Week in Review: Sophomore Symposium, Book Club, and Poem in Your Pocket

The library had a busy week of events. The Sophomore Symposium took place on Monday and Wednesday, a culmination of the tenth grader’s almost year-long interdisciplinary research project. Students presented on a variety of topics. Check them out below!

The Connection: Literacy and Socio-Economic Status—Jennifer F.
Concrete and Its Effects on the Environment—Sundiata D.
Quarantine Tech Transition: How Education Changed During the Coronavirus Pandemic—Linda Z.
AlphaFold: Deep Learning and Structural Biology—Ryan P.
How Barbie Has Stayed Relevant—Anniston M.

Reducing Food Waste: A Key Step Toward a Sustainable Future—Ava E.
Enhanced Mineral Weathering: The Key to Weathering Climate Change?—Saheb G.
The Social and Political Impact of Hip Hop—Garrett X.
Google’s Sustainability Efforts Against Climate Change—Aaryan G.
Applying Economic Principles to Help Solve California Agriculture’s Existential Water Crisis—Andrew B.

The library also held its monthly high school book club this week. Ms. Melinson shared that she read White Out, the companion book to Black Out. She didn’t like it quite as much as Black Out, finding it more melodramatic. Ms. Melinson is also reading The Carrying: Poems by the current U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón.

Dylan is reading a cookbook that’s part recipes and part tips for becoming a better chef. Jess read The Betrayal and enjoyed it. Suketa is reading The Joy Luck Club for English class. Siri is reading a book of poems called Allegria she picked up from the famous beat poet bookstore Citylights Books. She likes that both the English and Italian versions of the poems are side by side on the page.

Mr. Comer mentioned Borderlands, a sci-fi/fantasy/horror bookstore in San Francisco where he got the short story The Lady Astronauts of Mars and the follow-up, The Calculating Stars. Jordyn read Song of Achilles and described it as “amazing and full of angst.”

Friday was Poem in Your Pocket Day where students were encouraged to bring a poem or write one of their own and present it for a treat. We got several fun poems, including two about gerrymandering. You never know what you’ll get here!

Weeks in Review: Classes & Visitors!

This week in the library, we saw 6th, 7th, and 9th grade classes working on various research. The 9th grade was in at the beginning of the week to begin their National History Day project. They discussed topics that would fit in with the NHD theme of “Frontiers in History,” and later in the week, they learned how to find related information in the library’s databases.

On Thursday, the 6th graders had a special visitor—Jim DeBoo, Executive Secretary for Governor Newsom. DeBoo talked to the students about his perspective on leadership in government and the private sector. This tied into the 6th grader’s English project around leaders.

Ms. Melinson’s advisory got a fun lesson in time management from Learning Specialist Ms. Adams.

On Friday, the 7th graders began their library research for their Ancient Civilizations museum project. Ms. Melinson took them on a field trip out and around the library to get their blood pumping for research.

The following week saw the 7th graders return for more research fun on their Ancient Civilization projects.

The library also hosted the Leadership Lunch with seniors Amaya and Ryan interviewing members of the Asian & Pacific Islander Alliance club. Club members spoke about why they started the club and what they plan to accomplish this year.

Finally, the whiteboard in the Quiet Room is seeing some fun drawings, as evidenced by Triangle Tuesday:

Week in Review: Read Across Country Day + February’s Book Club

Happy 3,672nd Annual Read Across Country Day! Just kidding, but it is our 20th anniversary of celebrating Read Across Country Day! Much like the last few years, our celebration looked a little different. Instead of transforming the library into the Starbooks Lounge, we created a cozy reading nook with the comfy chairs and played classical music all day while still remaining open for quiet study.

Instead of visiting classrooms, the Candy Fairy got an assistant this year, and they met middle and high school students in their respective quads to distribute candy and buttons. Ms. Melinson made Read Across Country Day kits for the teacher to help facilitate the All-School Read. That took place at 2 p.m. when Waldo, of Where’s Waldo?, announced the beginning of the All-School Read, where everyone in the school dropped what they were doing to read. We can’t wait to see all of your reading shelfies! Check back next week for those photos.

---

The High School Book Club met last month right before Mid-Winter Break. Ms. Melinson talked about book censorship, a current topic of great debate. The last week of February also happened to be Freedom to Read Week in Canada, so Ms. Melinson shared some recently challenged and banned books. Those titles include Drama by Raina Telgemeier, Maus by Art  Spiegelman, New Kid by Jerry Craft, and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Ms. Melinson emphasized the importance of reading these books now in case someday we can’t.

