RRISD Battle of the Bluebonnets 3/12/15

Natalie, Abiha, Neeharika, Sebastian & Elizabeth represented us well yesterday at the RRISD Battle of the Bluebonnets, answering 36 our of 39 questions correctly!  If you see them, thank them for showing the world what it means to be a Forest North Eagle.  They're hardworking, dedicated, and used teamwork to solve many difficult questions.

Brian Mays, our emcee for the Battle, is also an anchor on KVUE.  He featured the Battle on his show this morning- check it out here! See if you can find the back of Mrs. Fournier's head in the librarian photo.

Thanks so much to all the students, parents, librarians & Brian Mays for using our strengths to make a great memory for our students.

The Day the Crayons Quit Day Wrap Up

Today was a great "Day the Crayons Quit" at Forest North.  

Drew Daywalt's book The Day the Crayons Quit, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers (my favorite picture book writer/illustrator!) is a unique book this year in RRISD because it's on this year's lists for both the Texas Bluebonnet Award & the Armadillo Readers Choice Award.

To celebrate this special coincidence, Forest North staff had a special day on 11/10!  Students, during their usual Special Areas rotation, will rotate through six special activities brought to you by Instructional Technology Specialist Jeff Brewton, Counselors Jill Peyton & Iben Dyke, Art Teacher Angie Bell, Music Teacher Jeanie Hermansen, Physical Education Teacher Amanda Chadney, and of course, Librarian Kristen Fournier.  Through the rotation, they will make digital art, exercise, have a rhythmic dance party, express their feelings, watch a video produced by the illustrator, and play a cool online game called Kahoot!

Students were encouraged to dress in their favorite color to celebrate The Day the Crayons Quit (hat, socks, shoes, shirt, pants, or any combination). It's a wonderful book filled with so much humor and joy, and we were thrilled to come together to celebrate one book as a community. 

Texas Bluebonnet Award Announcement at Texas Book Festival

Sixteen poised, enthusiastic Forest North readers took to the Texas Book Festival stage yesterday and helped announce the 2015-2016 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List.  This announcement is an annual highlight of the Texas Book Festival. These students read annotations and showed the books proudly, representing our school, district and state well. Congratulations to Ceil Raia (3rd), Sean Lee (3rd), Aiden Allgood (3rd), Lola Mutz (3rd), Luke Contreras (3rd), Savannah Ivey (3rd), Talia Simpkins (3rd), Da'quan Martin (4th), Bianca Sanchez (4th), Lilian Quach (4th), Hondo Sanchez (4th), Sebastian Guerra (5th), Abiha Zulfiqar (5th), Cecilio Sanchez (5th), Christopher McKinney (5th), and Mercedes Salazar (5th).  I was so proud of them!  Special shout out to Mrs. Shetty & Ms. Lynch who were there to support our students and cheer them on with me.  Check out this video for more information about next year's nominees and our students' memorable performances.

11/10: The Day the Crayons Quit @ FNE

Drew Daywalt's book The Day the Crayons Quit, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers (my favorite picture book writer/illustrator!) is a unique book this year in RRISD because it's on this year's lists for both the Texas Bluebonnet Award & the Armadillo Readers Choice Award.

To celebrate this special coincidence, Forest North staff is having a special day on campus - a literal Day the Crayons Quit, on November 10th!  Students, during their usual Special Areas rotation, will rotate through six special activities brought to you by Instructional Technology Specialist Jeff Brewton, Counselors Jill Peyton & Iben Dyke, Art Teacher Angie Bell, Music Teacher Jeanie Hermansen, Physical Education Teacher Amanda Chadney, and of course, Librarian Kristen Fournier.  Through the rotation, they will make digital art, exercise, have a rhythmic dance party, express their feelings, watch a video produced by the illustrator, and play a cool online game called Kahoot!

Students are encouraged to dress in their favorite color to celebrate The Day the Crayons Quit (hat, socks, shoes, shirt, pants, or any combination), and we are hard at work making sure every student has a chance to read this book or have it read to them before our celebration. It's a wonderful book filled with so much humor and joy, and we are thrilled to come together to celebrate one book as a community. 

The sequel, The Day the Crayons Came Back, has just been announced as in pre-production.  I can't wait to read it!

Here's How We Did Last Year:

Click on the image to zoom in on our library profile for last year. Our circulation improved by 33% last year! We also went from 7 to 37 Bluebonnet voting party attendees!