Willard Library Blog

Battle of the Books! Coming Soon!

2017-03-22T18:38:00.001-07:00

The BUSD Battle of the Books will be happening on April 13th. Students have been preparing since the fall. They read, meet weekly, discuss books, quiz each other and read some more. Soon we will find out which team remembers the most trivia from the books they read. Families and friends are welcome to attend the competition and cheer on their team!

Thursday, April 13th, 6:30 - 8:30
Berkeley Adult School on San Pablo Ave.

We are seeking donations from the community to support the event that evening, particularly feeding our competitors and their families. No donation is too small.
https://schoolsfund-friendsandfamily.herokuapp.com/grants/300

Nikki Grimes to Visit Willard!

2017-02-23T16:03:00.002-08:00

Friday, February 24th
8:45 - 9:15 in the Willard Cafetorium

This Friday, our 8th graders will get to to hear award-winning poet and novelist Nikki Grimes speak. Her most recent book is a collection of poetry inspired by the poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Since our own students just wrote dramatic monologues about the Harlem Renaissance, this seemed like an opportunity that could not be passed up.

Last month, Ms. Grimes was awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for an author whose books "have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." Other recipients of this lifetime achievement award include E. B. White, Beverly Cleary, Dr. Seuss, and Virginia Hamilton.

Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore will bring some copies of her books to sell while she is here.

About One Last Word:

In this collection of poetry, Nikki Grimes looks afresh at the poets of the Harlem Renaissance -- including voices like Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and many more writers of importance and resonance from this era -- by combining their work with her own original poetry. Using "The Golden Shovel" poetic method, Grimes has written a collection of poetry that is as gorgeous as it is thought-provoking.

This special book also includes original artwork in full-color from some of today's most exciting African American illustrators, who have created pieces of art based on Nikki's original poems. Featuring art by: Cozbi Cabrera, R. Gregory Christie, Pat Cummings, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Ebony Glenn, Nikki Grimes, E. B. Lewis, Frank Morrison, Christopher Myers, Brian Pinkney, Sean Qualls, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, Shadra Strickland, and Elizabeth Zunon.
- See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/one-last-word-9781619635548/#sthash.UpK105B7.dpuf

What is That Thing?

2016-10-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

... and why is it rolling all over the library?

Sorry for making the library even noisier this week. The Library League (aka students assigned to Independent Work Experience in the library) was given an interesting challenge this week. You see, a mysterious box arrived. The box had a combination lock. The IWEs had to figure out the combination based on a selection of simple puzzles (like "The year Ms. Lee the librarian graduated from high school minus 1000.")

Once they opened the box, they had to figure out what the heck those things were inside of it and make them do something interesting. Yep, the kids had to create their own challenge then see if they could make it happen. Those 6 seconds of video showing a robot hopping onto a chair required about an hour of figuring out the coding (We used an app called Tickle to control the Parrot Racers.), measuring, testing, adjusting the code, testing again, etc. Many failures led to that single success!

Thank you CUE for the loan of these fun and surprisingly challenging toys!

Battle of the Books

2016-10-07T14:09:00.003-07:00

Put your reading and trivia skills

to the ultimate test!

The Battle of the Books is an optional reading club that will meet every Monday during lunch, culminating in a quiz-show style competition to see which team has read most widely and remembers the most details. This program encourages students to read for comprehension while nurturing an enthusiasm and love for reading. Students who participate will be expected to read several books from a list of titles, attend weekly lunchtime meetings in the library, and participate in the final competition. Participants will receive a T-shirt and all the honor and glory befitting them.

The school’s winning teams will go on to compete against teams from Longfellow and King in an evening competition in April. Drop by the Willard Library any Monday during lunch to see what's going on and join the book discussion.

See the List of Titles.

Happy Summer Reading!

2015-08-24T15:19:00.003-07:00

Reading is out of this world!

Welcome back to school! I hope you had a fabulous summer full of reading and fun. As you can see I enjoyed reading in a variety of environments. It was a very full summer with lots of traveling, a library conference, and some great books!

Reading with Bad Kitty

Story time with Storm Troopers

Sharon Draper who visited Willard in 2006,
at the American Library Association Conference.

That is Frances Willard in the US Capitol.

Ms. Lee at the Library of Congress
with a bunch of other tourists.

Do you recognize this very big book?

Reading below Fortitude.
Do you know which library's steps we are standing on?

