Breakfast and a Good Book! Pemberton Elementary received a grant from The Horace Mann Insurance Company to purchase a “mobile” library cart. This mobile book cart and check out system brings the library to breakfast! Students who are eligible for our school breakfast program often miss out on morning check out in the library. The school librarian, Valerine Bennett, curates and runs the program to fit the needs of the students. As we get to know the students and their interests, we can change out the inventory to meet the student’s interests and expand their reading level. We also have the opportunity to introduce students to new titles and genres that they might not have considered otherwise.

The Glen Allen Day annual community celebration is now in its 21st year at Crump Park | Meadow Farm Museum in Henrico County, Virginia. Glen Allen Day is traditionally held on the third Saturday of September each year. Thousands of attendees enjoy family-friendly activities including a parade, food court, arts & crafts and business fair, fun walk and a doubles corn-hole tournament. This year the parade and events were pushed to October 20^th (due to bad weather) and were held in conjunction with Meadow Farm, Harvest Day.

"This event is an opportunity to connect with other schools, community leaders, former and current students and parents, and local vendors. As we parade and walk the grounds of Glen Allen Day, I am warmly greeted and welcomed. It makes me feel like a rock star."

5th Graders at Jackson Davis Elementary School completed their first-ever Genius Hour this nine weeks. Students were introduced to the idea and guided to choose their own "big question" that they wanted to research. Students worked independently and met with the librarian weekly for guidance. After about five weeks, students presented their findings to one another. Projects ranged from creating a new art movement, to coding video games, to researching how lie detector tests work. Students are already ready with their next big question!

Second graders at Baker Elementary learned about authors first-hand with an author visit, saw how authors sold their books at the Book Fair, and are now publishing their own class book.

"We began October with an author visit from Richard and Kathy Verlander. Before their visit, we discussed in the classrooms and library classes what authors do, and we thought of a list of questions to ask Richard and Kathy Verlander. Most of our questions were about how to write a book and how it was made. Then, October continued with our Fall Scholastic Book Fair and Math and Literacy Night so students were able to see how authors sold their published books. After that, we began the process of writing our own book by studying haikus. I chose haikus to connect to the 2^nd grade Language Arts SOLs, and the students chose their topics and partners and began writing. The students will also choose how to illustrate their haikus."