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Our final contest for this school year is just for the 5th graders! This is your time to shine! This year, students who are interested in receiving the Susan Symes Award must complete the following requirements:

1. Read any 20 books.
2. Write a brief 3-5 sentence summary of each book
3. Complete 1 creative project on 1 of the books (see guidelines).

Every student who completes the above 3 steps will be recognized as being a participant for the Susan Symes Memorial Award at the end-of-year awards assembly.

The librarian and the 5th grade teachers will evaluate the projects and the summaries to determine the winner of the award. The winner will have his/her name added to the plaque in the library hallway, receive a plaque for home, and will be recognized at the end-of-year Awards assembly in May 2013. The winner will also receive a $50 gift card to Barnes and Noble.

Projects are due no later than Monday May 20, 2013 to Mrs. Thrift in the library.

Project ideas could include:
• A photostory or video book trailer
• A graphic novel version of a scene or important events from the book
• A sculpture, diorama, or painting representing an important theme from the book
• A board game or card game based on the book
• Let your imagination be your guide!

We are looking for a project with creativity, effort, and one that relates well to the book!

Congratulations to our very own Matthew S. in Ms. Vargas’s 5th grade class for being in the top 75 Runners Up in the Storyworks Create-A-Character contest!!!  Over 6,000 entries were received nationwide, and Matthew’s character earned a place in the top 75!  Congratulations and keep writing, Matthew!

http://storyworks.scholastic.com/contests/create-a-character-contest-2013

****UPDATE***

Congrats to Hannah and Heather, our contest winners!  Come on down to the library for your signed copies of Zita the Space Girl!!******

Hey Old Town Texans! Get your creative thinking caps on. I want to see which Texan (or pair of Texans) can come up with the best comic strip remake of a fiction story. Think The Three Little Pigs, Hunger Games, Mr. Klutz is Nuts… any fiction story that is not currently in graphic form.

So either go it alone, or grab a buddy, then decide which fiction story you want to adapt to a graphic format.

Plan your comic Strip. You can either pick up this form in the library, or you can print it from home.

Then create your comic strip using the comic strip maker.

Print it out, color it if you choose, and submit both your plan and your final comic strip to Ms. Thrift no later than March 29th.

The winner(s) will recieve a signed copy of Ben Hatke’s newest Zita the Space Girl book!

And speaking of Zita the Space Girl, here is the book trailer:

Good luck!
Ms. Thrift

Congrats to Owen B., who is the winner of this month’s contest!

This month’s contest prize is a Diary of a Wimpy kid bookmark!  In order to enter, you need to go to the following website and create your very own Diary of a Wimpy Kid avatar.  Look, here’s Ms. Thrift as a Wimpy avatar:

Now make your own:  

Watch my video instructions here if you need help: 

After you create your avatar, copy the link to your avatar into the comments below.  I will randomly choose one of the winners to recieve the bookmark.

Be Wimpy!

  Okay everyone, the Create a Character contest entries are in the mail to New York City for Gordon Korman to pick the winner!  I sure hope one of the winners comes from Old Town Elementary.  We had quite a few entries. 

Now, I can’t decide who wins the national contest.  But I did choose the top 4 entries.  Congratulations goes to Peyton D., Peter M., Drew T. and Anna D .  They were the top 4 entries at Old Town!  Come on down to the library to get a free book from my secret stash. 

Good luck everyone for the national contest!

Ms. Thrift

P.S. Come see all the entries on the bulletin board outside the library (by the kinder hallway)!!!

Thank you so much to the Partner’s in Education Foundation for donating $2,794.37 to Old Town Library!  This money will be spent on playaways for The Breakfast Club!

The Breakfast Club is an invitation only club for children who eat breakfast on a regular basis before school.  They are invited to the library to eat breakfast and to hear great stories read aloud.  Now, thanks to the generosity of the Partners in Education Foundation, they will be able to check out some great audio books to take home and enjoy also!

Thank you so much!!!

Ms. Thrift

Wow, we have an amazing opportunity to work with Gordon Korman, the author of these favorite books:

Storyworks Magazine is working with Gordon Korman  on an amazing contest for kids.  Kids from all over the country get to create and submit their best character sketch and Gordon Korman is going to write a story using the winning character!

Come to the library to pick up your official entry form to fill out and return to me.   Because I need to mail these entries in time for them to reach New York City, I cannot accept entries after the Wednesday October 10th deadline.

All OTE entries will be posted on the library bulletin board, and the top 3 characters will get a prize.  And who knows, maybe Gordon Korman will select YOUR character to write about in next month’s Storyworks magazine!

Entry forms available in the library!

Congratulations to Maddy M.  who read One Handed Catch this summer and Owen B. w ho read Mockingjay this summer!  Way to go guys!  Have fun tracking your minutes and reading under the covers with your new bookmark/timer/booklight!