Week in Review: It’s almost Winter Break(!) edition

It’s been a crazy week here in the Matthews Library as we head towards Winter Break!

Junior and Senior Biology students visited this week to prepare for their Bio Research Debates. Students researched genetically engineered/modified foods and dressed up as the groups they represented (scientists, farmers, environmentalists, law makers, food processors & retailers, and citizens) to present their sides.

Tuesday we were treated to some festive music from the High School choir and orchestra to help get us in the mood for the holidays. Check out their performance of the theme from Downton Abbey!

On Wednesday we had a very special (and adorable) baby shower/goodbye party for Gabriella, who is expecting twins! #twinning

Friday we were host to the Middle School kids, who made holiday cards for their friends, family, and Dyer Kelly Elementary School.

Ms. Bauman’s class also visited us on Friday and sang the New Year’s Eve classic “Auld Lang Syne”.

 

Bonus:

Ms. LaComb’s seventh graders dressed up as characters from The Outsiders!

December Book Club

For this month’s Book Club, we talked about books we’re looking forward to reading over the upcoming winter break.

Anny talked about reading The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which is a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind, the book she discussed during our last meeting. Anny also mentioned wanting to finish reading the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them screenplay, which led into a discussion on starting a Harry Potter themed club or book club.

Jackson discussed wanting to reread the Percy Jackson books over break as well as working his way up to reading Game of Thrones. Josh talked about finishing Bill Nye’s Undeniable and rereading Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel Sandman. This led to a discussion on how awesome Neil Gaiman is (he really is!)

Luca talked about reading The 13 and 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear, which he described as one of the strangest books he’s read. This got the group talking about the strangest books Luca’s read and how it would make for an interesting display (it so would!)

And speaking of strange books, Joe discussed reading The Wolf of the North, which gives away its ending at the beginning and then just sort of…ends. Joe’s anxiously awaiting the sequel.

Ms. Melinson talked about some new books we received, including a topsy-turvy book from Lauren Oliver and a controversial book from Jodi Picoult.

To see more of what we talked about, check out our Goodreads page!

Week in Review

It’s been a cold and rainy week outside of the Matthews Library, but luckily we’ve had some fun indoor activities this week!

Last Friday we had our high school raffle winner’s lunch. Emily and three friends enjoyed homemade mac and cheese, brownies, and salad. Emily said she read “many, many, many” books for the raffle and her favorites include the Shadowhunter series by Cassandra Clare.

Monday was the annual Glass Knife Latke Throwdown and Holiday Party and Ms. Melinson read the appropriately titled The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming. This year there were no latkes, but lots of pasta including spaghetti and an Asian noodle dish with shrimp as well as a Dutch Spice Cake. Instead of latkes this year we had Sufganiyah (jelly donuts) pronounced soof-gonnie-oat. While latkes would probably be the best known fried treats at Hanukkah, this tasty treat is also traditional because it’s also fried and relates to the oil lamp story.

We had a Leadership Lunch on Wednesday where Monique presented a slideshow based on her trip to Finland and the Baltic states with the Sacramento Children’s Chorus.

On Thursday we had another lively meeting of the Political Puzzles club where Blake led a discussion on Trump’s cabinet nominations and he and Alexa talked about some hot button issues that other kids wanted to know more about.

And finally, Ms. Melinson unveiled this year’s Winter Craft: homemade cards!