Week in Review: 4/29-5/3

The arrival of May adds a frenetic sort of restlessness to the school’s campus, as a year of learning and creativity reaches its zenith. From students and staff to faculty and families, we all sense the impending end to the school year. Soon, exams will be passed out, turned in, and graded; final projects and presentations will be lauded; yearbooks will be signed; well wishes and requests to keep in touch will be offered to our graduating seniors; summer break will begin. In the last month before we close out the ’23-’24 school year, the Matthews Library will accomplish plenty, as was the case this past week.

Tuesday was Poem in Your Pocket day, which brought smiles to all our faces. Students read poetry to us in exchange for a piece of candy. Many chose to read poems they wrote. The day overflowed with creativity, art, and sweets. What more could you want?

All week, Ms. Melinson taught the 8th grade history classes how to sift through web searches to find nuggets of gold amidst the silt. As advertisements, paid search results, misinformation, and AI-generated articles have cluttered the top results of most google searches, fact checking and website evaluation have become vital skills for our students to learn. In addition, she walked them through citing their research using NoodleTools, the citation and outline software that the school uses to streamline the research learning process for Country Day students. Now, they’ll be on even more sturdy ground as they enter the world of high school-level research assignments in just a few months.

On Wednesday we hosted the last High School Book Club of the year, which was bitter sweet as we had to say our goodbyes to the seniors. To learn more about what we discussed, check out the post about it here.

Ms. Melinson’s advisory has deviated from its donut norm these past two Thursdays. Last week, Ashly brought cream puffs, and this week Jaq brought cinnamon rolls.

Enjoy the weekend, Country Day. All physical copies of our books will be due back on May 22nd, but our virtual library has hundreds of eBooks and eAudiobooks that are available to peruse 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year (or 366 as was the case this year). Check out the eBooks tab of our website for instructions on how to use it!

Week in Review 4/22-4/26

Phew! This week in the Matthews was one for the books. We filled the week with all manner of events and activities, some tried and true and others entirely new.

First, in honor of Monday’s Earth Day, here is a picture of a student’s ladybug rescue mission in progress. Curious about the role ladybugs play in our ecosystems? Find out more here!

We dedicated much of the week to summer reading book talks for our incoming middle school classes. Ms. Melinson talked the classes through the expectations for summer reading, gave every student the opportunity to ask her about any of the nearly-100 books on their summer reading lists, and then provided free time for them to browse the books independently. Also, every kid received a piece of candy. We aren’t sure which was their favorite part, but their excitement and engagement was palpable.

A little over a month ago, Grace spoke with Ms. Melinson about an idea she’d conceived of after watching the Queer Joy Panel that Mr. Hinojosa organized. During an extended lunch on Monday, we got to enjoy the realization of this idea: The Older Siblings Panel. The panel of eight female and nonbinary graduating seniors provided insightful stories and perspectives about navigating high school as a gender marginalized person to an audience of younger female and nonbinary students.

On Tuesday, we hosted the AP Spanish Literature class during flex for a presentation in celebration of World Book Day. We learned that in Catalonia citizens celebrate the day by exchanging books and roses, which is the kind of tradition we can most certainly get behind. The students’ presentation, given entirely in Spanish, explained the importance of Don Quixote, the book widely considered to be the first modern novel.

We also got a visit from the singular Baby Z on Tuesday. Lucky us!

Ishaan and Katie hosted another leadership lunch in the library on Wednesday. They interviewed senior Grace about her experience in Mock Trial, which she likes to think of as “improv for nerds.” They also discussed her real world experience with the US legal system as a volunteer with My Sister’s House, a nonprofit that supports survivors of domestic abuse within the Asian and Pacific Islander community. Grace emphasized the juxtaposition between the playful nature of Mock Trial and the realities of how difficult it can be to navigate the legal system in actuality. She also discussed her plans for college at Claremont McKenna. We’re so excited for her next steps, but we know her incredibly mature and thoughtful presence will be missed dearly here on campus. Good thing we have so many alumni events to look forward to!

On Thursday during the Spring Showcase, Capital Books brought shelves upon shelves of books for students to peruse and purchase as part of our Summer Reading initiative. It was only the second time Country Day hosted a book fair for middle school students in our history, and the first was well over a decade ago at this point. We’re quite thrilled to bring the event back, and hope to continue it as an annual tradition moving forward.

