Another GREAT Book Fair and Door Prize Winners

We wrapped up another successful Book Fair just before getting out for Thanksgiving break, which we trust was a happy one for everyone full of all the turkey and dressing a person could eat.

This year's fair raised over $1,500 for our school library.  As always, this money is used to buy books and supplies for our library program.  

We could NOT have had such a successful fair without the support of so many of our wonderful parents, grandparents, teachers, staff, and students.  From the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every one of you.

The above students were our Family Night Door Prize winners.

Book Characters Visit the Library for Halloween

We had some special characters who walked right out of the pages of some of our favorite books and into the library on Halloween to snag a few treats.

This isn't everyone, but some of the ones who came by were...

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Harry Potter

Pennywise

Jack the Scarecrow 

Batman

Edward Cullen from Twilight

Annabeth Chase from Percy Jackson and Amos from Fox and the Hound

Venti

Where's Waldo

and Fern Arable from Charlotte's Web

Book Pumpkin Character Winners

For the scond year in a row, we had lots of great book character pumpkins submitted in our contest. I am pleased to present this year's winners...

(Standing L-R)

8th-grader Isabella Parks, 7th-graders Evelyn Barrett, Bayan Ouertani and Harmonie Little, and 6th-grader Madalyn Jones

(Seated L-R)

Autumn Reid and Gabrielle Graves.

6th-grader Madalyn Jones with The Cat in the Hat

7th-graders Evelyn Barrett, Bayan Ouertani and Harmonie Little with a trio from Harry Potter.

8th-grader Isabella Parks with Oogie Book from A Nightmare Before Christmas

Our Teacher Favorite, as voted on by the faculty and staff, is 7th-grader Autumn Reid with The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Our Fan Favorite, as voted on by the student body at WMS along with our Facebook followers, is Gabrielle Graves with Cinderella.

All participants received goody bags, while our winners received prize ribbons, books, and treats.

Congratulations to all our winners, and a big THANK YOU to everyone who participated and their parents for their support.

Halloween Trivia Night: HUGE Success

Goodness!  Over the past month I have been kept B.U.S.Y. with lots of great library activities.  We just wrapped up our annual Book Fair (more info on that to come in another post) and Thanksgiving will be here before we know it.

Our first annual Halloween Trivia Night was a wonderful success!  We held it at the WHS cafeteria and my husband (who volunteered to be our question-asker) said he counted 81 people.  Wow!  I was hoping we would have at least 5 or 6 teams show up to compete and we had FIFTEEN!

Our winners were:

1st place Team 7/11 (pictured)

2nd place Which Witch is Which

3rd place Dazed and Confused

Thank you to all the teams (aren’t these some GREAT team names?)…Team E. Reed, 7/11, The Sanderson Sisters, Skeleton Crew, The Phrogs, Dazed and Confused, Krazy Kids and Their Moms, Team Kevin, Thurman/Jewell, Team Stitch, The Witchy Heaths, Scary Skeletons, Which Witch is Which, Ghost Face, and Scaredy Cats.

Thank you to those who donated door prizes…Paula Troutt and The Farmers Bank, Judy Woodard and Macon Bank and Trust, David and Candace Woodard, Above and Beyond Cakes, SRO Connie Cassidy, Westmoreland Church of Christ, and Ren Creasy.

Thank you to Westmoreland High School for the use of the cafeteria, Ms. Amy Stone for her assistance in helping set up the sound system, Avery Troutt for taking up tickets and drawing for prizes, and Mr. John Creasy for being our questioner.

A final thanks to Ms. Jenna Graves and WMS FCCLA students for making and bringing concessions to make the night even better.

We're definetely hoping to make this an annual event and are already looking forward to next year!

Happy Friday the 13th!

Poster courtesy of the American Library Association 

Book Character Pumpkin Contest

Hey kiddos, it's that time of year again. To get in the spirit of the season (pun intended), the library is sponsoring its 2nd Annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest.  Last year, we had more than 50 wonderfully terrific entries.  We're hoping for even more this year.  

