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Library News & Announcements
Save the Date – MUSF Book Bash December 5, 3:15–5:30 PM Join us in the Library & Nature Lab for an afternoon of stories, treats, crafts, and book fair! Meet nationally acclaimed authors Stuart Gibbs (Spy School, Charlie Thorne, Funjungle and Alpha Moon Base Series), James Burks (Bird & Squirrel, Agent 7) and Mike Bender (funny picture books) enjoy goodies, and shop the Godmothers Book Fair. September/October Saturday, October 11 – “Breakfast with the Authors” Hosted by the Santa Barbara County Office of Education. Families listened to a variety of authors and illustrators share insights into their creative process while enjoying breakfast! The Cartoonist Club (Grades 4–6) Students dove into an exciting new graphic novel about friendship and the art of creating comics. Together, they’re exploring storytelling, illustration, and humor as they design their own original comics—soon to be displayed in the library for everyone to enjoy. Digital Citizenship Lessons (K–6) Digital Citizenship lessons are underway! As part of their library experience, students are learning to be smart, safe, and kind online. Using trusted, scaffolded resources from Common Sense Media, students practice using technology responsibly, conducting research effectively, and thinking critically about media. Each grade level will participate in age-appropriate lessons throughout the year. Battle of the Books – New Partnership! This year, we’re thrilled to partner with Crane School to make our Battle of the Books program even more fun and collaborative! Each year, the Battle will rotate between campuses, where MUS and Crane students will team up in a lively, game show–style competition to answer questions about books from this year’s reading list. If your child enjoys reading great stories, friendly teamwork, and a bit of friendly competition, encourage them to join the MUS Battle of the Books Team! October - Hispanic Heritage Month Students are exploring works by Hispanic authors and illustrators, learning about their voices, stories, and important contributions to literature and society. Banned Books Week (October 6–11) Students celebrated their freedom to read, a right protected by the First Amendment. Students discovered books that have been challenged or banned in communities across the country and engaged in thoughtful discussions about censorship and the value of diverse ideas. Author Visit – Emma Bland Smith (October 24) Award-winning nonfiction author Emma Bland Smith visited our Mustangs to share her writing journey and creative process. Her book The Gardener of Alcatraz won the California Young Reader Medal last spring! November Students celebrated National Native American Heritage Month learning more about the wide range of tribal culture and customs through story, informative clips and discussion. Leading into Thanksgiving, we focus on gratitude and discuss ways in which we can give thanks to our community, school friends and family. We are grateful for our wonderful, supportive community! Warmly, Jamie Allison, MUS Teacher Librarian
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We’re so excited to welcome all our students and families back for another great year of reading, exploring, and learning! The library is open and ready with brand-new books, fun activities, and cozy spaces to read and discover. Let’s make this a wonderful year of stories and adventures — see you in the library! Please explore our library tabs to learn more about upcoming programs and resources. Grades, 4-6 ~ The MUS Battle of the Books is Back ! This year, we’re excited to partner with Crane School to make our Battle of the Books program even more fun and collaborative! Each year, the Battle will rotate between campuses, where MUS and Crane students will team up in a game show-style event to answer questions about books from this year’s reading list. If you’re looking for a fun way to read great books and work as part of a team, join the MUS Battle of the Books! Here’s how it works:
In addition, up to 10 students will be selected to represent MUS at the countywide Battle of the Books event on April 30th if 15+ books from the list are read! All books on the list are available in the school library, and students are welcome to read them in any format — including audiobooks or eBooks. Let the reading begin! Interested? See Mrs. Allison to sign up!  Dear Parents, What a sprint into spring we’ve had in our beautiful library! A favorite, Spring Stuffie Sleepover is set for this Friday, May 2 for all TK-2nd grade students! Stuffie drop off is Friday between 8:00-8:30am. Volunteers welcome. Watch for weekend updates via email! Our year-long Battle of the Books program culminated April 9th with 16, 4-6th grade students who read 10+ books from the County's B.O.B. reading list. Those who read 15+ went to the County competition to participate with students from all over Santa Barbara County on April 24th! Huge high fives to our outstanding, dedicated readers! See pictures below. MUS Battle of the Books County Battle of the Books Juliet Leggio Juliet Leggio Eliana Lopez - Hollis Eliana Lopez - Hollis Colette Prince Colette Prince Genevieve Bragg Genevieve Bragg Katrine Wiley Katrine Wiley Jaimeson Rivera Jaimeson Rivera Kerri O'Neill Emma Hahn Nolan Clark Kennedy Stad George Tyler Selma Jenkins Sorcha Fornarna Gwyneth Carty Fenna McCrindle On April 15th students participated in Poem in Your Pocket & recited their poems at the Poetry Jam! Students in grades K-6 completed their annual information science studies via our Digital Citizenship library curriculum. Our goal is to inform, guide and support students in making safe and smart choices online as well as to help students develop strategic research skills for an array of project based learning experiences. We’ve had several local authors visit our primary grades to share their beautiful picture books! Barbara Edelston Peterson’s In My World was a natural tie into our Earth Day and STEAM night celebrations. And author Mike Bender’s Bored Panda was a hilarious tie into National Screen Free Week beginning next week May 5-9th. Mike Bender will be presenting this Saturday, May 3rd at Godmothers at 11:00am. I hope your family can make it!    A Year of Transformation and Celebration at Our Library!
