December 2024
This month we are continuing our work on research by researching animals that live in the artic. We are doing our research one week and then the next making our research come to life with ChatterPix.
3rd grade is also continuing their city wide reading competition so far the girls have read over 13,000 minutes! Keep it up girls!! Across San Antonio 3rd graders have read a whopping 7 million minutes 😯🤩 All the work put into this will pay off for their future reading endeavors.
Mrs. Phipps won a grant to start a Robotics Competition team at school! This will be our first year doing this and some select Blue Jays were nominated to join the team by their teachers based off problem solving skill teamwork skills and a love for math and science.
November 2024
Thanksgiving month!
This month we are working on research skills in the library. Looking up facts about Turkeys.
This month also starts the Read to the Final Four City Wide competition for our third graders! Thye will me reading and logging their minutes to advance to the final rounds against other third graders all across San Antonio.
Ohh my goodness y’all the author and illustrator today was amazing! The girls sang, danced, drummed, cried a little 🥲, and some even did tai chi. Author Xelena Gonzalez and Illustrator Adriana Garcia talked about their writing and illustrating process and read their new book to the girls called Remembering, the illustrator even did a special surprise drawing for each group. There is a flyer at the end of the pictures of them doing a reading at a book store if you would like to experience them as well. Cannot wait to have them back again! ❤️
October 2024
October is always my busiest month! We have the Scholastic Book Fair, clubs starting, and an Author & Illustrator visit!!
- Book Fair is from Oct 15th – October 24th
- Author Xelena Gonzales and Illustrator Adriana Garcia October 24th
We will have Author Xelena Gonzales and Illustrator Adriana Garcia visit the girls on October 24th they will be talking about their book Remembering. If you would like to buy a copy to bring for her to sign please do! Consider buying from the local bookstore Twig in The Pearl, which carries all her titles.
Our library lessons are going by fast, here are some highlights of last month’s lessons!
We learned about Dr. Ellen Ochoa by reading a biography about her. Prek – 2nd drew rockets to make straw rockets and 3rd-5th did a STEM group project to create a “robotic” arm that can move materials around.
This month we are doing a STEM activity for Pre-K – 5th to go with Pete the Cat Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean. The girls must make a fence that holds up 5 pumpkins using popsicle sticks, wooden planks, and wooden clothes pins. It is a hard activity that works on communication while working in groups.
The Book Fair is Oct 15-24th it will be two weeks long and students will come with their class. The book fair will also be open after school during the Trunk or Treat! Check out the bookfair homepage here: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/youngwomensleadershipprim
September 2024
Hello! This month, we are really getting into the swing of things. Clubs will start towards the end of the month if not the beginning of October.
- Battle of the Bluebonnets Club- where we will read the 2024 Bluebonnet Award Books and practice for a trivia competition in late March
- Blue Jay Lunch Club
September is Library Card Sign-Up month! If you or your Blue Jay do not have a library card, you can visit one of our many amazing local public libraries. https://www.mysapl.org/
For Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 – October 15th, we learned about Dr. Ellen Ochoa talking about her great accomplishments and how she was the first Latina in space. We also talked about how we keep going when things get hard. They have a big word they can tell you, ask them and see if they remember it.
We started making straw rockets to finish at home! 😊 They are fun and super easy to make you only need:
paper
tape
markers
a straw
Here is a video of how to make one at home.
August 2024
Welcome back! I am so excited to see the girls again! We are starting off an exciting year of learning and reading. This year I will keep the Bluebonnet Club for my 3rd-5th graders and try to work on a lunch book club schedule too.
This year will be full of reading competitions so start practicing logging your minutes on Beanstack in classlink. Watch my tutorial here or click the tutorial tab at the top. Monthly challenge winners get prizes from my treasure box.
Upcoming next month….📅
*Library Card Sign-Up Month
*Hispanic Heritage Month
*Information for 3rd Grade Read to the Final Four 🏀
May 2024
Its the last month of school already! Whoa!
This Spring, we will have our Scholastic Book Fair from April 29 to May 10. Along with the fair, we will host our second annual Read-A-Thon to get our BlueJays reading and logging their minutes to earn donations from their family and friends for the school library and prizes from Read-A-Thon.
So visit the fair, buy a book, and log those minutes to support your YWLAP library.
With last year’s donations, I was able to pay for a visit from a local author and a storyteller and have the money go towards adding 400+ new books to the library this year.
Library books are due! Notices will be sent out weekly to remind families to return books. Also, devices should not be going home anymore; if you see your BlueJay with their Chromebook, remind them to leave it at school school.
April 2024
We are back, and it’s the best month ever again! This month is full of celebrations! In April, we celebrate Poetry, Libraries, Assistant Principals, and Fiesta, but it is also the month our 3rd-5th Bue jays will be taking their STAAR tests.
