February Newsletter
Well we are certainly back into the swing of things after our lovely holiday break. Highlights in the library include the following!
Jack Chambers First Family Literacy Night! What an overwhelming response we had to our first event! Our theme this year was built around the upcoming Summer Olympics. We believe there is a direct link between literacy and athletics. To be successful in both requires setting goals, working hard and lots of practice. So we kicked the day off with a fantastic assembly with Theresa Carriere an inspirational leader and speaker. She is the founder of OneRun where she herself ran 100km in 1 day raising awareness and money for Cancer. Now she is heading up a new initiative...KidStrong. She visits schools to talk to students about fitness, self-esteem, nutrition and commitment. She shared her own personal stories about the love of reading too. She came back for our evening "events" and was a guest reader. Other activities included a library scavenger hunt, making a bookmark, following a recipe and karaoke singing. It seems everyone had a great time and the turn out for the evening was amazing! Special thanks to Mrs. McManus, Mrs. Manroch, Mrs. Troyer, Mrs. Steckle, Mrs. Clark, Mrs. DeSilva and our Grade 7/8/9 students for our their help organizing and pulling off the evening. In addition a huge pat on the back to our awesome custodians who cleaned up the rather large mess we left behind! We hope everyone continues to engage in fun family literacy activities at home each day! Research shows that just 15 minutes a day improves student success and learning! Way to go Jack Chambers!
The Forest of Reading has begun here at Chambers. The JK-2 students have been thoroughly enjoying the Blue Spruce books so far! The Grade 3 and 4 students are trying something new, the Silver Birch Express books this year along with some neat smartboard lessons. The Grade 5 and 6 students have now started to read the Silver Birch nominees and the grade 7and 8's are reading the Red Maples. We have added technology to the Forest as well as Mrs. Van Lanen has a new Blog on her teacher webpage for the Silver Birch readers. You should check out her resources there too! As well I have created a Message Board on the library webpage. This allows students the opportunity to comment on the books and each others responses to the books. Take a momnet to check out the Ontario Library Association’s webpage where you can have a sneak peek at the books and authors. Lots more to come with the Forest!!!
http://www.accessola.org/ola_prod/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/Welcome/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/Welcome.aspx
February is Black History month. There will be a display in the library of many books that inform and share the experiences of black culture. As well, make sure you check out the following web links. They are rich resources of information with documentaries and videos.
http://www.osblackhistory.com/history.php
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/multiculturalism/black/index.asp
dave
(mp3 file - 602kb)
dave
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