November 7, 2016

I'm so happy that you're here!  My name is Mrs. Danielle Backer, and I am the Media Specialist for St. Mary Catholic School library.  There are many former St. Mary Catholic School librarians, and a couple of special ones are still here.

So it's time for some news!  We've had a wonderful fall so far.  We've finished the first quarter.  Students have taken their STAR tests for literacy.  The routine is at the beginning of every quarter, students take a STAR test, and this test let's them know what reading level is appropriate for them.

In our quest to ensure literacy love, we encourage all students to take AR quizzes as regularly as possible.  I work with the teachers of each grade in order to guide the student's choices in books to the types of materials that will continue to encourage and support the tradition of literacy in our school.

At the St. Mary Catholic Parish/School Fall Festival, at the Friday night auction, a lovely parishioner purchased a carving of the Last Supper, and promptly donated it back to St. Mary Catholic Parish.  Fr. Goggins asked us to display it the library.  I have, and the picture is below.

We have also had our annual book fair.  The library has received over $800 towards purchasing new books.  I am so excited!  I cannot wait to add to our collection.  We are definitely in need of new fiction books, as well as books that our students use help do their research papers and book reports.

And finally, at this year's Fall Festival, I auctioned off a "Librarian of the Day," and Dr. and Mrs. Creed won the silent auction.  Therefore, we had Mr. Samuel Creed (4th grade) as the guest librarian.  It was a wonderful event, Sam got to organize and check out books to both the 6th graders, as well as the 1st graders.  He read a book called "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Turkey!," to the first graders, and they loved it!  It's a hilarious story about an old lady, who  literally, swallowed a turkey...and a hat...and many other things one shouldn't eat.

In His Name,
Danielle Backer
Media Specialist
St. Mary Catholic School