Many things have been happening at KPS. Kindergarten and First Grade students are so excited to be able to check out books. First Graders have also begun taking Accelerated Reader tests. During library time the students have learned about book care, the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Black History, and more! Currently, they are participating in the Read Across America campaign. Go by the library soon to check out their Read Across America map. Earlier this month, The Story Lady (pictured) visited KPS as the Cat in the Hat for Dr. Seuss's birthday. March is also Texas History Month. In celebration of Texas History month the author of the Bluebonnet the Armadillo books, Mary Brooke Casad, paid a visit to KPS First Graders with Bluebonnet!

Work on the collection at the KPS Library continues. We are almost finished cataloging the big books and books on CD. We are also working on getting our manipulatives and games cataloged. The AR labels have arrived and we have begun placing those on the books as well. In addition, we are still working on spine labels for all of the books. We hope to have everything completed by the end of this semester. Our second order of new books from Mackin just arrived! We now have several bilingual books (English/Spanish) in the KPS Library collection.

There have been many changes at the Chandler Library. Our long term substitute librarian, Debra Sanders, left in mid-February. Luckily another substitute librarian, Donna Powell, was able to jump in and take her place. We appreciate both ladies so much because not only have they taken over the day to day duties of the library, they also have helped to reorganize, catalog, and re-label our books that we are updating. Donna will be with us until testing ends in April. I am truly amazed at the capacity of our substitute librarians and am grateful for the help they have provided at the Chandler Library. They have truly gone above and beyond the call of duty. We also have an exciting announcement...the Chandler Teacher Librarian position has been filled by one of KISD's own. Reading specialist Judy Wiggins will begin her role as the Chandler Elementary Teacher Librarian in April. Judy brings a wealth of knowledge about elementary curriculum, books, and reading with her into the library world. We are so happy to have her and have big plans for teacher collaboration and student centered learning in the library next year.

Mrs. Powell has been teaching the students library skills including how to find books and the different categories of books. She has also included library lessons on poetry (for poetry month), Dr. Seuss, Black History month and more! The Cat in the Hat (pictured- Library Aide Nicole Page) also came to Chandler during Dr. Seuss week!

Work will continue on the book collection. We are about one-third of the way done with the picture books and non-fiction books and almost completely done with the biographies. Mrs. Powell, Ms. Page, and Mrs. Wiggins work on this continuously as time allows. We hope to be completely finished by the end of the semester.

KIS just completed another successful book fair! The proceeds of the fair will be used for student incentives. KIS students and their families had a great time during the fair with many family centered events including a special Grandparents Day.

In January, around 30 KIS 4th and 5th grade students participated in the Bluebonnet Reading program. These students voted with other students all across Texas to choose the book that they thought deserved to win the Texas Bluebonnet Award. This year's winner was the book Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break if You Want to Survive the School Bus by John Grandits. Many of our own students voted for this book. Students had to read five books from this year's list in order to be eligible to attend a special voting party where they got to celebrate with a piece of delicious cake baked by Mrs. Clower.

Work continues on the shelves at KIS. We have finished re-locating the picture books, biographies and non-fiction books. We are continuing to work on new spine labels and shelf labels. Most of the iPads have been relocated to teacher classrooms where they are used in small groups with a class set still available in the library for check out. We are thrilled to see continuous and extensive use of technology in the classrooms at KIS.

Mary Brooke Casad and Bluebonnet