First Things First! This is the last week of library services of the school year. ALL LIBRARY BOOKS AND/OR FINES ARE DUE BY MAY 24! Library books/replacement costs can be turned in to library volunteers or myself Tuesday-Thursday, 8:30-11, or Friday, all day, in the Library. ALL 8th grade students must have ALL materials turned in before the summer! (Phew! That’s done!)

Now … This has been a busy year for Mira Vista’s Library program and, I hope, one that your children have enjoyed and benefitted from. I certainly have!

Library Grants
Firstly, through efforts to expand and update Mira Vista’s aged collection (average age, 21 years), a Donor’s Choose grant was awarded for the much needed purchase of pre-teen titles for the new middle school library. Also, a Spring Library Coin Drive brought in $550 that will be used to update and replace science holdings. Next year, I hope to launch similar projects with an eye toward bringing in cool, current, applicable Common Core titles to support Mira Vista’s teachers in the classroom, especially non-fiction
materials. That said, you can assure your kids that replacement copies of ”Diary of a Wimpy Kid” are still on my lists!

California Young Reader Medal nominees
We were also able to purchase this year’s California Young Reader Medal nominees through a generous donation from the MV PTA. The K-5 nominees were read/introduced to all classes during their library visits. Library Parent Volunteers and I received enthusiastic feedback from teachers and the kids had such fun voting for their favorite books! Mira Vista voted for Devin Scillian’s “Memoirs of a Goldfish,” a very funny picture book with a sweet ending. MV’s 2nd place winner was “We are in a Book,” by the ever popular Mo Willems, ultimately, the winner of the CYRM. If you’re looking for books to fill in your children’s summer reading list, this year’s titles and past years’ nominees are posted on the CYRM site.  I’m hoping to make CYRM a Mira Vista tradition!

WCCUSD Library’s Battle of the Books
This spring, Mira Vista 7th and 8th graders participated in the WCCUSD Library’s Battle of the Books for the first time. Both 8th grade teams and the 7th grade team read and studied 5 selected novels. In a very close competition, it was the 7th grade team that won and went on to represent Mira Vista in the district meet at Pinole Middle. And! … they tied for first place with DeJean for First Place! A trophy engraved with the student winner’s names will be housed at Mira Vista until next year, when we hope to compete again and win outright!

Come Meet Me!
I will continue to be at Mira Vista on Mondays in the middle school library and Fridays in the elementary library through the end of the year. Please DO stop by and ask me about summer reading lists, bookish websites and our district’s new EBook capabilities! I have a few things in mind for next year’s Mira Vista library programs. Come and introduce yourself! I always welcome feedback.

Lastly, I wanted to thank the Mira Vista community. It has been so much fun! None of the above could have happened without the support of Mr. Chilcott, the teachers, and the MV PTA.

And of course, I have to give a special shout out to the Library Parent Volunteers. Mira Vista’s Library Parents keep the elementary school library open and accessible in a way that only a few other schools in the district can match. These guys make all the difference in the world to Mira Vista students when it comes to creating a vibrant reading culture, a culture that we all hope to strengthen next year. Thanks to Tyra, especially, who is moving on to the ECHS community next year. Mira Vista’s library has been
lucky to have her!

Volunteer!
Please do consider joining this group of Mira Vista parents and come help us in the libraries next year! If you are interested you can contact Christine Lewis (chult @ ix.netcom.com) or myself.

• Tyra Wright (Co-Chair)
• Christine Lewis (Co-Chair)
• Maria Ponce
• Mike Bugge
• Mike Labriola
• Barb Cavoto
• Danielle Thomas

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you ALL!

See you around!

Heidi Bartsch
District Librarian
HBartsch [at] wccusd.net