Chocolate Lily Book Awards: Great Lakes & Rugged Ground~Imagining Ontario

Last week, I read this book to the K/1 and 1/2 classes. It was a little abstract for them...none of the students knew what Ontario was although one student knew it was a place. Before I read them this book, I did briefly go through the book about British Columbia like this by the same author. This seemed to help with the understanding of what a province was and about a historical timeline. We looked at a map of Canada too.

The book is written as a series of haiku poems that capture a period of time in Ontario's history. At the end of the book is extra factual information about each time period along with a list of items to "Seek and Find" in the illustrations.




Comments from our younger primary students:
I liked the parade picture. -by Alicia (div 10)
My mom's been to Toronto before. -by Harrison (div 10)
I learned something about the boats. -by Sean (div 10)
I really like how the pictures look real to me. I know what Ontario looks like. -Kayla (div 10)
It was really interesting because I learned things. -by Carissa (div 9)
I liked the pictures. -by Ginger (div 9)
It was first, then second. I liked that. -by George (div 9)
It was colourful. -by Zoe (div 8)
I liked the describing words. -by Quizzy (div 8)
The pictures are nice. -by Kai (div 8)
The Seek and Find was fun. -by Evan (div 8)
I liked the extra information at the back. -by Jayden (div 8)

This week the kindergarten students from division 11 were showed a map of Canada and we acted out some of the scenes from the book to help the history of Ontario come alive for them.

Their comments included:

I like the pictures. -Shannier

I like the painting page. -Adrian

I like the fall leaves on the first page. - Derick and Jonathan

This week divisions 6 and 7 (grades 2 and 3) also read the book and because they are studying Canada and are a bit older, these students had a much better grasp of the concept of what a province is and what "history" is. Division 6 created timelines, choosing four events from the book.

Comments from the students included:

I liked the book because it has lot of details and gives you information. -Caroline

I liked the pictures. - Annika

Division 7 discussed the illustrations and then dramatized the scenes from the book, creating "tableaus" (actors frozen in action to create  scene). They particularly like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Caribana parade scenes!

Comments from the division 7 students included:

The details are very good. -Calvin

The illustrations are spectacular. - Sharon

I like the Seek and Find and the poems. -Creighton

The colours are awesome. -Bobby

~Ms Novakowski

Scholastic Book Fair

The Blair PAC is hosting a Scholastic Book Fair in the library on Wednesday and Thursday this week, before and after school and at lunch. We had a great turn out on Wednesday! It is so great to see so many  students rushing in to the book fair to check out all the books.

Thanks to Sabrina, the Blair PAC and all the parent volunteers that work hard to make the book fair such a success at Blair!

~Ms Novakowski

Press Here

This week all the classes at Blair, from kindergarten through grade 7, have enjoyed a unique new book called Press Here.
This book has an interactive component and the reader is asked to press, tap, shake, tilt, blow and clap to transform the illustrations. The older students "got" the big idea of transformation and it captured their imaginations as they created their own minibooks inspired by Press Here. The younger students played with the idea of giving instructions for an action and making something happen to their illustrations.

 The students from division 4 brought their iPads from their one-to-one iPad project. The students had the choice of creating a minibook or using one of the drawing or animation apps on their iPads to create their own Press Here-inspired project.

The kindergarten students from division 11 took turns coming up on at a time to "do something" to the book as required by the author's instructions. The students then created their own little books with great attempts at writing instructions for the actions!

 The intermediate students thought these little minibooks would be great to read to their little buddies.

I was amazed by all the students' creativity! We had bubbles popping, candies being eaten, dragons emerging from eggs, hearts being broken, butterflies coming out chrysalids, etc. 

The primary students were fascinated by the book and at first, really thought it was "magic" in some way!

The students at Blair seem to really like little minibooks...we've had Pete the Cat, Sam books (The Library Mouse) and now these Press Here books. 

We have two copies of Press Here available for circulation so it may be coming home soon!

~Ms Novakowski

displays at the Blair Library

Happy Chinese New Year! We have quite a growing collection of books that provide information, tell stories and celebrate this important time of year in many of our students' lives.

The 398.2 section from our non-fiction/information book section has been moved to one of our new rolling display shelves. 398.2 is the section that contains traditional stories, folktales, fairy tales, myths and legends from around the world, including those of Aboriginal peoples. When students think of information books, they don't think "fairy tales" should be over in that section and it just seems to make more sense to have them in our fiction section.

We also have a new banner up highlighting some bookjackets from new books we have in our collection.

Come visit the Blair Library...it's open before and after school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays!

~Ms Novakowski

Chocolate Lily Book Awards: Where Are You Bear?

This week the primary classes read the book Where Are You Bear? A Canadian Alphabet Adventure. In this picture book, a little girls leaves Newfoundland with her family to visit her grandmother in Vancouver but thinks she leaves her stuffed bear behind. Bear follows her across Canada and they have all sorts of adventures in each province and territory. Finally, they are reunited in Vancouver.
Before reading the book, we looked at a map of Canada and found Vancouver on the map as well as St. John's in Newfoundland which is where Sophie lives.



Some of the student comments about the book were:
I liked the pictures. -Shota (div 11)
I like the ending when Sophie and the bear get back together. -Cathy (div 11)
We learned some new things about Canada. - div 6
I liked how they went across Canada. -Mya (div 9)
It's an ABC book. -Kevin (div 9)
I liked the animated pictures. -Ifrah (div 8)
It is bright and modern. -Jayden (div 8)

Division 11 created handprint Canadian flags after reading the book.

This book was more popular with the younger students and was an interesting contrast to the book we read last week - Singing Away the Dark. Both Canadian in context, but very different styles of writing and illustration!
~Ms Novakowski

Red Cedar Book Reviews: Division 3

Two students from division 3 did video book reviews for 2 of the Red Cedar Book Award nominees.

From the information book category, Ryan reviewed 100% Pure Fake by Lyn Thomas.

From the fiction category, Areesha reviewed Rex Zero the Great Pretender by Tim Wynne-Jones.

We're looking forward to more reviews from out intermediate students!

~Ms Novakowski