Monthly Blog

Take a look back at the fun we had during the 2023-24 school year!

September 2023

Welcome to a new school year at Meyer! We've all had fun getting to know each other and getting into our routines. Pre-K students got to see me in their classrooms for the first few weeks of school before visiting me in the library, and the kindergarten students got to go on a scavenger hunt to all the different areas of the library and use some of them as well, such as the Lego walls! 

During the month of September, students learned all about checking out Meyer library books and enjoyed reading them on our big, cozy bean bags! 

Once a month, kindergarten students will engage in a STEAM activity during their library time. For the first activity this month, they became engineers and worked together to build apple trees with only 3 supplies and no tape or glue! We saw a lot of great teamwork and problem solving! 

Make sure to check back here every month to see all of the exciting things we're getting up to in the Meyer library! 

October 2023

We had so much fun in the library in October! Pre-K students finished up their fall unit by participating in some apple centers that let them use teamwork, creativity, and problem solving skills to have some fall fun with their friends!

Kindergarten students completed their 2nd monthly STEAM activity after learning the rhyme 5 Little Pumpkins. They worked in groups to choose materials, draw a plan, and build a gate for 5 little pumpkins to sit on top of. All the budding engineers did a great job! 

November 2023

We had a busy month in the library! Pre-K students got a chance to build on our Lego walls. They did a great job sharing, taking turns, and being creative!

Kindegarten students got to experience a Breakout EDU in the library, which is something similar to an educational escape room. Classes worked together in small groups to solve puzzles about letters, numbers, words, shapes, and colors. Then we all worked together to unlock the locks at a "pumpkin patch" and pick the "perfect pumpkins." The locks were real, and the "perfect pumpkins" were pumpkin-shaped erasers that each student got to keep. We were able to have so much fun and successfully complete this activity thanks to so many wonderful volunteers that came in to help. Thank you so much to everyone that was able to volunteer their time! 

December 2023

We had so much fun in the library during the month of December! The Pre-K students started a unit all about the famous author and illustrator Eric Carle. We studied a wordless picture book that he made titled I See A Song. Afterwards, each student had a chance to become an illustrator and draw their own pictures inspired by a piece of classical music that we listened to while drawing. Everyone had such creative interpretations of the music!

Some of the Pre-K classrooms even turned their dramatic play area into Eric Carle libraries during this unit! Check out the adorable pictures below of the kids getting a chance to try out my job! 😁

The kindergarten students closed out their gingerbread unit with an engineering challenge. They worked in small groups to make boats for the gingerbread man so that he could cross the river safely and escape the fox. It was so much fun to think about an alternate ending to the classic story, and the students did a fantastic job with every step of the engineering process, from planning how to build the boats to testing them and improving them if they sank. Special thanks to all the family members who were able to join us and help out during this project! 

January 2024

2024 started off cold and snowy, but we made it through and stayed warm in the library! Preschool classes started their art unit. After reading the book Nola's Scribbles Save The Day , students each contributed their own scribbles to a class artwork on our library screen. They chose if they wanted to draw with red or black, and made their own unique marks!

Kindergarteners were introduced to the Monarch Award this month. It's an Illinois picture book award where students in grades K-3 get to vote for the winner! We have been reading nominated books all month long, and will continue to read them in February and March before students vote for their favorite. 

Kindergarteners also started to learn about coding this month. We discussed what coders do, and practiced by playing a Very Hungry Caterpillar board game that challenged the students to work together and "code" their caterpillar piece to move around the board and eat the same foods that it does in the book in the correct order. They did a great job working together and taking turns to make it all the way to the end! We will continue to learn more about coding next month! Stay tuned. 

February 2024

We kicked off February by celebrating World Read Aloud Day across the entire school! Students from the McCracken Social Justice Club came to Meyer and read books aloud to each classroom. We always love a visit from "the big kids"! It made the day extra special for everyone.

The kindergarten classes continued to learn and practice their coding skills by playing the board game Robot Turtles. They "coded" the adults on how to guide their turtles where they needed to go. Thank you to all the volunteers that came and helped us with our game! We are continuing to learn about coding all throughout the spring. 

March 2024

We had so much library fun in March! The preschool classes finished their fairytale unit by studying the classic Three Little Pigs. After hearing the story, the students worked together to build a house that the "big bad wolf" couldn't blow down. The Big Bad Hairdryer tried its best, but almost every house stayed standing! Everyone exhibited great teamwork and creativity!

Preschool students also got a chance to build on the the Lego walls before spring break. They did a fantastic job sharing and building together!

Kindergarten students have been listening to books that were nominated for the Illinois Monarch Award since returning from winter break in January! We finally finished reading them all in early March, and every kindergartener voted for their favorite book. The winner still hasn't been announced yet, hopefully we will get to find out soon! 

Kindergarteners also continued their coding experience in March by coding REAL robots! Everyone was so excited and did such a great job following directions and learning something new. They used special Bluetooth puzzle pieces called Puzzlets to code Dash robots and figure out what each piece would make the robot do. 

April 2024

April was an exciting month! We were honored to have award-winning author and illustrator Cozbi Cabrera visit us for a whole-school morning assembly. She sang, clapped, danced, and interacted with the students as she shared some of her book Me & Mama with them. Everyone had a fantastic time! 

The Kindergarten students continued their coding practice with the Dash robots again this month. This time, they coded Dash by using an iPad app. They are all catching on so quickly! 

As I type this, the Scholastic Book Fair is set up and ready to welcome families this week, especially during the Meyer Showcase! We're excited for all the fun we're going to have during the last month of school. 

May 2024

The school year is coming to a close, and we had lots of fun in the library to wrap up all that we have learned and experienced this year. We had so much fun in fact that I sometimes forgot to take pictures- oops!

Both the Pre-K and Kindergarten classes enjoyed some springtime fun with books about caterpillars and butterflies. Author and illustrator Ross Burach has written several entertaining books about an impatient caterpillar/butterfly. After reading all of the books in the series, students had a chance to design their own butterfly wings! 

Pre-K students enjoyed one last round of building centers in the library before the end of the school year. They worked together to create amazing creations with Mangatiles, Legos, Keva planks, and bristle blocks. 

Kindergarten students got to use the iPad app "Go" to code the Dash robots one more time. They have learned so much this year, and we had such a great time with the robots that I forgot to take any pictures! 

I hope you all have a wonderful summer, and I look forward to seeing many of you again at Meyer in the fall!