3D Printing in the Library

2015-02-11T22:40:00.000-08:00

The rumors are true! We really do have a 3D printer running in the back of the library. Two printers were donate to Willard earlier this year. Currently, students enrolled in the Library/Technology Independent Work Experience class are designing objects to print. The students and staff are learning together how to use this exciting new tool. We are learning about design and engineering while watching some of our creations completely fall apart. This is a great opportunity to learn through failure. Each print job is a chance to get it more right.

Students who are interested in designing an object to print should visit https://www.tinkercad.com/ to create an account and start tinkering with the program. Listen for announcements in the Willard Word for when we are ready to print for general students. One note: we will only manufacture original designs. The whole point of having a printer is so students can see their own creations brought from screen to reality.

Policies and procedures are being developed. This is new and exciting, and not many schools have models for us to follow. As we forge ahead with our Flashforge, check into the library frequently to see what we are building and how our ideas are developing.

Hour of Code

2014-11-17T15:32:00.003-08:00

http://code.org/

Anybody can learn to code. Join the Hour of Code, December 8 - 14, 2014.

Fundraiser for Willard Nov. 14 - 16 at Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore

2014-11-13T13:56:00.003-08:00

MRS. DALLOWAY'S SCHOOL BENEFIT WEEKEND

Friday, November 14th, 10:00 am - 9:00 pmSaturday, November 15th, 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
&
Sunday, November 16th, 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm

2904 College Avenue, Berkeley
One Block North of Ashby510 704-822

For every purchase you make at Mrs. Dalloway's this weekend, the store will reimburse Willard for 20% of your total purchase. Please make sure you keep your receipts and turn them in to Jessica Lee by November 21st. This is a great opportunity to stock up on holiday gift items, such as children's books, cookbooks, adult fiction, gardening books, and gift certificates for teachers. You can even shop online at http://mrsdalloways.com/ just print your receipt and bring it in. It's a great way to support Willard!

Author Kendare Blake Visited Willard

2013-10-15T10:31:00.001-07:00

On Friday, October 4th, Kendare Blake visited Willard for a lunchtime talk with students. Over 40 students came to the library at lunch to hear Ms. Blake talk about how she came to be a writer and what inspired her.

She talked about her first book for young adults, Anna Dressed in Blood, which many of the students had already read. She then gave a teaser of a talk about her newest book, released last month, Antigoddess. This blending of classical Greek mythology and modern teen conflicts as well as lots of action and gore is sure to be popular with her readers.

Kendare also took time to answer the many questions students had being careful not to give away any spoilers, signed a few books and fancy bookmarks, and smilingly posed for photos. She was enthusiastic, energetic, and encouraging throughout her brief visit.

Thanks to Jack Baur from the Berkeley Public Library and Tor Publishing for helping arrange her free visit.

Summer Reading!

2013-08-09T19:24:00.001-07:00

I hope you are having a blast while you read this summer! Here are some of my adventures while reading this summer:

Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James, on Medusa at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, before a Giants game with Mr. Jorgensen

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, with my NEW PUPPY!

Help Willard Win $20,000!

2013-04-18T09:23:00.002-07:00

Every vote counts.
Text to: 82653
Message: Lee

I am one of five finalists in the Bay Area. Don't worry: I am not competing against anyone else from Berkeley or Oakland. This is a huge honor just to be nominated and selected as a finalist. But it would be really great for Willard to receive the $20,000. To win, we need lots of votes. Encourage your friends and family to vote, too. Share widely. You can read about the contest, see the other contestants, watch a video about me, and vote again (yes, according to the rules everyone can vote twice, once via text and once via the internet) here: csnbayarea.com/allstarteacher2013

Pi Week 2013!

2013-03-08T10:16:00.001-08:00

It is time to get irrational! Click here to find lots of resources about that infinite, transcendental number we all know (partially) and love.

For your research : Pi π Links

Finish 8 items and you will be welcome at the Pi(e) Party, Friday, March 15 after school in the cooking room.

Cory Doctorow visits Willard

2013-02-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

Our 8th graders were treated to a fascinating talk by author Cory Doctorow. At time speaking over their heads, and at other times, straight to their hearts, Doctorow discussed technology, surveillance, privacy, copyright, and piracy. But it was his discussion of the late activist and hacker Aaron Swartz that struck the deepest chord with the students. Depression and suicide are not easy subjects. I was glad Doctorow was able to talk about the loss of a friend so thoughtfully and openly.

