Summer vacation is just around the corner, so it is time to return school library books and start visiting the public library. Last week, we had guests on our SME-TV news show to talk to Sparklers about participating in the Fort Bend County Library summer reading program called Build a Better World. Students also took home bookmarks with information about how to sign up for the summer reading program and heard about prizes they can earn and exciting events they can attend at the Sugar Land Branch library. You can also find details about the fun summer reading program by visiting the library's website.
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April is National Poetry Month, and at SME we had a great time exploring talented poets and interesting forms of poetry. Students practiced rhyming, reading partner poems with friends, reading poems by favorite authors, and writing poetry. During the first week of April, Sparklers wrote acrostic poems about themselves. Students had fun skimming the dictionary for just the right adjectives to describe themselves. Next, we tried a challenging poetic form called blackout poetry. Students marked through most of the words on an old book page, leaving just the words that would become their poem. Book Spine Poetry was the next big challenge. Students stacked up books so that the titles on their spines became lines of poetry. To wrap up the month, students created shape poems, also called concrete poems, where the poem is about the shape it's written on.
During February and March, Sparklers had many opportunities to explore famous people and their accomplishments. During Black History Month, students used books and online tools to learn and share about important African Americans. Using PebbleGo, World Book Kids, Britannica, Brainpop, and Discovery Education, students created fantastic research products including a timeline and illustrated reports. 3rd-5th graders also used Brainpop to learn about the Constitutional amendments that were passed after the American Civil War. Many students created posters advertising the importance of the 14th Amendment. Students also researched presidents during February and then developed ideas about what types of books presidents should read in order to be great at their jobs. We mailed these recommendations to President Trump. Students also brainstormed about how they would lead the country if they were president. During March, students have been using books and online tools to learn about accomplishments made by women and girls. Students can continue exploring famous people at home be visiting our FBISD Digital Resources page. If you need login information, ask a teacher or the librarian for a password sheet to take home.
In January, students across Texas voted for their favorite title from the Bluebonnet Reading List. Here at Sugar Mill, A Fine Dessert was the winning book. When our votes were added to those from schools and libraries all over the state, the overall winner was Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. At SME, Roller Girl was one of the top three favorite books on the list. You can view the official prize announcement by the Texas Library Association, and you can take a look at the vote totals for each title on this year's list.
This morning, the SME library hosted our annual Bluebonnet Voting Breakfast. Twenty-two students from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades were invited, because they independently read and summarized at least five of this year's Bluebonnet Reading List titles. Participants enjoyed breakfast together while chatting about their favorite books from the list. Everyone received prizes including a new book, pencil, and scratch-and-sniff bookmark. Three of our participants went beyond the requirements and read additional titles, so they earned extra prizes. This year's top reader was a third grader who read and summarized ALL TWENTY books. For her efforts, she received several bonus rewards. After tallying the ballots, we discovered that there was a three-way tie between Roller Girl, A Fine Dessert, and Harriet the Invincible. We conducted a runoff vote to break the tie, and the final winner at SME this year was A Fine Dessert by Emily Jenkins and Sophie Blackall! We have submitted the SME votes to the Texas Library Association who will count them along with votes from students across the state. Now we wait to find out which 2016-17 Bluebonnet Reading List title will become this year's statewide winner.
In the meantime, students can already begin reading books from the 2017-18 Bluebonnet Reading List in order to participate in next year's breakfast! December and January have been full of science and computer science learning at the SME library. Before the winter break, students in all grades got to practice computer coding skills as part of our Hour of Code event. The Hour of Code is a worldwide computer litaracy event that encourages students and adults to learn the basics of computer programming. Since the event, many students have gone on to complete additional coding modules on the Code.org website. Students have also been learning about and practicing engineering skills through our library's books and learning stations. Pop-up books, origami, and simple machines have all been fun tools for practicing these invaluable skills.
Our Bookaneer Book Fair has been a big success! Thanks to the support of families, teachers, and volunteers, we have hosted a fantastic fair during which MANY books have been added to home and classroom libraries. Students will enjoy reading and re-reading these new additions for months to come! In addition to gaining new reading materials, students practiced estimation, learned about calculating merchandise costs and taxes, practiced budgeting and comparing values, and practiced selecting just-right books.
Our online book fair is open through Sunday night (October 9). In addition to checking out books, listening to great stories, learning and remembering how to use the library effectively, and practicing computer literacy, students at SME have had lots of special events and activities in the library this fall! All grade levels have spent time learning and practicing techniques for choosing just-right reading material. Kindergarten, first, and second graders created lists of methods such as looking for a favorite genre or author, doing a picture walk to see if a book looks interesting, reading the summary on the back of a book, reading a page to see if vocabulary in the book is too easy or too challenging, and getting a recommendation Third-fifth grade students learned about online tools that can help readers identify books they like to read. These tools can be found on our Resources page under Book Finding Tools. On Constitution Day, kindergarteners were treated to a special guest reader from the Houston Bar Association. She talked to students about what the Constitution is and why it's important. Then she introduced the concept of presidential elections before reading and donating an adorable book, Buddy for President. Finally, she answered students' questions about elections, laws, and what lawyers do.
Now you can keep up with all the fun and learning at the SME library by following us on Twitter and Instagram in addition to here. Find updates on Twitter by following @Amber_E_Mann, and follow @sme_library on Instagram.
It was a fantastic first day at the SME library! Here are a few bits of back-to-school information about the library. |