Academics

Library

About our B.F. Day Library

Teacher look through a shelf of books
Mrs. P

Thank you to our treasured B.F. Day Librarian Mrs. P for all her incredible work for our students and families! She works countless hours in the library and has done an amazing job transforming the space. Thank you again, Mrs. P., for sharing your love of literature and being our school librarian!

The purpose of the B.F. Day library program is to cultivate a love of reading and learning; whether for pleasure or knowledge, and to provide our students with the skills and strategies needed to become self-reliant and critical users of information.


Announcements

Librarian emoji riding a rainbow.

A huge thank you for all the love during Teacher Appreciation Week! I feel so lucky to work in such a supportive community- of both me in my work, and our students in all aspects of their learning. Together, we create magic for our kids.

Librarian emoji sitting on a red and white spotted mushroom reading a book.

Thank you for all the generous donations toward our Book Wishlists! 

A huge thank you to all who have donated. The books are stunning! It’s hard to unpack these boxes without taking a seat and reading! How lucky are we?!

Teacher/Parent Book Club Meets Again!

Every Summer After book cover.

This month we are reading Every Summer After by Carley Fortune. 

We’ll meet June 8 at 7 p.m. at Retreat again (6900 East Greenlake Way N.) . This month we’re reading “Every Summer After

Please join us!


Library News

B.F. Day Readers…. Reading Through June!

Emoji Librarian carrying a stack of books

Important Library Dates

Friday, June 16 – Last Day to Check out Books 

Friday, June 23 – All Library Books Due

Another round of overdue notices will be sent out soon! Remember, don’t panic, just round up those books! If you can’t locate a book here are ways to remedy the situation:

  1. Pay for a replacement of the book in SchoolPay on the Source.
  2. Buy a replacement of the book and send it into the library with a note attached with your child’s name and that it is intended as a replacement.
  3. Bring in another book of equal value and/or interest to contribute to the library.
  4. Email Mrs.P. about the situation, particularly if it involves fines from years ago. These books may have been officially discarded from the library anyway.

End of Year Wish List

The library has thrived from your wish list donations this year. Thank you for each and every contribution to our collection! Our final wish list of the year is built from top student nonfiction requests. The curiosities and interests of the B.F. Day Readers know no end!

“Mrs. P., do we have any books on…..” 

  • philosophy?
  • fairies?
  • chickens?
  • other languages?
  • drawing?
  • Minecraft, Minecraft, Minecraft?!

Access June’s List on the Amazon Wishlist site.


Librarian emoji siting on a stack of books reading

B.F. Day Readers!

How can you tell if it’s a B.F. Day book? Here’s a few hints:

  1. B.F. Day barcode
  2. B.F. Day stamp

FYI Seattle Public Library has their own stamp/barcode system which includes a magnetic sensor attached to the inside back cover.


Wa State Children’s Choice Book Award Nominations

Emoji of Librarian holding a stack of books
collage of book titles: The Mysterious Sea Bunny, Fluffy McWhiskers, Sloth & Squirrel in a Pickle and Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess
Washington State Children’s Choice Book Award

Students in grades K-3 enjoyed titles off the Washington State Children’s Choice Book Award nomination list.

Here’s a few we’ve read so far if you’d like to ask your student their opinion. To see the full nominee list, view the Washington Library Association (WLA) website.

4th and 5th Graders will get the opportunity to read and vote on books nominated for the Washington’s Sasquatch Award. The full list can be seen on the WLA website.

The Towner Award will be voted on by 2nd – 5th graders. This is an award recognizing Washington State’s favorite nonfiction title. View the book list on the WLA website.


B.F. Day Caldecott Winners

Book Covers: Knight Owl with boy knight and Hot Dog with dog

The winner of our first-ever B.F. Day Caldecott (“The Sunny”) goes to…. Knight Owl

We LOVED this book!

The Caldecott committee actually awarded this book a Caldecott Honor, so it will now be published with a silver medal!

The actual Caldecott winner this year is B.F. Day’s runner-up…Hot Dog. We all agree the illustrations are amazing…we certainly felt as hot as the dog!


Reading with Mrs. P.

How do I help my child with phonemic awareness?

Mrs. P sitting on top of a stack of books reading a book

What is phonemic awareness? This is the ability to manipulate individual sounds. In essence, it’s knowing the word “dog” is made up of the individual sounds /d/ /o/ /g/. Phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge are the two biggest indicators of how well a child will learn to read in the first two years of school. If students learn to play with sound, and then learn that letters go with those sounds, they have a better foundation in learning to read!

Building phonemic awareness is all about playing with sound.

  • Practice by….
    • Saying the sounds in a simple word (/m/ /a/ /t/ for “mat,” /sh/ /o/ /p/ for “shop,”) and ask kids to put the sounds together to tell you the word.
    • Do the opposite! Say a word, and have kids tell you the individual sounds in the word. Cash = /c/ /a/ /sh/.
  • If kids struggle to do this out loud, you can use cars, figurines, coins, etc. to represent each sound.
    • Have them move an object while saying each sound.
    • Alternatively, kids can tap each sound by tapping a part of their arm or patting on their lap.

