Library News from Mrs. J in the Library!
It’s been a great school year in the library so far! At the end of the last school year we were able to purchase some new furniture for the young adult library/student lounge, three nice chairs with laptop tables and a high cafe table, and some games for students to enjoy in their free time as well as after school during game club. As always there is a great selection of new books available for students to check out as well!
New this year as well are once a month visits from Scott Bahlmann, youth librarian from the Jefferson County Library. He visited our library during MS and HS lunches to do projects with students who wanted to drop in. A few of the projects Scott has done with the students have included flutter wands, gratitude gourds and a string of snowflakes with the 4th grade for December.
We were also able to send students in grades Preschool-4th grade home with books to keep, thanks to donations from the Jefferson County Literacy Council and Liberty Bay Bookstore in Poulsbo. A big thanks to them!
Starting in January, the K-3rd grades will start reading the Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book nominees for the 2022 award. Every year, twenty picture books are nominated by a committee from the Washington Library Association and conclude with voting in May by students of their favorite book. Students loved voting in the “voting booth” and wearing an “I voted” sticker at the conclusion of the vote, and the announcement of the winner is celebrated with a popcorn party in June!
The 4th graders were introduced to OTTER (Our Time To Enjoy Reading) nominees and a few were among the selections to take home from the donations from Liberty Bay Books. This award is for transitioning-into-chapter books and is open for students to vote in grades K-5th. I facilitate the voting for students but the reading is independent, and the students have access to check out and read all the nominees here in our library if they wish to participate!
Read to Rover is a program where second grade students partner up and read a book of their choice with a volunteer and their certified therapy dog once a week. We have had a Read to Rover program in our school for many years, and in 2018 my dog Ellie and I joined the team. She absolutely LOVES coming to school with me and reading with the students. Because of COVID, we haven’t had a program here in Quilcene for the last two years, but there have also been fewer volunteers who want to come down to Quilcene, and that limits the time we have to spend with each student reading. We would love to have more volunteers join our team here in Quilcene! If you are interested in volunteering and have a furry friend who’d like to read with kids give me a call at my direct line: (360) 765-2942. Olympic Mountain Pet Pals in Chimacum has a therapy dog certification program, more information can be found at http://ompetpals.org/read-to-rover.
Did you know? We are a partner in a consortium with JCL and other county libraries including Port Townsend-your child doesn’t have to wait until Kindergarten to get a library card-they can get one on their 5th birthday! What a great gift!
~Mrs. J
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