With a sunny weekend on the horizon, we wish everyone the distraction-and-responsibility-free time necessary to get lost in a good book. If you can’t come by such time honestly, we recommend claiming you must clear your garden of White Rabbits or take your pet Cheshire Cat for a walk.

Weeks in Review 3/25-4/5

If April showers bring May flowers then this week’s weather bodes well for the beauty we’ll see spring up in a few weeks! In the meantime, students hiding from the drizzle outside have found shelter in the Matthews Library.

The previous week was a quieter one for us. On Monday we had a C-day meeting where Ms. Perla talked to the juniors about preparing for the college application process. On Thursday Ms. Melinson’s advisory had (and this may come as quite the shock to some of you) donuts as their snack.

This last week brought in a fair amount more hubbub. The Sophomore Symposium happened on Monday and Tuesday. This event was the culmination of the huge research project that the 10th grade students took on this year. The top ten presentations from Ms. Leavy’s Human Geography class had the opportunity to present their research to the school as a whole. Click through the slide show below to see what each student taught us!

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  Zema’s presentation, titled “Barriers to Healthcare for California’s Unhoused Population.”

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  Jackson’s presentation, titled “Music Therapy and Veteran Rehabilitation.”

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  Ava’s presentation, titled “The CROWN Act.”

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  Krithi’s presentation, titled “Self-Driving Cars and their Impact on Silicon Valley.”

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  Isaac’s presentation, titled “Water Treatment: A Scientific and Architectural Feat.”

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  Claire’s presentation, titled “Biophilic Design.”

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  Ashly’s presentation, titled “Combating Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System.”

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  Ferishta’s presentation, titled “Refugee Experiences in the US: Reasons, Challenges, Support.”

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  Rachel’s Presentation, titled “Car T-Cells: The Future of Cancer Treatment?”

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  Andrew’s Presentation, titled “Groundwater in California’s Central Valley.”

A panel of judges consisting of prior winners of the symposium voted on the top three presentations from the entire sophomore class. Our third place winner was Isaac who enthusiastically informed us of his well-researched knowledge about water treatment in Sacramento. Second place was Ava’s in-depth and beautifully expressed explanation of the importance of the CROWN act for advancing racial equality for Black people in the United States. Rebecca won first place with her presentation about the potential for Car T-Cell therapy to revolutionize cancer treatments.

At the C-Day meeting on Wednesday Ms. Perla spoke with the Seniors about accepting and declining their college offers now that everyone has heard back from the schools they applied to. We can’t wait to find out where everyone will be off to next year! We can hardly believe that there’s only a month left of classes here at Country Day for our 12th graders.

On Friday the Order of the Spatula got to grilling just outside our doors. Student Council hosted a showing of Hotel Transylvania during lunch in honor of the blood drive.

All around us the impending break brought an energy of excitement to the gray day. Hopefully everyone has a lovely Spring Break! Check out these flyers with some of our new books available in the library if you’re looking for any reading recommendations over your break.

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Week in Review 3/11-3/15 and 3/18-3/22

The Ides of March came and went, and we in the Matthews Library managed to avoid any backstabbing betrayal. Hopefully you’ve had the same luck!

On Monday March 11th, while our students had the day off, Ms. Melinson attended an orange-themed and exciting virtual conference hosted by the Association of Independent School Libraries (AISL). Among other excellent presentations and workshops, Jerry Craft, author and cartoonist of the New Kid series, spoke. The organizers sent out a fun package of goodies for each participant to open before each new activity throughout the day.

We hosted a leadership lunch on Wednesday March 13th. Siri spoke with Ishaan and Katie about her internship with the Green Schools Action Coalition (GSAC) which is working to help schools in the Sacramento area move toward carbon neutrality.

Thursday saw the return of donuts to Ms. Melinson’s advisory. How delicious!

That Friday, Ms. Perla hosted a C-Day meeting to help the Juniors further prepare for college application season.

