Library
About our B.F. Day Library
For those of you new to the B.F. Day Family, welcome! My name is Jaimee Papineau (most students call me “Mrs. P.”) and I am a Reading Support Teacher and Librarian for our wonderful community. This will be my 13 year at B.F. Day, and 24th year (gulp) in education!
I am in my second year of librarianship, with the goal of creating a warm, welcoming, supportive space for all students and families. The library is a place to learn more about ourselves, grow in our empathy for others, and expand our ability to be critical and informed thinkers. I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm for learning and reading with our students. My goal is to help nurture truly joyful and lifelong readers. 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
April News From The Library!
Books to ask your Preschool – 3rd graders about…. what’s your favorite so far? These are all nominations for the Washington State Children’s Choice Book Award!
The 4th and 5th graders enjoyed the Towner nominee Washed Ashore: Making Art From Ocean Plastic to begin our month highlighting books around environmentalism and conservation (Hello Earth Day!). We’ve become inspired to make our own sculpture with found plastic!
Thank you to our book donors toward April’s wish list featuring books about conservation, the eclipse and national library month! Richard Mackay (aka Popi, Cole’s grandfather), Nicolo’s family, Kyriaki Levanti.
More April News
In the month of March to recap, we had 1,688 check outs! Wowza! Students in grades PK-3 have been enjoying read-alouds from the Washington State Children’s Choice Book Award nominee list. At the end of April, B.F. Day students will vote for their favorite and we will submit our vote to the state. Here’s a list if you’d like to check them out! Ask your student about their favorite!
Students in 4th and 5th grade have continued learning about the lives of amazing, unheralded women who made groundbreaking advances paving the way for others. In the month of April, we celebrate the solar eclipse, Earth Day, and National Library Week. This month’s April Amazon Wish List brings together titles to celebrate all three! (Who knew we had zero books on eclipses in the library!).
Grownups Book Club
Our next meeting is April 16, 7:00 at Retreat in Greenlake. You have plenty of time to read this month’s book A Day in the Life of Abed Salama. Please join us!
Global Reading Challenge Books
The Global Reading Challenge book list!
This year’s books are:
- A Kind of Spark, by Elle McNicoll
- Invisible, by Christina Diaz Gonzalez and Gabriele Epstein
- Healer of the Water Monster, by Brian Young
- The Secret of the Jade Bangle, by Linda Trinh
- My Kingdom of Darkness, by Susan Tan
- The Jumbies, by Tracey Baptiste
- The Button Box, by Bridget Hodder and Fawzia Gilani-Williams
- Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff
Questions Lately…
Q: How do I help my emerging reader pick out books for practice, either at the library or the bookstore?
A: Did you know reading levels were actually created for teachers, not students? Each level corresponds with a skill set students need to read and comprehend the text. Many publishing companies try to put levels on their books with their own system of numbers and letters. Recently, with a greater focus on the science of reading and how students learn to read, companies are better aligning the text in the book to actual phonetic skills (aka, if you know short vowels and CVC words this book is a “good fit”), but it can all be very confusing!
There is a quick, easy way to match your child to a book called “The Five Finger Rule” from Scholastics Books. Here’s how it works: Your child opens a book to the first page. They read the page and hold up one finger for every word they don’t know or can’t pronounce.
The number of fingers they’re holding up by the end of the page tells them if the book is the right level:
- 0-1 fingers: It’s too easy.
- 2-3 fingers: It’s just right.
- 4-5 fingers: It’s too hard (or best read aloud with a buddy).
Two to three fingers is the sweet spot. If they’re holding up any more or less, that’s a clue that they should try to find another book if they’re reading independently. Clearly, this is a very simplified method, but at least it gives you a place to start. Check out the cited link for the full article.