SAISD is celebrating Poetry Month with its Annual district-wide Poetry Slam. Students can upload their own poems to show them off to other students in the district. Check it out here: https://flip.com/eada18f9
Don’t forget to log those minutes. I am passing out prizes to our February and March Beanstack Challenge winners, so keep reading and logging in to get a prize from my treasure box!
National Library Week is April 7-13, and the American Library Association is doing a giveaway!
Participating is easy:
Snap a pic or shoot a video showcasing your favorite thing about your library.
Post to Instagram, X, Threads, or on the I Love Libraries Facebook page with the hashtag #HowILibrary.
And don’t forget to tag your library to let them know how much they are appreciated!
What’s in it for you?
In addition to the gratification of supporting libraries, there’s also a chance to win great prizes.
- Grand Prize (1 winner): A VISA gift card ($150.00 USD value) and choice of one ALA Graphics poster.
- Second Prize (3 winners): Choice of one ALA Graphics poster.
STAAR Testing April 9-23, 3rd-5th Grade Reading April 9th, 3rd-5th Grade Math April 16th, and 5th Grade Science April 23rd
Fiesta San Antonio! April 18 -28
Scholastic Bookfair & Read-A-Thon April 29-May 10! After STAAR Testing and going into May we will have our Spring Scholastic Bookfair and run host our 2nd annual Read-A-Thon!
February 2024
From Feb-Spring Break, I will be out. The girls will be doing stations in the library and getting to use our new makerspace! This area was funded through the SAISD Foundation’s Mini-Grant initiative. This area has library books with crafting projects and supplies to do the projects. Along with the makerspace, they will be checking out books and working on independent reading.
I have volunteers coming to help on those days so if you would like to help out as well please sign up using our Sign-up Genius link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084BA9AC29A6FCC16-47509174-library
Please make sure you are an approved volunteer before coming to school.
All the girls were talked to about Beanstack over the past few weeks. Make sure you are logging those minutes! For the February Challenge, the girls need to read and log 300 mins. To refresh on how to log minutes please look at the tutorial here: https://mrsphippslib.edublogs.org/tutorials/
January 2024
Beanstack is back! Last year we had a district wide digital reading log available to our students. I love this app it add a bit of fun and some good competition to our Blue Jays reading. Through this app the students and teachers log their reading through the app and earn badges trying to complete the total challenge.
This months challenge is called Where We Come From. I also added a challenge that would help our Blue Jays grow their reading stamina at home.
For help look at my tutorial on this site you can access it here or at the top bar.
Mrs. Phipps is having another baby 👶
I am planning on being out from February – Spring Break during that time there will be some big events happening with library, BlueBonnet Club and with my GT students. Please look to Classdojo to see the resources I posted to prepare for this absence.
December 2023
At the end of November, we had our very first Family Game Night and it was a success! I cannot wait to do more nights like these!
At Game Night, I started the event with a storytelling presentation and talked about the benefits of storytelling at home. I read The Button Book, which is my kids’ favorite book, and showed off the app called Novel Effect. I also recommended some of my kid’s favorite read-aloud books.
This month Santa granted me elf privileges and I will be visiting every class to give away free books before winter break! So be on the lookout for your daughter’s pick.
November 2023
November! My favorite month!
November 13th, we had local Texas author Liz Garton Scanlon visit our girls! The girls learned about her writing process and how she got the ideas for her books from nature. Check out her collection of books here: https://lizgartonscanlon.com/
This month, we are learning about Elections and looking at Character Traits to see if they would make a vote-worthy president. We look at three books and then, at the end, vote for the character running for president.
Our second lesson of the month, 3rd-5th are making connections between four informational texts while Kinder-2nd are working on making connections between Thanksgiving and a story.
After Thanksgiving week, join us at our YWLAP Family Game Night. I will have a short storytelling session to help give you tips, tricks, and recommendations for at-home storytimes. Then, we will have games to play with your BlueJay that help grow critical thinking, reading, or math skills.
October 2023
October was a busy month. We had a lot of fun school-wide events and a Fun STEM Lesson.
This month in the library, we held our Scholastic Book Fair, raising over $3000 dollars for the library and our girls went home with books to build their at-home libraries.
After the Book Fair, we worked on our teamwork and critical thinking to build a fence that holds up 5 pumpkins. It accompanies the nursery song 5 Little Pumpkin Sitting on a Gate. We did this lesson two years ago, and it was fun to see the girls try to grow from what they remembered then.
During our HalloSTEAM event, a local storyteller came and told us spooky-themed stories to kick off our day.
Loved seeing all our creative storybook character costumes and pumpkins at our Trunk or Treat!
September 2023
The year is rolling on and all of the classes have come to visit me in the library!
