WOMS celebrates our library award!

Today was our big celebration for our Outstanding Library in the State of Oregon award, and we had SO much fun. You can see lots of pictures of our day below. There were many special guests there, including district office staff, school board members, OASL members, librarians from the Oregon State Library, and of course our super special guest, President of the American Association of School Librarians, Dr. Nancy Everhart.

Our assembly began with a parade of hands. All the WOMS students had traced their hands onto pieces of paper and then decorated their hands with book titles and designs. The hands were then all glued onto poster paper, and paraded across the gym and hung up. They looked fantastic.

Next the 6th grade choir sang "Check it Out," a song written specifically for the Vision Tour. If you'd like to hear a version of that song, you can find it here, being sung by the Boys Choir of Tallahassee. They're pretty good, but I think our 6th graders were better.

Yet another musical act followed the choir, when J. Cost, local rap musician, performed his original rap all about crazy Mrs. F-B chasing him down with a book and convincing him to read. Mr. Massey thought simplifying fractions would be more fun, but I think it's clear from J. Cost's performance, that Mr. Massey does not know what he's talking about. You can become a fan of J. Cost on Facebook if you're interested in hearing more of his music.

Dr. Everhart spoke to us about the importance of school libraries for teaching students the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century. Skills like developing a love of reading, recognizing the value of critical thinking, being able to find information and using information ethically I'm so happy that I get to come to work and help you all learn those skills, because I agree with her that they are essential.

Afterward Dr. Everhart had a chance to speak with a few of our fabulous WOMS students and our adult guests were treated to coffee donated by the Oregon Trail Starbucks and cupcakes donated by Johnson Chiropractic. Thanks so much! A reporter from the Oregonian was also there, and he's planning to do a story about our award, so watch the East Metro section of the paper on Saturday.

As I said at the assembly, this award wasn't for me but for all of us who help make the WOMS library a community. I'm so proud of all we accomplish together! Congratulations everyone!