Ashleigh shared that she had just started reading Imaginary Friends by Stephen Chbosky. She said it’s really cool and is similar to Stranger Things. Adam was on a George Saunders kick, reading Lincoln in the Bardo and CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, with the latter reminding him of The Man in the High Castle. Jackie discussed reading The Lord of the Flies for English class. Mr. Wells read a book he would not recommend called Forging Fire, describing it as “really bad.” But he also read All the Light We Cannot See and would highly recommend it, saying it was “very good.”

Week in Review: What’s been happening?

Hi, friends! We hope you had a relaxing Spring Break and have been adjusting to the new schedule. What’s been going on in the virtual library?

7th graders in Mr. Crabb’s History class completed their March Madness projects. For March Madness, students read historical fiction books and then write essays about what they read. The essays then go head to head in brackets, competing for the #1 spot. Congratulations to Mia G. for winning top spot with her essay on The Lost Boys!

At the beginning of the week, the first ever virtual Sophomore Symposium took place with the top 10 presenting on a multitude of topics. The winners were announced on Friday and congratulations are in order to:

• 1st Place – Elliot C., Sacramento: A Study of Racial Housing Patterns
• 2nd Place – Sanjana A., Immunotherapy: The Ultimate Answer to Cancer
• 3rd Place – Miles M., The History of the Japanese in the United States

and to all the presenters:

• Arjin C., The Future: GMOs
• Evan G., Flooding in Sacramento: A Long History
• Nihal G., Nuclear Power: Is It Viable?
• Tina H., Opening the World of Contemporary Art
• Arijit T., Genetically Modified Crops: The Future of Food
• Arikta T., California Cuisine
• Daisy Z., Sacramento Water Resource and Quality

One of our favorite events is Music in the Library and on Friday we “hosted” 5th grade and orchestra teacher Mrs. Hoyos (on cello), her husband (on flute), and her daughter (on piano). It was a lovely treat. They played:

1- The Swan by C. Saint-Saens

2-Waltz Op. 64 C#m by F. Chopin

3-Berceuse by G. Faure

4-Alleluja by W. A. Mozart

5-Arioso by J.S. Bach

6-Budapesto by Carey Cheney

7-At Twilight by W.H. Squire

8-Sicilienne by M. Paradis.

View it here and brighten your day!

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.

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.

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

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Bonus:

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

Week in Review: Pre-Winter Break Festivities

The week before Winter Break was filled with festive activities and squirrely children of all ages.

Monday was the second day of Scientists in the Field research for the 6th graders. And speaking of SIF, on Tuesday Mrs. Bornmann and Ms. Melinson found out they were accepted to present about Scientists in the Field at ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), a conference focused on STEM in education.

Monday was also the Glass Knife’s annual holiday get-together, the Latke Throwdown. Students brought their favorite holiday dishes to share and Ms. Melinson read The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming.

Tuesday was music in the library. Ms. Keys and Ms. Hoyos brought their Middle and High School choir and orchestra to the library to serenade students and faculty with beautiful music during lunchtime.

On Wednesday we had our last Book Club of the year, which you can read about here. On Thursday the Sophomores turned in their first draft of their Sophomore Project papers (!!!)

Thursday was also Cookies, Coloring, and Conversation, a popular activity among students and staff alike. With roaring fire on the screen and classical music in the background, students relaxed while coloring and eating cookies.

Friday was a bit of a race as we counted down to Winter Break. As part of their community service day, a group of middle school students were in the library making Valentine’s Day cards for veterans, new service members, and first responders, as well as gift bags for Dyer Kelly School.

Alums returned on Friday for the annual alumni panel, but before that, they had lunch in the library and mingled with students and faculty.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Have a great break, everybody! If you need an ebook, or two or three, here’s a link, or connect through Cavnet where you can find the password if you forget it.

Week in Review: Events galore!

The Sophomores spent the week in the library working on their Projects. Students started making an outline for their paper and worked more with databases. They also had work days where they could work on different aspects of their projects with help from Ms. Melinson, Mr. Crabb, and Mr. Wells.

The rest of the week was spent with one event after another. This week is French Week and to celebrate, the library hosted Cafe Panache on Tuesday as they returned for another delightful performance of French cafe songs from the 1930s and 1940s.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

On Thursday the Glass Knife held their first Speakeasy of the school year. Students and faculty read poems by fairy lights as the audience snacked on cheese, bread, and desserts. We even had a student sing and play ukulele this year! Click through the slide show to view participants.

