Dear Santa...

All I want for Christmas is to have all of the library books returned!  Students wishing to keep a book over the holidays are asked to see me before the end of the week.  The general rule is that all books must be in before the break so we can start fresh in January without wondering where the books have gone.  I do make exceptions for any student who is able to show me their book and tell me what page they are on.  It is that easy.

It has been a busy fall in the library with author Philip Roy visiting, hundreds of new books added to the collection and we have even tuned into some great web casts including a presentation by Jeff Kinney, author of the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

January will be just as busy with Family Literacy Day and another author visit! 

Enjoy your Christmas vacation everyone, I look forward to reading with you all in the New Year!

Get Goosebumps with R L Stine!

Today students listened to a portion of a 33 minute webcast with Goosebumps author R L Stine.  Due to time restrictions, we were unable to catch the entire webcast.  Here is the link to watch the rest...
http://www.scholastic.com/goosebumps/webcast/

Enjoy!

October is International School Library Month

October is International School Library Month.  CCRSB libraries are celebrating with the theme "Food for Thought".  If I said the library will be offering free food all month, I would have students lining up at the door each day, right? 

Well here goes...The library will be offering free food this month.  Food for thought. Hmmm...what does that mean?  Read a book, feed your brain! 

Our school library has an amazing buffet of fiction, non-fiction, magazines and access to online resources and databases that will not only entertain students who love to read for pleasure, but make life easier for those who struggle with research. 

Stop in and see what's on the menu! Let your librarian know how much you appreciate the school library, and don't leave hungry!



Mr. Smith to wear white and blue!

Is it true?. Yes it is. If we reach our sales goal of $2100 at our Back to School Scholastic Book Fair, Mr. Smith has to wear a Leafs jersey for a day!

Remember, for every $10 in sales, our school earns $6 in books for our library and Mrs. Schmidt shares that profit with classrooms, boosting classroom libraries.  So, not only will you be supporting the Maple Leafs by giving them a fan for a day, you are supporting literacy in our school.  Two great reasons to buy a book this week!

The fair is open to the public Wednesday September 14 6-8 PM. Interesting in volunteering? Contact schmidta  for more info.@ccrsb.ca

BOOK FAIR!!!!

Student Shopping: Tuesday September 13 (class visits)
All welcome: Wednesday September 14

Every $10 in sales earns our school $6 in books for our library and classrooms. Help us reach our sales goal of $2100!

Back to School!

Wow, where did the summer go? Considering we had many rainy days this summer, I hope students spent at least part of that time curled up with a great book.

The library is starting the 2011-2012 school year in full gear. Not only are there hundreds of new books just waiting to be read, we will host a Scholastic Book Fair on September 14!

Stay tuned for more updates including contests, special events, new book titles and more!

Something to look forward to!

Wimpy Kid fans will be thrilled to hear that in November, 2011 Jeff Kinney's new book will be released.


 In the new book, the Heffley family is kept indoors by a major snowfall, and Kinney said his inspiration was, in part, the "tough New England winter" that just passed.



How Many Days Left?

If you are counting, you will know that there are only 13 days of school left.  All school library books should be returned by June 9.  If you have not finished your book, keep reading and try to get it in as soon as possible.

Classes will continue to visit the library for fun literacy activities for another week.

Just because school will soon be over doesn't mean you should stop reading though!  Check out the public library for details about their 2011 Summer Reading Program themed "SPLASH" and find out how you can earn some great prizes! Visit  http://cehlibrary.ednet.ns.ca/branches/branches-tata.htm  to learn more.  They tell me they have some very cool prizes up for grabs this year!

Thank you to everyone who supported our Scholastic BOGO Book Fair last week.  We had over $2000 in sales which translates to approx. $1000 going to two charities: IWK and Big Brothers Big Sisters.  It was great to see so many families stocking up for summer reading!

Rick Riordan Wins!

  

Fans of Rick Riordan will not be surprised to learn that he was the recipient of the Author Of The Year Award.  Check out the following article in USA Toady for more details...
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2011-05-02-riordan-childrens-choice_N.htm

For more information about Rick and his amazing books check out his web site at http://www.rickriordan.com/home.aspx

Scholastic has a neat poster you are able to print ...
http://www.scholastic.ca/clubs/activities/images/ACT_GreekEgyptianPoster.pdf



Check out the graphic novel The Lightning Thief in the library!



Check out a great book...

There are many things to celebrate & be aware of in May.  Mother's Day and Victoria Day come to mind but here are some others...