Overdue books are starting to come in but please make sure the girls are staying on top of it this year. I told them as soon as they are done with their books they could give them to me in the mornings during breakfast. If they wait until library days then they are every other week. As of right now, we are only checking out one book at a time until our library builds up a bit. If they finish their one book and want to read more they can also use our online database of books. You can access 1000s of ebooks on Classlink through the folder called “Library Books”. My favorite is Sora I have a tutorial for it on my tutorial link above.
Next month, the Scholastic Book Fair will visit our campus for two weeks so be on the lookout for eWallet and scheduling information.
August 2023
Did you hear the fantastic news?! The YWLAP library won a $5,000 grant from the Laura Bush Foundation at the end of last year. With your support last year and this grant, we added just over 600 new books and have money saved up for getting special guests and putting on events. 😀
This year I am looking for a few wonderful volunteers to come weekly and help with displays and shelving books. I am currently working on a Barbie display that I am excited about! 😁 If you are interested in volunteering, do your volunteer background check through SAISD, then email me your preferred days and times. My email is ephipps1@saisd.net
If you found any library books over the summer, bring them on over to school. SAISD has capped the girls to only being able to have four books at a time checked out, so if any books on their account need to be turned in, it will count toward those four. I like to give the girls and y’all enough time to find them, but if everywhere has been searched high and low and they cannot be recovered or fixed, please call or message the library, and we can discuss fees or replacing the book.
May 2023
Library books are due back to school, please look around your house and bring back the kids’ books.
Library Notices will be going home telling you which books to look for. If they do not turn in their books it will carry over to the next year until they are found or replaced.
Students will also be turning in their devices this month, if any devices managed to go home please bring them back to school along with the charger.
I have some good news! First, our school won a grant from the Laura Bush Foundation we received $5,000 to spend solely on books. The second piece of news is that next year I will be at YWLAP full time it is very exciting and I can’t wait to see what we can do with all that time.
April 2023
This month is a very special month; it is School Library Month!📚
We Celebrate so much in April; this month we celebrate:
- School Librarian Day April 4th
- Easter April 9th
- Fiesta April 20th-30th
- National Poetry Month
- National Library Week April 23rd-29th
- Earth Day April 22nd
This month in the library we will celebrate libraries, earth, and poetry by making poems in poetry stations around the library.
Don’t forget to have your kids log their Beanstack minutes to complete the reading challenges, Beanstack tutorial is under the tutorial tab.
March 2023
This month we celebrate reading with Read Across America. Our school is celebrating from Feb 27th to March 3rd but the week after SAISD is celebrating Read Across Las Americas, they have put together read-alouds to watch and celebrate our diverse cultures within the Americas.
From Feb 27-March 10 we are having our Read A Thon to support reading at home while supporting our library, don’t forget to log those reading minutes, I cannot wait to see how much the girls read!
February 2023
For our lesson this month we will look to the stars and learn about the underground railroad, the girls will come home with a star map and will look for Ursa Major and Ursa Minor to find the North Star that was part of the “Drinking Gourd” that pointed north to Canada and freedom.
World Read Aloud Day is February 1st make sure to participate at home by reading a bedtime story! There are also some awesome resources that you can check out here! https://www.scholastic.com/worldreadaloudday
SAISD Million Book Challenge in Beanstack, district has been looking at our numbers in Beanstack, and we are in 5th place among all the academies, keep logging those minutes and let’s see us move up to 1st! Look at how amazing our Blue Jays are doing!
January 2023
Mrs. Phipps has returned from maternity leave, so lessons in the library will resume. We will work on research skills and learn about Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life and legacy.
Make sure you are reading with your kids at home and supporting their love of reading. Minutes read at home can be logged on Beanstack in Classlink.
October 2022
This month is Cyber Safety Month, we will have lessons talking about how to keep ourselves and our devices safe while interacting with others online.
This month Mrs. Phipps starts her maternity leave so the girls will only be going to the library every other week for check outs with Miss. Mancha. We will resume lessons and Mrs. Phipps will be back January 2nd. 😊
Don’t forget to help your kids log their reading on Beanstack as well!
September 2022
Bookfair time!! Best week of the year!
The Scholastic Book Fair is coming September 19-23. Most parents set up an ewallet for their kids so they do not have to send them with money. I use it for my kids all the time. The money put in becomes Scholastic Dollars for your students to spend, and anything not used can rolls over to the next Scholastic Book Fair or can be used on the online book fair.
Check out the Book Fair Homepage here, Family Checkout Time TBA
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/youngwomensleadershipprim
If you haven’t yet, check out Beanstack on Classlink, the girls log their reading to earn badges and prizes.
August 2022
Welcome back! Bienvenidos!
We are starting our 2022-2023 school year with amazing new things coming to the library. This year our district got Beanstack for all of our students, it is located in their Classlink account. Through Beanstack students take part in reading challenges to earn badges and prizes from me :).
The first challenge is throughout the whole district and it is the back to school challenge! Lets see our Blue Jays win this challenge showing off what great readers we are!
