Library Appreciation Week

I tell myself every day how lucky I am to have the best job in the world, but it's never better than during Library Appreciation Week.  Students are writing why they're inspired by the library on little books, and putting them on a shelf designed by our amazing 3rd grade team. Thank you for organizing the school to shower us with love, 3rd grade teachers!  It makes us feel so good!

This book comes from a special student and made me cry, in the best way.  I will treasure it always, and it makes me so sure of who I want to be as a person, an educator, and a librarian!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

5th Grade Book Club Members Voracious

Mrs. Peyton and I are so impressed with the members of our 5th grade Book Club. We are having such a good time together reading "The War That Saved My Life" by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. This is a very special book you won't want to miss.

These readers are positively voracious.  They're very responsible with their books, follow the rules we made together, and on top of all that, have the most insightful discussions. 

They don't miss any of the subtleties of this book, and handle the issues within the text with compassion and grace.  The protagonist, Ada, is born with a club foot, and spends her life confined to a small London apartment with no running water or indoor plumbing, abused and neglected by her mother who is embarrassed by her differences. When WWII begins, children are encouraged to go to the countryside to avoid getting bombed.  Ada's mom forbids it, but Ada still sneaks onto the train anyway.  What is life like for her outside of the apartment?

Fournier Featured on RRISD Website for National Libraries Week

I'm so excited! I was featured on the district website for National Libraries Week!  Check out my interview reprinted below:

In celebration of School Library Month, Round Rock ISD will highlight district librarians all week, showcasing the essential role libraries play in transforming learning.

Learn more about Forest North Elementary School Librarian Kristen Fournier:

Why did you decide to become a librarian? 
I wanted to be a librarian to share my passion for reading. I love building a culture of books and sharing my enthusiasm for reading with everyone I know! I am constantly recommending and lending out books to my students, colleagues, relatives, neighbors and friends. It’s my favorite thing!

What is your favorite part of working in a school library?
My favorite part of being a school librarian is programming. Celebrating reading and encouraging students to get involved in our school community can be so fun and positive. Lately I’ve started a Ukulele Club with our music teacher, where students have their own grant-funded instruments, and a Comic Book Club with an FCC teacher, where we drew and wrote our own comics, made video reviews a la “Reading Rainbow,” and took home comics donated through our partnership with Titan Moon Comics.

What are you reading right now?
Right now I’m reading “Hamster Princess” by Ursula Vernon with my second grade book club. It’s a funny version of the traditional Sleeping Beauty story that points out some of the silliness of the original tale, like, were those vines growing everywhere really necessary? And what do they do to property values? We’re having fun with it!

What is your favorite childhood book?
My favorite book as a child was “The Egypt Game” by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. I loved how you could go anywhere you wanted if you used your imagination, and how the kids worked together to make their own version of Egypt in an abandoned storage building. I wanted to make my own Egypt Game!

What is one thing you want people to know about your campus library?
The Forest North library’s Texas Bluebonnet Award program is being featured at our state Texas Library Association conference in April. Bluebonnet is a statewide program that encourages students to read five or more high-quality books of all genres, which has very high levels of participation at Forest North. We do it big, with multiple celebrations that this year included manicures, video games, chocolate fountains and flying drones! Some of our third, fourth and fifth grade teachers and students were interviewed about how and why they participate and regarding our school reading culture to give advice to other librarians across Texas.

2nd Grade Friendship Book Club Plays Mancala

2nd grade Friendship book club is going swimmingly - most of our members, in fact, couldn't help it, and they went ahead and read the rest of the book!  Since we're so far ahead, we took a week to play mancala, a game featured prominently in our book "Pickle Juice on a Cookie" by Julie Sternberg.

For fans of her book, good news- there are two sequels, both available in your Forest North library!  Come check them out today!

RRISD Launches "Pop Up" Libraries This Summer

from the RRISD website:

“Reading is the most influential factor related to summer learning,” said Ami Uselman, RRISD director of library and media services. “Our goal is to get books in the hands of our students that need them most in an effort to prevent any loss of academic skills during the summer.”

Round Rock ISD staff, students and community members are invited to donate gently used books for the district’s Summer Pop-Up Library and Mobile Makerspace, which will travel across the district this summer as a “read and return” library.

All RRISD campuses will begin collecting gently used books starting April 11 as part of the Summer Pop-Up Library and Mobile Makerspace book drive.

The Summer Pop-Up Library and Mobile Makerspace will begin the first full week of June and run until August 1. The library will visit parks, public areas and apartment complexes in the east and west side of the district one day each week. A mobile makerspace will also travel throughout the district once weekly to bring hands-on creative activities to students.

“Reading is the most influential factor related to summer learning,” said Ami Uselman, RRISD director of library and media services. “Our goal is to get books in the hands of our students that need them most in an effort to prevent any loss of academic skills during the summer.”

2nd Grade Book Club "Nerd" Badges

Sometimes, your 2nd grade book club insists you make them "Book Club Nerd" badges. When this happens, you do it, of course.

RRISD "Hip Hop Librarians" Practice for State Competition

The RRISD "Hip Hop Librarians" have been working since winter break to get ready for our entry in the Book Cart Drill Team State competition at the Texas Library Association conference.  We practice late in the evenings and write and record our songs on the weekends to get ready for this celebration of libraries and reading! I write the songs with some of my fellow team members, and do all the singing and rapping myself!  We have two new members this year, featured in the very front of this photo, including Forest North co-librarian Mrs. Young!  We're hoping to defend our state title and win the competition again this year.  Fingers crossed! Check out some of our older performances in these videos below:

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