On Tuesday the 19th, The Octagon hosted a roundtable discussion in the quiet room about artificial intelligence and its uses (and misuses) in education. Then on Thursday Mr. Unti, Ms. Monahan, Ms. Adams, and Ms. Melinson had their own conversation about integrating AI into education.

We got very lucky on Thursday because Ruby visited Ms. Melinson’s advisory.

Siri led a Model UN meeting on Thursday that included a Kahoot! quiz.

Jon Chad, cartoonist and author (also Ms. Kahn’s husband), visited our 3rd through 5th graders on Thursday the 21st. The Solvers, his most recent book series, follows three superhero kids who use the power of mathematics to save the day. He spoke with the students about his journey in the world of graphic novels and led them through several engaging cartooning activities around math concepts that the students have been learning. Ms. Melinson prepared a beautiful picnic lunch for him and Ms. Kahn to enjoy in between his delightful sessions with the students.

Spring has finally sprung, and we here in the Matthews Library are beyond excited for reading in the sunshine. If you’re anything like Ruby though, you might be more prepared for a nap. Either way, have a wonderful weekend Country Day!

Weeks in Review: 2/26-3/1 and 3/4-3/8

We were a librarian down the last week of February and never felt more aware and grateful of everything Ms. Melinson does to keep this ship afloat.

Mr. Wells and Mr. Comer’s US History classes stopped in for some learning about databases, primary and secondary sources, and annotations. They’re gearing up and getting started on research for their final paper, an essay on a topic of interest to them from the late 20th century. Students are looking into some interesting areas of research, including the rise of Surrealist art following WW2, the significance of the famous boxer changing his name from Cassius Clay to Mohammad Ali, and the lavender scare of the 1950s.

Tuesday was the 100th day of school, so we got to witness an adorable parade circling our library.

At lunch on Wednesday the Black Student Union hosted their Living Legends panel here in the library. The event shone light on a few of the remarkable Black leaders we have here in the Sacramento community, including Rob Archie, the owner of Urban Roots; former basketball star and current coach David Ancrum; Lynette Hall (’99), the Community Engagement Manager with the City of Sacramento. The panel was moderated by Sundiata Dumisani of the BSU and Dr. Christian Bradford.

Friday was our favorite library event of the year, Read Across Country Day! We built a blanket fort in the Bermuda Triangle, cleared away all the tables to make room for cushy comfy reading spots, and offered tea and hot cocoa to all our patrons. Then, from 2-2:15 everyone on campus dropped what they were doing to read for pleasure. Huzzah for the celebration of reading and all the joy it can bring!

Throughout the day, we also caught sight of Waldo in some fun locations. Did you see them anywhere, Country Day?

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This Monday, we finally got our librarian back, so if you heard celebratory whoops, now you know the source. The APUSH classes joined us on both Monday and Tuesday for the kick off of their own spring project, also looking at databases, historical source classifications, and article annotation.

Tuesday we held High School book club, so if you’d like to know more about what we discussed be sure to check out the post about it here.

Wednesday was the C-Day meeting for Juniors. Ms. Perla spoke with them about narrowing down which schools they will be applying to come Autumn. Apparently 45 schools is too many.

On Thursday, the Candy Fairy appeared to deliver sweets to all the advisories who sent us selfies of them reading during the all school read on Read Across Country Day. Click through the slideshow to see some of our readers in action!

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Happy Friday, Country Day, and happy International Women’s Day! We hope the students appreciate their three day weekend. You could always check out one of our thousands of books authored by women to celebrate the important contributions women make in our society.

Week in Review 2/12-2/16

This week the Matthews Library was full to bursting with activity and bustling with students.

The 7th graders in Ms. Kahn’s class came by again this week, although none came be-costumed this time. They continued their research on thinkers during the enlightenment period, this time connecting it to present day issues.

On Tuesday, the second graders of room 2C sang to the library assistant, Ms. Z-S. They were so cute! A big thank you to Ms. Melinson for ordering the singing telegram.

We held a Book Club meeting on Wednesday, and talked a bit about Valentines Day reads. Check out our Book Club post here for a more in depth description of what we discussed. As it was both Valentines Day and Wednesday, we caught plenty of students wearing pink.

On Thursday, the 6th grade got to hear from another professional in a scientific career. Valerie Termini, the chief deputy director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, spoke to the students about working in wildlife ecology.

