Stevens Library News!

Fall 2022

Hi Families – abelated welcome to Stevens and, in particular, the awesome Stevens Library.  I’m Tanya Kamila, the teacher-librarian and while this is only my third year in the library, this is my 24th year here at Stevens.  I’ve taught grades K-4 and my own three kids are Stevens alumnae.  I know Stevens!

I want to pass along (yes, a lot of) information about our library program, a few resources available to you as well as ways you can help build our collection.  I send a quarterly newsletter and while I’m not great at posting much on our Stevens Elementary Library website, there is good information there about the various opportunities and goals of our library program.  You can also check out our Stevens Library Catalog to familiarize yourself with our materials.  Be sure to check out the various “collections” we have as well as just browse for favorites.

Below are a few highlights of & tidbits about our library program.  You can find out a bit more by visiting the library website.

Fall Library Lessons — primary (grades K-2)

In addition to promoting Book Looooove, I view myself as an Information Superhero (in training).  Part of my job is to help kids connect with, evaluate & integrate (use!) information. Our library lesson content includes lots of vocabulary (I love words), investigations of how books and information are organized and the evaluation of resources. Of course, content is cyclic, meaning we revisit topics and material throughout the year as well as in subsequent grades, diving a little deeper each time to build our exposure, curiosity and knowledge. As any teacher will tell you, I’m learning, too, so this is fun for me, as well!

And of course, we check out books!  With that comes lessons about how a library is organized, book behavior & book care. Primary students keep books at school. The option to bring books home comes in later grades with the “take-home book contract”.

Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award (WCCPBA), the OTTER Award & the William C Towner Award

As K-2 students, we examine the nominees for the WCCPBA, the Otter Award (best transitional reader books) & the William C Towner Award (best informational text, grades 2-6). Our library time includes reading selections, exploring topics within the books and voting for our favorite books. While there are some grade level restrictions for voting, all K-2 students will have the opportunity to explore selections from each award category. Tentatively begins early November. Stay tuned!

Fall Library Lessons – intermediate (grades 3-5)

This fall we are building our library skills: familiarizing ourselves with the space, the organization, and the tools we have to find materials independently.  We are again emphasizing the library catalog as a tool not only to search for specific titles, authors and subjects, but also as a means to fill out surveys, request and recommend books, browse given collections and explore tools to create our own reading lists, collections and wish lists.  As I tell the kids, one of my goals is for each of them to be able to walk into any library and feel they can find what they are looking for.  

The library is in the process of being “genrified”, meaning that books are being moved into sublocations: “Science Fiction”, “Fantasy”, “Sports”, “Mystery”, “Historical Fiction”, etc. This helps kids to browse within a particular genre (type of book) and more easily find desired material.  I’m also hoping it will pique interest in trying out new genres via more signage and book displays.

Book Club (aka “Bibliophile Riffraff”)

Last year we held 4 different book clubs including grades 2-5.  The conversations sparked by the chosen books made me think, laugh and cry.  Planning is trickier this year due to our small staff and fewer opportunities to meet outside of classroom hours. We hope to get something started in January with the kids voting on book choices sometime soon. To find out more about previous years’ clubs, please visit: Bibliophile Riffraff Book Club.

GTCC (Green Team – Climate Change), School Garden & Foxberry Education

GTCC, our school climate change club for grades 3-5, is up and running and already tackling some hefty goals: composing a letter to the district to convert to plastic lunchroom trays (not our current single use compostable trays), researching legislation to support the protection of biodiversity, creating promotional materials to encourage more members and planning our future GTCC assembly and restoration project.  GTCC meets most Tuesdays at lunch.

Thanks to a grant from our PTA, Nicole Parish of Foxberry Education returned to build upon the garden lessons we began last spring.  This fall, grades 2-5 are experiencing three lessons centered around sensory exploration and fall garden care. 

Seattle Public Library (SPL) – Library Link

The public library is an awesome source of reading material and resources for your reader (and a great mini field trip any day of the week).  SPL’s Library Link gives kids instant access to eMaterials and Student Research Resources, including one of my favorites (no longer available via SPS student resources) CultureGrams.

We focus more on Library Link in the intermediate (3-5) grades 3-5, but any grade level student can create an account and explore from home. Visit SPL’s Library Link to learn more (scroll down and watch the tutorial first)!

Nonfiction is Where it’s At! — another Donors Choose opportunity!

Donors Choose is an website devoted to helping teachers secure funding for submitted “projects”.  It’s a great way for families (including extended family members!) to directly support their classrooms, libraries and schools.

Thanks to generous donors, here in the Stevens Library we’ve added colorful, more appropriate seating, gained numerous shelves to help us reorganize our space and began efforts to update our aging book collection.  We continue that last bit with another renewal of our Junior Library Guild subscription. To learn more about Donors Choose and our Library projects, please visit Nonfiction is Where it’s At! and/or read the e-mail following this newsletter.

FYI: your child is likely enjoying the benefits of previous Donors Choose projects as many books of past Kamila (as a classroom teacher) projects are now housed in the library.  That means we have quite the selection of books about climate change, chess, art & artists, the rainforest, the human body, the solar system, geography, frogs,  . . . your donations continue giving for years!

Stevens Library Powell’s Wishlist

For those interested, the Library has a Stevens Library Powell’s Wishlist😊.  For those not familiar with Powell’s,  they are a large independent bookstore based in Portland with the best darn inventory (including used books!) for browsing both in-person and on-line.

The books from our Wishlist are USED (at the time of selection), in line with our Green Team Climate Change (grades 3-5 club) school-wide goals to Reduce & Reuse. Included are book award nominees, favorite authors and favorite series.  We appreciate any contributions to help us continue to build a collection of books that represent our different voices, stories and interests. 

Meet Olaf, the Seedling Snowman!

Olaf lives in the window of the 2nd floor landing right outside the south library doors (great light!).  Olaf comes from a grant we received from “Lettuce Grow”, which provided everything we need for free.  He’s made out of recycled milk has an internal timed watering system that provides just the right moisture (if you walk by at the right time, you can hear him watering his seedlings!).  As part of our growing outdoor education program (which currently includes seasonal gardening lessons with Foxberry Education for all 2nd-5th graders), the third graders will have the opportunity to feed the seedlings, keep the water tank filled, test the water’s PH weekly, prune as necessary and, we hope, harvest!

Future plans for Olaf depend on how it goes this winter.  We hope to start another crop in the Spring, maybe even acquire a buddy for Olaf and expand the care opportunities to other grade levels.  Stay tuned!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading.  Please feel free to contact me with any thoughts or questions.  Again, welcome to Stevens!