Students get in battle of words at Global Reading Challenge
March 15, 2011
They had read the books over and over. They had quizzed each other. They had triumphed at their schools’ Global Reading Challenge, landing them a spot at the Issaquah School District’s competition at the Issaquah Library.
A group of elementary school students convenes, deciding what to write for their response to a question at the King County Library System Global Reading Challenge. By Laura Geggel
In a room overflowing with about 60 parents, teachers and friends, 42 fourth- and fifth-grade students sat raptly listening as librarians quizzed them about books.
Parent Toni Nankova said her daughter Daniela Nankova absorbed the books like a sponge does water.
“After she was done reading, she would say, “Mom, this book is really good. You have to read it,” Toni Nankova said. “And then she would quiz me on it. If I got it wrong, she’d say, ‘You have to go back and read it.’”
Students began preparing for the challenge in October. Each group had seven people and 10 books to read, with some students reading a few books and others reading the whole stack.
First, they competed against other groups at their school. The winning teams from Creekside, Discovery, Grand Ridge, Issaquah Valley, Maple Hills and Sunset elementary schools trooped to the Issaquah Library on March 2 to duke it out with their friends and rivals.
Posters encourage residents to read
February 22, 2011
With hectic lives filled with chores, errands, work and school, who has time to sit down and read a good book?
Aware of the constant time crunch, the King County Library System developed a time coupon through its Take Time to Read program.
“Chores can wait,” the coupon reads, “Take Time to Read.”
“I flash that one at my family and say, ‘The dishes are going to be there 10 minutes from now,’” Issaquah Library Site Manager Philis Bodle said. “You don’t need a great big block of time to read — five minutes here, 10 minutes there.”
The reading coupons are only one facet of Take Time to Read. It also includes the Winter Reading for Adults program, in which adults 18 or older can tell the library how they took time to read and win prizes for their submissions.
Enter the contest before March 31 at www.kcls.org/taketimetoread for the chance to win gift cards to local stores, including Starbucks, Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, Barnes & Noble and University Book Store.
Participants can also enter on Facebook by searching for Take Time to Read.
“The kids have all the fun in the summer, so we thought, ‘Let’s let adults have some fun, too,’” library system public relations specialist Marsha Iverson said.
Timber Ridge volunteers quiz students for reading challenge
February 15, 2011
A group of Issaquah Valley Elementary School girls — Alicja Vickers (from left), Kristin Caras, Zoe Hennings and Samantha Moore — answer quiz questions from Timber Ridge volunteers Joan and Bill Bergeson in preparation for the Global Reading Challenge. By Bob Ploss
For the past six weeks, about 70 students have spent their Friday afternoon recess in the library to review the nitty-gritty details of books.
For the second annual year, Issaquah Valley Elementary School students are prepping for the King County Library System’s Global Reading Challenge — a contest encouraging fourth- and fifth-graders to read 10 books and answer detailed questions about them.
For example, do students know where Brendan Buckley’s father works in “Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It,” by Sundee Frazier? Do they remember who the passengers were on the mystery plane in “Found,” by Margaret Peterson?
The answers are given in true-false or multiple-choice form, and only a careful reader would know the answers — a detective’s office and 36 babies, respectively.
“I know most of the questions,” fourth-grade student Sean Sterling said. “It gets my brain going.”
Senior volunteers from Issaquah’s Timber Ridge community think of questions and meet with Issaquah Valley students in the library. Each volunteer reads one book and sets up shop at a table. Students can choose which book they need to review, grab a seat next to a volunteer and munch on cookies as they answer quiz questions.
The partnership between Timber Ridge and Issaquah Valley coalesced three years ago when Timber Ridge resident Ann Browning began volunteering with the Issaquah Schools Foundation program VOICE — Volunteers Of Issaquah Changing Education.
King County mails property tax notices to homeowners soon
February 10, 2011
UPDATED — 9 a.m. Feb. 14, 2011
Most Issaquah homeowners should pay about 29 cents more per $1,000 in assessed value on the property tax bills starting to arrive in mailboxes across King County.
Issaquah and county residents started to receive property tax bills in the mail Monday. The county Assessor’s Office released a property tax breakdown late last week.
Issaquah homeowners pay, on average, $11.13 in property taxes per $1,000 in assessed value. The total amounted to $10.84 last year.
Dollars collected through property taxes help fund the Issaquah School District, King County, and numerous state and regional districts.
