This week Mrs. Sawyer's class was on a secret mission to spread kindness all around our school!
Join us in giving a HUGE round of applause to our amazing Preschool readers who have reached incredible goals — 500 Books Before Kindergarten and 100 Books Before Kindergarten! 🎉🎉
We are beyond proud of each of you! We continue to fill our weeks with great stories, new authors, exciting adventures, and so much growth. With every book opened, you are building a strong foundation to become lifelong readers.
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”
❤️ — Emilie Buchwald
Our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program is completely FREE and designed to encourage families to read together every single day. Reading at home is not only a special bonding time — it builds vocabulary, strengthens comprehension, develops memory, sparks imagination, and lays the groundwork for future academic success.
🎉 A special congratulations to our students who have reached the 500 Book milestone! What an incredible accomplishment! Keep turning those pages! 📖✨
Charlotte Hall
Ray Riley
🎉 And a big celebration for our students who have reached the 100 Book milestone! Every page you turn helps you grow stronger, smarter, and more confident as a reader. We are so proud of your hard work — keep reading and keep shining! 📚✨
Zackori Hamilton
Luca Mendez
Harmmoni Foret
We are beyond proud of each of you! We continue to fill our weeks with great stories, new authors, exciting adventures, and so much growth. With every book opened, you are building a strong foundation to become lifelong readers.
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”
❤️ — Emilie Buchwald
Our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program is completely FREE and designed to encourage families to read together every single day. Reading at home is not only a special bonding time — it builds vocabulary, strengthens comprehension, develops memory, sparks imagination, and lays the groundwork for future academic success.
🎉 A special congratulations to our students who have reached the 500 Book milestone! What an incredible accomplishment! Keep turning those pages! 📖✨
Charlotte Hall
Ray Riley
🎉 And a big celebration for our students who have reached the 100 Book milestone! Every page you turn helps you grow stronger, smarter, and more confident as a reader. We are so proud of your hard work — keep reading and keep shining! 📚✨
Zackori Hamilton
Luca Mendez
Harmmoni Foret
There’s nothing better than finding your next favorite book—especially when it comes highly recommended by a friend! That’s what makes We Recommend Wednesday so much fun at LD! 📚✨
This week, we’re shining the spotlight on our First Grade Battle of the Books team and what they think is a must read!❤️ 📚
The teams top pick? Click Clack Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin!
They shared, “ We love Click Clack Moo because the animals were so funny and we couldn’t wait to find out what happened at the end!”
If you’re ready for giggles and great stories, swing by the LD Library to check out this great story—and while you’re there, you just might discover your next favorite book too!
This week, we’re shining the spotlight on our First Grade Battle of the Books team and what they think is a must read!❤️ 📚
The teams top pick? Click Clack Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin!
They shared, “ We love Click Clack Moo because the animals were so funny and we couldn’t wait to find out what happened at the end!”
If you’re ready for giggles and great stories, swing by the LD Library to check out this great story—and while you’re there, you just might discover your next favorite book too!
📚 Battle of the Books 2026 📚
Congratulations to our First and Second Grade students who were selected to represent our school on this year’s Louise Durham Battle of the Books teams! 🎉
Battle of the Books is a reading competition where teams of students answer questions based on a pre-selected list of books they’ve read. Sponsored by the DeQueen–Mena Educational Co-Op, this program promotes reading comprehension, teamwork, and a love for literature.
During the competition, teams face off by answering trivia-style questions about the books’ characters, themes, and events. It’s a fun and engaging way to build literacy skills and foster a strong sense of community around reading.
Our first and second grade teams will compete against other area schools this March, and we couldn’t be more proud of their dedication and hard work! 📖✨
📚 Way to go, readers! We are so excited about all the books you’ve read and can’t wait to cheer you on! ❤️
One of the best ways to discover new favorite books is through recommendations—and that’s why we LOVE We Recommend Wednesday! 📚
This week’s We Recommend Wednesday features First Grade student Violet Ward! 📚📚
Violet from Mrs. Sawyer’s First Grade class loves visiting the library throughout the week, where she enjoys discovering new characters and stories.
She LOVES books and was so excited to recommend all the books in the Pig The Pug Series by Aaron Blabey.
“I love all of the books in the Pig The Pug Series! He is so much fun and always makes me laugh.”~Violet
Stop by the LD Library to grab any of the books in this fun series and discover so many other amazing books!
This week’s We Recommend Wednesday features First Grade student Violet Ward! 📚📚
Violet from Mrs. Sawyer’s First Grade class loves visiting the library throughout the week, where she enjoys discovering new characters and stories.
She LOVES books and was so excited to recommend all the books in the Pig The Pug Series by Aaron Blabey.
“I love all of the books in the Pig The Pug Series! He is so much fun and always makes me laugh.”~Violet
Stop by the LD Library to grab any of the books in this fun series and discover so many other amazing books!
Our kindergarten class is excited to begin working with number bonds!
Students are having fun composing and decomposing numbers as they build strong math skills.
National English Honor Society members delivered letters from Santa and postcards from the elves to the second grade students of Louise Durham Elementary on Monday.
A Big Congratulations to our Preschool students who have now read 500 Books Before Kindergarten!!!🎉🎉. We are so very proud of you!!
“When you read to a child, when you put a book in a child’s hands, when you pass on your love of words and stories, you are doing something incredibly powerful.”
