During the week of September 15th, Smithville Elementary celebrated Dot Day!  Our students listened to the story of The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.





Then, we created our very own dots and put them together for an amazing display!



Wow!  what an amazing way to "make our mark!"

Let's take a #shelfie!

Over the past week, SES students have been practicing library procedures (and having a little fun, too)!  Here are some awesome students who won the library review game in each of their classes!  As a reward, they got to take a #shelfie (a picture of themselves with some books) in the library.  Way to go, guys!

(I love how the Pigeon is photobombing this one!)

Children's Book Week!

Last week, Smithville Elementary celebrated National Children's Book Week!  Students participated in week-long activities like locating mystery books in the library, matching teachers to their favorite books, and writing the titles of their favorite books on the chalk wall.

Some of our students volunteered to write a book recommendation for their peers.  They were featured in mini posters around the school, along with a QR code that links to a recording of their review!

In addition, we had some special visitors from Junior High who partnered with some of our third graders for a special reading time.

Grace and Evan share a story.

Jaxon and Cole read together.

We were also lucky enough to have two classes of seventh graders put together some readers theater skits for us.  Each small group adapted a favorite children's picture book for a live re-enactment.  Our students loved watching the "big kids" perform!

Tanner and Ethan bring The Gold Miner's Daughter to life.

Brody plays the boy from The Giving Tree, rowing away from home.

King Arthur's Very Great Grandson (Eliana) encounters a Cyclops (Emily).

Third graders were literally on the edge of their seats!

Mrs. Prihoda's art classes from Junior High also created some amazing larger-than-life character cut-outs for Children's Book Week!  Our students had a great time posing with some of their favorite characters!

Annie as Little Red Riding Hood

Logan makes a fantastic Willy Wonka!

Kelly with the Head of Ranch Security (Hank the Cowdog)

Frog and Toad (and Bodie) are friends.

Looks like Lydia and Margherita are headed down a sunny dirt road, deep in Bear Country!

Louise shares a snack with Piglet.

And, finally, we ended our week of book-related fun with our third annual Read-In at Red Brick.  The Read-In featured a live reading of The Day the Crayons Quit, with some of our administration and staff playing the parts of the crayons.

What a COLORFUL cast of characters!

We wrapped up the Read-In with a live reading of Carnivores by some awesome fifth graders.

Margherita (Timber Wolf), Brooklyn (Lion), Bodie (narrator), and Vivian (Great White Shark) turned out to be ferocious meat-eaters!

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate how meaningful and special children's books are in our school and in our students lives!  It was a fantastic week!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

This Monday, Smithville Elementary celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday, and, since he's one of our favorite authors, we've kept the celebration going all week long!

We've been dressing up according to our Dr. Seuss theme days!

The library got a Dr. Seuss makeover!

Truffula trees sprouted overnight!

Students are using our chalk wall to vote for their favorite Seuss character!

And, we've been participating in some fun Dr. Seuss crafts!

Leiana models her Lorax mustache and her pink hat for Cat in the Hat day.

Blain and his mini Truffula tree.

Gabrielle is proud of her pink and purple Truffula tree.

Is that Abigail behind that mustache?

Evan with his Horton Hears a Who pencil.

Inez knows that "A person's a person, no matter how small!"

Matthew's origami fish.

Miguel with his Thing 1 bookmark and Keep Calm and Read On bookmark.

Steven made a tiger-striped fish.

A little Katy cat!

Thing 1 and Thing 2 (also known as Marisol and Jasmine).

Abby's Horton pencils says "Small people are awesome!"

To download instructions for these, click on the picture of each below!