🌟📚 A Very Special SCJBA Moment! 📚🌟
Our student Caroline earned the incredible honor of introducing last year’s SC Junior Book Award winning author Debbi Michiko Florence at an awards ceremony during the SCASL Conference: Where Libraries Bloom. Debbi Michiko Florence authored the students’ choice award-winning book Sweet and Sour! 🍎🍋
Caroline and her mom are both dedicated members of the SCJBA committee; they read about 100 books, vote, and help choose the nominees for the following year. Their passion for reading truly shines! ✨
During the conference, Caroline, her mom, Mrs. Courtney, and Mrs. Fisher had the pleasure of enjoying lunch with Debbi Michiko Florence who later sent Caroline a signed copy of her book along with some fun book swag.
What an honor to dine with and introduce an award-winning author—a memory Caroline and our library team will treasure forever! 💛📖
Congratulations, Caroline, for representing our readers with such poise and enthusiasm!
Read Across America Beanstack Celebration
We had an amazing number of readers during our challenge! 📖
*453 students logged reading minutes
*195 students reached the 400-minute goal
*109 students officially completed the challenge by reading 400 minutes and completing the Integrity Badge
*14 Staffulty completed the challenge
So many students put in the hard work of reading, but 86 students who reached the 400-minute goal did not complete the final Integrity Badge step needed to officially complete the challenge. We hope to see even more students finish all parts next time! 📖
Grade Level Results:
6th Grade: 62 students completed
7th Grade: 26 students completed
8th Grade: 21 students completed
Our final challenge for the 25-26 school year begins April 1st.
This year, Mrs. Courtney and Mrs. Fisher introduced students to the exciting SC Junior Book Award nominees with a fun station rotation lesson back in the fall. Students had until February 15th to dive into three nominees of their choice and complete their Beanstack activities.
All students and staffulty who completed the challenge were invited to vote for their favorite nominee—and the celebration didn’t stop there! Our dedicated readers were treated to a Chick-fil-A breakfast complete with giveaways, including a Scholastic poster, a book of their choice, and a certificate to honor their reading achievements.
✨ Special Recognition: Three exceptional readers went above and beyond by reading all 20 nominees! They joined Mrs. Courtney and Mrs. Fisher in this impressive feat and were rewarded with Bookworm sweatshirts.
📸 Congratulations to all our readers for their hard work, dedication, and love of books! Your next adventure is just a page away!
The Winter Book Fair has officially wrapped up, and it was a great success! Students purchased many books and enjoyed the opportunity to select titles that matched their interests and reading preferences.
Research shows that student choice plays a powerful role in literacy development. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) states, “Letting students choose their own books boosts reading engagement and promotes social-emotional and intellectual growth.” Additionally, Jenni Aberli of the International Literacy Association emphasizes that “Student choice is the key to turning students into readers.”
⭐ Thanks to our community’s support:
$133 in Share the Fair funds was used to purchase books for students who may not have otherwise been able to shop.
10 books were raffled off, paid for with Scholastic Dollars.
3 students and 3 staff members won gift certificates to use at our next fair.
📅 Mark your calendars!
Our BOGO Book Fair (Buy One, Get One FREE) runs April 23–May 1. Scholastic requires two regular fairs before hosting a BOGO event, and we proudly do this to give students the opportunity to stock their personal libraries at a BOGO rate right before summer.
Thank you to everyone who helped make the Winter Book Fair a meaningful and exciting experience for our students. ✨
We had so much fun recognizing our prize winners from our latest Beanstack Challenge.
Some of our student readers enjoyed a delicious breakfast from Chick-fil-A, while others won gift certificates to shop at our next Scholastic Book Fair or picked out fun items from our prize basket.
And of course, we couldn’t forget our amazing staffulty readers—several enjoyed a tasty lunch from Moe's.
We are so proud of everyone who participated. Every page read makes a difference, and we love finding ways to celebrate the joy of reading in our school community! Keep turning those pages! 📖✨
We are SO proud of our MMSOA readers! 📚
Back in August, we set a lofty community goal on Beanstack — 1 MILLION logged reading minutes.
And guess what? 🎉 WE SURPASSED IT! 🎉
To celebrate, we treated everyone to ice pops because we officially “iced out the competition!” ❄️ What an incredible accomplishment for our entire school community!
But we’re not stopping there…
So what do we do now? We go BIGGER. We’re aiming for 2 MILLION logged minutes before the end of the school year! If we reach this goal, we’ll celebrate schoolwide with a SILENT DISCO 🪩🎧 and a photo booth to capture the fun!
Let’s keep logging those minutes, turning those pages, and showing what MMSOA readers can do! 2 million… here we come! Stay tuned! 👀 A brand-new challenge is launching soon—and don’t be surprised if Benny the Bean pops up as one of the prize options!
Students and staffulty came together to get crafty and spread love throughout our school community. Participants created beautiful “Kindness Makes Us Bloom” artwork using fingerprint painting—each unique print representing how every small act of kindness helps our school grow.
We also designed heartfelt greeting cards and artwork to gift to others, sharing encouragement, appreciation, and a little extra joy.
It was a wonderful reminder that when we create together, we connect together—and kindness truly helps us bloom!
Scholastic Book Fair: February 4 - 12
🕒 Regular Hours: 7:35 am – 3:30 pm (Families are invited to shop after school with their students.)
🌟 Want to plan your shopping trip? https://www.scholastic.com/bf/marringtonmiddleschofarts
Preview books, read synopses, and explore age recommendations and subjects/themes.
Set up eWallets: Create your child's Book Fair eWallet so he/she can shop cash-free and worry-free.
💳 Payment Options:
Cash, checks (made out to MNM), debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, and Scholastic eWallet
Thank you for supporting student literacy and the MMSOA Library! 📚
