Celebrate Black History month with a Take-and-Make.
We provide the supplies for a project–you pick them up at the library and do the project at home.
— : Gee’s Bend inspired paper quilts
Please pick up materials at the library Tuesday 2/22 between 9 am and 7 pm. Supplies are limited. Register early to guarantee a space. Registration ends 2/14 at 3 pm.
Registration required please use form below to register.
Paula Modersohn-Becker Birthday Party with Arthaus 2/8: 3:30-5 pm at ArtHaus
Join ArtHaus to celebrate the 68th birthday of Paula Modersohn-Becker, a German painter and one of the most important representatives of early expressionism. Enjoy cake with the artist (actor) as she tells about her life and create a piece of art inspired by her style.
Children of all ages. Children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult. Pre-registration required. Sponsored by Friends of Decorah Public Library.
What to expect: During this program the artist (played by a community member) will meet participants, talk about her work, and answer questions. We will then do a project inspired by her work and end by eating birthday cake. Participants who prefer not to eat during this program are welcome to take their cake to-go.
This event requires registration. Please use form below to register.
Independent readers are welcome to join us in reading to some adorable four-legged friends. Our visitors are certified therapy dogs (with their trainers), and are more than excited to see you.
What you can expect:This drop-in program invites emerging readers to read with a certified therapy dog and their trainer. Dogs and trainers will be available on a first come first serve basis in DPL’s children’s section. Readers can select a book of their choice to read with a dog. Participants can read a book with the dog…or more than one book if their aren’t other readers waiting. It’s an opportunity to both practice skills and to have positive and affirming experiences with books and with the library. Readers are “old enough” to participate when they can engage with a book independently and be safe and respectful with our animal visitors–we’re not necessarily looking for a specific level of phonic fluency. Readers under 8 should be accompanied by an adult. Please feel free to reach out to Rachael at rbutton@decorah.lib.ia.us for any additional questions about accessibility, accommodations or logistics.
This show will leave all ages feeling like a kid again. If you liked Absolute Science’s Big Bang Bubbles Show, you’ll LOVE Bigger Bang Bubbles! It has smoke bubbles, helium bubbles, fire bubbles and MORE! Watch our exciting, educational show that will take ordinary bubbles into the realm of extreme and learn the science behind it all!
Appropriate for all age groups. Sponsored by the Friends of Decorah Public Library and the Marion E. Jerome Foundation.
Registration is required and space is limited. Please use form below to register.
Rather than sending your defunct Christmas light strings to the landfill, give them a new life by recycling them properly. Christmas lights contain copper wiring that is valuable when recycled properly. You can drop it off anytime at our 24-hour Freeport Recycling facility.
As the graph below indicates, the District has experienced this week the largest number of staff or students in isolation due to a positive COVID-19 test. In his weekly message to families, Superintendent Mark Lane shared, “As we strive to provide a consistently safe and healthy working and learning environment, we highly encourage eligible staff and students to be vaccinated. We also highly encourage masking in alignment with CDC guidance. We ask that everyone practice good hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette. We urge individuals to stay home when sick and to communicate with personal health care providers and our school nurses to understand when it is appropriate to return to school.”
At the end of December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated their Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools. The CDC lists the following key takeaways in the introduction to the new guidance.
Key Takeaways
Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction continues to be a priority.
Vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports.
CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all students (ages 2 years and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.
New CDC guidance has reduced the recommended time for isolation and quarantine periods to five days. For details see CDC’s page on Quarantine and Isolation.
In addition to universal indoor masking, CDC recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms to reduce transmission risk. When it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 feet, such as when schools cannot fully reopen while maintaining these distances, it is especially important to layer multiple prevention strategies, such as screening testing.
Screening testing, ventilation, handwashing and respiratory etiquette, staying home when sick and getting tested, contact tracing in combination with quarantine and isolation, and cleaning and disinfection are also important layers of prevention to keep schools safe.
Students, teachers, and staff should stay home when they have signs of any infectious illness and should be referred to their healthcare provider for testing and care.
This guidance emphasizes implementing layered prevention strategies to protect students, teachers, staff, visitors, and other members of their households and support in-person learning.
Localities should monitor community transmission, vaccination coverage, screening testing, and occurrence of outbreaks to guide decisions on the level of layered prevention strategies (e.g., physical distancing, screening testing).
Superintendent Search
Tuesday evening, the DCSD Board of Directors met with representatives from Grundmeyer Leader Search (GLS), the firm facilitating the superintendent search. The Board will work with GLS to identify finalists, and in-district interviews will occur Monday, February, 7. Finalists will be announced in the days before the interviews.
Decorah High School’s 33rd Annual Madrigal Dinner will take place on Sunday, January 30 at 5:00 p.m. at Decorah High School. (Those in attendance should please be seated by 4:50 p.m.) Advanced tickets are $25 each and are available online at https://decorahschools.ludus.com/index.php. To pay with cash or check, people can purchase tickets in the DHS office. Tickets will be sold until noon on Wednesday, January 26.
Seating for this event will be tables that will seat six people. Each ticket includes a meal fit for a King or Queen: wassail punch, field greens salad, herbed focaccia bread, roasted loin of pork with chimichurri sauce, mashed red potatoes, steamed green beans and carrots, assorted cheesecake, and coffee. Advanced orders of vegetarian entrées and gluten-free options are available when purchasing tickets.
Guests will be entertained by music of the Renaissance–performed by vocalists and brass–and the presentation of the comedic play “The Truth Fairy.” The public is invited to join the DHS Music Department on a journey to 16th Century England.
For those who do not feel comfortable participating in the Madrigal Dinner meal, general seating tickets are available to watch the program at the back of the hall at a cost of $10 per person.
Please contact Jason Rausch at Decorah High School with any questions.
Celebrate Black History month with a Take-and-Make.
We provide the supplies for a project–you pick them up at the library and do the project at home.
— : Alma Woodsey Thomas inspired Art
Please pick up materials at the library Tuesday 2/15 between 9 am and 7 pm. Supplies are limited. Register early to guarantee a space. Registration ends 2/7 at 3 pm.
Registration required please use form below to register.
What did Decorah Public Library users read last year? We’re sharing the three books with the highest circulation from our YA section. Coming in at number 1 with 22 circulations since it arrived at Decorah Public Library in April is Angeline Boulley’s debut novel The Firekeeper’s Daughter.
What else did we check-out? Our 4th most popular book was–fun fact–a tie between TEN titles: Clap when you land, Siege and storm, Six of crows, Legendborn, The Forest of stolen girls, A Pho love story, Elatsoe, A Court of mist and fury, A Court of thorns and roses, The Mermaid, the witch, and the sea, and Love is a revolution.