Hello Hello, Emily Arrow, Hello!

PreK students, Kindergarteners, and 1st graders are very excited to meet Emily Arrow on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27th! Emily is a former elementary-school-music-teacher-turned-kidlit-singer/songwriter; writing and performing fabulous songs based on picture books!

You can watch many videos of her original songs on her Emily Arrow YouTube channel, and we are excited to offer the pre-sale opportunity to purchase a signed CD before her visit! Order forms will be sent home in the next few days, and please return them by Monday, February 11th! You can also click the image below to download a new pre-order form.

Thank you to our AWESOME PTA for funding and supporting this very special literacy-music visit from Emily Arrow!

Donna Janell Bowman visits 2nd, 3rd & 4th grade Leopards!

Wanted: Book Fair Volunteers – 4/30 – 5/4

Parents, please consider volunteering at our Book Fair, April 30th through May 1st!

Sign up HERE: goo.gl/ub45cB

*Mandatory* RRISD Volunteer Application: goo.gl/ApXiCg

Shop our ONLINE FAIR NOW!

 

Parents,

Author/Illustrator Don Tate visits 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders!

We were beyond excited to meet the prolific and talented Texas Bluebonnet Award nominated author/illustrator Don Tate when he visited our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students yesterday! Thanks again to PTA for helping fund special events like our author visit!

Author Elizabeth Eulberg visits 3rd, 4th and 5th graders!

We were beyond excited to meet hilarious and energetic Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominated author Elizabeth Eulberg when she visited our 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students yesterday! Classes have been reading The Great Shelby Holmes as a read-aloud this semester, and we were all anticipating the chance to meet her and hear more behind-the-scenes details about being an author and how she crafts her stories. What a FUN day in the library! Thanks again to PTA for helping fund special events like our author visit!

Bluebonnet Author Liesl Shurtliff to visit 3-5th graders on January 13th!

The lucky 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at England Elementary will host the Bluebonnet-Award-Nominated Author, Liesl Shurtliff, on Tuesday, January 13th! Her book, Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, is currently on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List for 2014-15!

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If you would like to order an autographed copy of Rump, please click on the image below and return the order form with payment by Monday, January 12, 2015.

Local bookstore, The Book Spot, will be selling copies of Ms. Shurtliff’s books to our students in advance of her visit, so our guest is able to sign and personalize books while she visits England Elementary!

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Enjoy watching the Book Trailer for Rump below:

Thank you to our amazing PTA for sponsoring this author visit!

Writing Camp with Phil Bildner 2014

One of my favorite days of the year is when Author Phil Bildner visits our library for a Writing Camp with 4th grade!  He leads them in a fun, engaging learning session all about writing and the kids always walk away with new ideas and inspiration.  This was his third visit to England Elementary and he had nothing but amazing things to say about our school and our awesome 4th grade students!

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Mr. Bildner gave us lots of great advice, but I wanted to share with you some of his most important messages:

  • If you put your name on something, it is a direct reflection of who you are… so make sure it’s your best work!
  • The key to being a good writer is that you have to READ!!  Read on your own, for fun, every single day!  Reading is NOT OPTIONAL.
  • The real writing takes place during the re-writing.  Editing is not the most fun part of writing, but it is the MOST important.  Your first draft should never be your final draft!
  • When you think you’re done, you’ve just begun.  Spend 10 more minutes on your writing and you can turn something good into something better!

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Several students were selected to have a special “Meet and Greet” with Phil Bildner! These students had written really great letters persuading me to choose them to attend the Meet and Greet and we all had a great time visiting and asking each other questions.

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Thank you to our FABULOUS PTA for allowing his visit to be possible!  We are so lucky to have a PTA who supports bringing authors and writing camp to our students.

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A few weeks ago, Phil Bildner began his own web show on YouTube focused on reading and writing. You can watch the first episode below, entitled “Just Read.”

Fun with Author/Illustrator Rafael Rosado!

Our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders loved having Author/Illustrator Rafael Rosado present to us on January 21st!  His graphic novel, Giants Beware, is currently on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List and has been very popular in our library this year.  The students really enjoyed hearing all about his work, his writing/illustrating process, and learning about some of his upcoming projects as well!
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Thank you to our wonderful PTA for helping to make his visit to England Elementary possible!