Happy (Belated) Valentines Day!!

Let's share the love of reading and literacy on Valentine's day and every day!  Have a great Valentine's students and staff!!!!  Below are some books from the library about LOVE:

God Knows by Kevin Shortsleeve -
A rhyming bedtime story reassuring children that God knows everything and cares for the whole world.

Yuck, A Love Story by Don Gillmor - A young boy named Austin has a hard time admitting he likes his new neighbour Amy, who, of course, is "yucky," but when her birthday comes, he goes to fantastic lengths to get her an unexpected present.

My Heart Is Like  A Zoo by Michael Hall - Depicts in rhyming text how love can be many different things, such as eager as a beaver, steady as a yak, or silly as a seal.

The I Love You Book by Todd Parr - Celebrates the love one person has for another, whether they are dancing or strolling, on snowy days and sunny ones, no matter what.

My Love For You by Susan Roth - Two mice walk along describing love in comparison to animals from one bear to ten lovebirds.

Four Stupid Cupids by Gregory Maguire - The students' scheme to find a love match for their beloved teacher on Valentine's Day turns into a comedy of errors when four stupid cupids from Ancient Greece try to help.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - A graphic novel adaptation of William Shakespeare's play "Romeo & Juliet", in which children from rival families fall in love, tearing their families apart and forcing them to take desperate measures to be together.

Pancake Day - Shrove Tuesday

St. Monica school sure smelled good this past Tuesday!!  Teachers and staff worked together to serve the students a lovely pancake breakfast, and how they enjoyed it!!! It was delicious! Thanks everyone for a great morning!

Family Literacy Day is January 27th!

Family Literacy Day Is Sunday January 27, 2013!

      Family Literacy Day is a national day to raise awareness about the importance of reading and literacy related activities as a family.

      This can mean enjoying a storybook together at bedtime, playing with word games, singing, writing to a friend or relative, making a shopping list, or even surfing the Internet for fun and interesting sites.

      Taking the time to do even 15 minutes today can make a huge impact on your child. 

Try these activities with your family: 

1) Make up a new recipe together, and post it online

2)Tell knock knock jokes while doing the dishes!

3) Sing five songs really, really loud!

For more quick and fun tips visit click here.

  

Facts & Figures

Quality of life for families, including income levels and employment status, is directly related to the literacy levels of parents  

Children have a better chance of becoming fully literate adults if reading is encouraged in the home.

Having a parent or other caring person read aloud helps children to learn listening, vocabulary and language skills, as well as develop imagination and creative. 

 

This website also offers a list of some of Canada's best authors who write great reads that are enjoyable, and clearly written.

You can also find book reviews, videos, audio, and even sample chapters of books to read! Visit here to find all this and more!

Lots of New Books in the Library

   

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that there are lots of great new books in the library, purchased with funds raised from our last book fair in December.  

Some of our new titles are shown below.

                        
 
                         


          


                                     

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.