library life | the barefoot librarian

Last Wednesday and Saturday we had our parent conferences, without students, due to Covid regulations. It is always fun for me to chat with the parents, I really enjoy it. I love sharing news of their child and the books they love, as well as recommending books to parents. On Saturday I thought it would be fun to have the parents participate in our estimating competition that we’ve been running all of March. Parents were impressed with the improvement they saw in children’s estimating skills and so I convinced them to have a go too. I knew the students would get a kick out of seeing their parents having a turn at something so many of them have been doing every day. We’ve been doing this for all of March and as the kids have enjoyed it so much, we will continue through April

Well done to 2FJ Jamie’s mum for guessing the closest number without going over it. I hope you like the prize Jamie chose for you.

Additionally, thank you to the parents who volunteered to help us shelve the books on Wednesday and Saturday, and sorry Saturday folks, I was too busy supervising Edward’s Dad Allen with the painting to take photos of your hard work.

We had our last virtual visit with Who Would Win author Jerry Pallotta this week. Monday’s hour with 5th grade meant that Jerry has spoken with all of our Elementary students. While there is nothing like meeting someone in person, we did the next best thing and now have a relationship with Jerry where we can chat back and forth and he is always happy to answer students questions and see the wonderful books and book covers the students continue to create.

For 6 years, we’ve run Books to Eat as an annual fun event in the Elementary Library, celebrating two of my favourite things; books and food. You can see many of our former entries here, but you will need a VPN to access the youtube clip.

We’ve had all sorts of creations submitted…Grapes with angry faces drawn on for Grapes of Wrath, a huge ice cube for Frozen…the emphasis has been on family involvement, imagination and creativity. However for many, it’s been intimidating seeing some of the INCREDIBLY detailed, majestic, fondant -covered creations made by some people, and I can understand that intimidation, after all, I don’t bake.

But this year I feel like people have really started to listen to me when I’ve said, “it doesn’t HAVE TO BE CAKE” it is ANY edible item, with ANY book. The entries this year were so imaginative, and you could see the hands of pre k, k and 1st graders all over them. I was thrilled. Take a look, and remember next week is 2nd and 3rd grade’s turn, with 4th and 5th grade the week after…however, we aren’t to fussy about things like that; anytime you want to get creative, we aren’t going to stop you! And…don’t forget…

~~There is so much research to show that eating lots of cake in the library is beneficial for children’s brain development and helps get them into Ivy League Colleges.~~ Nah… just kidding, we do it because it is FUN!