Having fun with sounds leads helps kids learn to read!  ~ Mrs. Papineau


Seattle Public Library Resources

Mrs. P carrying books

The Seattle Public Library offers some AMAZING resources for students. The ability to check out audio and e-books can be a special treat. The Libby App can be downloaded onto your phone, iPad, home computer as an e-reader. 

Here’s how to set it up your SPL account…visit the Seattle Public Library website at SPL.org and select on “my account.

Your library link number is 990000 (four zeroes) followed by your student’s 7-digit ID number to create a 13-digit number. The PIN is the month and date of your child’s birthday, 2 digits for the month and 2 digits for the day. So, a birthday of November 7 would be a PIN of 1107. From there you have access to the library collection and an array of resources including these below. I haven’t yet investigated Tutor.com, but it appears Seattle Public School students have access to Free Tutoring through this site! If anyone wants to give it a try and report back, go for it!

SPL Resources

  • Libby App
    • Download OverDrive’s Libby app for iOS or Android to check out e-books and e-audiobooks. 
  • BookFlix
    • BookFlix pairs over 135 animated stories with real-world concepts to help new readers improve their skills in English and Spanish. Animated stories and interactive games keep kids engaged and help build vocabulary. Access BookFlix for free with your Library card.
  • Hoopla
    • Enjoy thousands of always-available digital comics and graphic novels in our Hoopla digital collection for free with your Library card. With Hoopla you can also access over 6,000 movies and TV shows, and 300,000 music albums.
  • Tutor.com
    • K – 12 students in Seattle can get free virtual tutoring from Tutor.com with a Library card or Library Link number. 

B.F. Day Library Recaps

Teacher/Parent Book Club Meets Again!

Trevor Noah Book Cover

May we read Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. 

Our meeting will take place May 4 @ Retreat (6900 East Greenlake Way N) at 7:00 p.m. to talk about all things reading and books! 

Please join us!


B.F. Day Parent-Teacher Book Club!

Book Cover drawing a person with a hat Deacon King Kong James McBride

Join us for our Book Club meeting. All are welcome!

Time to start reading for the next parent/teacher book club meeting! 

This month’s book is Deacon King Kong by James McBride. We will meet March 23 at 7 p.m. at the Retreat Cafe near Greenlake.

Watch for more updates!


B.F. Day Parent-Teacher Book Club!

Join us for this year’s first book club meeting. All are welcome!

Beautiful Country Book Cover Qian Julie Wang women and child walking

We’re reading Beautiful Country by Qian Julia Wang. If you’d like to join, please read the book before our meeting. Come ready to enjoy good conversation, connection, and cheer with other parents. Even if you’ve only read part of the book, you are still welcome to come!

Time/Location: Retreat (6900 East Greenlake Way North). December 8 at 7:00 p.m.

Brought to you by the PTSA and Ms. Papineau and the B.F. Day School Library.

Emoji of Librarian holding a stack of books

Thank you to all of the March wish list donors too! We had some very happy sports and games fans, as well as animal afficionados with new books about all their favorite pets!

This month’s wish list will focus on the Dewey 800s. What lives here? Poetry, drama, and jokes! April just happens to be National Poetry Month, so this is the perfect time to grow our poetry collection. Poetry is often overlooked in the school library, but it can be a fun way for pre-readers to play with language and older readers to grapple with deep topics in a simpler way. Check out our 800s list on Amazon.

I feel so fortunate to work at a school committed to supporting the voracious reading appetites of its students! Thank you to all who donated books off our latest wish list! You’ve made some super happy readers! Here’s a link to Amazon with the 700s wish list if you’d like to take a peek.

February Library Wish List

This month’s Adopt-a-Dewey wish list features books between 600-699. What lives here? Books about “Useful Science.” 

Topics like…

  • How things work or are made
  • Health and medicines
  • Airplanes and Space Travel -Cookbooks
  • Pets and How to Care for Them -Farming and Farm Animals

February Wishlist

Visit the Amazon February Wish List for a detailed list of books.


Global Reading Challenge

Emoji of Librarian holding a kite.

Congratulations to our Global Reading Challenge Team!

Student with book at table.

The Blazing Books did an amazing job representing B.F. Day at the semi-finals! We are so proud of you Ari K., Aiden K., Lincoln Z., Eli B., Nasrudin K., and Kieran M. Way to represent!

3rd Grade Biography Challenge!

The third graders have been working hard at the Little People Big Dreams reading challenge. Thanks to our amazing PTSA, we’ve been able to bring this amazing group of new biographies to the library, challenging each 3rd grader to read 20! Biographies are often overlooked as a genre, and this new collection inspires us to learn more about great lives of excellence!

Happy New Year B.F. Day Readers! Presenting our January Nonfiction Wishlist….Dewey 500-600

Thanks to all the families who have so generously gifted books to our library this year. The month of January is devoted to the 500’s. What lives here?

