Vestal Library Reader Report

Today's newsletter is an ode to the 2025-2026 school year through the lens of the library. As we close out another great year of reading, building, listening, learning, writing, reading and discussing -- I first want to take a moment to say a HUGE thank you! It is truly a privilege to be your librarian, and I am so grateful to be your faithful literacy guide here at Vestal.

This year concludes my 5th year as your librarian, and I feel like five years has unlocked something extra special. As I watched the 5th grade graduation, I became misty-eyed remembering all their sweet, excited baby faces when I first met them all in the Fall of 2021. Hopefully growing up with us in the Vestal library has established a love of reading, making, problem solving, and information gathering in a way that will guide them well throughout the remainder of their educational journey.

Our main focus this year specifically at the Vestal Library was to be a place of support -- whether it was to help you find a great book or give you a brain break, to lend an empathetic listening ear to your struggles or to help you replace a struggling computer. With all the heavy pressure in our learning community today, we wanted the library to be a place where you mattered more than your scores, and I hope we were able to instill that in our daily practice.

So with that -- let's look back at the 2025-2025 year with some statistics and snapshots to sum up all the good times we've had and recognize some of the positive impacts we made along the way.

But first, a question... (anyone can participate!)

^A little letter Mrs. Berry got during Teacher Appreciation Week that sums it all up 🥲

This year we had our usual book budget of $10 per student to spend updating our collection, and we focused the majority of our funds on purchasing more current non-fiction titles in both English and Spanish that would compliment the new Bluebonnet reading curriculum. This included accessible, age appropriate books on fascinating topics exploring areas of American History, Biology, Astronomy, Ancient civilizations, Paleontology, fables, classic fairy tales and more! It was a great launching point to enhance our collection in a way that would expand on the new topics of interests that students wanted to learn more about. It also helped our teachers have great supplemental materials to aid their classroom learning.

Following winter break also completed a 2 week inventory in January that helped us both scan every item in our collection and notice any areas needing to be updated or relocated. Following the inventory, Mrs. Berry was able to weed 718 outdated or poor condition books that needed removal. This helps keep our library clean and current for our community to explore with ease. We are very happy with our 2015 age of collection and hope to continue keeping up with our goal to stay within 10 years of age.

If you've never heard of B.J. Novak's "The Book With No Pictures" - you're in for a treat! It was so fun reading it to every class during Read Across America week and watching them all slowly crack up laughing hysterically as they caught on to the bit.

Click the video below to watch the author read it to students as they crack up laughing.

This year we hosted three super successful Scholastic Book Fairs - one in the Fall, one in the Spring and one special BOGO Fair during the end of year awards season. These all require a lot of time and hard work from Mrs. Berry and Mrs. De Los Santos, but in the end, thanks to our amazing Vestal community -- it was so worth it!

This year we were able to donate just under $2,000 in cash to the Vestal Elementary general fund for student needs, and we raised well over $5,000 in scholastic dollars for us to spend on general library needs. Being able to have funds in our scholastic account helps us stay stocked in the vending machine so we can continue ordering their favorites to make those giveaways feel extra special! ✨

We are SO GRATEFUL to our Vestal Family for all their support of our Book Fairs and we couldn't do it without you all coming in and showing up to shop for your home libraries - so from the bottom of our hearts - THANK YOU!! 🥰

• San Antonio Public Library: Get a free book just by stopping by!
• Barnes & Noble: Complete their reading journal & earn a free book!
• Pizza Hut, Book it! Program: Download their app and record your reading to earn a free personal pan pizza at the end of the summer!
• Chuck E. Cheese Play Points Rewards: Tons of ways you can earn play points for good choices at home and at school!
• & Many More! See picture below for more ideas and have fun reading 😍

Another year of great teamwork! 💪 We couldn't end our yearly reflection without saying thank you to Mrs. De Los Santos! We are so grateful for her hard work and never ending commitment to helping make our library community such a welcoming and special place.

We are so grateful for her dedication to our Vestal Library! Thank you for everything Mrs. D! 🦅

We hope everyone has a wonderful summer and

let's all enjoy some great reading!

Thank you to everyone for supporting our program. 💙

Lucinda De Los Santos, Library Assistant

Micaela Berry, Librarian

Email: micaela.berry@myhisd.net
Phone: 210-989-3359