And the winner is…

stamp collector

The Stamp Collector is the Canadian Picture Book of the Year for South Slope.  Divisions 6,7 and 8 have chosen this visually stunning and moving tribute to the power of stories as this year’s winner.  It was a surprise win for me as it is the most serious of the books nominated.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  Check out the comments for all the books on the hallway display.

Happy holidays everyone!  See you in the new year!

Red Cedar and YRCA titles released!

This year the students in Grades 4-7 have some great titles to choose from for the Red Cedar and YRCA (Young Readers’ Choice Awards).

Nominees for the YRCA Junior Division grades 4-6:
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Nominess for the YRCA Intermediate Division grades 7-9:
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Red Cedar Non Fiction and Fiction Nominees:

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For more information about Red Cedar click here and for more information about YRCA click here.

The Great Canadian Picture Book of the Year!

This week Divisions 6, 7 and 8 will be choosing their winner for the Great Canadian Picture Book of the year.  First, the students read some award winning books during our library times and were encouraged to check out award winning books. Next, we created criteria for deciding what makes a great picture book.  Then, we read all five nominees for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award for 2013.  Now the students will vote for their favourite.Stay tuned to find out which book won!

Here are the nominees:

mr kingmr zingerstamp collectorwallywolf

Michael Wade was here, not Mr.Clean!

On November 15th, author Michael Wade was here.  He began by telling us that, allthough he might look like Mr. Clean, he is definitely not.  Mr. Wade told us many funny stories, reminded us of the power of every day words and managed to embarrass a couple of teachers, too.  One of his stories involved some very strong toilet paper that two students tried to break, but could not.

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He reminded us of some of the things that good writers do.  For example, he read us a story he is working on now and asked for feedback about how to make it better.  He also showed us a sample of his writing and talked about the importance of rewriting.  He does seven complete rewrites of each of his stories.  In the end, his message was that anyone can be a writer.

Thanks for a very inspiring visit, Mr. Wade!

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