Week in Review: It’s a Dog’s Life

Well, it’s day 403 since we’ve been quarantined at home –

Wait, what? It’s only been two weeks?

Library dog Ginny is loving her humans being home. Here she is being read to by library assistant Mary. She’s probably dreaming about that hamburger pillow being real and taking a bite!

In other news, Ms. Melinson’s advisory was inspired by one of their classmates and all showed up to the advisory Zoom meeting sporting hoodies and sunglasses. And then they shared the best book they’ve been reading lately (and also Olivia shared one she doesn’t recommend). What’s the best book you’ve read lately? Let us know by Sunday night, 3/30 and we’ll be picking a winner the following Monday. As for Ms. Melinson’s advisory, who knows what they’ll look like at the next advisory meeting!

Bonus:

Shae sent in a photo of his dog for our virtual dog wall. Keep sending us your dog photos so we can add them to our virtual wall of dogs display.

Week in Review: 6 things that made us laugh

Hi, friends! Welcome to this new version of Week in Review. While we’re remotely learning and working in our homes, we can’t share pictures of what’s happing in the library like we usually do…because there’s nothing happening in the library. But that doesn’t mean library services and events are going away. It just means we’re focusing on ebooks and transitioning to virtual events. For example, we had our March Book Club via Zoom. Read all about it here.

So, here are some things that made us laugh this week as we adjust to our new virtual reality.

1. Meetings with our coworker’s dogs via Zoom.
2. Ms. Melinson making rookie mistakes with technology she’s used for years while adjusting easily to new technology.
3. Weird things kids leave in front of their webcams while they’re away from their computers.
4. This teacher’s song.
5. Bringing home extra projects because we thought we’d have so much free time.
6. Adjusting to new coworkers. Meet Eve and Ginny. They’re cute, but their grasp on personal space leaves something to be desired.

March Book Club – Virtual!

We had our monthly Book Club this past Wednesday and it was BYOHAP&B – bring your own hot apple cider and brownies because our meeting was virtual. That’s right, even when remote learning we still have time to talk about books!

Ms. Melinson started us off with a book not to read during this time – The Plague by Albert Camus. It might be a little too on the nose. But she did have some suggestions for for books to read to help soothe the soul and help you get better as a human being. Ms. Melinson suggested How to Be an Antiracist, Zen Flesh Zen Bones, an introduction to Buddhism, and poetry – Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot and Dear Darkness by Kevin Young.

Speaking of books that are on the nose, Avi is reading about hypochondriasis – the fear of having a serious disease. Grace E. is reading the fantasy/sci-fi serious about Michael Vey and the Electric Kids to distract herself. Mrs. Strong was reading The Calculating Stars, but decided to switch to something more upbeat – Strange Planet comics (view some here).

Ms. Bauman read a review of a play called “Conscious” and reached out to the author and was sent a script of the play to read. Reach out to authors – they may write back! Ms. Bauman is also listening to Frankenstein on audiobook. Samhita wants to read Emma by Jane Austen after seeing the movie. She’s also excited to start Lovely War by Julie Berry. Mr. Wells read The Poet X and said it was fantastic, filled with powerful verses. Clara re-read What If? by Randall Munroe, her favorite book.

Then Ms. Melinson asked how everyone was doing. Some students mentioned adjusting to living with college-aged siblings again as they return home. Some students talked about remote learning making them more organized. Ms. Bauman wondered how remote learning would impact college application essays next year. Are there going to be an influx of essays about sheltering in place much like there was an influx of essays written relating to Harry Potter when it was released? Who knows!

For all the books mentioned at this Book Club and all of the previous Book Clubs, check out our Goodreads account. Want more library content? Follow us on Instagram!

Week in Review: Read Across Country Day (& Boys State)

It’s that time of year again – Read Across Country Day, the day where the library is transformed into a reading lounge with comfy pillows, bean bags, and the famous reading fort. Classes signed up to spend the class period in the fort all cozy with a book and hot chocolate. Throughout the day, students were able to curl up with a good book and enjoy tea and classical music or take pictures at the selfie station and vote on what book we should get next for our collection. We happened to find Waldo in the stacks reading – he must have been on a break from visiting the lower school.

Peep through our gallery of class reading selfies from the All-School Read below. Check out the kindergarten reading forts inspired by our fort!

In other news, Spencer presented for Leadership Lunch and spoke about his experience at Boys State California, a civics program put on by the American Legion. Sounding part Hunger Games and part Lord of the Flies (but much less tragic) Boys State takes one rising male senior (there’s also a separate Girls State) from every participating high high school in California and lets them create their own city and state governments in the dorms at Sac State. Spencer explained how the week-long summer program was great fun (many shenanigans ensued) while also a great opportunity to learn leadership skills and meet students from all over California.

Bonus:

Mr. Wells got duct taped to the gym wall. Just your typical Friday afternoon shenanigans.

Week in Review: 100 Days Smarter

We returned from Mid-Winter break on Monday to the 100th day of school. The kindergartners paraded around campus as part of their celebration, including marching through the library.

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On Tuesday the newly formed Black Student Union held its first event, a spoken word session at lunch time. Students, staff, and faculty shared poems by African American authors in honor of Black History Month.

Students from Ms. Mitchell’s Film elective came in on Wednesday to shoot a scene for their movie. One student got to “train” using books and other students got to throw books around. (No books were harmed in the making of this movie.)

It’s almost March which means it’s time for March Madness in Mr. Crabb’s 7th grade History. On Friday students got to judge historical fiction books by their covers and hear the first line before picking out several they’d want to read. Soon these books will go head to head – thirty six books will enter, but only one can leave victorious!

Bonus:

We frequently have adorable dogs in the library, but what about a cute cow? Check out this beautiful painting of an adorable cow by Olivia (’19).