St. Monica Book Fair welcomes Clifford, The Big Red Dog

We have just finished our December 2012 book fair!  And our special fair mascot was Clifford the Big Red Dog.  He often greeted us in the morning, or joined us for a bit of lunch. The kids loved getting and giving Clifford hugs!

Clifford was a great guest, making sure to welcome everyone to the book fair and encouraging us to reach our goal of selling 225 books.  Here's Clifford with one of the book fair flyers displaying the exciting selection of Scholastic books available at the fair.

 

 

As we got closer to our goal Clifford encouraged us to keep reading because he knows "that every reader is a Star!!" 

 

Our big final push at meeting our goal was on the evening our of St. Monica Fine Arts Gala.  Parents and their children were here for a lovely evening of music and song. Our students shone brightly this evening and we all enjoyed the beautiful performance! 

 

Afterwards, the book fair was open for an hour and we sold many books to our Gala guests.  At the end of the evening we were only a book or two short of our goal!  Yippee!  A special thanks to all our Grade 9 (and one Grade 8) book fair assistants who volunteered at the book fair that evening and all week.

 

 

 

The next morning, and the final day of our book fair, we continued to encourage everyone at the school to reach our goal.  And no surprise, considering the wonderful students and staff we have at our school, it only took until 8:20 in the morning for us to reach our goal of selling 225 books!  We did it!!!  And not only that, for the second year in a row we blew away our book fair goal and exceeded the number by quite a bit.  Our final number was 262 books sold!! 

 

St. Monica School - you should be proud of yourself!!!  Not only are we great readers, but we are amazing STARS!!!

 

Thanks to everyone who supported the St. Monica School December Book Fair!!!  And thanks to Clifford for being our fair mascot this December!

 

 

Be sure to remember: "Every reader is a Star!!!"





Betty White - School Librarian

Do you remember back, way back to when you were in school?  Do you recall that favourite teacher, friend, coach, librarian?  Really, librarian?!  Yes! Some of us actually remember our school librarian! She (and now a days often a he) always recommended their latest amazing books and stories that would transport us away to another world.  They forgave us when our books were overdue, and helped us to find the right resources for that project or assignment that was worth a ton!

But what about the librarians themselves? Did they have their favourite patrons? Those they liked and those they didn't?  The kids they loved to pass along those book and story recommendation to. The students who challenged then to come up with new adventures,  hot fictional series or funky information sources.  Those tricky to find or extremely cool websites?  The librarian that treated you like she had been waiting for you to come along her whole life so she could share her reading suggestions, wisdom, experience, caring, concern and enthusiasm with. Just imagine it!

That librarian could have been Betty White.  Check out the Youtube clip of Betty White, the awesome and memorable librarian!  Enjoy!  :-)

 

Celebrate boys' boyness - and work with it!

"Celebrate boys' boyness - and work with it"

This is a great article printed in the Globe & Mail, back in November by Margaret Wente.

Click here for a direct link to the article.



We love our boys, don't we?!!!  Let's find better ways to work with them and support them, as teachers, librarians, administrators and parents.

Canadian Author Rocks St. Monica School !!!

On the morning of Thursday November 15th, St. Monica School was privileged and very excited to host Canadian author Sigmund Brouwer.  The author of numerous children and young adult books energized  and enthralled students, teachers, staff and administration with his Rock & Roll Literacy tour!   

All students, from Kindergarten through Grade 9, and even the teachers were on their feet singing and dancing to his upbeat music selections of current hits (Gangnam Style) and even some awesome tunes from days gone by. Students screamed, cheered and danced to what one student said was Sigmund's fantastic taste in music. 

Our caretaker, Mr. Friedt, who has seen many presenters and presentations over the years, says you can always tell when the kids think a presentation is a hit: it's the volume of the cheers coming out of the gym and down the hallways!  The volume on this particular morning declared the show a resounding success!!!

As exciting as the the music and dancing was, Brouwer managed to sneaking in some student learning. He talked to the students about incorporating emotions and feelings into their stories.  Writers, he suggests, should try to push the audience's buttons.  In order to do that you have to know who your audience is: who you are writing the story for and who you want to invoke the emotion in.   Finally, he reminds writers to cover the classic five "W's" of writing into their creative masterpieces.

To learn more about Sigmund Brouwer and his Rock & Roll Literacy presentation check out his website: www.rockandroll-literacy.com.

Talk with your children to help them succeed!

Every parent wants their child to succeed, and the child's performance and achievements in school have a huge impact on their future.  Recent studies however, have shown that not only does school play a large part but parenting can be even more important. Read this "TIME" article:

 The single largest advantage parents can give their kids.

WeDay Calgary 2012 - What an event !!!!!

we DAY 2012 was an amazing event enjoyed by a number of St. Monica students and staff.  Read our Principal Rick Paolozzi's report below:

It was a fantastic event at the Saddledome today.  Our St. Monica students were overwhelmed with inspirational speakers and performers, and I can tell you that everyone is looking to continue our efforts to make a difference in the world. 




Founders of We DAY and the Me to We movement: Craig and Mark Kielburger

Larry King spoke about some of the most influential and “change makers” he has interviewed over the years.  The most fascinating stories, King says, are the stories which come from ordinary people who make a huge and positive impact on the world. 



Larry King at WeDay Calgary 2012

Other speakers included Spencer West, who has been a part of the WE DAY organization for many years.  Spencer is missing half of his body, but that didn’t stop him from climbing to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro last June powered by his hands. 



Musical artist: Lights, Spencer West, Craig Kielburger and Jason Hoggard of the Band: Hedley

Molly Burke, a young woman who lost her eye sight at the age of 13, spoke about how she was bullied by the “cool girls” at her school.  Molly spoke about being strong and following the right path, even though it might not be the most popular path to take. 



Molly Burke

The overall message of the day was simply “We can make a difference in the world”. 

It was a great day for the students who attended and the teachers who helped prepare and guide the students.  Thank you to both teachers, Suad Ziadeh and Laurel  Hagel for your leadership.

Craig Kielburger

In addition to the excitement of the big day, our own Bianca Zangheri (Grade 8) was interviewed by reporter Licia Corbella from the Calgary Herald.  Check out the story by clicking here:  STORY

we DAY - What a day it was!!!!

Celebrating Student Creativity at St. Monica School !!!

Our very talented grade 9 students last year put together some amazing artwork.  Cartoon characters came to life! 

Some were small and some were BIG!!!!  Some were too big to take home!  Fortunately the St. Monica Library was the recipient of many of the students' amazing works. 

Have a look below at some of pieces!  Thanks to all the students for their donations - we LOVE them!!!