Most importantly, on Friday we added a new picture to our pets of Country Day wall. Thank you Sarah Parrish for the contribution!

We did it, Country Day! We made it to another vacation. We hope you enjoy the week off immensely. See you back at the end of February, and get ready for Read Across Country Day on March 1st!

Week in Review: 2/5-2/9

What a week we’ve had here in the Matthews Library. The excitement kept rolling in nonstop!

Throughout the week, Ms. Melinson’s advisory helped beautify our campus as part of the Bucket Brigade.

Our 6th grade scientists continued to research careers in science with citation guidance from Ms. Melinson. On Thursday, Dr. Michael Wright spoke to them about his research as a neuroscientist, and about being a professor at Sac State. He brought leeches in to show the students, but don’t worry no one lost any blood they weren’t ready and willing to lose that day!

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The 7th grade historians engaged in an enriching role playing hour this week. Each took on the persona of an enlightenment thinker and debated the hottest button issues of the 1700s. Our favorite moment involved a snarky Benjamin Franklin being put in his place by a profession from Catherine the Great that, “I imprisoned my husband, you know.” Students received extra credit for dressing up like their thinkers.

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At lunch on Wednesday, the Black Student Union and The Glass Knife staff put on a spoken word event. They encouraged all in attendance to read aloud a poem or song by a Black author in celebration of the remarkable contributions Black artists make to our society.

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Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham visited our campus on Thursday as part of their book tour for Lunar New Year Love Story. The author/illustrator duo presented on the meaning of Lunar New Year, their journeys into the graphic novel and picture book worlds, and the importance of the kiss in a romance story at assemblies for the 8th-12th grade students. They also signed a truly remarkable number of books for the Country Day libraries and community at large. Junior Imani is a fan of Yang’s work and an artist herself, so she drew a caricature of Yang to give to him, which he had her sign as well.

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On Friday, we hosted author Lisa Moore Ramée. She presented to our 3rd-7th graders about her story, the power of diverse representation, the importance of perseverance in the face of rejection, the fears she faced, and the magic of storytelling. Ms. Ramée then led a workshop for Ms. Kahn’s Crafting and Culture elective class where she taught the students about how to craft impactful dialogue. Finally, she, too, signed an incredible number of books for our students and libraries.

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Whew! We made it to Friday, Country Day. Just one more week until our midwinter break! Keep up the incredible effort. We’ll see you Monday for even more learning, creativity, collaboration, and reading galore.

Weeks in Review: 1/8-2/1

Happy Groundhog Day! It may be rainy and grey today, but that big ol’ rodent predicts we’ll be enjoying the sunshine soon enough. The past few weeks here in the Matthews have certainly kept us on our toes.

Ms. Melinson provided tea and cookies for students on the rainiest and dreariest days we saw.

On Monday, January 8th, we hosted a Queer Joy Panel moderated by Mr. Hinojosa. Queer students, faculty, and staff spoke up about their experiences of joy. Mr. Hinojosa has organized a similar event for several years now in conjunction with the culmination of his Senior English class unit on The Laramie Project. Each year, he opens the event up to the community at large, and each year more of the the community attends. This year saw a positively packed audience. Next year might be standing room only! 

The Room of Requirement saw quite a bit of club action these past few weeks. The high school restarted the Among Us club and immediately got to business sussing out the imposter. We promise it wasn’t us; in fact, we definitely saw red vent by electrical. Model UN has continued to convene as well. These *model* students sure do impress us! The Glass Knife Staff are ramping up their efforts to complete the school’s literary magazine in time for the Seniors’ last day here at Country Day.

During Finals week, the library pendulum swung between chaos and crickets faster than we could say “good luck!” to those on their way to examinations. Congratulations to the entire upper school for making it through the first semester!

Ms. Perla led several C-Day meetings to help prepare our Juniors for the ever-encroaching college application and high school graduation process. At one such meeting, she asked the students to literally visualize themselves at college through a drawing exercise. How incredible is it that the students have such a helpful guide through this grueling process?

