Library Newsletter

Along with the cooler weather, the second couple of months of school brought the opportunity to delve into fun library programming once the beginning of the year's library rules and procedures had been established. Highlights of that time included our continued celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, introduction of this year's SC Book Award nominee titles, the start of Battle of the Books, and our ongoing library skills practice. (Image: Canva.com.)

Students learned about Hispanic Heritage Month through read alouds, biographies, illustrator study, country research, and music and movement. Of great popularity was the animated music video, Join the Celebración!, an "original song that celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month through icons, artists, and heroes" (Nickelodean YouTube).

We are gearing up for our school's second consecutive year participating in the district's reading competition quiz bowl. Our first Battle of the Books (BOB) lunch meeting was led by co-coaches, 5th grade ELA teacher Mrs. Shreck and Librarian Mrs. Grabiec, in the media center October 4th. Fifth grade participants are hard at work reading the following ten chapter books in preparation for the spring event. (Images: left - Kylee Heap, below - Amazon.)

Students and staff enjoyed the October 14th Greenville Triumph soccer game at Furman's Paladin Stadium thanks to their Read to Score program which provided game tickets to students in participating schools that read three grade level books between September 5th - 22nd.

We explored Once Upon a Book, the inspiration for our school's holiday tree displayed at Greenville's 2023 Festival of Trees; based on the story's settings, the tree's student-created ornaments were designed in art class. After hearing and discussing the book, students watched an excerpt from its author and illustrator interview, Author Talk: Grace Lin and Kate Messner. Thank you to our art teacher, Mrs. Purvis, for this collaborative opportunity between related arts subjects. (Images below: book cover - Amazon; tree - Mrs. Purvis.)

Inspired by the book Pumpkin Jack, students learned about the life cycle of pumpkins and began observing our own library jack-o'-lantern's daily decomposition Halloween week. Its seeds will be planted in our school garden in the spring in hopes to have our very own BES school pumpkins next fall.

Thank you to Greenville Public Youth Services Librarian, Shirley Young, who began visiting our kindergarten and first grade classes in November and will continue throughout this school year for English and Spanish bilingual story time. Pictured on left are Mrs. Huntebrinker kindergarteners. (Photo: Kate Huntebrinker.)

If what they say is true, that children learn best when engaged and having fun, then there's no shortage of learning going on in our library. From building with blocks and Legos, to playing Memory out of this year's SC Book Award nominee images, and engaging in imaginative play, students spend some important down time honing in on their problem solving and interpersonal skills with their classmates here.

• South Carolina Picture Book and Children's Book Awards
• Parts of a Book
• Columbus Day
• Epic Reading Online: eBooks and audiobooks
• Author's Purpose & Illustrator's Inspiration
• Plant Life Cycle
• Creative & Persuasive Writing: Parts of Speech
• Nonfiction Books: Text Features & Dewey Decimal Classification
• Story Sequence
• Digital Research & Inquiry

Image from Canva.com

• Read Alouds
• Book Discussions
• Student Led Book Talks
• Reading
• Writing
• Research
• Critical Thinking
• Singing
• Dancing
• Mindfulness Activities
• Center Learning Activities

Image from Canva.com

Images: Amazon.com

Students who participate in our Winter Break Reading Challenge will be invited to our Winter Reading Celebration on January 12th. The reading logs will be sent home before break and are posted here. (Image: Canva.)

Library Media Specialist, MLIS

Berea Elementary School - Greenville County Schools

100 Berea Drive

Greenville, SC 29617

mgrabiec@greenville.k12.sc.us

864-355-1500

Photo Credit: CVS Passport

* Unless noted, photos by newsletter creator