Memorial Middle School Library

The Scholastic Summer Challenge is a free program that helps kids find great books and provides a fun, multimedia platform for them to discover new authors, talk about books with other kids, and keep motivated to read all summer long.

This year’s Summer Challenge unites students and schools to read in an attempt to set a new world record for summer reading. Kids sign up for their school, choose books they want to read, then log their reading minutes at the Summer Challenge headquarters. Schools that log the most minutes will be published in the 2011 edition of the Scholastic Book of World Records! Students will also be a part of a 50,000 book donation to Reading Is Fundamental.

Program Helpers – Session 1: June 14-30 (Orientation: June 8-10, 2-3pm) Session 2: July 12-28 (Orientation: July 6-8, 2-3pm). Middle and high school students have the opportunity to serve the community during the Kids’ Program. They will assist with supervising the children, facilitating the activities, and helping the program run smoothly.

Drama Group – June 15-July 31, Tuesdays, 2:30-3:30pm. Registration will open May 24-June 6. Students ages 10-14 will practice and perform skits, readers’ theaters, and puppet shows for the Kids’ Program, Story Times, and Summer Reading Celebration.

Reading Challenge – June 14 – July 29. Students ages 0-18 can earn raffle tickets for every book they read and record. Game boards may be picked up at the library between May 24 and June 20. The drawings and Reading Challenge Awards will be held during the Summer Reading Celebration.

Summer Reading Celebration – July 31, 2-4pm. All program participants and their families are welcome to attend this culminating event of the summer. It will be a celebration of the sensational readers who participated in the Reading Challenge with games, food, and entertainment.

Questions? Contact Molly at 956-216-5820 or mosborn@harlingenlibrary.com or visit the Harlingen Public Library Children’s Department Blog.

Texas students in grades 7-12 are invited to submit a piece of original fiction, no more than 2,000 words in length on the 2010 theme “Goodbye to All That.” Cash prizes will be awarded to the first, second, and third place winners in each division. First place winners will be honored at the 2010 Texas Book Festival, where they will read their compositions in a public Festival session at the Texas State Capitol. The winning entries will also be published on the Texas Book Festival website.  Deadline to submit entries by fax or email is July 2, 2010. Schools are limited to three entries per division. Winners will be notified by October 2010. For complete contest rules and entry forms, please visit the website.

Get ready to be a star @ your library! Walk the red carpet as you shop for books and fun stuff, but don’t forget to pose for the paparazzi! Visit the Book Fair Website for more information.

UPDATE: We sold 146 books! Thank you everyone for making this a successful book fair!

We will be getting new phone books soon. DON’T THROW AWAY THE OLD ONES! Harlingen Proud will award cash prizes to the 3 schools that collect the most phone books! Starting March 1, we will begin collecting old phone books @ the library. Students will be entered in weekly drawings for each one they turn in. Prizes will include cash vouchers to be used at the upcoming Scholastic Book Fair!

UPDATE: We collected 167 telephone books! Thank you to all who participated!

The library has been saving all the envelopes received in the mail since school started. Crew members cut off the bottom corners of each envelope, which resulted in perfect bookmarks. A crafting station will be set up in the library, and students can come in during their lunch to personalize their own bookmark with colored paper, markers, rubber stamps, and sequins.

Students can start bringing their gently used paperback books to the library. We will keep track of who turned in books and how many. In December we will hold a Book Swap where students will be given tickets (determined by how many books they turned in) to exchange for “new” paperbacks.

The library is accepting can tabs as payment for overdue fines. One tab will pay for a 5 cent fine. We are not competing with the homerooms; we are only trying to get students to bring in more tabs. All tabs will be given to the Ronald McDonald House.

Kids Are Authors is an annual competition that encourages teams of three or more K-8 students to use their reading, writing, and artistic skills to create a picture book. All entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2010. Two Grand Prize winning books (fiction and nonfiction)  will be published by Scholastic and sold at Book Fairs. Grand Prize winning teams will receive $5,000 in Scholastic merchandise for their school, 100 copies of their published book, framed award certificates and gold medallions. Twenty-five Honorable Mention winners will receive $500 in Scholastic merchandise for their school and award certificates. Winners will be notified by May 31, 2010. Visit the website for complete rules and entry forms. The library has award books from past years available to use as samples.

C-SPAN’s StudentCam is an annual competition that encourages students to think about issues that affect our communities and our nation. Students are asked to create a short (5-8 minute) video documentary individually or with a team that responds to one of these topics: (A) One of our country’s greatest strengths or (B) A challenge the country is facing. All entries must be submitted by January 20, 2010. Visit the website for complete rules and entry forms. The library has two video cameras and two digital cameras that record video available for teacher checkout.