Book Fair is Successful Again!

Every year in the fall the "Scholastic Book Fair" is set up in the Library. The anticipation of a book fair creates excitement in the air. All the grades seem to look forward to looking at all the new books for sale. It is a busy week indeed but the smiles on the faces make up for the lifting and carrying of boxes. I'm fortunate to always have a wonderful group of students willing to help me for the week. I would like to thank Cassie, Patricia, Rianna, Emily and Tessa. I can always count on this amazing school community to support this weekly Fair.

  The Scholastic Book Fair sold more than last year. Wow! I have chosen a box of new books for the library at our discounted prices and have money set aside for "wish books".

  St. Luke's families are so giving. It was so nice to meet the families again at the evening event.

  Happy reading,

Eric Walters Presentation!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

It was my pleasure to have arranged a visit from award-winning author Eric Walters. He spoke to Grade 5-8 students. I found his presentation riveting, informative, humbling and humorous. The students asked questions and enjoyed his talk and the photos of Africa that he shared.

I was grateful to have received an autographed copy of his latest book titled "My name is Blessing." Once again, he is a gifted speaker, a talented author and a caring man. Eric believes that we can all make the world a better place by giving, being considerate and kind to everyone.

  Mr. Walters donated 40 books to me to create a novel kit to be shared between by two school libraries St. Luke's/St. Teresa's. I chose a complete set of 4 books to place on the shelves at each school library and the other's will be used within a classroom.
 Thank You Mr. Walters.

LION'S CLUB (Omemee and surrounding area) donating to St. Luke's once again!

I would like to acknowledge and thank the Lion's Club for their contributions to our school.  Once again, they chose our school as an important place to donate their dollars. Again, the funds will purchase books from the Forest Reading Program. Both Silver Birch Non-Fiction and Maple Fiction books were purchased November 2013. The Grade 8 class are reading the books and then they will be part of the school library collection.

Last year they donated the funds to purchase the books from the Forest Reading Program. The books were given to Mr. M's Grade 8 class and Mrs. H's Grade 5/6 class last year to enjoy. The students had the opportunity to read recent  published Canadian author books. All of these books were then placed on the shelves in the library for the middle/intermediate students to read.

How wonderful to have such a caring citizens group that always considers donating some of their funds to support our school's student literacy plans.

Grade 8's visual

The Grade 8 class enjoyed a smart-board visual presentation called Mesmerizing and Beautiful Underwater Life, where they saw amazing jelly-fish, leafy seahorse and other fish. This Youtube presentation provided written information regarding pollution, loss of species and how we must protect this beautiful underwater sanctuary. Students were asking questions about some of the ocean creatures during and after the presentation. Sometimes it only takes amazing visual photographs to encourage the students to enquire and explore more topics in science.

21st Century Library

Our library has now been accepted into the 21st Century Library for future board endeavours. I'm very pleased that I will have the opportunity to share new technology with the students and staff. Our informational highway of possibilities is changing rapidly. My goal is to have apps that will help struggling readers and children with special needs.

Virtue of the November : Peace

Dear God, please send to me the spirit of peace
for me to all the world.

  Marianne Williamson

PEACE
  it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise,
 trouble or hard work, it means to be the midst of those things
 and still be calm in your heart. (unknown)

Do you know the meerkats...?

Yesterday, I shared a non-fiction book with the Grade 3 class. I chose a book from the Nature's Children book series called Meerkats by Tim Harris. It is just the right amount of information for this particular grade level. The meerkat is a very interesting animal and the children were intrigued by them and learned a lot from this read aloud.

Here are a few facts that we learned: these animals get a babysitter for their pups when they go out (responsible parenting)! Meerkats take care of each other, and they even eat SCORPIONS. As the boys were signing out their own book choices, I asked many of them if they would like a scorpion for dinner?

Sharing a non-fiction book about an unusual animal fires up curiosity, and that was the intention of this book choice. We listened, we laughed and we shared our own stories with each other. Now when we see the meerkats at the zoo we will already know something about them.