RRReviewsES: Grumpy Pets by Kristine Lombardi

Everyone is so happy to find their cute pet at the animal shelter... except Billy. He doesn't like this picture perfect, adorable creatures. He keeps wandering around until he finds the back aisle... where the grumpy, snarly, cranky pets are. Could it be that the grumpiest place in the shelter is where Billy finds happiness? 

Coffee Chat

I was honored to co-host a Coffee Chat with our Parent/Community Specialist Ms. Hargrave today. My favorite questions were about our enrichment book clubs & our student volunteer program, Library Leaders. Here was my handout with some general library information.

November 2017 Statistics

November was fast and fun at the Forest North Library! Check out these statistics from this past month. I'm excited to be back in action at the library- Library Leaders has just selected their helpers and our first training is on Tuesday, 12/19, and Ukulele Club will start in January!

 

Texas Bluebonnet Award update

Check out the latest Texas Bluebonnet Award qualified voter! We've already read 1,159 books so far, and have 124 kids coming to the voting party on 1/26!

#classroombookaday

Last summer, I chanced upon this article about the Classroom Book-a-day project on the Nerdy Book Club blog. I texted Ms. Moore and asked if she would try this with me this year. I promised to get a fresh stack of fun picture books to her classroom all year long, and we'd handle a beautiful display (courtesy of the crafty Mrs. Vetter, trusty Library Assistant) for her to keep track of what they've read. They use these books to build a common vocabulary of stories, develop their background knowledge of the world, and grow their inferring skills. 

Mrs. Talley soon heard about our project and decided to do it too! It's going really well. Mrs. Talley also had the cool idea to invite people to come do the read aloud as well. It's really spreading the belief that picture books are for everyone! I'm so excited to see what's next!

Wild West Book Fair

Yeehaw! The Wild West Book Fair was a big success! Check out our statistics, and thanks for moseyin' on down. Also try this game- click on the person's face to see who it is, then click "home" to go back and try another person. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Itsy Bitsy Spider in PPCD/TWC

Mrs. Hernandez' PPCD/TWC class came in today and we read The Itsy Bitsy spider and watched a cool video of it too. Since our spider in the book was relaxing with sunglasses, we got some shades too! Thanks for reading with me, Mrs. Hernandez' class!

RRreviewsES: Triangle by Mac Barnett

“Triangle” by Mac Barnett is my favorite to read aloud. I saw him read it live and I copy his approach- loud, deadpan, almost stilted voice. So hilarious! Triangle plays a sneaky trick on his friend Square- or does he? I can’t wait to hear Square’s perspective in the May 2018 sequel!   #rrockreviewses @macbarnett

Elizabeth Eulberg

3rd-5th grades were honored to hear the hilariously engaging Elizabeth Eulberg speak today. She made us laugh but also spoke to us about the writing process, deductive reasoning, and her personal story of overcoming dyslexia to become a Texas Bluebonnet Award nominated author. We love The Great Shelby Holmes and are excited to read the sequel now, too. Thanks for sharing your gifts with us, Elizabeth Eulberg, and thanks to the Forest North PTA for sponsoring this event. 

Coins for Coats 2017

What a triumphant return! I'm thrilled to announce that we raised a lot of money through the Coins for Coats program this year. The Round Rock ISD Serving Center counts on libraries across RRISD each year to raise money to help any RRISD student in need to get a winter coat. We raised enough money for lots of our own to keep warm this winter- what a wonderful way to give back.

The library would especially like to recognize Ms. Sayaovong's generous 2nd grade class for their donations. We have thanked them with a $10 gift certificate to the Wild West Book Fair. Thank you, sincerely.

Mrs. Fournier's Return

I'm so excited to be back, Forest North! I had a great time taking care of Ruby, but I'm ready to be back where I belong in the library, too. Thanks to Mrs. Galloway for being my sub and keeping the library running smoothly while I was gone, and especially to our wonderful library assistant, Mrs. Vetter, for being such a vital part of our library team. I missed you all so much!

Introducing Ruby!

I am excited to announce the newest Fournier- Ruby Flynn was born on July 19, 2017. Big sister Harper was very confident that she was having a little sister, despite her parents thinking it was a boy, and she was right! I am very grateful for my two sweet girls.

I will be home with Ruby through the end of October, and looking forward to returning full time at Forest North after that! Until then... keep reading, Eagles!

Summer Reading Options!

End of the Year - My Account is Clear!