• MS Awareness Month
• Emergency Preparedness Month
• 1st week of may is International Youth Week as well as National Composting Awareness Week
• May 3: World Press Freedom day
• May 6: World Asthma Day
• May 5-10 National Astronomy Week
• 3rd week: Safe Boating Week
• May 29: Active Healthy Kids Day

In addition to these special dates, there have been many wonderful authors born in the month of May.  Here are a few...

• Arnold Lobel  (Frog & Toad)
• Patricia MacLachlan (Sarah Plain & Tall)
• Leo Lionni (Fish is Fish)
• Bruce Coville (The Monster in the Big Brass Bed)

Look for the birthday display in the library to find books written by these and other authors born in May!

WOW Reading Challenge Results

Our school participated in the Adopt-A-Library Program this year.  We enjoy a little competition so why not make a sport of reading?  Students were reminded that to improve your hockey or basketball skills, you must practice.  Reading is the same...to improve your literacy skills, you must practice.

We were put to the test with a reading challenge involving over 80 schools.  The official results are in...we placed 2nd in our division.  Way to go!  Watch our blog for WOW updates as a presentation will be made to our library later this month.

Thanks you to students for reading & logging it.  Thank you to staff and parents for reminding students to log their reading and pass totals in to Mrs. Schmidt each week.  Thank you to Constable Jane and Constable John Kennedy for partnering with us to promote literacy in our school!

For more information about Adopt-A-Library visit http://www.fightingcrime.ca/

Spring is Here!

Spring is about new beginnings.  The snow has melted, the flowers are starting to emerge, robins have been sighted and the days are longer!  Begin a new book this month, there are so mnay to choose from.  Mrs. Schmidt has been busy processing books received from the Adopt-A-Library Program as well as donations from Read-by-the-Sea.

From gardening, cooking & crafts to adventure, fantasy and graphic novels, there is something new for all interests and all reading levels.  Visit the school library for a great book!

March Into A Good Book!

They say time flies when you are having fun, and I think it must be true!  February was a busy month with library displays ranging from Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, Snow & Winter Sports, Love Your Library Month, African-Heritage Month and don't forget all of the great new books!

To end the month and jump into March, we promoted literacy by hosting another successful Scholastic Book Fair.  Did you miss it?  Don't worry, we are already planning our Spring BOGO sale which will take place in late May.  THank you to everyone who supports our book fairs.  Did you know that for every $10 spent at the fair, our school earns up to $6 in free books?

We also had a few special visitors to the library in February...

Author Gary Blackwood stopped by to promote Read by the Sea, a wonderful annual event taking place in River John each summer.  We are so thankful for the books donated to our library and we are happy to promoten Read by the Sea.   This summer at WordPlay:

Jill MacLean and Frieda Wishinsky will read and conduct workshops for children and young adults.

It has been our pleasure to take part in the Adopt-A-Library program this year.  Constables John & Jane stopped by last week to promote the Reading Challenge and gave a prize to every student for their hard work to date and to encourage them to keep up the great work!  Thank you Jane & John for promoting literacy in our school!

February is Love Your Library Month!

"The health of school libraries should be of keen interest not only to teachers, librarians and school board officials, but to students and their parents.  research shows that school library funding and the presence of qualified librarians have positive impacts on outcomes." - Stats Canada 2008


February is Love Your Library Month and from February 7-18th students can fill out a heart to add to the library bulletin board at the top of the ramp telling us why they love the school library.  Be sure to put your name on your entry as all names will go into a draw for a library prize pack!

NEW BOOKS!!

Over 40 new books will hit the shelves tomorrow!  A variety of fiction and non-fiction,a  range of reading levels will be added to our collection. 

Three new books by Amy Krouse Rosenthal are my picks of the month...for more information about these wonderful books, check out http://www.whoisamy.com/ or visit the library and check them out!

Family Literacy Day is January 27!

We will celebrate on Friday, January 28 by hosting our 6th annual Family Literacy Day Book Swap.  We are seeking donations of gently used children's books for this event. 

Special guest Sheree Fitch will visit us to add to the excitemnet of the day!  Students are busy reading her books and look forward to meeting her.

Happy New Year!

It is so great to back in the library, I am surrounded by boxes of new books and busy planning our Family Literacy Day celebration.

January 27 is Family Literacy Day and will be celebrated in many ways across Canada.  We will host our celebration on Friday January 28 with our annual Used Book Swap.  Watch our blog for details on who our special guest will be! 

We are still logging what we read as we are competing with schools around the globe in the Adopt-A-Library Reading Challenge.    Be sure to check out our link to the WOW Reading Challenge page for more details.