Books on… 

  • Astronomy 
  • Earth Science 
  • Plants
  • The Animal Kingdom

B.F. Day Readers love this part of the library! Our wish list includes mostly newly- published books featured on many recent top children’s “must-have” nonfiction lists. 

Take a peek!

Adopt-a-Dewey Wish List 

We have lots going on in the library! 

The “Adopt-a-Dewey” wish list for December is available. 

This list includes books in the 300 – 500 section of the library. What lives there?

The 300’s: The Social Sciences

  • Sociology
  • Anthropology
  • Political science
  • Economics
  • Law
  • Military science
  • Education
  • Customs and Folklore 
Sign Language Books children on the cover

The 400’s Language

  • Linguistics
  • World Languages
  • Dictionaries

Checkout our Wish List on Amazon to see what those books look like in an elementary school library!

Seattle Public Library Global Reading Challenge! Grades 4 & 5

Emoji Librarian on a red spotted mushroom

In other news, many 4th and 5th students have opted to participate in Seattle Public Library’s Global Reading Challenge! This is a sort of “Battle of the Books” where teams of students from around Seattle read eight selected titles and become experts on the books’ many details as a team. 

They then compete at the building level, with the winning team competing against other schools, and then the city finals if they make it that far! We have seven amazing teams representing B.F. Day. The Seattle Public Library Foundation has generously donated ten copies of each book to our library! Teams will meet weekly to talk strategy and book details. Go Sun Dragon Readers!

Greetings from the library!

Mrs. P carrying books

Wow, wow, wow! Our entire October wish list was purchased, and new books are finding their way to the shelves! It’s amazing to watch students’ natural curiosity come alive when they’re exposed to new topics through literature!

We also continue to benefit from PTSA’s generous grant, adding new fiction titles daily.

A shout out this week to our wonderful new 4th and 5th grade library leaders who are preparing books and working on special projects!

Students reading in the library

Many students have mentioned it’s difficult to remember which day they visit the library each week. For now, please rely on your classroom teacher’s information regarding the week’s schedule. I am working on creating a reminder card for each student to keep at home to reduce stress. Stay tuned!

As daylight gets shorter, remember dark and stormy nights are a perfect reason to snuggle up with a good book!

Hello B.F. Day Readers! Sept/Oct Overview

Book with a Face and arms and legs

Library classes have been enjoying books about identity and diversity. We also celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day listening to Raven, a northwest tribal tale explaining how the sun ended up in the sky!

Students are doing a FANTASTIC job acclimating to the library and learning how to enjoy the space responsibly. Thank you for helping your student find consistent places to keep library books at home, so they’re easy to find and return. Thanks to our generous PTSA, new fiction titles are continuously flowing into the library. The kids are SO excited to find new books on the shelves. Our nonfiction section needs some love, as many titles were outdated and weeded over the summer. To help with this endeavor I will be posting a new nonfiction wish list each month associated with different call numbers in the library.

This month will focus on 000-200. What lives here?? Well, I’ll tell you! 000’s: Computers, libraries, UFOs and the Unexplained, Books of Facts 100’s: Ghosts, Dreams, Psychology, Ethics 200: Religions, Mythology. Want to see some kids’ books on these topics? Checkout our Amazon Wish List for October!

All books purchased will ship directly to B.F. Day and immediately become part of the library. Thank you in advance for your support.  ~ Mrs. Papineau


How to Place a Book on Hold

SPS Video & Flyer instructions for placing a book hold

Chinese, Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese translations available.

Library Link

You already have your own account! Enjoy free access to carefully curated collections of e-books, animated picture books and non-fiction, as well as movies, graphic novels, research databases and much more.

Library Link is a partnership between The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Public Schools . It gives all K -12 students, teachers and staff access to SPL’s vast collection of online resources and books using their SPS student or teacher ID numbers — all SPS students and staff already have accounts created for them., You don’t need a SPL library card/account. Learn all about the wonders of Library Link

Reminders

Emoji: Mrs. P standing carrying and reading a book

A reminder to handle our books with clean hands, keep books away from pets/babies, keep books away from liquids (including Seattle rain), and return books on time. Books may be checked out for two weeks and may be renewed if students would like more time with them.

Students have a rotating library schedule. Please check with your classroom teacher regarding which day(s) your child has library.

Lost or Damaged Materials

In the event that a library item has been lost or damaged beyond reasonable use, we ask that families Pay for the book or Replace it with a new or gently used copy. Most titles can be found at your favorite local bookstore or online vendor.

We do our best to check the library shelves and talk with the student prior to sending out a notice. Your support in helping your child return their library books so that others may enjoy them next year is essential and most appreciated.


Coming Soon! B.F. Day Library on Instagram

Our library Instagram page (@bfdayreaders) will be live soon and will have book reviews and updates about events for our students.

Parent Library Accounts

Yes, parents and guardians can create their own library accounts! Creating your own library account is a great way to support your child’s appetite for great books. Just stop by the library. *SPS school libraries do not charge late fees for overdue books.