One for the Record Books
November 2018
SA3 Halloween Costume Contest Winners
SA3 staff and faculty won 3 trophies in the Department Costume Contest. Congratulations to Dodgeball for winning Most Fun; King Arthur’s Court for winning Most Academic; and Take Me Out to the Ballpark for winning Best Participation. The contest was sponsored by the library.
SISD Librarians and McAllen Poet Laureate Edward Vidaurre
The Sharyland ISD Librarians had their first regular district meeting on Friday, September 28th at the Admin Annex. The librarians had a full agenda. One of their special guests was Edward Vidaurre, McAllen Poet Laureate. Mr. Vidaurre shared the Called to Rise Youth Poetry Anthology. The book can be purchased on Amazon. Twelve Sharyland ISD students were published in this book. Each will be receiving a free copy at a special ceremony to be announced soon. Mr. Vidaurre has a publishing company and he is a published poet. He is available for school visits.
PHS Banned Books Week Challenge
by Janie B. Flores
PHS Library had a total of 72 entries in the Banned Books Week Challenge last week!
PHS Librarian Janie B. Flores donated the two $15 gift cards won by student library assistant Katia Rosales and Biology teacher Sonia Longoria.
Remember, you can’t win if you don’t enter!
America Reads Work Study Program
Mrs. Moreno, librarian at Ruben Hinojosa Elementary along her principal, Ms. Sarachene, launched the America Reads Work Study Program at Ruben Hinojosa Elementary. The UTRGV students are gaining valuable work experience as well as tutoring and assisting students at RHE. Pictured are; Brittany Cortez, Halleigh Scott and Victoria De Leon. Mrs. Moreno is excited about this partnership and hopes to continue with this project in order to help all students love reading!
AREA 51 Family Literacy Night @ JHS
by Monica Silva
John H. Shary hosted a Family Literacy Night themed Area 51 for our students. Families who attended were able to make literacy activities and games together to help reinforce what students are learning in their classrooms. Fun activities and games that families can play together can help children become readers. Families were also able to spend quality time together by reading. Children who engage in frequent readings with their families tend to enjoy reading more and make it an important part of their life.
Wenndy Pray Wins Kindle Door Prize
by Nicole H. Cruz
Perri Huntley, Children's Plus Inc. Representative, shared information with district librarians at the September 28th meeting. She demonstrated the search features of the CPI website. She provided information on the book bindings available through CPI. Ms. Huntley also shared college readiness material that is available through Doylene & Associates. She provided door prizes. The grand prize was a Kindle. It was won by Mrs. Wenndy Pray, BL Gray Junior High Librarian.Dia De Los Muertos at Sharyland North
by Darvin Koenig
North Library teamed up with the Spanish classes to celebrate Dia De Los Muertos by displaying the students’ art at the library.
Digital Citizenship Lessons @ Shimotsu
Students at Harry Shimotsu Elementary Library had a week of Digital Citizenship Lessons while celebrating Red Ribbon Week. Younger students viewed and responded to a video from BrainPop Jr. while older students viewed interactive lessons from Learning.com. Many little superheroes visited the library on Thursday, October 25.
Battle of the Books Team for Jessie Jensen Elementary
by Adalberto Ramos
The Battle of the Books Team for Jensen Elementary includes: Daniel Espinosa, Evan Zamora, & Kayla Pedroza. Students have received copies of the five titles and are enjoying reading the books.
Reading Celebration @ Bentsen Elementary
by Jose Guerrero
Congratulations to all Bentsen Elementary Century and Gold Medal Readers!!! The first report period was very exciting at the library. All students that meet their reading goal were treated to a magic show. Students celebrated their love of reading and were amazed by the tricks and high wire performance. Bentsen students continue to demonstrate their love for reading by meeting Century Club and Gold Medal Reader. A big CONGRATULATIONS!!!! goes out to Karmindy Ho for being Bentsen's first Gold Medal Reader this year.
O. Garza Fall Book Fair
by Samantha Silva
O. Garza Elementary held our annual fall book fair. Students who purchased books from our fair were able to enter into a book fair raffle. If their names were chosen students could pick a free book or poster. Thank you to everyone who made our fall book fair a success!
All in Good Spirit
Faculty at Sharyland High School had the opportunity to participate in the first ever Department Halloween Costume Contest. Mrs. Cruz promoted and sponsored the event through the library. Two teams from SHS were recognized by a panel of parent judges.
The science department won Best Overall for their Adams Family entry. The business CTE department won Most Scary for their Pirates Ahoy entry. Students from the BCM Club participated in the Go Center Trick or Treat event on Halloween. The booth had an outer space theme.
