Check out our Library Stats from the year!

- 1,485 Digital Checkouts
- $382.31 in fines collected
- 1,439 books weeded from collection
- 776 books added to collection
- 10,134 total items in the collection
- Average age of collection: 2012 with approximately 25 items available per student
- Special Events from the year:
· Author Jonathan D Miller visited Kinder - 3rd grade
· 4th grade Ozobots and Dash robots used for cross-curricular lessons
· STEAM night
· McKinney Public Library attended two school events
· Held our first STEAM book fair

Top Titles from the Most Popular Genres:
-Graphic Novels: Smile by Raina Telghmeir
-Humor: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot
-Fantasy: Percy Jackson
-Holiday: Monster Party
-Everybody Author: Adventures of Sammy

Keep those reading skills sharp this summer with this Bennett Reading Challenge. Try the some of the B.E.E. books, visit the McKinney Public Library, or continue being a Digital Library Explorer with Destiny and Sora. Be part of the team and READ! https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aQcBbnmMTjMEYn7c6WcXZP3DFxEm-m1qhQ0yIr126i8/view?usp=sharing

Graduating Seniors who attended Bennett Elementary joined us for Breakfast and a parade. The best part was on the way out, they stopped to watch our current Kindergarteners practice for their promotion ceremony! Once a Bear, Always a Bear! 🐻

Today our 4th and 5th grade students were able to participate in a Live Virtual Author Visit with Katherine Applegate. She is the author of The One and Only Ivan series and many others. She spoke today about her new book Wombat Waiting told in prose, and set around the California Wild Fires. She spoke about using your feelings to help you write as well as being willing to be weird and to ignore your inner editor who might be telling you negative stories about yourself. Her best advice was to relax, have fun, and listen to your heart.

Our Quarter 4 CREED Winners joined Ms. Halpin & Dr. Tillson for lunch and picked a book from the vending machine! #proudtobeaBEAR

Nurse Williams and Counselor Skidmore proved they are real Superheroes today!

See you tomorrow! Join on May 12 from 5-6pm on the Bennett Playground for the Famliy Meet & Greet! All of our new friends will meet to start getting to know each other! Wear the following colors so you know who will be in your grade next year! incoming Kinder - white current Kinder - red current 1st - orange current 2nd - yellow current 3rd - green current 4th - blue current 5th - purple We look forward to seeing eveyrone!! #proudtobeaBEAR

Our Bennett staff appreciates MISD Board of Trustees Stephanie O'Dell, Harvey Oaxaca, and Kenneth Ussery, along with Superintendent Pratt and Deputy Superintendent Raleeh for visiting us during Teacher Appreciation Week! We are proud to be part of McKinney ISD! #ProudtobeaBEAR

We have Baby Chicks in 1st grade!

Thank you Bennett PTO for providing Pokey-Os ice cream to our Staff! It was a great treat for Teacher Appreciation Week!

Today our PreK-1st graders were in for a special treat. Robbie Petti, son of Bennett's Officer Petti and Office Manager Mrs. Petti, visited to read a book he recently published. As a High School Senior, Robbie participated and completed the ISM program with a focus on meteorology. As part of the program he wrote and published a children's book, Mr. Storm's Great Adventure explaining the cycle of a rainstorm. A Q&A session followed each read aloud allowing students the opportunity to learn more about weather events. Thank you to the Petti family for bringing this special event to our youngest Bears and best wishes to Robbie as he transitions into college next fall.

To celebrate School library month, our Bears celebrated with a giveaway! Students earned tickets by completing library activities during the month of April. Names were drawn and these lucky bears won a new book to take home. All books were purchased with Book Fair funds thanks to our Bennett families’ support. #ProudtobeaBEAR

Recently 3rd grade completed a Lego STEAM activity. Students created a Life Cycle, coded parts to move, then shared their learning with 1st graders. They were so creative and patient explaining and modeling designs to their peers.

“There are a lot of times where kids are passed over, they are looked over…I see those kids. I’m going to be the one to say ‘What do you need? How can I help you?’.”

See video: https://youtu.be/CLYylQF_2Cw

Johanna Brubaker is the 2026 Teacher of the Year for Bennett Elementary. She is a library media specialist, and she has worked as an educator for 23 years.

Congratulations to our McKinney Education Foundation (MEF) Scholarship recipient! The Bennett Elementary endowment fund provides a scholarship to a student who attended Benentt Elementary! Congratulations MBHS Senior, Anaia Givens, on your award! We are SO PROUD of you!! Remember, "once a Bear, always a Bear 🐻"!!

Thank you Bennett PTO for our colorful treat today! #proudtobeaBEAR

MISD 5th grade Choral Celebration! Congratulations to the Bennett Bear Choir members who participated this evening! Our 5th grade choir students participated in "training" today with a guest choir director.

Our PTO Variety Show was incredible!! Thank you to the Bennett PTO and our Bears who performed. From dancing, to magic, to singing, to poetry- we have a lot of talent! #proudtobeaBEAR

The Bennett Variety show is full of courageous, talented bears. We are so proud of their hard work and willingness to share their talents with us. Students had a chance to preview performances on Wednesday before the full show Wednesday night. Thank you to our PTO for organizing the event and helping these bears shine bright! Check back soon for a few more shots of these talented bears!

Our March/Quarter 3 CREED winners joined Ms. Halpin & Dr. Tillson for lunch and then they picked a book from our vending machine!