5th Graders Start the B.F. Day Wishing Tree

The 5th graders were inspired to create their own Wishing Tree after reading the book Leafy Landmarks by Michelle Shaub which featured Seattle’s Wishing Tree on Capitol Hill. Our tree, located on the upper playground, is a place to make wishes. They can be silly or serious, for today, or the future. You choose! Community members (including grownups) are invited to write a wish on a B.F. Day sunshine and tie it to the tree! A sign propped up against Capitol Hill’s tree says, “Something magical happens when we all wish in the same place.”

May will be our last full month of checkout in the library. 

If you received an overdue email notice today, thank you in advance for helping your child/children look for missing books and return them to school. I tend to not be super strict about this during the year, but the health of our library requires all of us to work together to return as many items as possible before June. If you are unable to locate a missing book you may do the following:

• Find the book and return it! OR Purchase and bring in a replacement of exact same title and type (example – hardback book for hardback book). OR Bring in a book of similar interest from home to replace the missing book. Declare the book “lost” to Mrs. P. and pay the fine through SchoolPay on The Source. You can login to your account at The Source. You’ll find fines on the School Payments screen. You can also use the search feature to find library fees. Type “Library” into the search bar. You can pay using a credit card.

It is not uncommon for a book to have been returned but not scanned.

National Poetry Month, National Autism Awareness Month, Earth Day, and National Library Week!

Spring in the library is simply the best! The month of April brings lots of celebrations that can guide our reading….National Poetry Month, National Autism Awareness Month, Earth Day, and National Library Week!

Thanks to our generous PTSA, we also have a new shipment of books to enjoy including the sequels to many of our top series! In collaboration with the 4th grade country research project, we have been learning about asking guiding questions, finding credible sources, and writing bibliographies! B.F. Day readers are also savvy researchers.

Award Nominated Reads!

Students in grades PreK-3 have started reading books off the Washington Children’s Choice Book Award list. There are 20 nominees, and students will have the opportunity to vote on their favorite in May! Ask your reader what they thought about this week’s read aloud!

Students in grades 4-5 are reading books from the Towner nominee list. This is the award given to the best nonfiction book for children in Washington. They also will vote on their favorite in May. So far, it’s a stiff competition!

Pro Tip to Support Emerging Readers at Home, From Mrs. P.

We have a lot of up-and-coming B.F. Day readers in our midst, which is so exciting! As you’re practicing at home, one thing to consider is modeling and helping your child understand how to continuously blend the sounds in words. We segment, or take apart sounds in a word when we want to spell it, but we blend and stretch sounds when we want to read it. So, instead of “log” being read /l/ /o/ /g/….log, we want to hear lllllllloooooooog. Refer to the “How to Blend Continuously” YouTube video explaining the differences.

B.F. Day Global Reading Challenge Team 

We’d like to give a huge shout out to our Global Reading Challenge team who represented B.F. Day with class and character yesterday at the semi-finals. Thank you to Evelyn, Theo, Matias, Micah, Mai’leah, Ada, and Kayla…”The Raging Readers!” The team might not have won, but showed how to work together, stay positive, and try new things….the picture-perfect B.F. Day Way! Congratulations!

Congratulations as well to all of our Global Reading Challenging participants! Each team demonstrated a high level of reading engagement and understanding of the books that they read. Competitors also demonstrated exceptional team work and were so encouraging of other teams. The B.F. Day values of Caring, Responsible, and Engaged were shining! Nine fantastic teams competed in B.F. Day’s Global Reading Challenge. This librarian is so incredibly proud of all their hard work, teamwork, and growth. They represented B.F. Day so well! A special congratulations goes to our winning team, the Raging Readers who will represent B.F. Day at the semi-finals on March 19, 2026!

The Global Reading Challenge is a reading incentive program for 4th and 5th graders enrolled in Seattle Public Schools. Students form teams, read selected books, then take part in a trivia competition. This is such a great opportunity for our readers. 