App Smashing in the Library
by Wenndy Pray
Mrs. Callanan, an English teacher at B. L. Gray Junior High School, is the first to take on the concept of a complete digital classroom. She and I (Mrs. Pray, B. L. Gray librarian) collaborated on an interactive, fully digital, book tasting event. Mrs. Callanan used G Suite for education apps (Slides and Google Classroom) to create a platform where students could record their impressions using various media. Students previewed digital books categorized by genre on MackinVIA's categories. The pièce de résistance was watching students record responses and replies to their peers using FlipGrid. "I had so much fun collaborating with Mrs. Pray," shared Mrs. Callanan. "My original idea was to conduct a traditional book tasting. Mrs. Pray provided the idea to take what I had planned and make it a completely digital event. The kids loved it!"Book Characters @ Wernecke Library
by Patricia Ramos
Mrs. Ramos had fun dressing up with staff and students on October 31st. She dressed up as the book character “If You Give a Cat a Cupcake” in honor of Laura Numeroff’s popular series. She also displayed book-character pumpkins created by 1st grade students and their families. The students are enjoying the fun, festive atomosphere in the library due to her collaboration with 1st grade teachers.
Trick or Treat Family Reading Night
"Trick or Read" Family Reading Night was a great success at RD Martinez Elementary. Students were able to wear their Halloween costume, visit the book fair, AR read, and test.
Red Ribbon Week Challenge
by Janie B. Flores
SPHS students and staff and District Librarians participated in a Red Ribbon Week Challenge in which they guessed the age of a young man before and after drug use. The change was unbelievable from one year to the next! Students Raul Castillo and Angelica Reyes both guessed all questions correctly. Ms. Lara and Ms. Palomin encouraged their students to do the online challenge and were selected as Teacher Heroes of the Week! Online story: https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/mother-shares-powerful-photos-of-drug-addicted-son-who-is-now-homeless/1293028398
SA3 Senior Alissa Cavazos Wins Gift Card
Alissa Cavazos accepted the challenge. Mr. Karr challenged his seniors to complete the digital citizenship lessons by October 1st. Alissa and twenty of her classmates did just that. All names were entered in a prize drawing. She won a $15 Whataburger gift card donated by her librarian Nicole H. Cruz.
Book Character Dress Up Event @ Shimotsu
On Friday, October 26, Harry Shimotsu Elementary celebrated its annual Book Character Dress Up event. Each year students are encouraged to show good character and dress up as one of their favorite book characters. This year we had a wide range of book characters from classic books and more modern tales. Pictured are El Chavo del Ocho, princesses and a Seuss inspired costume, Pete the Cat, and 4th grade teachers with The Hungry Caterpillar theme.
O. Garza Family Literacy Night
by Samantha Silva
O. Garza Elementary hosted our first Family Literacy Night for our students and parents. During Family Literacy Nights students are able to read work towards reaching their AR goals. Our parents and students could also purchase books from our Fall Book Fair.
Border Book Bash Field Trip and ALS Presentation
The first ever collaborative high school field trip involving student readers from SA3, PHS, and SHS took place on Saturday, October 13th. Students attended the Border Book Bash at Raul Yzaguirre Middle School in San Juan. They had a chance to speak to more than 15 published authors who focus on tweens and teens. Students attended writing workshops, poetry slams, author sessions, and craft making sessions. Mrs. Cruz partnered with the Sharyland Off Season Softball class to bring special guest speakers to present on the topic of ALS/ Lou Gehrig's disease. Students will participate in a Walk to Defeat ALS at Bannworth Park on Saturday, November 10th.
Red Ribbon Week at Sharyland North
North Library had a message for the students during the Red Ribbon Week activities.
Character Day At Jensen Elementary
Innovative Learning @ JHS
by Monica Silva
Our special education students from Mrs. Roman's class visited the library. Students listened to Pete the Cat Trick-or-Pete. Students were engaged by doing a STEM activity. They were able to use our 3D pens to work on their fine motor skills by tracing characters that were in the story they listened to. Hands on learning with physical tools can help students with physical disabilities engage in learning. Students were able to grasp practical skills and knowledge from innovative learning.
B. L. Gray Librarian Presents At Region One Fall Media Conference
by Wenndy Pray
I was incredibly excited and grateful for the opportunity to present alongside Mackin's Martha Lee at this year's Fall Media Conference for Region One. I shared how students and teachers use MackinVIA as part of their instruction. Librarians in the region learned about using the different administrative facets of MackinVIA, which included creating groups, customizing links to resources for your campus, and using categories (sub genres), among other things. Region One Library Services treated me to a special treat too. I highly encourage librarians to take part in our professional learning network through Region One. I'm excited about collaborating with my fellow #LibrarySquad in the future.
Rapid Review by Darvin Koenig, SNJH Librarian
When We Wake by Karen Healey
One minute Tegan is at a rally with her boyfriend and best friend, the next she is waking up one hundred years later. She soon finds out she has been brought back to life as a result of a government program. Will she be able to find out what happened to her and why they brought her back to life? This is an excellent Sci-Fi novel which will make you consider what you believe about cryogenics, climate change and immigration policies.
Read in Peace @ Martinez Elementary
For the first year, students at RD Martinez Elementary were able to visit a RIP (Read in Peace) room set up with Halloween decorations. The students brought in their flashlight and enjoyed reading their books in the dark.
SISD Lead Librarian, Nicole H. Cruz
Email: ncruz@sharylandisd.org
Website: http://www.sharylandisd.org/departments/library_services
Location: 1216 North Shary Road, Mission, TX, USA
Phone: 956-580-5300
Twitter: @Cruz23Mac