New Bluebonnet Form is Up and Running!

The new Bluebonnet Entry Form is ready to go for all students putting Bluebonnet nominees on their summer reading lists!  The Bluebonnet program is available to all Jollyville students entering 3rd, 4th, or 5th grades.  The Texas Library Association encourages students to "Read five, then decide".  All students who read at least five nominees get to vote for the Bluebonnet Award winner in January.  Jollyville students who chose to read 10, 15, or 20 nominees are eligible for other awards and prizes. Try out a Bluebonnet nominee today!  

Summer Fun Book Fair: May 5-6!

The Jollyville Library is having a book fair at Barnes and Noble Lakeline on Saturday, May 5th, and Sunday, May 6th. If you visit the store on either date and let the cashier know you support Jollyville, a portion of your purchase will be donated to the library! Family and friends can go to ANY Barnes and Noble location on those two days and give the cashier our book fair code to support us as well: Bookfair ID 10734523.

You can also visit BN.COM/bookfairs to support us online from 05/05/2012 to 05/11/2012 by entering Bookfair ID 10734523. Share this information with your family and friends!

On Saturday, May 5, there will be lots of in-store activities for families to enjoy.  Here is the schedule of events:

10:30am – 11:00am    Robotics Demonstration

Students in the JVE Robotics Club will show off their creations!

11:00am – 12:00pm    JVE Staff Pet Parade

Some of our JVE staff will have their pets on hand for you to meet!

12:00pm - 1:30pm      JVE Celebrity Reader Story Time

Listen to stories read aloud by Jollyville celebrities!

1:30pm – 2:00pm        Flip Flop Fashion Show

Decorate a plain pair of flip flops at home, wear them to the store, and come be a part of our show!  Prizes will be handed out for Most Creative, Best Summer Theme, Best Reading Theme, etc. Participants must be in the Children’s Area at 1:30pm. Open to JVE students only.

2:00pm – 4:00pm        Face Painting



While you are there, you can pick up information on Barnes & Noble and Austin Public Library Summer Reading Programs! Get an application for a free library card from the Austin Public Library! Pick up lists of cool summer reads for each grade! Check out JVE teacher wish lists for great end of year gift ideas! Celebrate your school spirit by getting a vanilla bean Frappuccino in one of our school colors: Ocean Blue, or Green Monster!

Celebrating Seuss!

Jollyville Elementary recently celebrated Seuss Week!  Each day students dressed up in a different way to honor a Dr. Seuss book - crazy socks for The Foot Book, green clothes for Green Eggs and Ham, etc.  There were Seuss stories, a trivia contest, and a Character Parade on Dr. Seuss' birthday! What a great week of reading, learning, and fun!

Bluebonnet Votes Are In!

Students across Texas voted for their favorite Bluebonnet Nominee and the results are in: The book The Strage Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger, has won the Bluebonnet Award this year.  Jollyville 3rd and 4th graders got to Skype with Mr. Angleberger earlier this year.  You can watch a special video Mr. Angleberger made here:
Tom Angleberger Video

Take a look at some of our students participating in the Jollyville vote below:

all finished voting!

another round of voters

Mrs. Carter is ready for Voting Day!

New Year, New Books!

January has been a busy time in the JVE library! 2012 began with the arrival of 10 boxes full of new books for the library!  Our library budget got an extra amount this year because Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Migl "weeded" so diligently last year.  Libraries weed books much like people weed gardens.  We remove dated, worn books from our collections in addition to books that just don't ever get checked out.  This makes the overall collection stronger and gives our shelves room to showcase all of the wonderful items we have to help students learn and grow.  Our weeding paid off when our budget was doubled for the year so we could add new books to replace some of the ones we removed.

Students are loving the new titles as well as the transitional chapter books we added with a grant from the RRISD Partners in Education Foundation.

As we look forward to the new semester, we also want to celebrate some of the wonderful events that occured in fall of 2011 - an author visit from Phil Bildner, the reveal of our new chapter books, a visit from Dave Titus, the String Man Storyteller, and a visit from storyteller Freddie Carnes for our Pre-K and Kindergarten students.  Enjoy the photos! The library is a happening place!

Phil Bildner signed books for JVE students

We gave Mr. Bildner a JVE shirt and he also signed our "Sluggers" poster that hangs in the library.  

Mr. Bildner sent us a photo of him wearing his JVE shirt on the Brooklyn Bridge!

Our revamped transitional chapter book section - ready for ribbon cutting!

The String Man shows students some great string figures

Kindergarten friends work together to make a star!

Freddie Carnes shares folk tales from around the world with Kindergarten and Pre-K students

Mr. Carnes' puppets - used for a traditional Chinese folk tale

Next Year's Bluebonnet Nominees Revealed!

On Saturday, October 22, authors Jack Gantos and Phil Bildner were on hand at the Texas Book Festival to reveal the 20 books selected as nominees for next year's Bluebonnet list!  There are so many great books - they will be fantastic reads for our third, fourth and fifth graders next year!  You can take a sneak peek at the 2012-2013 list here: http://www.txla.org/sites/tla/files/groups/TBA/docs/TBA_12-13.pdf

Mrs. Carter picked up some great new books for our library signed by their authors.  She also met up with a few other friends you might recognize.  You never know who you are going to run into in downtown Austin!

Jack Gantos and Phil Bildner share the 2012-2013 Bluebonnet List

Bad Kitty and Mrs. Carter

A couple of Star Wars characters, but no Origami Yoda today

Phil Bildner is Coming!

Jollyville 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will have a visit with Phil Bildner on October 24!  Mr. Bildner is the author of the Bluebonnet Award winning book Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy. His book, The Hallelujah Flight  is one of this year's Bluebonnet Nominees, and he has written or co-written many other fantastic books.  Mr. Bildner has visited Jollyville for several years, and students always enjoy their time with him.  Our fourth graders will be treated to a Writing Camp led by Bildner, and 3rd and 5th graders will hear his author presentation.

Mr. Bildner will be available to personalize books that students order in advance.  All orders need to be in to the library by Tuesday morning, October 11. Order forms are going home this week, or you can print out the form here: Bildner Book Order Form