What an incredible year of transition and celebration for our library! As the remodel began, our Mustangs embraced the spirit of "library" in our Nature Lab with bold enthusiasm. Every day brought new surprises—clucking chickens strutting through our outdoor classroom, curious insects shifting our literary discussions to nature, and the symphony of bleating goats, screeching hawks, and the wind rustling through the trees. Yes, there were some chilly, foggy mornings, and a few felt for our outdoor classroom's unusual setup, but overall, the experience amplified our gratitude for the flexibility and beauty of our campus. It demonstrated our ideal of thinking with flexibility, patience, and resilience in the face of hard work—and pure joy and appreciation for our new library space. And what a reveal it was! Our iLab & Library ribbon-cutting ceremony, combined with our annual Book Bash, was a day to remember. Families browsed Tecolote's Book Fair, listened to award-winning author Dusti Bowling, created book-inspired arts and crafts in the iLab, and enjoyed baked goods, fruit, and hot chocolate. A huge thank you to our generous parents for making these renovations possible. New Library Features Include:
Other Library News: Our 4th-6th grade Spelling Bee took place on March 4th in the library. Congratulations to our top two spellers, Oliver C. (5th) and Elliot A. (6th), who represented our school at the County Spelling Bee on March 18th. Way to take a responsible risk! Upcoming Library Events:
Happy Fall!
As we enthusiastically await our library remodel to complete, we are hosting library visits in our beautiful nature lab! We are all adapting with a sense of humor as our free ranging chickens waddle through our space and our lively goats send over a bleating welcome to each new class upon arrival…we are flexible and grateful! A couple quick notes.
 Happy Spring! We have been zipping along with our library curriculum and programs as well as planning and preparing for our amazing Library renovation this summer. A huge thank you to our parent body for supporting both the iLab and Library and helping us make each of our spaces more accessible, efficient and fun for all! So amazingly generous! Here's a recap for March and April: In March, our MUS Spelling Bee results were: Dylan - 1st, Scofield - 2 and Connor -3rd! Dylan and Scofield went on to the County Spelling Bee and did very well there as well: Dylan - 3rd; Scofield 6th! Students from TK-6th grade read from the different categories of the California Young Reader Medal Program and then voted for their favorite book. These votes were sent to the State program and we're eagerly awaiting the results! Additionally, students in grades 2 & 3 and 4-6th participated in March Book Madness! Modeled after the collegiate March Madness basketball program, brackets of the highest circulated books competed against each other until students had a winner. In 2&3rd grade it was Lulu and the Brontosaurus by Judith Viorst and in 4-6th grade it was The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. Students in 4-6 also practiced research skills while studying an African American person of influence during Black History Month. Students learned how to access our research databases, take purposeful notes, use text glossaries, indexes and table of contents, formulate a draft essay and finally synthesize research information into a final paragraph for a class book in 4th & 5th grades and a Black History tessellation quilt in 6th grade. In April students in 4-6th grades who read 10/28 books from the Battle of the Books list were invited to our MUS Battle of the Books event where they participated in a Jeopardy style game with mixed grade level teams. We had 10 students qualify (needed to read 15/28 books) for the County Battle of the Books and 7 who attended! They had a blast meeting and playing on teams with other students all across the county! Some had solos in the Spring Sing and therefore, needed to be present for the rehearsal, but I wanted to highlight their commitment as well. Here were the results:
What's next?! You know it! K-2nd Grade Spring Stuffie Sleepover May 17th! More to come!  Happy New Year!
