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"Reading is so incredibly important! Sure, it's necessary to function in the world, but it's also such an adventure! My parents always encouraged me to read everything I can get my hands on. Every person should have a book in their hands, and I look forward to helping them find it here at our Strawn ISD Library."
Cassandra Ellis
Library Paraprofessional
Library Newsletter
Check out May's Library Newsletter here!
This newsletter covers all new books we've put into circulation, new programs, and other helpful information - as well as our wish list! Be sure to check back every month to see what's new!
Summer Library Programs!
The TF & JY Shao Foundation has generously approved our proposal & is fully funding the 2023-2024 Makerspace, Summer Library Program, & Battle of the Books! They also continue to sponsor our IXL and after-school tutorial programs. We are incredibly thankful for their support. Thank you, TF & JY Shao Foundation!
Thank You for Supporting Our Book Fair!
Thank you to everyone who helped make our Book Fair a success! We appreciate our volunteers, teachers, admin, and all the students and families who came by and supported our fair. We exceeded our goal of selling 500 books which helped to raise a little over $2000 to go back into our library and classrooms. Thank you so very much for encouraging our children to read and for giving back to our school!
We also want to send out a HUGE heartfelt thank you to the Strawn Booster Club for their generous gift! These guys purchased a book from our Book Fair for every single child in grades Pre-K - 5! Thank you so much for giving our students the gift of reading!
Fingerprint Honeycombs
In the library, first grade read "Explore My World: Honey Bees" by Jill Esbaum and second grade read "Inside the Bees' Hive" by Karen Ang. After we read these books together and thoroughly discussed bees and our experiences with them, we painted fun honeycombs using our fingers! We also remembered that a six-sided figure (like each cell in the hive) is called a hexagon!
PreK Plants for the Bees
We read "BEE" by Charlotte Voake. This was a really cute story about a child who gets shrunk down to bee-size for a day. He notices there weren't many flowers for the bees, so when the day is done & he returns to boy-size, he plants more flowers for his new bee friends. Obviously we had to plant flowers too!
Kindergarten Flower Experts
We read "Flower Talk" by Sara Levine to Kindergarten & then we traveled outside to study our springtime flowers and talked about what sort of pollinators they were sending messages to. 🌼🔍 Mrs. Milner let us borrow her magnifying glasses so we could get an extra close look!
Santa's Lego Workshop
4th & 5th grade students took the Lego Challenge and crafted items found or made in Santa's workshop! Thank you to the Caudle & Alison families for letting us borrow your Legos!
Celebrating the Successful Artemis I Launch
Reading is Out of This World!
Stuffed Animal Summer Camp
Seven PreK & Kindergarten students dropped off their stuffed animals for an overnight camp where they got to tour campus. Each stuffed animal came home with a scrapbook so they could show their kids around before school started. We think they had a good time!
Thanks for a JAWSome year in the library!
Our Library ROCKS!
In April, elementary students learned about crystals and different types of rock formations! Our absolute favorite was the geode, so we took the time to grow salt crystals and crack a few quartz geodes ourselves! Books we read include "Weird but True Rocks", "A Rainbow of Rocks", "A Rock Can Be...", and "If Rocks Could Sing".
Local Artist, Dillon Ellis, Donates Abstract Art Bookmarks to Strawn Library!
Happy Birthday, Perseverance!
To commemorate the one-year anniversary of Perseverance's landing on Mars, Mrs. Ellis threw a birthday party for the rover! Students were able to learn about the Mars rover's mission, check out books related to space exploration, and take a photo with "Percy"! If you would like to view additional information with interactive links, please view this PDF! You can also find virtual activities through NASA here - both in-person & virtual!
Visit our Facebook page for more photos of this fun experience!
*New* Teacher Relief Library Program!
We've had an excellent first cycle in the library with our new Teacher Relief Library Program! Mrs. Ellis takes a grade level to the library for a read-aloud and activities, giving the teachers a well-deserved 30 minute break. Here's a look at what we've been up to!
PreK: "Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again" & "After the Fall" - Everyone loved it when Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall!
Kindergarten: "Grandma Elephant is in Charge" - Kindergarten knows to listen to their grandmothers and enjoyed learning facts about elephants!
1st Grade: "Possum and the Summer Storm" - These kids loved hearing about everyone working together to build a new home for the Possum family!
2nd Grade: "Super Manny Stands Up!" - Second Grade had lots of great ideas on how to be Super and stand up for others!
3rd Grade: "The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors" - Third Graders named character traits of the protagonist and then had an EPIC Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament!
4th & 5th Grades: "Lost!" - After learning lots of survival tips, students put their knowledge to the test to see if their team could survive being lost in the wilderness!
Mars Explorers!
Our students got to learn about the Mars rover, Perseverance, which landed February 18, 2021, and her helicopter, Ingenuity! We got to see the location of the Mars rover, look at pictures comparing the size of the rover to one of her engineers, and view the immersive 360 degree panoramic image of Mars that Perseverance sent back to NASA. Then students got to pose "with" Perseverance, and ask lots of questions! We are excited about the rover on Mars, and we even thought of some advice for scientists on the next rover that launches. We think it should have a big Strawn "S" painted on it!
To see the panoramic view of Mars for yourself, please click here. Best experienced in the YouTube app
To keep up with Perseverance and her progress on Mars, click here.
New Library Books, Generously Donated by the Community
Our students were asking for specific books/series, so we created a Wish List and populated it with those requested titles. In less than 24 hours, the community purchased every book on the list for our young readers! Thank you so much for your support and generosity!
New Titles:
Dog Man: Books 1-9, donated by Jack Reyna
Cat Kid, donated by Jack Reyna
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Book 10, donated by Penny Lingle
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Book 11, donated by Brenda Lingle
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Book 3& 12, donated by Meghan Carter
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Book 14, donated by Hayes & Tyson Veloz and Sarah Lingle
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Books 2, 3, & 4, donated by Venessa VanWinkle Hobbs
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Books 5, 9, & 10, donated by Stacie Frye
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Books 6 & 7, donated anonymously
Our students' wish list can be found here!
FOLLETT DESTINY: TEXQUEST
Visit our TexQuest Navigator here for access to all sorts of fun learning resources for all grade levels! This site has National Geographic, Learn360, Britannica, Infobits, and more! Choose Strawn ISD from the dropdown menu and ask your teacher for the password.
FOLLETT DESTINY DISCOVER
Destiny Discover grants you access to eBooks in English and Spanish. Check out Strawn ISD's collection of eBooks, or browse to see what Unite for Literacy or BrainHive has to offer! Select Strawn ISD, click Log In, and ask your teacher for the password.
*Both TexQuest and Destiny Discover are free to the community as well through ESC 11. Please call Mrs. Ellis for the login information. (254) 672-5776
ENJOY READING!