Mrs. Moreno, the Pioneer High School librarian collaborated with Pioneer High School’s community liaison, Carmen Munson and provided Canva workshops for parents. The parents learned the basics along with the many applications of Canva. Parents were able to create flyers, invitations, holiday cards or other design creations. Mrs. Moreno enjoyed providing these trainings and is looking forward to providing more trainings for parents in the near future.

The SA3 Cobras defended their district championship on Friday, February 28th. They competed against Sharyland High School Rattlers. Both teams are coached by librarian Nicole Cruz. The competition was close with both teams scoring 18 out of 20 questions correctly. The tie breaker came down to the amount of time each team used to submit their answers. Cobras edged the Rattlers on time. The team consists of Captain Madison Hernandez, Ezequiel Garcia, and Aliandra Baeza. Best of Luck at Regional Competition!

Congratulations to Sharyland North Junior High students for being one of the top 3 schools in the Tech Quest Digital Literacy Skills contest sponsored by Learning.com! Mr. Koenig took the lead with this initiative by having the students work on the lessons during their regularly scheduled library time. He also followed up with the teachers on student absences to ensure 100% participation.

Four Family Consumer Science teachers and their classes had the opportunity to visit virtually with renown young adult author Chris Crutcher on World Read Aloud Day. Mr. Crutcher joined the 100 plus students via Google Meets from his home in Spokane, Washington. He spoke about his background growing up in a tiny town of Cascade, Idaho, his years as a teacher and director of an alternative school in Oakland, CA, and his experience as a therapist for a child abuse and neglect shelter. Comments and reflections such as "We can show others the world as we see it. A therapist is really a witness. Pick the right peers and be the right peer. It is important to share your truth with someone who won't judge you" stayed with students and faculty. Thank Mr. Crutcher for caring enough to bring your message about mental health to our students.

On Friday, February 4th, students at John. H. Shary read "POP! The Invention of Bubble Gum." As students walked into the library, each student received some gumballs and were able to practice making bubbles or have a bubble contest, who could blow the biggest bubble. Students had fun blowing bubbles and chewing gum all while learning the history behind it!

Shimotsu Elementary received some Playaway Wonderbooks that the students are enjoying immensely. A Wonderbook has audio and print bound together and can be listened to with or without headphones. Many students can benefit from the audio feature and these books certainly provide a unique reading experience. Shimotsu Elementary is grateful to Mrs. Boyd and her department for making funds available to purchase these books.

The Garza Elementary Library hosted our spring book fair during the week of February 7th – February 11th. Students enjoyed visiting the fair and adding to their home library collections. Some of the more popular picks from students were books about video games, graphic novels, and journals to help express their creativity.

RD Martinez Celebrates Black History Month!

During the month of February, students had the opportunity to listen to read alouds, understand history, go beyond stories of racism and slavery to spotlight achievements.

Jensen Elementary Celebrated 2nd – 6th Grade students that met their AR Goals! They enjoyed different activities in the library that included drawing, coloring, creating bookmarks using stickers, making origamis, solving puzzles, computer time, and playing boardgames!

In honor of National Author’s Day, all students from Bentsen Elementary became authors of kindness. Each grade level created their own book of kindness. As librarians, we understand the power of words when it comes to expressing ideas and making connections to emotions. These words stay with us and provide inspiration and encouragement throughout our peaks and valleys of life. Students from pre-kinder to sixth grade as a grade level collaborated in writing and illustrating a book of kindness. The finish products were amazing, illustrating the campus commitment in making kindness and compassion the center core of the school. This provided a great insight to students on the importance of children literature and emotional connections made through books.

Donna Wernecke students competed in the Regional Battle of the Books competition on February 16, 2022. The students showed great teamwork and courtesy while competing and did amazing! We are very proud of them and appreciate all the hard work they put in to be competitive and to make our Sharyland family proud. Go DWE!

Our students advanced to the Region One competition held on February 16, 2022. They competed against schools from all over the region! Results are pending. Go Rattlers!!!

The students of Ruben Hinojosa Elementary have been enjoying their AR and Perfect Attendance celebrations this year. They are able to run and play with their peers and enjoy a sweet treat.

Two classmates shared their read-aloud talents with their classmates. The class enjoyed the book "Perfect" followed by an activity. BIG shout out to Arissa and Katy!!

On December 16, 2021 the Pioneer High School Book Club held their holiday party after school. The book club meetings are usually held during the lunches so it was important to the students that the event be held after school when everyone could attend. The students had a great time eating traditional tamales along with pizza and other treats and there was even a gingerbread decorating contest. This past year has been really difficult for everyone and having this celebration was especially meaningful.

Nicole H. Cruz loves to collaborate with her professional colleagues across the state. One way she does that is by following and connecting with others on social media. Recently, she was invited to moderate a TxASLChat. TASL is the Texas Association of School Librarians. She is the librarian for both SA3 and SHS.

Students at JHS learned about sketchnoting, a form of notetaking that uses words and visuals. For National Pizza day, students learned and watched a video about the "Strange History of Pizza." They enjoyed doodling the information they learned. This allowed them to deepen their understanding of the concept in a fun, brain-friendly way. They organized their ideas visually, while note-taking to help them retain more infomation.

Students at Shimotsu Elementary who met their AR Goals at least two times during the first semester were treated to cookies and juice. There were plenty of smiles all around.

Congratulations

Congratulations to B. L. Gray Junior High students for being one of the top 3 schools to win the Tech Quest contest sponsored by http://Learning.com. Way to go!! Proud of our students! 🎉