And Then It Happened...

For the month of September, the intermediate classes have been listening to short stories written by Canadian author Michael Wade and published in a ten book series called And Then It Happened...

The students have enjoyed this adventure-filled, humorous stories and we have wondered to what extent these stories are based on actual events. We have talked about the genre of writing called "personal narratives" and are hoping that Michael Wade's stories inspire some fun writing from our students!

We are looking forward to an author visit on Monday, October 1st when our intermediate students will meet and hear Michael Wade in person!

~Ms Novakowski

Curious George in the Blair Library

This month the primary students have been introduced to Curious George, a classic character in children's literature. We have discussed what it means to be curious and the students have shared things they are curious about!

We read the story Curious George Visits the Library. In this story, George is so curious about a book with dinosaurs during story hour, that he sneaks off with it and then finds all sorts of other books he is curious about too! He learns about book carts and how books are shelved and gets his first library card ands takes a couple of his favourite books home.

On the day we read this story, the students all got to make their library cards for this school year.

The next story we read was Curious George, Librarian for a Day. In this book, Curious George is left in charge of the library for awhile and he reorganizes the books by colour and then size before a boy helps him understand that library books are organized by subject. The librarian returns and explains that library books are also organized alphabetically.

This was a great books to introduce (for some students) or review how the books in the Blair Library are organized. We have two main sections - fiction (stories) and information books. The students all took out their first library books last week!

~Ms Novakowski

the dot

The award-winning picture book The Dot by Peter Reynolds is a staff favourite at Blair. It has some lovely messages about making your mark in your own way and that everyone has an artist within.

There is an international movement to celebrate Dot Day on September 15th. Almost half a million students around the world are taking part in creative projects to make their mark. More information about Dot Day can be found HERE.

This week in the Blair Library, divisions 10 and 11 visited the library for the first time and were introduced to the schools' iPads. After reading the story, The students used the app DoodleBuddy and learned how to change colours, textures and line sizes to create their own images on the iPad. The students were asked to begin with their own mark and take it from there! Many students created dot pictures just like the little girl in the story and others began with a mark and used their imagination to transform the mark into something else!

                  

     

                       

For these young students, this was an opportunity for them to express themselves and create a small, unique work of art. How will you make your mark in this great big world of ours?!

~Ms Novakowski

Welcome back!

Welcome back to school!

I hope the Blair community all enjoyed a great summer!

The Blair Library will be open for classes during the week of September 17th. Our intermediate students are able to check out up to four books each week as long as their other library books have been returned or renewed. Our grade 2 and 3 students will begin the year checking out two books each week and our Kindergarten and grade 1 students will begin the year checking out one new book each week.

Please make sure that students have a backpack, book bag or plastic bag to take home their library books and keep them clean and safe!

The Blair Library is always looking for parent volunteers who are able to come in during the day to help check in and out books, shelve books and label and process new books. Please let Ms Novakowski know if you are able to help out!

I'm looking forward to a wonderful year of learning in the Blair Library!
~Ms Novakowski