To participate, decorate a pumpkin as a book character.  For inspiration, you can always rely on Google, or look back through this blog or our school Facebook page for pics of last year's entries.  However, while it is more than okay to choose the same book or character as one from last year, make it YOUR OWN and don't just simply copy one already done. 

Pumpkins will be judged by a guest from the community. Prizes will be given to the best in each grade.  PLUS...there will be a contest for "Teacher Favorite" and overall "Fan Favorite" where students and Facebook friends will have the chance to vote on their pick.

RULES

Real pumpkins must be used.

NO carved pumpkins will be accepted.

Pumpkins should be no bigger than a basketball (roughly).  The student must be able to carry it.

Pumpkins may be painted and embellished with decorations and/or props.

Pumpkins should be turned in to the library on 

Friday, Oct. 20, 

Monday, Oct. 23 or 

Tuesday, Oct. 24.  

Voting for the Fan Favorite will begin on the afternoon of the 24th.  Winners will be announced on October 30!

Students, we're so excited to see your creations!  Good luck!

October

Me, too, Anne.

Coming Up: Banned Book Week 2023

Take a look at the following list of books.  What do you think they have in common?

A Wrinkle in Time

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Harry Potter series

The Higher Power of Lucky

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Bridge to Terabithia

The Giver

The Giving Tree

To Kill a Mockingbird

Little House on the Prairie

Think you know?  If you said they have all been challenged or censored, you would be correct.  Each of the titles above (and more) are books we have in our library that have been challenged and, in some cases, removed from schools and libraries across the United States.

Each year, during the month of September leading up to Banned Books Week, our library displays these books and the reasons they have been challenged. 

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and highlighting the value of free and open access to information.  Additionally, the week spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools.

Unfortunately, challenges are on the rise.  Each year, the Office of Intellectual Freedom tracks and collects information regarding book challenges. You can go here to see a list of the top ten books challenged each year and the number of total known challenges made.  You can also view the picture below to see some statistics regarding challenges.  

It remains as important as ever that we protect our right to free access to information in both our public libraries and our public school libraries.  Not every adult can afford to buy books from a book store or Amazon and not every child has a parent who is able to drive them to a public library during business hours.

This year, Banned Book Week will be officially celebrated from Oct. 1 – 7.

PT Conference Night Winners

Students and parents who stopped by to visit the library on Parent-Teacher Conference night were able to enter a drawing for a door prize.

Our parent winner was Randi Phillips, mom of seventh-grader Hadley Phillips.  Ms. Phillips won a free adult ticket to the upcoming Trivia Night along with a copy of the book Dear Highlights: What Adults Can Learn from 75 Years of Conversations and Letters with Kids.

Our student winner was sixth-grader Nevaeh Presley who won two tickets to the upcoming Trivia Night.

Congratulations to both winners!

I want to thank all the students and parents who stopped by to visit with me on conference night.

iPAD Deployment Week

Whew!  What a week!  We began checking out our new iPADS on Tuesday to our 6th graders, followed by 7th on Wednesday and then wrapping up yesterday with our 8th graders.  Today, we will give them to everyone who was absent earlier in the week.  Mrs. Fowler and Mrs. Graves have done a fabulous job of getting all our students set up on their devices.  

This wonderful gift from the county will be such a useful tool for our students to have.  Just remember, it is a loaned gift and must be returned at the end of the year.  Students, please be responsible and take the utmost care of your device, and remember what has been stressed to you this week regarding those responsibilities.

Parents, if you should ever have any concerns, please feel free to reach out to Mrs. Fowler, Mrs. Graves or myself.  We are here to help.  Also, please check out this parenting tech guide .  This site is a collection of free and paid tools parents can use to oversee their kids' devices - including school iPads.  This site has been created for you by your Sumner County school librarians.  

6th graders setting up their new iPads

6th grade

6th grade

8th-grader Alexa doing some work on her iPad

8th-grader Caitlyn checking in on her Google classes