Monthly Blog

Take a look back at the fun we had during the 2021-22 school year!

September 2021

After a very long year and a half, we are back in person full time at Meyer School! This year, I will be seeing each class once a week for book checkout, group read-alouds, and fun activities and projects!

We started the school year by getting to know each other and the library. We made class books of our favorite days after reading the book Our Favorite Day of the Year by A.E. Ali, had some fun learning the rules with a popular character: David from the book series by David Shannon, and got to begin checking out library books!

I'm looking forward to a great school year of learning and fun with our Meyer Shining Stars!

October 2021

We had a lot of fall fun in the library during the month of October! All preschool and kindergarten classes read one of my favorite interactive fall/Halloween books: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. After reading with the kindergarten students, they did a sequencing activity to see if they could remember the order in which the little old lady met different pieces of a scarecrow in the woods. We had so much fun that I didn't even take any pictures of it! We also had some more Halloween fun reading and singing along with the book If You're A Monster And You Know It by Ed and Rebecca Emberley. Afterward, the kindergarteners made their own paper monsters! As always, the students also got to check out library books. One lucky kindergarten student even checked out the 2 books in our library written by our very own Meyer teachers, Mrs. Yom and Mrs. Nahhas!

November 2021

We were feeling very thankful to be together at Meyer during the month of November! We read some fun books, discussed what we are grateful for, and lots of building happened in both preschool and kindergarten! Kindergarteners were introduced the to the Lego wall and were able to explore it together after reading Jabari Tries by Gaia Cornwall, all about siblings working together to become budding engineers. Preschoolers became architects for the day during their community helpers unit, and used their imaginations at several different building centers. Kindergarteners also prepared for Thanksgiving and the spirit of sharing by drawing the food they would choose to bring to a feast, inspired by the book Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora. That activity was so much fun that I didn't even remember to take any pictures of the students' creations! Rest assured that they worked very hard on their drawings and loved sharing their ideas with their classmates.

As always, I am thankful for the families and staff members of Meyer School!

December 2021

December was a short month, but we packed in a lot of learning and fun! We wrapped up the Pre-K Eric Carle unit by doing some activities connected to one of his wordless books called I See A Song. First we "read" the book, then we watched the musical video interpretation of it. Finally, the students became the illustrators as we listened to the song from the video, and they drew their own interpretation of the song on blank paper. We were truly able to see their songs, and the results were fantastic!

In kindergarten, we finished their gingerbread unit by reading The Gingerbread Man Loose In The School, then planning and building houses from recycled materials for some paper gingerbread people. Students worked together to decorate their own gingerbread people, make and draw a plan for their houses, and then build it and place their gingerbread people inside. I'm so proud of all the amazing creativity and teamwork that I saw during this project!

We'll be sure to get up to more educational fun in the library in 2022!

January 2022

As we enter a new year in the Meyer library, we are very busy with lots of exciting things! In preschool, we extended their art unit into the library by making some class art on the SMART TV. Every student got a turn to draw one thing on the board and by the end, we had a class masterpiece! Please enjoy all 4 preschool class art projects:

In kindergarten, we began an exciting unit all about the Monarch Award, a special Illinois book award where the winner is voted on entirely by K-3rd grade students in the state. We are reading 10 of the books that are nominated and doing special projects related to them over the course of January and February, before submitting our votes at the beginning of March!

One of the books we read, Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard, is all about the special food that a Native American family makes and enjoys together. After reading, the kindergarteners wrote and drew about a food that is special to their family and got to share with the class. Stay tuned for more exciting Monarch projects in February!

February 2022

There was a lot to celebrate in February: Black History Month, Valentine's Day, World Read Aloud Day, and finishing up our Monarch Award-nominated books in kindergarten! Among the titles that we read in February were I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes. After reading, students thought about what is special about themselves, then wrote and drew about it by finishing the sentence "I am..."

