Library
Welcome to the BHS Library
The amazing dynamic duo of Teacher-Librarian TuesD Chambers and Britta Bowman, Library assistant who are looking forward to another year of support from the parent group and community in fostering a culture of literacy and learning within our school community. We also want to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for the role you all play in making our library the vibrant center of learning and discovery.
~ Teacher TuesD Chambers and Assistant Librarian Britta Bowman.
Plan to Visit the BHS Library For Summer Hours July 28 & August 8
Mark Your Calendars! Squeeze in Some Reading! Summer BHS Library Hours are July 28 and August 8 from 10-12 p.m. Stop by for lemonade, books, crafts, and seeing the library and school!
Summer Reading!
Read books and share your favorites with Ms. Chambers and your teachers in the Fall! Seattle Public Library Card Number is 990000 and Student ID (on ID card or at top of Source) and PIN is the month and day of your birth MMDD.
SPL Summer Book Bingo is HERE!
Every summer Seattle Public Library (SPL) partners with Seattle Arts & Lectures (SAL) for Book Bingo, our summer reading program for adults and teens. In 2025, King County Library System (KCLS) is joining the fun! If you achieve bingo or blackout, you will be entered to win fabulous prizes!
Follow Our Library Instagram!
Follow the Beaver Readers Ballard High School Instagram for updates. Find out all about all the great things happening in the Ballard HS Library. Check it out! Use the link below or search for BeaverReadersBHS in the Instagram app and stay connected and get involved.
What is Happens in the BHS Library
Library Olympics!
- Blow Beavers Blow – Blow into balloons and knock over the red solo cups, lined up with the breath from the balloons.
- Beaver Ball Juggling – Juggle blown up balloons across the library without them falling.
- Beaver Bingo – Library trivia and book Bingo.
- Beaver Bracelets – Make a bracelet with the beads on a paper plate.
- Beaver Cotton Bowl – Work with partner to get cotton balls into plastic bins while blindfolded and listening to your partners directions.
- Beaver Ball – Hit balloons back and forth with fly swatters. If they fall on the ground the other team gets a point.
Day of the Week!
- Monday: Library Leaders | Celebrating our Top Patrons and Most Beloved Books of 2024
- Tuesday: That Dam Book Club | Read books and share
- Wednesday: Comic Book Club | Reading Transformers (image below)
- Thursday: Library Olympics | Blow, Beavers, Blow (fun games in the library)
- Friday: Pride Book Club | Starting a new book
And More!
- Self Care Book Displays
- Sweater Weather, Classic Books (created by Ms. Katrel’s class)
- Karaoke Maching
- We are getting our Karaoke machine up and running.
Free Math Tutor Available Mon – Thursday
We are so lucky to have Ballard community tutors who come to our library every week to support students. This is math tutoring for our students and it is COMPLETELY FREE! Stop by the library circulation counter and sign up!
- Where: Ballard High School Library
- When: Every Monday Through Thursday afternoon, 3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Running Start students stop by and sign up
- Who: Volunteer community members.
- How: Drop into the library after school — or, to guarantee a 20-minute session, put your name on the sign-up sheet.
Peter Seitel
Peter has been a long-time Ballard HS tutor and is looking forward to the new school year. He had a career as a Geologist and Geophysicist before becoming an IT consultant and small business owner. He is available to assist students with all Math courses- from Algebra to AP Calculus and first year Physics. He can also assist with ACT or SAT practice.
Library Clubs 25-26: Watch for 2025-26 updates!
Reading Buddies to 1st Graders Online
New! Reading Buddies meet at 8:10 a.m. on Wednesdays. The group reads picture books to first-grade students online at Magnolia Elementary in Ms. Meck’s class. Beaver Reader Reading Buddies earn Service Learning hours as well. They read online in the library Book Club Room. Questions? Email tschambers@seattleschools.org
Clubs That Meet at Lunch
- Library Leaders meet on Mondays. Service Learning hours available.
- That Dam Book Club meets every other Tuesday. Students meet in the Makerspace and can read whatever they want and talk about it. They have been meeting with Lincoln High School in a dual book club of Evergreen book titles.
- Comic Book Club meets on Wednesdays in Mr. Lee’s classroom.
- 3D Printing Club and Architecture Club meet Wednesdays in the Library.
- Garment Club meet Thursdays in Ms. Carlson’s room using Library Makerspace sewing machines.
- Pride Book Club meets every other Friday.
Ballard HS Clubs
Clubs are a great way to get involved. Ballard HS has over 75 clubs available for students! If you can’t find a Club that fits your interests, start your own!
Parent Volunteers in the Library Always Needed and Appreciated
The BHS Library and Librarian TuesD Chambers appreciates all the PTSA Volunteer support and help in the library to help all students! Thank you Ballard HS Parents/Guardians you are the best! Sign Up Today!
Parent volunteers are needed to help in the Ballard Library by signing up for regular weekly shifts during the school day. This is a great opportunity for parents who are able and interested to come 2 hours a week at the same time each week. Help our fantastic librarian Ms. Chambers with checking in books, book displays, re-shelving and other special projects! Questions? Email Ms. Chambers; tschambers@seattleschools.org
Please note that SPS requires all volunteers to complete their volunteer approval process before you can volunteer. Complete the forms needed on our Volunteer Paperwork page and email us if you have any questions at all at to Jen Wenrick and Joy Das Gupta volunteer.ballardhs@gmail.com Thank you!
Service Learning Hours, Information & More
Students! Service Learning Hours Available!
