Our Spotlight Star Family, Alberto from Mrs. Morrison's Class, came to Family Night @ the Library. Alberto won a $10 gift card from Half Price Books and a teddy bear from Kohls. Congratulations!

During Family Night @ the Library on Thursday, February 21st, we had a great time interacting with the *NEW* Library iPads! Mrs. Dunn had fun games and activities to go along with some of the apps loaded onto the iPads. After working with the app ABC - Magnetic Alphabet Lite (a free app), the families could read Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. They were then invited to create their very own alphabet coconut tree. We spotlighted Tumblebooks.com on the computers. Don't forget you can access this great site from home. Contact Mrs. Betts if you need the username and password, or pick up a bookmark when you visit the Kinkeade Library.  I think the most exciting part of the evening was when the parents found out they could check out the new iPads from the library! Family Night @ the Library was a finalist in the Parent Involvement category for the ICE Awards. We brought home the Silver Medal for our program. Thank you to all of the parents for making this award possible. If it were not for you bringing your children to the library for family night this would not have been possible. I will post pictures of the award from the event as soon as possible.

Valentine's Day Fun

During Family Night @ the Library on Valentine's Day families were invited to play a number of  games. Some of the games were designed for the child to play alone and the parents were instructed how they could create similar games at home with household items. These games included counting, matching, and sorting activities.

A tic-tac-toe game using cupids and valentines for game pieces and a dots and boxes game were provided for the families as a fun way for the parents to interact in a fun manner while providing the child problem solving and strategy skills.

The children were also provided with Valentine's day puzzles to put together. Copies of some of the activities were included in a packet the families were encouraged to take home.

Miss Andrea came to volunteer for the evening and prepared a fun craft activity called Valentine Buddy. Everyone had a great time creating their own Buddy. Some took their buddy home, others wanted to leave them at school for everyone to enjoy.

And of course, everyone had fun selecting books to check out for the upcoming long weekend.

Congratulations to our Star Family - Joel Z. and his family came to Family Night @ the Library. Joel won a backpack and gift certificate from Rainforest Cafe, a bear from Kohl's and a selection of books from Capstone Press. Thank you to these great sponsors for the wonderful door prizes for Family Night @ the Library's Star Families.

Remember, next week we will be closing at 6:00 PM so everyone will be able to go to the ICE Awards at Irving High School and celebrate our Parent Involvement ICE Award. We will be presented with our award during the 7:00 Awards Ceremony. Please consider coming to Irving High School to celebrate the success of this program. It would not be our parent support, so congratulations to you!

Making Valentine's Day Cards

While Mrs. Betts was in Austin learning all there is to know about using technology in the classroom, Family Night @ the Library carried on without a hitch. Well, actually there was a hitch, but it wasn't horrible. The WONDERFUL volunteers who graciously give their time each week (Mrs. Betts's parents, Mrs. Marge and Mr. Leonard) were able to handle everything...and they have even agreed to continue to come and help each week)! There was a slight issue with the computers and an upgrade that was unfortunately scheduled during our library night. (I have since been told this will NEVER happen again.)

The families, hopefully, did not feel any of the pain of the computer situation. During the evening they worked on creating Valentine cards. I know it was a week early, but if you are going to give a Valentine's Day card, you can't have it all sticky from being glued mere minutes before you deliver the heartfelt original design.

One of the most exciting events of the evening was when our Star Family came in to check out books! Congratulations Jacob L. for coming to Family Night @ the Library with your family. I hope you enjoy the backpack from Rainforest Cafe and the books from Capstone Press.

I will post pictures as soon as I get them. I hope to see everyone on Valentine's Day. I have a very special treat from me to all of my little Family Night @ the Library friends.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day

During Family Night @ the Library on January 31st we had an early celebration of Groundhog Day! A number of activities were provided for the families to work on during the event and games to take home and play together.

The children were given a ground hog to color and then asked to make a prediction about the groundhog. Would he see his shadow or not?

The children predicted the groundhog would see his shadow. However, according to Punxsutawney Phil  we will have an early spring since he did not see his shadow. Now, if Phil had been Irving Phil, we would have six more weeks of winter since it was a beautiful sunny day on Saturday, February 2nd.

Another prediction activity the children could work on during Family Night was created by Jessica Williamson, the author of the blog Welcome to Room 36: A Kindergarten Blog. In this activity the children were not only supposed to predict if the groundhog would see his shadow, but they also needed to show prior knowledge of the seasons and the clothes needed for winter and spring.

Another activity provided for the families was a groundhog puzzle. This great puzzle was found on the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club website. The puzzle was fun, and actually took a little longer to put together than I would like to admit. The parents and I had fun working on it. I finally glued one together so the children would have a little bit of an advantage.

We had a great night at Family Night @ the Library. It is always fun to see the parents and children interacting with the activities and then taking time to check out books and read.