounds: a Book About Dog Breeds" by Jeff Crosby.  Check out this YouTube video!

Texas Bluebonnet Award Update

We are thrilled to announce that the Texas Bluebonnet program is going well at Forest North.  On 11/5, Kieron in 4th grade was the student to read the 1000th Bluebonnet Master List book at Forest North!  The next day, Aiden in 4th grade finished his 20th book.  He's our first participant at the Battle of the Bluebonnets in February!  Our second qualifier for the Battle of the Bluebonnets in Michael, also in 4th grade!  We have many other students who are very close to reading all twenty books.  I'm also excited that we have our first class where every single student has qualified for the voting party- you go, Ms. Velasquez' 4th grade class.  Yesterday, the last student qualified and we all jumped up and down and whooped and hollered in her classroom!  It was a very exciting moment.  I've never had a class have everyone finish so early!  All together, we've already read 1159 Bluebonnet books, and the number keeps going up!

Library Checkout with Mr. Martir's Class

Forest North was recently featured by RRISD and we had a photographer come take photos of our kids in action.  Check out these beautiful shots of Mr. Martir's class checking out books in the library.  

 

Book Talk from the Bathtub: Evie

Evie did a Book Talk for "Roller Girl" by Victoria Jamieson.   Check out this YouTube video!

Book Talk from the Bathtub: Aiden

Aiden did a Book Talk for "Zombie Winter" by Jason Strange. Check out this YouTube video!

Book Talk From the Bathtub: Elizabeth

Elizabeth did a Book Talk for "Someone Named Eva" by Joan M. Wolf.  Check out this YouTube video!

Students Search Online Catalog with iPads

We are thrilled to be a NextGen library with 32 iPads.  Gone are the days of logging onto a desktop, jotting down a call number with pencil & paper, and trotting off to the shelves. Students can now take an iPad with them along the shelves to search on the go.  Library Leaders are currently filming Book Talks for their favorites to inspire others to choose them as well- more on that in an upcoming post!

Barnes & Noble Book Fair 12/5/15!

Save the Date!  The 5th annual Barnes & Noble Book Fair is on December 5, 2015.  As always, we'll be there all day, from 10 AM to 9 PM.  Our Barnes & Noble is located right near Lakeline Mall at the Homestead Shopping Center. The address is 14010 U.S. 183, Austin, TX 78717. Students are invited to shop with their families, because Barnes & Noble has agreed to donate 15% of all sales from FNE supporters goes back IN CASH to our PTA. We are hoping to pay for our new laminator, and provide grants for teachers.



Purchases made in the cafe (like the special Forest North vanilla coffee-free frappuccino, colored red or blue special for our Eagles!), holiday cheesecakes pre-ordered, books, Nooks and any other merchandise will apply towards our total. Every little bit helps! We've got hours of fun entertainment planned for Eagles and their families, including the return of the Forest North Staff Dog Parade! Expect a performance or demonstration from all grade levels, clubs, and UIL organizations.  We also will be wrapping gifts all day! The key to our success last time was the involvement of our faculty, staff, students and their families.  We hope to be just as successful this year.  Stay tuned for an upcoming post with more details of our schedule!