Also on Thursday, French teachers Mr. Day and Ms. Meyers hosted a game of Kahoots in the library in honor of French Week. Kahoots is a trivia game where students participate by using their phones or computers to answers questions. The theme of these questions was French culture.

Friday was Rockvember Fest! Rockvember Fest is a fun day where students meet with their advisors to go over their current grades and then participate in a variety of activities. Ms. Melinson’s advisory made breakfast in the morning. At lunchtime, the library was host to puzzles and Jenga and later, another round of Kahoots.

Bonus:

We got two doggy visitors this week!

• 

• 

Week in Review: Senior Moratorium

 

This week was shortened due to a teacher in-service day on Monday. We worked on Responsive Classroom training with Middle School and discussed case studies on issues of equity and inclusion with High School. But we were just as productive as if it were still five days.

On Tuesday the 10th graders were in with History class to continue learning about how to conduct interviews for their Sophomore Projects. They returned with their English classes to have a work period devoted to working on Sophomore Project research with support from Mr. Wells and Ms. Melinson.

On Wednesday the Seniors had their moratorium in the library where they devoted several hours to working on their college applications and essays with help from Ms. Bauman, Mr. Kuipers, and Mr. Hinojosa. Also on Wednesday Ms. Melinson was a panelist for a webinar, “Activating Student Success with Database Access,” with Gale and Project Tomorrow about databases and how she uses them with our students. She shared with participants three collaborative projects: 6th grade Scientists in the Field, 9th grade Indigenous Peoples, and 10th grade Sophomore Projects.

Ms. Sterling brought her 6th grade English classes in on Thursday and Friday for free reading and book recommendations. Thursday also happened to be your assistant librarian’s birthday!

Week in Review: Spirit Week, NHD, Author Visit & More!

Reader, we had quite the busy week both in the library and out. Mr. Kuipers 9th grade History class was in the library all week preparing for their National History Day projects. Students explored ABC-Clio and Gale databases, learned how to add database articles to NoodleTools, and created booklists in Destiny, the library’s catalog.

At lunchtime on Tuesday, the library hosted the popular Cookies, Coloring, & Conversation where students munch on cookies while coloring and hanging out.

This week is Sprit Week and each day has a theme. Wednesday’s theme was Superheroes and guess who stopped by? Baymax, your friendly neighborhood robot helper/superhero. Thursday’s theme was Pop Culture and Ms. Melinson’s advisory created hashtags that represented them.

Friday was quite possibly the busiest day in the history of days. In addition to it being Homecoming, Fall Family Festival, and a lunchtime pep rally, it was the beginning of 6th grade’s library orientation and we were visited by author Lisa McMann.

Lisa McMann, bestselling author of The Unwanteds series and The Unwanteds: Quests series, spoke to the Middle School on Friday about how she came up with the idea for The Unwanteds and what it’s like being a writer. She then took questions from students and autographed their books.

Friday was also the beginning of library orientation for Ms. Sterling’s 6th graders. Students learned how to access the library’s catalog and had a brief introduction to databases. Then students did a Silent Conga through the stacks to see where books are located.

Bonus:

Mr. Crabb brought his dog, Frankie, to visit the library for the first time!

Week in Review: Shenanigans

We had a fun mix of academics and shenanigans this week. On Monday the Sophomores had a one-two punch of Sophomore Project work. First, in English class, they worked on some preliminary research for their Sophomore Projects. Then in History class, students walked around the track with partners and discussed what their projects are about. Then, in the garden (when it wasn’t rainy), students shared what their partner’s project was about.

On Wednesday we had our first Book Club of the school year. Thursday was picture day for the Middle & High School, and because the pictures are taken in the library, we got to see some of the wacky and lovely ways the Seniors dressed up for their photo-ops, including Jackson M.’s behind-the-scenes “Bachelor” photo shoot.

Friday was the High School’s annual Ancil Hoffman flag football game. The quads were awash in red and black spirit and decorations.

Also happening on Friday was the Climate Strike, which the Middle School science department participated in by creating a large chalk mural. The theme was “What do you want your Earth to look like in 50 years?” and students from 6-8th grade science classes drew various scenarios they thought might happen, both good and bad. Check out the slideshow below to view their work!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.