Langley Library Newsletter

Hi Langley families,

Lots happened during September in the Langley Library! The biggest event was the Fall Book Fair - thank you so much for your support during the fair! We earned over $3,000 for the Langley Library which will be used to fund many activities and materials for students, including author visits, paying for events like the Bluebonnet Breakfast and Book of the Month Club, and purchasing books for the library and for giveaways for students. Your support is so appreciated!

Thank you also to everyone who came out to read with students for our first DEAR time! It was wonderful to see so many kids reading with their grown-ups around campus.

I also hosted our very first Book of the Month Club in September! We had a great turnout - 17 students and many of their grown-ups - to discuss the books The Escape Artist and I'm a Dumbo Octopus. The photo that you see here is students working on octopus-themed crafts after we had a short discussion of the book. Take a look at the flyer below if you'd like to participate for November!

October has a few important dates to note:

• Friday, October 2nd: October Langley Lobos Book of the Month Club Meeting (must RSVP ahead of time here)
• Tuesday, October 6th: Author Visit from Captain Conrad for Pre-K and Kinder (Flyer to order his book)
• Friday, October 16th: Storybook Pumpkins due (flyer here and below)
• Storybook Pumpkins will be on display during Trunk or Treat on October 22nd! Please take them home that evening or the morning of October 23rd.

As always, please reach out anytime you have questions about the Langley Library!

Ms. Mary Mosley

Langley Librarian

mary.mosley@nisd.net

Ana is our student spotlight for the month of October! She is a third grade student who is bilingual in English and Spanish, and is being spotlighted for her willingness to jump into new opportunities that include communication in either language. We love seeing students try new things!

Here are some of Ana's thoughts about reading and the library!

• What are your favorite genres of books to read right now? Fiction (Ficción)
• Where is your favorite place to read? In my room (En mi cuarto)
• What do you like most about the Langley Library? There are different types of books like English and Spanish (Que hay diferentes libros en Ingles y en Español)
• When do you usually read your library books? In class and at home before I do my homework (En clase y después de hacer la tarea)
• Do you like it when your grown-ups read to you? If so, why? Yes, because the adults read very well (Si, porque los adultos leen muy bien)
• What is one book that you think is so awesome that everyone should read it? Dog Man

Here are some photos showing what we were up to in the library in September!

We're hosting our Storybook Pumpkin patch again this year! Students decorate a faux pumpkin like one of their favorite book characters to participate. No real pumpkins please. It's completely optional, and it's always fun to see what kids create! See the flyer below for details.

Paper copies of the flyer and character page are available on the Library News board outside of the library.

Retired San Antonio firefighter, author, and musician Captain Conrad will be visiting Langley on October 6th for Fire Safety Week! He'll be visiting with all of our Pre-K and Kinder classes.

Flyers went home with details about purchasing his book of fire safety songs, and it's also attached below.

Here is some general information about our library policies. I want to highlight one big thing - parents and guardians can check out books! Reading to kids at home is so important and I would love to have family members checking books out of the library every day.

Library Hours

The library is generally open and available for students and families to check out/return books between 7:15 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. The library is closed for my lunch (which is 30 minutes sometime between 11:30 and 12:30, it changes day to day), when I'm in planning meetings with teachers on Wednesdays, and when I'm off-campus for meetings (once a month).

Parents/guardians must check in with the main office (with their ID) to get a visitor's badge before visiting the library.

Class Visits

Each class has a scheduled library visit every other week. Teachers can schedule additional time as needed. Students can return books and get new ones outside of their regularly scheduled library class.

Student Checkouts

All books are checked out for two weeks.

• Pre-K - Students can check out 1 book
• Kinder - Students can check out 1 book in the fall, 2 in the spring
• 1st through 5th - Students can check out 2 books

Students participating in Birthday Book Club get an extra checkout for the year.

Parent/Guardian Checkouts

Parents/guardians can check out up to 5 books at a time for 2 weeks. They can come in with their child in the morning before school to check out/return books if they'd like to browse with them, but they can also come in by themselves anytime during the school day when the library is open.

You can submit information to create a parent account here or by clicking the button below.

Before School

The library is open from 7:15 a.m. - 7:40 a.m. for students and families to come in and read or check out books.

We want our Langley Lobos to become lifelong readers! Reading broadly, and often, is connected to cultivating empathy for others, building a broad vocabulary and background knowledge, higher test scores (across all subjects), staying in school for longer, and a variety of other positive outcomes that can affect students’ lives long-term. There are two very important ways that families can support students with their reading at home - (1) reading aloud to them and (2) encouraging their development of independent reading skills.

Reading Aloud

It is the most important activity for building the knowledge and skills necessary for reading success. Yes, even for older students who can read independently!

• Here are a few things you can do to support students through reading aloud:
• Read stories aloud as often as possible (every day is great, but not always feasible).
• Make read aloud time fun! Use voices, hand movements, exaggerated facial expressions, etc.
• Ask them questions about the story you’re reading to them.
• Use the library for checking out books - having a variety of choices for read alouds is always more interesting.

Independent Reading

Kids need to read in volume and read a variety of texts to build reading proficiency. Even for students who are still working on the building blocks of reading, like letter sounds and blending, spending independent time looking at picture books and telling the story they see in the pictures is incredibly beneficial.

Here are a few things that you can do to support students’ independent reading at home:

• Encourage kids to find time to read. There’s lots of downtime that they can use to read a few pages of (or listen to a few minutes of) a book - riding in the car, waiting for an activity to begin, etc.
• Model independent reading at home. Let kids see you reading your own texts (whether a book, magazine, listening to an audiobook, etc.).
• Ask kids’ questions about their book and book interests.
• Make sure there are book around! Kids are more likely to read if their environment encourages it.

Important: We want kids to enjoy books and reading! This isn’t about checking a box - it’s about creating connection and positive emotional associations with reading.

All students are invited to participate in Birthday Book Club! Celebrate your child’s birthday by donating a book to the Langley Elementary School Library in his/her honor. No need to bring in books - your child will choose from a great selection of brand new, popular titles available in the library for their Birthday Book. The cost is $20 per student to participate.

You can access the form to get more details and register for Birthday Book Club here or pick up a paper copy in the library.

We will have campus-wide Drop Everything and Read time again this year! Parents and caregivers can come check out their student(s) from their classes - make sure to bring your ID - and go anywhere on campus for 30 minutes of reading together. DEAR time begins at 8:00 a.m. (on the dates listed below) and ends at 8:30 a.m.

The dates for DEAR time this year are:

• September 18th
• November 20th
• February 19th

Parent volunteers help in the Langley Library every day of the week! They keep things running smoothly, the books shelved, damaged books repaired...all sorts of tasks that make sure our library program is awesome.

If you're interested in volunteering in the library, please email Ms. Mosley (mary.mosley@nisd.net) with your availability. She or Shelly Durham (the PTA Volunteer Coordinator and all-around awesome library helper extraordinaire) will get back to you soon.

All volunteers must complete the NISD Background Check before they can begin volunteering.

Find information from our wonderful counselors here!