Bookaneer Book Fair Wrap Up

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.  

 

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!

Birthday Book Club!

Mrs. Vetter, Mrs. Young, & I invite you to join the Birthday Book Club! It's a great way to honor your student's birthday, and will brighten the day of countless students for many years.

A couple years ago, the McNeil choir came to sing for a Bluebonnet Fun night, and one of the choir members grabbed a book off the shelf.  She showed me the customized bookplate inside - it was her Birthday Book from 2003!  I thanked her & her family for donating so generously, because that book still gets checked out all the time.

If you'd like to leave a legacy of reading at Forest North, we invite you to join the Birthday Book Club!  Flyers go home during the month of your student's birthday, but you can join anytime.  Just click on the flyer & it'll take you to your own copy to print. We really appreciate your support!

Book Fair Under the Sea is Next Week - Buy Online 4/23-5/13!

Can't make it in to support the library?  Buy online through our Scholastic Book Fair website 4/23-5/13! 

Barnes & Noble Wrap Up

We had a blast at Barnes & Noble on Saturday coming together as a community and raising money for our PTA.  Between our gift wrapping tip jar and people buying B&N products to support our school, we raised over $1300!  Thanks so much to all of your generous purchases & tips. If you couldn't make it out, make sure you make any online purchases before 12/10 with voucher #11524493

Special thanks to the organizers for our grade level events - Mrs. Albin & Mrs. Miller's Gingerbread Gallery, Ms. Matuschak's First Grade Authors, Ms. Johnson's Book Reviews, Third Grade Team's Multiplication Facts, and 4th Grade's Poetry Slam!  Madison Healy & Ava Mashburn were awesome at leading up 5th Grade's "Cup Song" performance, too.  Here's a photo of them practicing in the library last week- lots of singing & fun!

We also had lots of club activities- thanks for the Art Gallery, Mrs. Bell!  We loved the Choir Performance, Mrs. Hermansen.  "Domo arigato" to Mr. Brewton & Mr. Martir for the awesome Robotics demonstration!  Thanks to Ms. LeSage for facepainting & PTA parents for running the Yearbook Cover art contest. Thanks to Mr. Hashbarger for running the cupstacking tournament, Mrs. Shetty & Mrs. Rideaux-Glasper for the beautiful monologue performances, Mrs. Stewart's TAG Project Presentations, and to Mrs. Hermansen, Mrs. Lavender, Ms. Jacobs, Mrs. Talley, Mrs. James, Ms. Velasquez & Ms. Moore for bringing family members for our "Meet the Family" Event!

I appreciate all of our skilled gift wrappers: Mrs. Hoover, Mrs. Jewert, Mrs. Keery, Mrs. Bordic, Mrs. Routt, Mrs. Vetter, Mrs. Peyton, Ms. Jacobs, Mrs. Talley, Mrs. Lavender, Ms. Decker, Ms. Johnson, Mrs. Christo, and a special thanks to Mrs. Pieper & Elizabeth Pieper for filling in as needed!

Thanks to Library Leaders for helping me stand at the front door and identify our supporters:  Lillian, Griffin, Abiha, Ceil, Lola, Belle, Cam, Gabriel, Uriah & Elizabeth!

Thanks to Barnes & Noble for hosting us so graciously and letting us crowd their store! We're so excited to count them as a community partner and love working with them.  Thanks for the generosity, B&N!

Barnes & Noble Book Fair on Saturday!

The place to be this Saturday is Barnes & Noble! We're having our 4th annual Book Fair on 12/6, from 10AM-9PM. 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 back to our PTA. Last year we made over $3600 in the 11 hours we were there, which was three times as much as usually make with a book fair in the library, where we have to shut the library down for a week, make our own decorations, and cancel all lessons and checkout for 5 days.

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. The key to our success last time was the involvement of our faculty, staff, students and their families.  Check out our schedule of events below

Can't make it?  Shop online through 12/10/14 with our special voucher #11524493!

Sir ReadALot's Castle

Lords & Ladies, 

Hear ye, hear ye! 

Lady Fournier & Lady Vetter, keepers of the books & guardians of the realm, do hereby invite you to attend a special event - Sir ReadALot's Castle, also known as Ye Olde Book Fair. 

Forsooth, students are cordially encouraged to purchase Book Fair tomes & tokens to support their school library, and to kindly click the magical scroll to the right to learn of the wonders and special events that Sir ReadaLot's Castle shall bestow!

Loyally,
Lady Fournier & Lady Vetter
Keepers of the Book
Guardians of the Realm

Birthday Book Club

Mrs. Vetter & I invite you to join the Birthday Book Club! It's a great way to honor your student's birthday, and will brighten the day of countless students for many years.

A couple years ago, the McNeil choir came to sing for a Bluebonnet Fun night, and one of the students grabbed a book off the shelf.  She showed me the customized bookplate inside - it was her Birthday Book from 2003!  I thanked her & her family for donating so generously, because that book still gets checked out all the time.

If you'd like to leave a legacy of reading at Forest North, we invite you to join the Birthday Book Club!  Flyers go home during the month of your student's birthday, but you can join anytime.  Just click on the flyer & it'll take you to your own copy to print. We really appreciate your support!