Technology is being checked out to students within the first week of school. This year the district has introduced fees for when damages or loss occurs to technology under the students care. Please ensure our students are being careful with their district provided technology.
May 2022
The end of the year is coming up quickly so its time to turn in those library books. Be on the lookout for more book return slips in the kids backpacks. Devices are checked out to the girls through the library so make sure if you are borrowing a device the girls are taking proper care of it. 😊
May 18th I will be holding a Kindergarten Parent Read Aloud Class, this class is to help guide storytimes at home and help us be silly. The first 15 families to sign up will get at free little Scholastic Book Box. Details and form to be posted on Dojo soon.
For our May Reading Challenge our Blue Jays are going to be caught fearlessly reading by staff or at home. When you catch your Blue Jay reading initial one the the circles on their bookmark. When it is full they can get a prize from the library and they can get a new one to fill up again. 📚
April 2022
April is a very busy month! April 3-9 is National Library Week this week we celebrate our libraries in our community and at school! April is also Poetry Month, I love poems and showing the kids the similarities of poems to some of their favorite songs on the radio. April is also when we get to celebrate Earth Day and FIESTA🎉!!
Tell your school how your librarians help you by completing the sentence above, “My library connects me to……”. We love to help our students and can’t wait to hear how many ways libraries helped you. Color one of these pages and bring it into the library for Mrs. Phipps to display!
March 2022
To kick off this month we are celebrating Read Across America week. We will have fun tasks and dress-up days leading us into Spring Break. Look at the flyer below to see the daily events. After Spring Break book return papers will go out, no late fees just please help your daughter find her books so others can enjoy them too! 🙂
February 2022
This month we are exploring winter looking at Weather and Thermal Energy. February is Black History Month we have a lot of wonderful biographies in our library about extraordinary figures in African American history. You can always check them out on our catalog and look for more on Classlink.
Sign up deadline is Feb 10 for the SAISD Book Club over Spring Break. Click here to sign up
Make sure you are turning in those library books and doing the Giraffe Challenge my cabinets are overflowing with awesome prizes for the kids!
December 2021
Oh my goodness we are already at the end of 2021! This month is going to fly by too!
For this month the news will be a little light but a reminder to turn on books, I have some girls that still have books out from September. Also, remember to check out all of our ebook options in Classlink over break. The girls have all the resources to keep learning over our three-week stretch!
A lot of girls have been interested in the reading challenge below is a copy you can print at home and I also have copies in the library. I have amazing prizes like squishy stickers, books, and school supplies.
November 2021
The weather is starting to cool off its time to cozy up with a nice book.
This month will be a very eventful month! We are having the Scholastic Book Fair Nov 8-12 and we will be having a very special virtual author visit by Katherine Applegate who wrote The One and Only Ivan but some of the teachers remember her as the writer of Animorphs as well.
Katherine Applegate has been writing for decades and has won multiple awards writing chapter books for young readers that follow themes of kindness for others and the world around us. Along with this visit, our 3rd-grade girls will receive a free copy of the book, One and Only Ivan.
Don’t forget to keep doing those Blue Jay Reading Challenges! When the girls complete 15 or more boxes they get their choice of a free book or prize from the treasure chest.
October 2021
This month we will have a lot of fo fun! Our lesson this month will be on Digital Citizenship and being Internet Safe because it is Cybersecurity month. We want to make sure our students are being good digital citizens by following good internet communication skills and protecting themself from harm. Then at the end of the month, we will do a science observation lesson with an eight-legged friend 🕷
The Spurs and Whataburger teamed up for their Whatcha Reading Challenge some teachers have signed up their students, if your student’s class is not registered you can register your students here for a chance to win prizes.
September 2021
Once month down yay! This month we are starting library rotations the kids will be coming to the library weekly. We are going to incorporate STEAM lessons once a month in the library to get the kids thinking creatively and showing off their problem-solving skills.
Our new Library Instructional Assistant, Miss. Mancha is here this month! Miss Mancha and I will be switching between our two campuses weekly, below is a look at that schedule.
To get the kids working on their reading, writing, and creativity Mrs. Phipps has made a Blue Jay Reading Challenge. They will be posted monthly and if the kids complete 15 out of the 30 tasks they can get a prize from the library!
September is library card sign-up month, click here to check out the San Antonio Public Library and sign up for a library card!
August 2021
We are back at school, and the library is getting ready to host all of our lovely classes.
I am so excited about this year and all the exciting activities we will host in the library. Right now, I am getting things ready for a book club, so be on the lookout for the sign-up sheet coming soon.
The girls will come to the library weekly, make sure to check their bags for their library books and return them the next week. If the girls do not return their books, they will not be able to check out new ones. Also, always remember to take care of the library books so all of our Bluejays can enjoy the books. 🙂