Doctorow is on tour to promote his most recent novel, Homeland, a follow-up to Little Brother. Both books feature a teenager who uses his talents with technology to challenge governmental authority. Doctorow's vast understanding of computer systems comes through in these novels as it did in his talk. Unlike other author-speakers we have had in the past, Doctorow did not talk at all about his writing process, his editor, where his ideas, came from, or any of the usual author-subjects. In fact, during his first talk, he forgot to mention that he had written a book at all. The second round, he started with a plug for his new book, then launched into his 30-minute, non-stop, fact-packed, mildly paranoid explanation of how much we are watched via our technology and how little we can do about it. What followed was a call to action, to look inside our gadgets, understand how they work, and demand that our government protect us when the corporations try to use our gadgets to their own benefit.

Thank you to Tor Publishing and Jack Baur from the Berkeley Public Library for helping arrange this completely free author visit. We hope Cory enjoys his new Willard hoodie and comes again to speak to future students.

Doctorow signing books for the students who won in a drawing.

8th Annual Spelling Bee

2013-01-25T13:43:00.001-08:00

This year's spelling bee was hard-fought. After several rounds of flawless spelling, our 7th grade champion, Nik, was eliminated with the word empirical. Then things got tricky. Sam and August traded the lead several times as the words got progressively harder. Sam, our 8th grade finalist, showed his fallability when he left out an L in the word fallability. But August, winner of the 6th grade bee, missed the H in his next word, archaic, and so it went for several rounds. All of the three finalists showed impressive spelling skills. When Sam was given the word dystopia as his winning word, we all knew that he would prevail with a word so familiar to him. It was an exciting event.

Spelling Bee Champion

Thank you to the many participant who qualified through the in-class, written bee. Over 40 contestants had vied in live, oral bees over the week. Today's finals took the winners from each of the grade-wide bees to compete against each other.

Sam will go on to represent Willard at the Bay Area Semi-Final Spelling Bee at the Lawrence Hall of Science in February. This is a qualifying bee for the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee. Best of luck to Sam!

Food Drive

2012-12-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

Hungry? You aren't alone. Families throughout Berkeley often do not have enough food to adequately feed their children. One in six households in Alameda County rely on the Alameda Food Bank to help feed themselves. During this time of sharing, Willard Middle School wants to remember those in need and reach out to help them. To accomplish this we are staging our fifth annual "Willard Helping Willard" food drive.

We are asking that students and families bring in food to share with needy families in the Willard community. December 10 - 21, bring in donations of non-perishable food items such as pasta, beans, canned soup, and cereal. Please remember that we cannot accept donations of food in glass jars, perishable food, frozen food, fresh produce, soda, and baby food or formula or non-food items. There will be bins for each grade level in the library. We will be collecting food every day until Winter Break.

Also, if you are a family that requires food assistance please call 644-6330 and ask to speak to any counselor. We will then distribute the food Willard collects in the food drive to as many of the families requesting assistance as possible during the Winter Break. Each family will receive a large box and grocery bag of food. Any additional food will be donated to the Alameda County Community Food Bank.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Halloween!

2012-11-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

There were some fabulous, book-themed costumes that passed through the library this Halloween. I loved seeing Gimli and Legolas from The Lord of the Rings. And I played a non-specific manga character, complete with ridiculous wig and googly eyes.

Speaking of googly eyes, Jack Baur from the Berkeley Public Library dropped in with a lunchtime craft project. We made halloween-themed votive candle decorations, headbands, and pins. Googly eyes were added to many an owl.

Graphic Novelists Visited Willard

2012-09-29T20:31:00.001-07:00

On the 11th of September, Raina Telgemeier and Doug TenNapel visited Willard to talk to a few classes and clubs. The Metal Shop Theater was at full capacity as 90 students listened to Raina and Doug talk about their work as authors and artists. They sketched, they chatted, they posed for photos, and signed books graciously and enthusiastically. Then, second period started and they did it all again for another 90 kids.

Raina Telgemeier is best known for her graphic novel Smile which won the Eisner Award for best graphic novel for teens in 2011. This memoir tells of her life in middle school with all its social challenges, made even worse when she loses her two front teeth. Raina's lovely (if reconstructed) smile assured the middle schoolers that the troubles of this age will pass.

Doug TenNapel's long career in animation ensured that many of the audience members were familiar with his work. From the Nickelodeon show, "Catscratch," to video games such as "Earthworm Jim", as well as his recent graphic novels Ghostopolis and Bad Island, kids knew his monsters. He pointed out to the students that it is not his innate talent that makes him a great artist. "If you do something 8 hours a day every day, you are going to get good at it. For me, it was drawing monsters. From when I was your age to now, I spent all my freetime sketching strange creatures. Now I get paid to do it." His newest graphic novel, Cardboard, came out in August.

