MISD Libraries

Friday, October 7, 2011

Sunflower Seeds Press - Author Ronda Friend

Mary Jo Sheppard Elementary had a wonderful visit from author Ronda Friend on September 27th. She is a professional storyteller, published author, and song writer. She included a little bit of everything during her visit at our campus. She presented in the morning with story presentations, she directed grade levels in the afternoon in writing workshops, and she came back at night for a family night. The highlight of the evening was her recruitment of students and their families for a play for one of her books entitled P.U. You Stink! Parents, teachers, and students absolutely loved Mrs. Friend!

ELL Extravangaza - Mary Jo Sheppard Elementary

On the last Friday of each month, our ELL population will celebrate the different cultures with an Extravaganza. This is collaboratively led by Andrea Roberts (ELL teacher) and Sharon Prince (MJS LMS). Our first meeting was held on September 30 with a focus on Mexico. We had Mexican books, songs, slideshow, craft, and cultural food. Our next meeting will be on Oct. 28th with the focus on Middle Eastern countries. We have 11 cultures represented in our ELL program and the plan is to touch on all of them.

Character Education - Mary Jo Sheppard Elementary

During the week of September 26-30, Teresa Franklin (MJS counselor) and Sharon Prince (MJS LMS) collaborated and co-taught grade level lessons on character education. This first six weeks dealt with respect. We are using a curriculum entitled PopCorn Park. We will focus on six different pillars of character education. We will meet with the students during the last week of each six weeks. This will also create an extra hour of available time for teachers to work on report cards and SST paperwork.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Battle of the Books

We had a meeting pertaining to Battle of the Books in September and the librarians were there as a large group. The librarians volunteered to help direct all of the activities. Tammy Ledesma is in charge of the t-shirts. Teresa Caddell is in charge of running the district competition. Trisha Robison is getting questions together. Lora Crews is in charge of book pricing and finding high school students to write questions. I was proud to see all the librarians willing to work hard for our kids so that they can enjoy the BOB experience. :)

Friday, September 23, 2011

An "aha!" moment...

Student: “Mrs. Buckles, do you know what I like about the library?”

Librarian: “What?”

Student: “When I come in I see your smile.”

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Connecting Kids with Authors @ Lillard

Sept 22, 2011
Today 4 classes of GT students had an awesome opportunity to connect with a published author via Skype. Author Jennifer Nielsen spoke to the students about reading and her experience with writing and publishing from her home in Utah! The kids were enthralled with her. She allowed the students to drive each 40 minute presentation by answering their questions. The students were a great audience and asked truly amazing and inquisitive questions!!

To find out more on Jennifer Nielsen, visit her website.