We also read Potato Pants by Laurie Keller, a silly book with some important messages about kindness and forgiveness hidden within. The students got to become designers and create their own potato pants!

In preschool, we celebrated their fairy tale unit by reading The Three Little Pigs and doing a special STEAM project inspired by the story. Students worked together to build houses out of play-doh, popsicle sticks, and other craft materials in the hopes that it would not get blown down by the Big Bad Hairdryer Wolf! All the students did a fantastic job working together to build strong houses.

February 2nd was World Read Aloud Day, and we. celebrated by having some special guests read aloud to each preschool and kindergarten class during that week! Social Justice Club members from McCracken joined us from their library over Zoom. It was such a special treat that everyone enjoyed!

In March, kindergarten students will get to vote for their favorite book and hopefully before spring break, we will find out which one wins the Monarch Award this year! Stay tuned for the results!

March 2022

We were very busy in the library in March! Pre-K finished up their unit on fairy tales, learned all about the author Laura Numeroff, and also started a unit on habitats! We had a great time reading books connected to those units, and also practicing sharing and teamwork skills by building with different types of Duplos on the library's Lego Walls!

In kindergarten, we read The Little Butterfly That Could, the sequel to one of the students' favorite Monarch-nominated books, The Very Impatient Caterpillar, and created our own symmetrical butterflies with markers, crayons, and dot painters.

Kindergarteners also got a chance to explore some of the different building materials that we have for them to use in the library by participating in some building centers before spring break!

Finally, at the beginning of the month, every kindergarten student voted for the book they wanted to win the Monarch Award. The votes are in, and the book that won here at Meyer is the same book that won the Monarch Award statewide: Potato Pants by Laurie Keller!

See you back here next month for more adventures in the Meyer Library!

April 2022

April was full of excitement in the Meyer library! The winner of the Monarch Award was announced, and it was the same book that received the most votes here at Meyer School- Potato Pants by Laurie Keller!

The kindergarten students also got a chance to meet some special Dash robots in the library and use 2 different iPad apps to learn how to control them and complete challenges- they were all such fast learners, and had a great time exploring!

In Pre-K, we wrapped up the habitat unit by doing a STEAM challenge connected to the book Goodnight, Gorilla. Students worked in groups to see if they could use some wooden materials to build a bed big enough to fit all of their animal figures. We loved seeing all the different problem-solving strategies that were on display during their building time!

It's hard to believe that there is only 1 month of school left- check back here at the end of May for the final blog post of the school year!

May 2022

The last month of school was quite a whirlwind! We did several activities to wrap up the school year and prepare for what's next. In kindergarten, we read Goodbye Friend, Hello Friend by Cori Doerrfeld, then discussed saying goodbye to kindergarten and hello to 1st grade. The students drew pictures and wrote about one thing they would miss about kindergarten as well as one thing they're looking forward to in 1st grade.

In both preschool and kindergarten, we brought things full circle by revisiting a book and activity that we did at the beginning of the school year in September. We re-read Our Favorite Day of the Year by A.E. Ali, and read the class books that were made called "Our Favorite Days." Then everyone made another, updated favorite day paper. Some students still have the same favorite day of the year, and some changed their minds. No matter what, we all loved seeing the differences in how students are able to write their name and draw so many things now that they weren't able to do at the beginning of the school year. So much learning has gone on since September!

We also finally got to have an in-person book fair this month for the first time in 2 1/2 years! Thank you so much to everyone that came in person and/or shopped online- we had such an amazing turnout that exceeded all expectations! It was so lovely to see so many families at school during the Meyer Showcase.

Thanks to the Meyer Parent Leaders, we now have a Little Free Library right outside the front doors of Meyer! There have already been many books being put in and taken out. During every class' final library time of the school year, we were able to take a little walk outside to the front doors and visit the Little Free Library in person. Please visit it over the summer if you're out and about in the neighborhood!

Have a wonderful summer, and we'll see some of you in August for the 2022-23 school year!