Week in Review: We All Had a Passport Lunch

 

It was a week of weeklong projects. All week long the sophomores presented their Sophomore Projects to their peers and teachers. The Top Ten presenters will participate in the Sophomore Symposium in April where they’ll present to a panel of judges including teachers and former winners. Also all week the Glass Knife staff have been having their board meetings to discuss what pieces should go in this year’s book that will be produced in April and May and distributed in June. The seventh graders checked in on their March Madness book brackets each day this week. As the books progressed through the brackets, the students whose books moved forward each day received a piece of candy. In the end it came down to Ava’s review of Berlin Boxing Club and Natalie’s review of Broken Memory. Both were strong, but on Thursday we found out Natalie won the bragging rights.

On Monday Ms. Eustace’s 8th grade English class came in the library to research World War II technology in preparation for their upcoming papers and speeches on the same subjects. On Wednesday Ms. Eustace was back, this time with her 6th grade English classes. The 6th graders are beginning their Passion Projects and came to the library to brainstorm possible ideas.

Friday was the High School Passport Lunch where students buy a passport (with proceeds going to our sister schools in Rulindo) to visit different classrooms and sample a variety of dishes from around the world. In the library, Ms. Melinson’s advisory had noodle dishes and drinks from around the world.

Week in Review: Bookstagram

This week started out with Mr. Crabb’s 7th grade History class in the library finding books and doing research for their March Madness projects. Students had to read a historical fiction book and then write a review and comparison about actual historical events. Brackets go up on Monday and the books go head to head. Check back next week for the winner!

On Tuesday Ms. Eustace’s Book Elective class was in to pick out books for their #TBR (to be read) shelfie book stacks for Instagram. Students picked out books they’d like to read and came back on Thursday to arrange their stacks and decorate them with props and filters. Check out the gallery of their behind the scenes photos below. Be sure to view their finished pictures on our Instagram!

Bonus:
Dr. Whited brought her Schnoodle for a visit!

Week in Review: Polyglot Cat in the Hat

This week’s main event was the annual Polyglot Cat in the Hat. Students and faculty took turns reading sections of The Cat in the Hat in 23 languages: German, Spanish, French, Latin, Russian, American Sign Language, Farsi, Hebrew, Korean, Portuguese, ACSII Code, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, and Kinyarwanda. This Polyglot was extra special because it was Ms. Batarseh’s last time running the event as she’s retiring this year. It was also Ms. Nellis’ last time reading the very last page of the book because she’s also retiring.

On Monday Ms. Melinson met with other independent school librarians at The Marin School. Check out the pictures below of their cozy library!

March Book Club

We had our monthly Book Club on Wednesday and Ms. Melinson started us off by talking about her recent visit to The Marin School where she met with other independent school librarians. She said two of the most talked about books    at the meeting are Michelle Obama’s biography, Becoming, and the memoir Educated. We have both books in our collection as a physical book, ebook, and audiobook for those interested! Ms. Melinson also talked about Dear Martin, which she recommends for fans of The Hate U Give and All American Boys because they have similar themes of racial profiling and social justice. In non-fiction, Ms. Melinson mentioned So You Want to Talk About Race and how it encourages uncomfortable, but necessary conversations.

Ms. Batarseh read The Night Tiger after listening to an NPR interview with the author. She described it as a vibrant, character driven mystery. Ms. Eustace read Song for a Whale, which she loved. Avi talked about an article he read about the correlation between climate change and poverty. Becca mentioned reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about relating All My Sons to present time after she had just turned in a paper on the same subject.

And speaking of timely events, Mr. Wells read We Regret to Inform You, which is about a college admissions scandal. Ms. Nellis read Less for her book club and liked it, but didn’t think it would be a popular choice for students. We had a lively discussion after Ms. Batarseh asked the room if they feel like they have to finish a book once they’ve started reading it.

To find out about all of the books we’ve discussed at Book Club, check out our Goodreads page!

Week in Review: Mood = Mellow

After a crazy busy February, March is giving us a bit of a breather while we prep for upcoming events.

On Wednesday Ms. Monahan brought her photography elective into the library to take pictures, find photography related books, and discuss the challenges of taking pictures in the library.

Mr. Crabb’s 10th grade history class came in to use the library space to work on their WWII Documentaries because the 7th graders were setting up their Collective Learning projects in the classroom.

Bonus: Our 4th grade buddy stopped by on Friday with his penguin friend, Chill Bill (doesn’t his bill look chill?) The fourth graders went to Sutter’s Fort this week so today is a chill day for them. We like chill days!

 

Week in Review: Read Across Country Day

This week started off with the second Sophomore Moratorium where 10th graders prepared their presentations on a variety of topics including Opioids, The Role of Small Businesses in Community, Phage Therapy, Art and the Brain, Human Trafficking, Cat Adoptions in China and the US, and more. On Tuesday, we had an ice cream social for Millie, who won the prize for Teen Read Week. On Tuesday and Wednesday Ms. Eustace was in the library with her 8th graders as they  researched for their Ignite speeches and argument papers on Technology and WWII. On Wednesday Ms. Eustace’s Book Elective was also in the library for personalized Book Talks and literary prescriptions. Thursday was the 100th day of school and the kindergarteners marched around campus, including a stop in the library, to help us celebrate. Also on Thursday, Deborah Costello spoke to language students about hosting exchange students this summer. The library’s windows were put to good use by Jack, who used them as a dry erase board for a physics problem. Friday was our Read Across Country Day event. The library was transformed into the Reading Lounge with bean bags, comfy pillows, and a reading fort that was reserved by classes throughout the day. At 2:30, the whole school read for the All School Read. Classes who sent in shelfies of their students reading will get a visit from the Candy Fairy this week!

Bonus:

We were visited by not one, but three adorable dogs this week!