It's that time of year: books are due! Here are the days each class needs to have their books back by in order for students to get to participate in our library makerspaces/stations:

* Wednesday, May 15th: Ortiz, Cervantes, Kirk, Tuggle, Scott, Toscano, Mitchell, Feder, Johnson, Terral

* Thursday, May 16th: Rumsey, Ryder, Black, Willard, Nations, Franklin, Race, Wolfe, Mace (2nd), Short, Turner, Kras, Stevens

* Friday, May 17th: Salman, Erazo, Hanna

* Monday, May 20th: White, Heniff, Mace (3rd), Wilt, Moline, Lidey, Lambright, Evans

May Cougar Tales

Be sure to read the Library's announcements in the May Cougar Tales!

April Cougar Tales

March into a Celebration of Reading!

The Book Fair is Coming!

myON Login Outside of School

We now have myOn for our students to use at school or outside of school!

Here are the steps to find myON for your child to use at home:

Go to http://www.clever.com or from this site, click "Library Links" and then the myON button
Select at top right: "Log in as a student"
Type in and select our school's name
Select "Log in with Google"
Enter your child's login: their#@elem.tomballschools.net
Their password is tisd+birthdate (example: tisdmmddyyyy)
This will take you to Clever, which houses all of the sites that our school or district pays for that the students can access. Scroll down and click on "myON"
I would bookmark or save at this point

I am sorry for all of the steps. But, our students so far have said it's worth it! Let me know if you are having any trouble.

* Note: We have noticed that with our students using myOn for the first time (kindergartners included), myOn will give them a quiz to learn their reading level. This is not an exciting quiz for them, but it is important for them to do on their own. If not, myOn may recommend books to them that are not age appropriate. After your child misses 3 questions in a row, the quiz will stop, and they can begin reading. If you feel your child's level is not accurate, please let me know, and I can reset the quiz for them. Thank you to the many parents for asking why myOn was giving a quiz versus letting their child read- now we (I) know! *

February Cougar Tales

Reading for Rewards!

Be sure and check out the "Reading Logs" tab on the right as mentioned in the past few Cougar Tales. By logging the minutes your child reads at home, they can earn prizes such as a free pizza from Pizza Hut, free ticket to Six Flags, and/or a free ticket to Schlitterbahn. Please note, this rewards program ends February 1, 2019. I can't wait to see how many of our students are rewarded!

January Cougar Tales

Today's (12/18/18) Battle of the Books Meeting Recap

Today we had a 2018-19 Battle of the Books meeting for our interested 3rd and 4th graders. Here is what we discussed and/or accomplished...

Students formed teams of 3-6 if they hadn't already
They selected a team captain and scribe
- Captain- helps encourage each team member to do their part, is who I share announcements/information with, and helps organize when teams meet to discuss their books
- Scribe- Learns how to correctly spell each book's title and author to write it neatly during the competition
Team members divided the list of 30 books into who will read what
I gave tips on what each student should share with their team about their books. I encouraged them to write the following on a note card or notebook for their team:
- Title
- Author
- Characters
- Brief summary of the book including problem and solution

Talk to your child about who is on their team, what books they are to read, and what strategies their team have to prepare for the competition. I will have sample questions posted in the library each week for our students to view to help them practice. Our competition will fall around the first week in February.

How parents can help:

Ask your child about what they are reading and if they shared it with their team
Help your child locate any books that may be checked out/unavailable from our library (only Battle of the Books students may check out Battle of the Books books)
Host or see if your child's team needs to meet together and discuss their books. You may contact me if you'd like them to meet at the school

I am SO excited! We currently have 60 interested students on teams. Let me know if you have any questions!

It's Time for Our Fall Book Fair!

Here is the flier that hopefully went home with your child this past Wednesday, October 31st about our upcoming book fair. There is a link to volunteer to set up, write wish lists, or help tear down. As always, thank you for your help and support!

It's Birthday Book Club Sign Up Time!

Learn more about how you can make a donation to add books to our library AND to celebrate your child's birthday! Click on the "Birthday Book Club" tab to the right of this page. Thank you for adding more books to our library and letting me celebrate your child's birthday with them!

#bookbrags Has Begun!

For more details on how your child can participate, see the "#bookbrags" tab on the right of this page

Decker Prairie Elementary is "Internet Awesome!"

Last week all of the students at DPES got a peek at how we are going to learn throughout the year about how to be Internet Awesome (Smart, Alert, Strong, Kind, and Brave). The boys and girls were challenged to beat Mrs. Watson's high score of 110 on Interland's "Mindful Mountain" (Smart) challenge. They can play at home by clicking the "Library Links" button on the right of this page.

2018-19 Battle of the Books Official List Released!

Summer has just begun, and I already have next year's books for our 2019 Battle of the Books Tournament! We had over 100 students interested this past school year, but little time to read the 30 books. This time, our incoming 3rd and 4th graders have plenty of time! Details will be posted soon, but if your child is interested, they can start this summer on reading many of the books.

Decker Strong, we can, WE WILL be TISD's winners next year!

Decker Prairie Elementary School

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