All library materials are due across RRISD this Friday, 5/19, so that we can get our annual inventory underway! We are hoping to reward our students for their responsibility by entering them in a drawing for prizes. Students whose names are drawn during morning announcements can come to the library, check to make sure their accounts are clear, and if so, they can choose a prize! If an entire class (including their homeroom teacher!) has clear accounts, we'll put their names in the drawing 3 times!

Check out this video for more information:

Summer Library Hours Announced

We are thrilled to be hosting summer library hours almost every Thursday during our summer break! Join us, or check out some of the RRISD Pop Up Library events - they're sure to be spectacular. We also have some reading & social media challenges for you during our time apart- check out details below.

Rainbow Reading Challenge

Fifty-four awesome first graders met this year's Rainbow Reading Challenge! We celebrated their accomplishment with rainbow sherbet and goldfish, bookmarks, free books, music and dancing. Way to go, readers!

Happy Camper Book Fair Wrap Up

Thanks so much to all who bought books, made wishlists, helped set up and/or tear down, sent students, encouraged & participated in our evening Family Events, and everything else that helped the Book Fair! 

Also, thanks for pausing on checkout, lessons, and reliable copier access! We will use the proceeds for school-wide author visits & new library books for all of us to share, so keep your eyes peeled for that, Eagles, and keep reading s'more books!

Forest North Library Statistics for April

April was a whirlwind of fun in the Forest North Library! Check out these statistics:

Happy Camper Book Fair Coming 4/28-5/5

Get FIRED UP for the Happy Camper Book Fair coming soon! We can't wait to help you get S'MORE books into your home and classroom libraries, and earn some money for new library books and next year's author visits! Join us, or please sign up to volunteer!

Check out the video & flyer below for more details of all the exciting things that will be happening, including a special READ S'MORE Family Event co-sponsored by the Northwest Austin Rotary Club, our FNE Girl Scout Troop giving us a live survival skill demonstration, and the FNE Robotics Club doing its live SumoBot competition!

April is School Libraries Month

TASL Media / Virtual Presence Award Nomination

I'm excited to announce that I've been nominated for the Texas Association of School Librarian's Media and Social Presence Award. This award is "given to those school librarians who show excellence in their virtual presence through several different avenues, including but not limited to Twitter, professional websites, Facebook, school library websites, blogs, Pinterest, and other social media. Winners for this award will be selected by the TASL MVP Award Committee."

We will find out the winner of this award at the Texas Library Association annual conference in late April, but it is truly an honor just to be nominated! 

LIBRARY LAB: Cooking Club - One Minute Mug Brownie

We whipped up some brownies in a cup yesterday. We had a mock restaurant to see if students remembered some of the etiquette rules we taught them before, and we were amazed at how much they retained over spring break! What well-mannered cooks we have. Check out this video of our cooking experience. We have one more week to learn a new recipe!

STAAR Ready Video 2017

Ms. A. Velasquez & I had the best time making a video to get our kids excited for STAAR! Check out this video we made for the Writing Olympics Opening Ceremonies.

RRISD Battle of the Bluebonnets at Dell Diamond

The Forest North Eagles had a great showing at the RRISD Battle of the Bluebonnets. We got 34 of 40 questions right, which earned us a tie for 8th place. Congratulations & thanks to Gabriel, Owen, Dylan, and Sean for all their hard work, and to our alternate, Kanishk, who tirelessly prepared just in case, and helped us study! Thanks to the Dell Diamond for sponsoring this event, giving us ticket to a game in April, and to Bryan Mays of KVUE to emceeing the event again! Check out this video KVUE did covering the event.
Congratulations to Caraway for winning for the 3rd straight year, and to Blackland Prairie who got all 40 questions and a handful of tiebreakers correct. I can't believe the memories of these kids! They are truly astounding. 

After spring break, Gabriel & some other 4th graders and I will start a weekly book club to get a head start on next year's titles. Here we go again! Can't wait to start fresh with this amazing program! Thank you to the Texas Library Association & Texas Bluebonnet Award for all of their tireless efforts.

LIBRARY LAB: Cooking Club Deliciously Fun!

Our cooks had a delicious time making microwave mug pizza yesterday! We learned a lot about cooking & table manners. Mrs. Peyton & I were so excited to have our wonderful grown up helpers, Mrs. MacMillan, Mrs. Stevenson, Ms. Erben & Mrs. San Miguel (with baby Charlie!) 

Great job, Eagles! Can't wait to see what we cook up next! 

Nathan Hale Visiting March 6th

Our deadline to order books has passed, but I will have a few extra copies on hand- first come, first served. Bring cash/check with this order form. We can't wait to see Nathan Hale on March 6th!