The ‘Zone’ marks the spot for online tutors
January 18, 2011
Derek Liu, a Study Zone tutor and Issaquah High School junior, has a bag of study materials available for the needs of Issaquah Library student users. By Greg Farrar
County libraries want children and adults in a zone. The Study Zone.
The tutoring program now offers online help to students in grades kindergarten through 12.
Children can now meet at the library virtually with their tutors, using library computers.
The yearlong program of in-person tutoring will continue at all King County Library System branches, including Issaquah and Sammamish. Read more
City seeks civic-minded citizens for volunteer posts
January 11, 2011
City leaders seek civic-minded citizens to serve on municipal boards and shape environmental and land-use decisions, guide the future of municipal parks, and foster relationships between Issaquah and the international community.
The city has openings on 11 boards and commissions. Not all applicants must be Issaquah residents. Read more
City seeks civic-minded citizens for volunteer posts
January 6, 2011
NEW — 4 p.m. Jan. 6, 2011
City leaders seek civic-minded citizens to serve on municipal boards and shape environmental and land-use decisions, guide the future of municipal parks, and foster relationships between Issaquah and the international community.
The city has openings on 11 boards and commissions. Not all applicants must be Issaquah residents.
Candidates can pick up the application at the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall, 130 E. Sunset Way, during regular business hours.
Applicants must submit signed and completed applications and city forms by noon Jan. 31.
In the weeks ahead, city staffers contact applicants and schedule interviews for February.
Top library titles for 2010 reveal eclectic tastes
December 28, 2010
Eager readers gravitated to the fictional account of Jim Crow-era Mississippi. Listeners reached for the latest from glam pop queen Lady Gaga. The feel-good film “The Blind Side” continued to charm audiences.
The rundown of the top titles requested throughout the King County Library System in 2010 offers a glimpse at eclectic tastes.
Local readers sought out “The Help” — a novel about black maids in segregated Mississippi — and “The Fame Monster” — the sophomore album from Lady Gaga — in abundance.
System librarians tracked the most-requested titles of 2010 by determining the number of holds on a particular book, CD or DVD. The system does not release the information for individual libraries due to confidentiality policies.
Figures for the year indicate the Issaquah Library continues to be a popular destination. Patrons at the library checked out 715,406 items throughout the year.
The downtown Issaquah Library ranked as the sixth-busiest in the 46-branch system for 2010, though the ranking could be inflated because the Federal Way Library was closed from 2009 until May 2010 for remodeling. The bustling Federal Way branch usually has a higher volume than Issaquah. The main Bellevue branch remains the busiest library in the system.
In Issaquah and elsewhere in the library system, usage boomed in 2009 as a result of the economic downturn. The library continued to record robust usage throughout 2010.
Throughout the year, about 28,000 people stopped by the library each month. The busiest month at the Issaquah Library in 2010 came in March, as 32,549 people headed through the glass doors. The least-busiest month: In August, the library had only 24,375 customers.
The numbers indicate readers “probably got it and read it — or at least got it,” library system spokeswoman Marsha Iverson said. “Whether they read it or not, we don’t really know.”
Make a splash on World Toilet Day
November 16, 2010
World Toilet Day is Nov. 20. Really.
WaterAid, a nonprofit organization, plans to encourage children to flush bad habits and promote conservation at a World Toilet Day event at the King County Library System Service Center in Issaquah.
The free celebration runs from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. The event at the service center, 960 Newport Way N.W., has dual messages. World Toilet Day seeks to remind residents of the 2.6 billion people worldwide without access to adequate toilets. WaterAid works to help poor communities plan, build and manage safe water supplies and low-cost toilets. The program also aims to offer hygiene tips to children through activities, entertainment and games. Read more
Learn about Northwest noir at the library
September 21, 2010
Susan Olds
The wild Pacific Northwest can pull at any artist’s imagination, whether that artist is a painter, writer, photographer or unsuspecting hiker.
The region’s gloomy winters, dense forests, rugged mountains and deep Puget Sound act as an ideal backdrop for mysteries, thrillers, UFO sightings and legends. Ask any “Twin Peaks” fan who has visited the Snoqualmie Valley, or any “Twilight” reader who has journeyed to Forks to see the setting of the novels detailing the lives of vampires and werewolves.
North Bend art historian Susan Olds will present “Northwest Noir: Mysteries, Legends and Landscapes” at 7 p.m. Sept. 28 at Issaquah Library, 10 W. Sunset Way. Read more