❤️ -Mem Fox
1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is a Free program that’s goal is to encourage families to read daily!
In return, not only is it a fun family activity, it also
builds vocabulary, improves comprehension, develops memory skills, develops imagination, and impacts literacy skills and their future academic success!
🎉Congratulations To:
Armanii Gonzalez
Madeline Walker
Wesley Ann Watts
“When you read to a child, when you put a book in a child’s hands, when you pass on your love of words and stories, you are doing something incredibly powerful.”
❤️ -Mem Fox
1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is a Free program that’s goal is to encourage families to read daily!
In return, not only is it a fun family activity, it also
builds vocabulary, improves comprehension, develops memory skills, develops imagination, and impacts literacy skills and their future academic success!
🎉Congratulations To:
Armanii Gonzalez
Madeline Walker
Wesley Ann Watts
Jenna Williams and Averie Martin from the Mena Middle School FCCLA made a presentation about making healthy choices to students at Louise Durham on Thursday! They did a great job and the students loved it!
Turkey’s in Disguise at LD! 🦃
This November we are all about STEM for GT enrichment! 🦃
Kindergarteners are building a turkey coop to house our turkey until Thanksgiving.
1st graders are making a boat after learning a little about the Mayflower.
2nd graders are building a device that helps poor Farmer Fred (he broke his leg) get corn/pumpkins out to the turkey.
Kindergarteners are building a turkey coop to house our turkey until Thanksgiving.
1st graders are making a boat after learning a little about the Mayflower.
2nd graders are building a device that helps poor Farmer Fred (he broke his leg) get corn/pumpkins out to the turkey.
Team Day. Team America at LDE 🇺🇸❤️🤍💙
Thank you, Miss Polk County for coming to read to Mrs. Todd's Students on Friday. It was the perfect ending to the best day.
LDE students had a fun visit this from Firepup and Smokey Bear on Thursday! We learned about Fire Safety and what to do in an emergency!
The best way to find new favorite books to read is by book suggestions and that is why we LOVE
“We Recommend Wednesday!”📚
We Recommend Wednesday with Mrs. Sirkis’s Kindergarten Class! 📚📚
The Faculty, Staff and Students at Louise Durham love books, reading and talking about all their favorite stories!
Mrs. Sirkis’s class was excited to recommend the book: “Tap The Magic Tree ”
Her class said :
We loved the book “Tap The Magic Tree” because it is magic! Every time you touch and turn the page something new happens. We used this book to learn more about the seasons of the year! This is a must read!”❤️📚
Grab this awesome book and so many others in our LD library!
“We Recommend Wednesday!”📚
We Recommend Wednesday with Mrs. Sirkis’s Kindergarten Class! 📚📚
The Faculty, Staff and Students at Louise Durham love books, reading and talking about all their favorite stories!
Mrs. Sirkis’s class was excited to recommend the book: “Tap The Magic Tree ”
Her class said :
We loved the book “Tap The Magic Tree” because it is magic! Every time you touch and turn the page something new happens. We used this book to learn more about the seasons of the year! This is a must read!”❤️📚
Grab this awesome book and so many others in our LD library!
Mystery guest reader in Mrs. Todd's class!!
I’ve never seen a group of kids love a book this much. They begged our mystery guest reader to pick this one. When you have someone as animated as Coach Rose read one of your favorites you can guarantee it’s nonstop giggles.
I’ve never seen a group of kids love a book this much. They begged our mystery guest reader to pick this one. When you have someone as animated as Coach Rose read one of your favorites you can guarantee it’s nonstop giggles.
The best way to find new favorite books to read is by book suggestions and that is why we LOVE
“We Recommend Wednesday!”📚
We Recommend Wednesday with Mrs. Todd’s Kindergarten Class! 📚📚
The Faculty, Staff and Students at Louise Durham love books, reading and talking about all their favorite stories!
Mrs. Todd’s class was excited to recommend the book: “Pout-Pout Fish ”
Her class said :
“We loved reading this hilarious rhyming story with Mr. Pout-Pout Fish! His journey shows us that it’s all about perspective—our attitudes can make a big difference in how we see the world. This story reminds us that feelings don’t last forever and with a little shift in thinking, we can choose joy and kindness instead of gloom”..❤️📚
Grab this awesome book and so many others in our LD library!
“We Recommend Wednesday!”📚
We Recommend Wednesday with Mrs. Todd’s Kindergarten Class! 📚📚
The Faculty, Staff and Students at Louise Durham love books, reading and talking about all their favorite stories!
Mrs. Todd’s class was excited to recommend the book: “Pout-Pout Fish ”
Her class said :
“We loved reading this hilarious rhyming story with Mr. Pout-Pout Fish! His journey shows us that it’s all about perspective—our attitudes can make a big difference in how we see the world. This story reminds us that feelings don’t last forever and with a little shift in thinking, we can choose joy and kindness instead of gloom”..❤️📚
Grab this awesome book and so many others in our LD library!
Louise Durham Elementary is so grateful for the generous donation of tissue and hygiene products from Mena Area Realtors! 🐾🖤❤️ Your support helps keep our students healthy, comfortable, and ready to learn. Thank you for investing in our kids and our school community!
First day of Kindergarten was amazing!
We had a great 1st day back!