Students have earned Community Service Learning hours for:
- shelving books, processing books
- fixing shelves
- doing computer maintenance
- reading to 2nd grade students for Reading Buddies
- organizing our Makerspace
- creating online tutorials,
- making scrolling PowerPoint
- Makerspace craft, projects for lunchtime, make book displays, weed books
- create book posters on Adobespark
- create Rubik’s Cube murals
- read first chapters aloud for Youtube channel and Schoology
- theme Picture Books, clean the library, and create Book Collections on Ballard High School Library.
Reach out to Ms Chambers at tschambers@seattleschools.org for specific details. Visit the BHS Service Learning page for school information and forms.
School Library Month Grand Slam Wrap Up!
Join in celebrating our participating SPS Librarian sluggers, they hit knowledge out of the park every day! Step up to the plate, it’s a grand slam for everyone when we have great libraries. Please enjoy this video below with the beautiful Library MVP Baseball Cards Becky Shipe (Sanislo Elementary Librarian) designed with all of the participating SPS Librarians. Let’s all swing for the fences and share the great things happening in our libraries all year long! ~ BHS Librarian TuesD Chambers (check out her card at 9:15:00!)
Ms. Chambers Talks Hacking Digital Tools
Teacher-Librarian Ms. Chambers presented “Hacking Digital Tools” at the 2024 Washington Library Association Conference March 1-3 in Spokane.
Visit the BHS Library to get more information on how the work being done at the BHS Library is supporting teaching and learning in a time when Ai is changing so quickly.
Thank you Ms. Chambers!
More Than Books: TuesD Chambers
At Ballard High School, TuesD Chambers can barely contain her excitement.
TuesD Chambers BHS Librarian-Teacher
Her love for her role as teacher-librarian is evident throughout the library. She has made the room a place where students can connect. There is a room for arts and crafts, areas for clubs to gather, and spaces for classes to meet.
“What I believe is with any library it has to be more than books,” she said. “Your library has to be the heart of the school for everyone.”
When the pandemic forced schools to close for nearly a year, Chambers had to get creative to attract students to check out books.
She organized curbside book checkouts – but with a twist. Students with a green thumb could pick up plant starters. One check-out day had a pet parade, and another had a band playing. The excitement around the library continued once schools reopened.
With the help of students, she created a group called Library Leaders. The goal is to build a community where everyone can be included, even if they don’t like to read. “We’ve done everything from ‘Blind Date with Books’ to podcasts to playlists to decorating the library … I learned pretty quickly that a library can’t exist with just one person.”
Like Robert, Chambers also spends the bulk of her day supporting classrooms. Her library opens early and is usually packed with students before she even arrives. Once school begins, Chambers will spend four or five periods a day co-teaching a class. “I’m constantly doing the things teachers don’t have time to do,” she said. “I’m supporting staff in a way that I hope makes their lives easier and makes it more seamless for students to get resources.”
Chambers knows the value of her role as Ballard’s teacher-librarian and others throughout the district. She is proud of the way students have found their place and built a community in her library.
“To me, this is the biggest classroom in the school.” Read full article on the SPS website.
Welcome Ms. Bowman!
Ms. Bowman is the Library Assistant and Ms. Chambers is very excited to welcome her to the Ballard High School Library!
Britta has over 18 years of experience working in and with K-8 schools. She started as a parent volunteer when her daughter was in kindergarten and since then, has held various PTA leadership positions and spent many years tutoring elementary students in math. Prior to working in the BHS library, she was the registrar/administrative secretary at Salmon Bay K-8 school for six years. Working with students, staff and school communities brings much joy these past 18 years. She strongly believes in supporting all students in their educational and social/emotional needs and goals. When not working in the library, she spends time hiking in the PNW, gardening, reading, knitting and road tripping.
Talisman Article with Library Assistant Ms. Bowman!
From the Nov. 8, 2023 Talisman Student School Newspaper article: If you have been visiting the library lately you may have noticed a new face checking out books and helping out students: Britta Bowman, the new library assistant. She helps out in the library, assisting students in finding books, checking out books, assisting students in any other ways they may need, as well as serving the community. “I have always liked books,” Assistant Librarian Bowman said. “When I was little, everybody in my family were big readers, so I would find if we were together as a family, that nobody would talk to me because they were all reading, so I (knew I) better start reading a book.”
Bowman also loves helping people and the library gives her a space to do this. “My favorite part about my job is probably interacting with the students and helping them find a book that they’re looking for,” Bowman said. “It’s nice to be surrounded by books of all kinds especially genres that I’m not familiar with ….” Read Talisman Staff Reporter Phoenix E. full story. Photo by Talisman photographer Tansy V.
Students! View your Account For Books, Textbooks and Laptops Checked Out To You
Take the BHS Library Survey!
Let us know how you would like to get involve.
What do you like to do.
How the library can support you in your search for happiness.
Evergreen Teen Book Awards
Favorite Young Adult Book
Winner! Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao Evergreen Books: Love in English, by Marie E. Andreu, Firekeeper’s Daughter,by Angeline Boulley, Skin of the Sea, by Natasha Bowen, Code Name Badass: The True Story of Virginia Hall, by Heather Demetrios, You’d Be Home Now, by Kathleen Glasgow, Perfect On Paper, by Sophie Gonzales, Before We Disappear, by Shaun David Hutchinson, The Initial Insult, by Mindy McGinnis, The Girls I’ve Been, by Tess Sharpe
Students! Hang Out & Read in the Library