Barnes & Noble Book Fair 12/1/12 10AM-10PM

If you haven't heard the news, the place to be this Saturday is our local Barnes & Noble! We're having our 2nd annual Book Fair on 12/1, from 10AM-10PM. 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 25% of all sales from FNE supporters back to our school. Last year we made over $3100 in the 12 hours we were there, which was three times as much as usually make with a book fair in the library, where we have to shut the library down for a week, make our own decorations, and cancel all lessons and checkout for 5 days.

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. The key to our success last time was the involvement of our faculty, staff, students and their families. Here's our schedule of events:

10:00-10:00 Art Gallery featuring PreK-5th Student Work
10:00-10:00 Free Faculty Gift Wrap - get your teacher to wrap your holiday gifts!
12:00-1:00 Free Face Painting in the Children's Area
12:30-1:00 Kindergarten Flash Mob to "Ice Cream and Cake"
1:00 -1:30 Cup Stacking Tournament
1:30-2:00 Fourth Grade Poetry Slam
2:00-2:30 Jump “In” Eagles 3rd-5th Jump Rope Team Performance
2:30-3:00 Third Grade Comedy Show
3:00-3:30 Teacher Dog Parade- come pet your teacher's puppy!
3:30-4:00 First Grade Read Alouds
4:00-4:30 Jump “In” Eagles 1st-2nd Jump Rope Team Performance
4:30-5:00 Forest North Choir Sing Multicultural Holiday Music
5:00-5:30 Second Grade Holiday Book Commercials
5:30-6:00 Kindergarten Flash Mob to "Thriller"

Fournier's Friends, our special 3rd-5th student library volunteer crew, will be helping Mrs. Fournier work the front door. We will hold a sign that says "no donations required," and students will be asking patrons whether they're here to support Forest North. If they say "yes," we'll give them a sticker. All customers who are wearing a sticker get 25% of their purchase donated back to the FNE Library! All funds will be used to purchase new library books for our students, so we can all share the fruits of our labor!

Please email Mrs. Fournier if you have any ideas about how to make the Book Fair a success, if you would like to get involved, or if you need more information about the event. It's a great way for our community to have fun, show off our academic and extracurricular successes, and work together towards a common goal.

Thank you so much for your support. Here's hoping we have another successful Barnes & Noble Book Fair. See you on Saturday!

Julie Sternberg's Author Visit

2nd graders and 3rd graders were in for a special treat on Monday, October 15th! Texas Bluebonnet Award-nominated author Julie Sternberg was here from Brooklyn, New York to visit us and talk about her amazing debut novel Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie. Students from 4th and 5th grade who had already passed the quiz on her book were also invited.  Julie was engaging, and our students were so well-behaved.  They sat still, asked great questions, and prepared for the visit ahead of time by reading her book (thanks, teacher!) Thanks for helping me make the most of our visit.

Author visits like Julie Sternberg are wonderful experiences for our children, but require a lot of financial help. Since Julie lives so far away, multiple schools pitch in and share her airfare and hotel costs. At Forest North, the PTA generously donates money to the library, and that paid for about 25% of our visit costs this year. The other 75% comes from fundraisers like the Barnes & Noble Book Fair (12/1/2012) and the Scholastic Book Fair (4/30/13-5/4/13).  Please support the library fundraisers so we can continue to have authors visit our school!















 Some students chose to purchase books and get them signed by Julie in person. I took a photo of each student who purchased a book and printed a wallet sized copy so they could have a souvenir of our special day. Pictured below is Julie Sternberg with Ruby, a third grader. Our books were purchased through local Round Rock bookseller The Book Spot, who were nice enough to let us buy books ahead of time, and took back any extras we didn't sell without financially penalizing us. How nice is that? They also covered the tax for us. Please patronize The Book Spot to thank them for donating their time and services to us! 

Thanks for a wonderful visit, Julie! The kids and teachers adored you, and we loved getting an inside perspective on your wonderful book. Can't wait for the sequel, coming out in April!

Barnes & Noble Book Fair- Guest Blogger, Mrs. Lajaunie

If you didn't make it to the Barnes & Noble book fair on December 3rd, you missed a great time! We made $3,000 for the Forest North library in one day! That equals a lot of new books for our library. Mrs. Fournier planned a day full of exciting events to keep shoppers entertained.

The day started off with a teacher dog parade. Even the rainy weather couldn't keep Forest North staff and their furry friends away. Next, the entertainment moved indoors where the Forest North choir, led by Mrs. Hermansen, serenaded shoppers with holiday carols. The fun didn't stop there! Shoppers were then directed to the cafe where they could enjoy an exclusive red or blue frappuccino (Forest North colors, of course) while enjoying the 4th grade Poetry slam. Thanks to Mrs. Albin, Mrs. McCollum and all of the brave 4th graders who shared their poetry. The walls of the cafe were also decorated with beautiful art created by our very own students. Ms. Bell hand-picked some of her favorite art pieces to display. Meanwhile, amidst this flurry of activity, some dedicated parents and teachers volunteered their artistic skills to paint kids' faces. Then once again, the fun times moved outdoors. Ms. Potral and her Jumpin' Eagles drew an impressive crowd as they wowed us with their jumproping talents.

