Book Fair Fun

We have been so busy with our summer book fair!  Yesterday our first, second, and third grade classes came through to choose books and we were open to the public for the evening.  Today our fourth, fifth, and EL classes will come through and we will have a couple of open hours for the community mid-day.  Mr. Hutson and I love working the registers and seeing the fun book choices each child makes.  We even set up a reading area so that students can enjoy their books after checking out.  Our hope is that they will pick up these books and read them at home after our program is over to keep up their reading progress.

Our second grade friends have been reading up a storm!  Check out how they are enjoying their books with their friends this summer!

Rockstars Recognize Each Other

Today, instead of having assemblies, students met with their teachers in classrooms to recognize one another.  Students were all given star beads to help them remember their inner rock-stars and to see each other as rock-stars.  In classes, students will give beads to one another for being a rock-star in some way.  Our community at Elementary Summer Academy has been so important to our ability to create and reach our goals this summer.  We hope the students see this as an opportunity to share their gratitude and also see how they can encourage each other and build each other up.

Students on the bus show off their star beads from their classroom exchange.

Buddies

Sometimes during Elementary Summer Academy, our older students buddy up with younger students for reading and other learning activities.  It is great to see our fourth and fifth graders take on leadership and setting positive examples for our first, second, and third graders.  Our hope is that these relationships and sense of mentorship can continue beyond our summer at Glenridge and carry over into the individual elementary buildings during the school year.  Certainly, one of my favorite things about working in this program is getting to know students of all ages from all over the district. 

Check out this beautiful moment from yesterday when one of our fifth graders led a read aloud with some second grade friends, including asking them comprehension questions.  What a special time! 

Star Power

You may have heard about how we recognize the students by awarding them stars.  We proudly display the stars on the walls of the gym for us to admire when we meet for our assemblies.  Look at all the rockstars we have in just 13 days!  Impressive!

Big News!

Tomorrow, every family in the district will receive an email invitation to our summer Scholastic book fair next week.  This is a buy one, get one free book fair open to all of our district families. 

The most exciting part, though, is that each one of our Elementary Summer Academy students will be visiting the book fair with their classes and teachers.  Our teachers will serve as "personal shoppers" and each student will get to choose two just-right books at no cost, thanks to our elementary school PTOs.  This is a fantastic way to continue all of the amazing summer reading at home that has been underway at Glenridge these past few weeks.  We hope that these two books are just the start to all of the reading the children will do on their own before the next school year begins.  

 

Rockstars Practice

Today in assemblies, we revisited our WOW goals from Friday.  We discussed how important practice is to achieving our dreams.  One person who practices A LOT that we found to be inspirational is a young man who is a break-dancer.  He works hard every day to practice to achieve his dreams and success. 

Check it out:

If we all practice towards reaching our goal, bit by bit, we will succeed!

WOW Goals

Today in our assemblies, we revisited goal-setting and how important it is to achieving success.  We learned that the best kinds of goals are specific, have a timeline, and break plans into small steps.  We call these goals, "WOW" goals.  WOW stands for "Within One Week I will.."

Our fifth grade classes set a fantastic example for us by sharing how they used WOW goals last week to improve their reading fluency.  They spoke in the assembly about not only their goals, but also their action steps.  It was awesome to have their leadership as a model. 

Our second graders made bookmarks of their reading goals.  Check it out:

We will be revisiting our WOW goals next Friday as we continue working on finding our inner rockstar. 

Have a great (and DRY) weekend!!!