Then Raina and Doug spent lunch with the Tuesday Comic Book Club. The kids in the club had all read books by both of the authors and then had a chance to pose questions to them, then posed for a picture.

Raina was kind enough to stick around to speak to our Drama class. They did a dramatic reading from her recently published book, Drama, complete with off-pitch singing. Then they swapped backstage theater stories.

Thank you to Scholastic Publishing for sponsoring this author visit. It was fun and inspiring.

2012-08-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Books are a Thrill Ride!
Island of Thieves by Josh Lacey at Great America

I hope you had a great summer filled with many, many books. As you can see, my summer was filled with travels, fun, and reading every opportunity I could find. Here are some of the great books I enjoyed over the summer.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey, Emerald Isle, NC

Iron-Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill at the Berkeley Public Library

Make Magazine on the bumper cars

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers in my backyard

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake at the Sonoma County Fair

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney at the movies

I also had the privilege of speaking on a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego with Jack Baur from the Berkeley Public Library. We spoke about our comic book club... coming soon to Willard! More info will be shared when school starts.

Pi Week!

2012-03-06T17:23:00.000-08:00

sites.berkeley.net/willardpi

Lots of resources about that infinite, transcendental number we all know (partially) and love.

The pie party will be after school, Friday 3/16.

Winter Food Drive

2011-12-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

Hungry? You aren't alone. Families throughout Berkeley often do not have enough food to adequately feed their children. One in six people in Alameda County rely on the Alameda Food Bank to help feed themselves. During this time of sharing, Willard Middle School wants to remember those in need and reach out to help them. To accomplish this we are staging our fourth annual "Willard Helping Willard" food drive.

We are asking that students and families bring in food to share with needy families in the Willard community. Starting Monday, bring in donations of non-perishable food items such as pasta, beans, canned soup, and cereal. Please remember that we cannot accept donations of food in glass jars, perishable food, frozen food, fresh produce, soda, and baby food or formula or non-food items. There will be bins for each grade level in the library. We will be collecting food everyday for the next two weeks, until Winter Break.

Also, if you are a family that requires food assistance please call Carolyn Ruiz at 644-6330 to let us know of your need. We will then distribute the food Willard collects as a result of the food drive to as many of the families requesting assistance as possible during the Winter Break. Each family will receive a large box and grocery bag of food. Any additional food will be donated to the Alameda County Community Food Bank.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T23:01:00.000-07:00

I love seeing all the costumes inspired by literary characters. Some of the standouts this year at Willard included Gulliver (complete with Lego Lilliputians) and the Lady of the Lake from Arthurian legends.

My Frost Giant costume was inspired by Neil Gaiman's book Odd and the Frost Giants which draws heavily from Norse mythology. You can read more about these cruel and cold-hearted creatures in D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths. Perfect for these blustery days that are now upon us.

New Library Catalog

2011-10-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the new catalog? It has some fun features. My favorite part is the "Recommended" feature. Under the "What's New?" tab, you can find the books that I have recently recommended to a class. Click here to see the catalog and the new items that are featured. But be sure to check out the "recommended" button to see the titles I think are worth checking out.

Back-to-School Preparations

2011-08-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Everyone should have one!

In that end of summer rush to prepare for school, make sure that you have one essential resource: your public library card! The Willard Library strives to provide materials for the variety of interests and academic needs of our students. However, our collection is not limitless. Students are encouraged to use the public library to supplement what is available here.

If you have lost your card, replacement cards can be purchased for only $2. Parents, make sure your child has a card. Students, let your parents know if you have lost your card. And if you have never had one, get one. The Berkeley Public Library is a phenomenal resource which is free to all residents of California! Applications and more information are available at the BPL website.

Watch the National Spelling Bee on TV

2011-05-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

Watch the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee live on television:

•    The Semifinals live on ESPN:
      Thursday, June 2: 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. PDT

•    The Championship Finals live on ESPN:
      Thursday, June 2: 5:30 to 7 p.m. PDT

All Library Materials Due May 31!

2011-05-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is that time of year. The school year is winding down. And all library books need to be returned to the library. Kids, please bring them back on your own. Don't make me call your family.

Any advisory class that returns all their books will receive homemade cookies. BE RESPONSIBLE!

Over the summer, make sure to keep reading. Visit your nearest public library. Buy books. Borrow them from friends. Download them from the Internet. Just keep reading!