A HUGE thanks goes out to all of the Fournier Friends who hosted story times, greeted shoppers, held posters and gave our Forest North stickers. We couldn't have done it without you!

We appreciate everyone who came out to support our school. Forest North Eagles rock!!

Coins for Coats

Guest Blogger: Mrs. Lajaunie, Library Assistant

The sweet sound of coins dropping into milk jugs filled Forest North classrooms last month. Round Rock ISD kicked off the Coins for Coats donation drive on Oct. 12th. Mrs. Fournier, along with her team of caring 4th graders, led the campaign at Forest North. This year's drive was a HUGE success! All together our Eagles raised $452! This money goes directly to the The Round Rock Serving Center to provide coats this winter for students in need. Mrs. James' Kindergarten class won 30 minutes of special reading time in the library for raising the most money at Forest North. Flashlight Friday meant that while Mrs. James got 30 minutes of additional planning time, her students read in the library with the lights off with Mrs. Fournier. RRISD raised close to $12,000 this year which is about $3,000 more than the previous record! Thank you to all of our eager Eagles who are always ready and willing to help. About 1,200 RRISD students will be warmed this winter because of your generosity, and 352 of them will be all because of our generosity at Forest North.

For more information about Coats for Kids and the Round Rock Serving Center, visit https://www.rrasc.org/index.php

Online Book Fair through 10/21

The Book Fair was an intergalatic success! Please feel free to access our online bookfair through 10/21 and buy more books. 25% of all sales go directly back to the FNE Library to buy library books for students. So far, we have raised $935 for the FNE Library. Hopefully we can get a little more through our online book fair. Thanks for your support, Eagles!

The Book Fair!

The Book Fair is over tomorrow, and we haven't gotten any comments yet on our blog giveaway! Leave a comment with your favorite thing about the book fair, and you'll be entered for a chance to win $10 tomorrow at the Book Fair!

Mrs. Rosenbaum, Mrs. Perkins and Mrs. Fournier were on the news! Check out their local KXAN story from today about raising money for Forest North students via donorschoose.org grants! Copy and paste the following link to watch the story yourself:

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/education/Teachers-seek-online-donations?ref=scroller&categoryId=10001&status=true

Book Fair Success!

Dear my wonderful crew of Forest North Library volunteers,

Well, the dust has settled and the numbers have been crunched. We earned a record-breaking $905.04 for the Book Fair this year! We never broke the $900 mark last year, so I am thrilled to achieve that goal. It will all go directly into hiring an author or storyteller to come entertain us later this year. Stay tuned for announcements on who that person will be!

Thanks so much to everyone who helped me put on the Book Fair. It is not a one person job, and I could not have done it without all your help setting up, advertising, holding signs outside in the car line, running the cash register, helping me count the pennies for a 4th time, helping all of our customers choose which color pencil they want, helping find just the right book, making wish lists, and breaking down the library hours faster than I ever have before!

For those of you with more flexible schedules, I am still looking as always for regularly scheduled volunteers. I always have lots of books to reshelve and lots of small projects I need help with, so if you've ever got a free hour, I'd love "drop in" help, or if you have an hour or two you could regularly devote to the library, my readers and I would be eternally grateful for your assistance! It's hard running a library by yourself, but it sure is easier to manage with wonderful parents and community members like you. I couldn't do it without you. I sincerely appreciate your willingness to help me help your students.

Sincerely,
Library Girl
AKA Mrs. Fournier

Book Fair is Happening!

The Book Fair is going swimmingly! Check out these Book Fair Heroes dressed up for Super Hero Day! These superheroes, disgused day-to-day as mild-mannered teachers, assistant principals and librarians, are letting their true colors shine through today!


Be sure to come check out the Book Fair this week! Profits go directly back to the Forest North Library to buy new books for our school and students!

Library Award!

Mrs. Fournier won an award! The Round Rock ISD Library Services Department has awarded Mrs. Fournier $4200 towards the purchase of new books for our students! That's about 1 book per student!

How did she earn it? For keeping the collection fresh and weeding out overworn or unused books, for increasing circulation in the library 25% in one year by buying new, exciting books that students want to read!

Mrs. Fournier already has a wishlist that's worth $10,000 of books, so she'll pare it down and place her order soon! Look for these bew books before the semester ends!

Library Grant

Mrs. Fournier and Ms. Decker co-wrote a grant together earlier this year to buy a Promethean Board for the Library. Promethean Boards are a fun way to learn! Imagine a huge interactive whiteboard that students can use to engage with by using their finger or a stylus to drag and drop pictures, draw, write or spell. The cost of a Promethean Board is $1772.70.

We found out today that we were awarded the full amount from the Round Rock ISD Partners in Education Foundation! This PIE Grant came to award the money to Mrs. Fournier with a big check in the middle of a meeting. Mrs. Fournier gets kind of nervous with surprises, but was still thrilled to receive the money.