Some of the benefits include:

• Promoting a love of reading
• Introducing students to a wide variety of literature, perspectives, and voices
• Encouraging kids to participate in a team activity

This year, we have 10 (yes you read that right!), teams going on a Global Reading Challenge adventure. We will practice trivia questions in the months of December-February to prepare for B.F. Day’s competition. The winner from B.F. Day moves on to the semi-finals downtown! Learn more about the program or this year’s books on the SPL

Reading About Dr. King 

Books Focusing on Children’s Activism & Stories

Sometimes it can be difficult to strike up conversations with children around big topics like civil rights and racism. Here is your librarian reminder that books are an excellent starting point for tricky conversations.

Below is a list of some books you might want to check out around these themes. 

• Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson: Shows how children joined Dr. King’s non-violent protests in Birmingham.
• The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson: Tells the inspiring true story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a 9-year-old activist.
• Freedom on the Menu by Carole Boston Weatherford: About the Greensboro Sit-Ins, making segregation understandable for kids.
• We March by Shane Evans: A first-person narrative about the March on Washington, great for young children. 

Books About Key Figures & Events

• Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Dee Romito: Highlights Georgia Gilmore’s crucial support during the boycott.
• Rosa by Nikki Giovanni: A poetic look at Rosa Parks’ courageous act.
• The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles: Focuses on Ruby’s brave integration of an all-white school.
• I’ve Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Walter Dean Myers: An accessible biography of MLK Jr.. 

Books Exploring Broader Themes & Other Movements

• Separate Is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh: About the Mendez family’s fight for school desegregation in California.
• Harvesting Hope by Kathleen Krull: About Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers’ movement.
• Something Happened in Our Town by Ann Hazzard: Explores how families discuss racial injustice in their community.

Note: Links to books on the January 16, 2026 Dayette.

November 2025

The fireplace is out in the library, and we are staying cozy and warm and reading up a storm! November is Native American Heritage month, and we will be sharing biographies, folktales, and nonfiction related to this rich, diverse culture.

This week, 4th and 5th graders were introduced to this year’s Global Reading Challenge selections. The Global Reading Challenge is a reading incentive program for 4th and 5th graders enrolled in Seattle Public Schools. Students form teams, read selected books, then take part in a trivia competition. This is such a great opportunity for our readers. Some of the benefits include:

• Promoting a love of reading
• Introducing students to a wide variety of literature, perspectives, and voices
• Encouraging kids to participate in a team activity

Students are welcome to start reading this month. At the beginning of December, I will ask kids whether or not they would like to be part of an official team. Our teachers will then form student teams of up to seven students. We will practice trivia questions in the months of December-February to prepare for B.F. Day’s competition. The winner from B.F. Day moves on to the semi-finals downtown! Learn more about the program or this year’s books on the SPL site!

Conversation Starters

As you know, learning is a continuous partnership between school and home. Learning to read is based on oral language, and one way you can help is by having meaningful conversations at home that stretch vocabulary and get kids thinking! Here’s a conversation starter for this week:

Grades 3-5: Have you ever noticed that most supermarkets are designed so that if you start on the first aisle and go up and down each aisle you always end up having to do one aisle again? Why do you think they design supermarkets that way? (vocabulary builder=”design”)

Pre-K-2: Can you think of any snacks that are in the shape of animals? Do you think that dogs would like dog treats that were in the shape of people?

Reading with Mrs. P.

How do I help my child with phonemic awareness?

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

The Seattle Public Library (SPL) 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 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
  • K – 12 students in Seattle can get free virtual tutoring from Tutor.com with a Library card or Library Link number. 

How to Place a Book on Hold

View the helpful district How to Place an Online Library Hold or instructions on how to place a book on hold. Chinese, Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese translations available. 

Learn more on the SPS Library Resources for SPS Students

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

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. 

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.

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.