We hosted the Sophomores for another moratorium related to the Sophomore Project. With their research papers in the rearview mirror, they are now embarking on the exciting journey to turn these papers into presentations. Students who did well on their presentations last year stopped by to offer a few tricks of the trade, including Grace who gave presenting tips from Mock Trial. In order to prepare for making the best presentations they could, Ms. Leavy had the students prepare precisely the inverse. These purposefully-horrendous projects gave everyone a good laugh.

The Leadership Lunch series continued on Wednesday, January 31st. Katie and Ishaan conducted an interview with Jenny about her semester spent at Oxbow art school.

Ms. Melinson’s advisory broke from their donut tradition; they had all kinds of other sweet treats. On February 1st, Dr. Pam attended to discuss microagressions and how to respond to them with the group.

Ms. Frandrup’s 6th grade science classes have begun their science careers research projects. They came in on several days to learn how to perform research using databases, websites, and books from Ms. Melinson and Ms. Z-S. They made sure to emphasize proper citation in their research, so these students should be well prepared for academic integrity moving forward. They also got to listen to a real life biology professor from Sac State present to them about the life of a science researcher and professor.

Next week, we’ll have three different authors visiting, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Stay tuned for updates on all our adventures here at the Matthews Library. Cheers and happy Friday! We hope you find some good dogs to pet, beautiful art to enjoy, and a cozy book to read soon 🙂

Week in Review: November 12th-17th.

The week before any school break tends towards joyful chaos, and this week at the Matthews Library hasn’t been an exception.

The reality that what was once a far-off deadline is now mere weeks away has ramped up the Sophomore’s attention to their semester-long research projects. Ms. Melinson and Ms. Leavy supported their newfound urgency with lessons and a rough draft assignment focused on their in-text citations.

The 9th graders in Mr. Arns’ class continued their lessons on how to use the NoodleTools software. This week instead of zombies they looked into cultural mythologies.

The High School Book Club met on Wednesday. Check out the post about it here.

Ms. Melinson’s advisory mixed it up this week! Instead of donuts they had sweet flaky pastries. Quite the shake-up.

The 6th graders came in for a lesson on curating resources as part of their ongoing leadership assignment. They learned the importance of using keywords in databases. They even got to flex their NoodleTools skills in the process! These 6th graders will be ready for any research project coming their way in no time.

We got to witness the Order of the Spatula get down to business with the pig roast and burrito making extravaganza outside our doors on Thursday.

Happy Thanksgiving break Country Day! We hope the week off leaves you refreshed and ready to hit the ground running when we get back.

Week in Review: November 6th-9th.

Happy Thursday Country Day! We’ve had a marvelously full week here in the Matthews Library.

On Monday The Glass Knife staff proceeded with planning for their upcoming event, the Fall Speakeasy.

The 9th graders in Mr. Arns’ class continued their progress on their zombie-themed NoodleTools orientation project.

The 10th graders forged ahead on their research projects. This week Ms. Melinson led them through a workshop on proper citations. She gave them a bit of dark chocolate to boost their energy and focus through this more technical aspect of the research process. (Okay, so maybe the chocolate wasn’t dark, and the science here is shaky anyway. Placebos totally work though, so she was giving them a boost regardless.)

Model UN met again this week with Siri at the helm. We can’t wait to see what this new club on campus accomplishes as the year continues.

On Wednesday, Jen Siebel Newsom spoke to the 6th grade class. She gave them an impressive overview of the issues with gendered labor expectations and pay inequity, as well as an explanation of the ways in which the expectation for boys to conform to masculinity harms them. Her work with the documentary filmmaking organization she founded, The Representation Project, has brought global attention to these and other feminist causes.

We got to witness the annual Turkey Drive just outside our doors on Thursday morning. Shout out to The Grubs for another splendid performance.

The weekly delicious donuts and discussion ritual continued in Ms. Melinson’s advisory on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, Ms. Perla helped keep the seniors on track for their college application deadlines at their C-Day meeting.

Throughout the week our puzzlers got down to business. Just look at the incredible progress they made!

We hope you have a fulfilling and restful 3-day weekend. Perhaps consider picking up a copy of The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien in honor of the reason for the holiday. Ms. Leidolph in the Kindergarten classrooms highly recommends it. And don’t forget to admire the now-earlier sunsets that the end of daylight savings time brought us.