APUSH Book Club

For one of their final projects of the year (and the final collaboration of Ms. Nellis and Ms. Melinson), Ms. Nellis’ AP U.S. History class read historical novels and then discussed them with their class. Like our monthly Book Club meetings, brownies were on hand. The following is the list of books students read:

1. When the Emperor was Divine/Otsuka
2. Miracle at St. Anna/McBride
3. The Lazarus Project/Hemon
4. Orphan Train/Klein
5. Little Women/Alcott
6. House on Mango Street/Cisneros
7. Farewell to Manzanar/Houston (non-fiction)
8. Songs of Willow Frost/Ford
9. There Eyes Were Watching God/Hurston
10. Angle of Repose/Stegner
11. Dances With Wolves/Blake
12. Kindred/Butler
13. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn/Twain
14. Carter Beats the Devil/Gould
15. As I Lay Dying/Faulkner
16. The Revenant/Punke
17. East of Eden/Steinbeck
18. Ragged Dick/Alger
19. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn/Smith
20. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets/Crane
21. Daughter of Fortune/Allende
22. Cannery Row/Steinbeck

May Book Club

We had our last Book Club of the school year on Wednesday. This Book Club was very special since Ms. Nellis and Ms. Batarseh are both retiring. They both happen to be avid readers and have been coming to Book Club since its inception. So it was only fitting that they take over the final Book Club to talk about some of their favorite books.

Ms. Nellis started us off by sharing her Top 10 books in chronological order:

1. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
2. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
3. Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver
4. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
5. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
6. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
7. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
8. Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig
9. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
10. The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Ms. Nellis also talked about the perks of being in a book club and reading books you wouldn’t normally read. She also mentioned how she doesn’t read as much during the school year, but plans to read more in retirement.

As most of us know, Ms. Batarseh is a prolific reader so to share her favorite books, she had to narrow it down by topic. The following are Ms. Batarseh’s favorite works about trees:

1. The Random House Book of Poetry – “Who Has Seen the Wind?” by Christina Rossetti
2. New and Collected Poems – “A Black Birch in Winter”
3. The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino
4. Lives of the Trees by Diana Wells
5. The California Field Atlas by Obi Kaufman
6. Aeneid by Virgil

Ms. Batarseh and Ms. Nellis were also awarded Matthews Library cards for life, and we hope they return often to use them!

 

Week in Review: Summer Reading

You can tell the end of school is near because we started our Summer Reading book talks this week. On Monday and Friday, rising 6th and 7th graders were in the library to listen to Ms. Melinson talk about tons of books for them to read over the summer to satisfy their required reading. Also in on Monday were the rising 9th graders to hear about reading for pleasure and keeping their brains active over summer.

On Wednesday we held our last Book Club of the school year. It was also the last Book Club for Ms. Nellis and Ms. Batarseh, as they’re both retiring, and they talked about some of their favorite books. Read about them here.

Thursday was the 11th Annual Rulindo Play-a-thon. We visited during the MegaBand and saw Elijah take an awesome solo during “Cold Duck Time”. Ms. Melinson’s advisory had an extra special snack on Thursday featuring potstickers and a variety of noodles.

On Friday the library was host for a retirement party celebrating Ms. Batarseh, Dr. Covey, Ms. Nellis, and Mrs. Wessels. Happy retirement!

Bonus:

Ms. Melinson submitted a question about health apps and privacy to a national healthcare round table discussion through KCRA 3. Check out the answer here!

Week in Review: AP exams edition

 

The library has been mostly closed these past two weeks for AP exams, but we managed to sneak in some regularly scheduled library time. Wednesday was the last school day for the senior class and due to the unusual weather, Ms. Melinson was able to offer some seniors tea for the last time as students. On Thursday Ms. Eustace’s English classes were in the library continuing their Passion Project research.

 

Over in Ms. Lacomb’s 8th grade English class, students were able to design their own lesson this week and some students came up with the idea of a meditation tent. Neat! It reminds us of the reading tent in the library during Read Across America.

 

Week in Review: Projects, Projects, Projects

This week started off with Ms. Myers P.E. classes in the library to finish up their Healthy for Life projects. Each student picked a topic, such as depression, stroke, anxiety, heart attack, and talked about what those issues entail and when it’s necessary to call 911. Students presented their final projects on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ms. Eustace’s 6th grade English classes were back on Tuesday to continue researching for their passion projects. Sophomores received some last minute help before they turned in their Sophomore Project papers on Wednesday. Thursday was Holocaust Remembrance Day and students wore black and stood for a moment of silence. In the library, students set up a display of books about the Holocaust.

Bonus:

Wednesday was College Announcement Day and the senior class wore shirts indicating where they’re headed next year. Congratulations, seniors!