First of all, I'd like to thank you, MUSF, for your support and fundraising efforts making it possible to update our Library and iLab! We are deeply grateful and so excited for our students to enjoy new flexible learning spaces, efficient access to materials and awe inspiring reading nooks! Our team has been meeting regularly and working diligently in order for a special reveal next school year. In the library, our students have been buzzing through an array of literary experiences! Here's a glimpse of the library programs provided to date. Also, please note that our Habits of Mind, Harvard's Project Zero Thinking Routines, school theme, "All Means All," and the California Model School Library Standards are through lines woven into library curriculum. October
Hello Library Friends! What an amazing start to the school year we've had in library! Your students are so enthusiastic and curious, as well as eager to share opinions and discuss the main, side and hidden messages of books read each week. It's absolutely my pleasure to share in their excitement as well as to help ignite their literary passion. Mark Your Calendars! Santa Barbara County Office of Education's "Breakfast with the Authors" set for Saturday, October 21st between 9:30am-12:30pm. Enjoy breakfast while listening to a panel of authors share their writing process and latest books! For more information and to register, click HERE. - 2nd Annual MUS Book Lab! Set for Saturday, December 9th from 1:00pm - 3:00pm in the Nature Lab. Book Lab is free family-friendly and fun community literacy event with amazing and inspiring author/speakers, book themed arts and crafts and a pop-up holiday book shop with curated titles from independent bookseller Timbre books with a portion of sales going back to the school. August/September Recap:
Classroom Visits: In September, students have been exploring Habits of Mind themes "Taking Responsible Risks" and "Listening with Empathy" via an array of picture books, practicing Harvard's Project Zero, "Thinking Routines", such as Main Message, Side and Hidden messages and celebrating Hispanic Heritage month. In addition, our 4-6 Library Book Club launched! Students are reading The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Perez and are currently preparing to interview the author via zoom on Oct. 17th! Students in grades 4-6 are also actively tracking their Battle of the Books read preparing for our Spring MUS and County Battle of the Books event. And, Library/ILab renovation initial planning has begun! In October, students in grades 4-6, learned about "National Banned Books Week" and explored an array of challenged or banned books. Next Up:
Welcome back to school!
I am thrilled to return to such an inspiring, progressive and supportive team of professionals. And equally excited to share my passion for literacy and literature with our thoughtful, kind Mustangs! In the library space, we aim to provide a welcoming, inclusive place for students, staff and families to explore, discover, and develop a lifelong love of reading and learning. This site is a central place to review library news & updates, participate in monthly school & library themes, engage in optional library programs, access databases and additional resources. Be sure to check back often! August/September Library Education: Library orientation, book care, community, just right books, library programs, new databases, Habit of Mind: Listening with Empathy; Kindness, National Hispanic Heritage Month Weekly Library Class Schedule: Monday: K - Allison, Luna, Noble; 3rd - Monson and 2nd Judy & Craine Tuesday: 1st - Cloud & Soderborg; 6th -Berman; 4th - Gonzales & Gallup Wednesday: 4th - Bruski and Library PLC Thursday: 3rd - Hammer; 1st - Compton & Marsh and 6th - Weill Friday: 5th - Nimitarnun, Brown & Carrington and 3rd - Trent General Information & Policies: Library Hours: 8:00am-3:00pm for class visits. Additional open hours include before school 8:15am, and M-TH during morning recess and lunch. Library Class visits: In addition to browsing and checking books out each week, students will take part in monthly school and library theme discussions, learn how to get involved in optional library programs, practice database navigational and search skills and engage in a vast collection of high interest fiction and non-fiction titles. Checkout Policy: All students may check out at least 2 books for two weeks. If students need more than 2 that and have a responsible record, that is perfectly fine. Book Return: Books become overdue after 2 weeks. Students may return books earlier in order to check out 1-2 new library books. The expectation is that each student will check out at least 1 library book. If a student is in the middle of a book, they are welcome to bring it to read while others are browsing. Holds: 1 book may be held for 5 days before it is returned to the shelf. Donations: We appreciate relevant, hard back fiction/nonfiction book donations that are in good shape and in the following categories: picture books, early readers, middle grade (no YA please). |
