Monthly Archives: February 2011

Feb 21 – Feb 25 Read-a-Louds

This week is Anti-Bullying week, and Wed. Feb. 23rd is “Pink Shirt Day“. The Kindergarteners and Grade 1 students will be reading Howard P. Wigglebottom Learns About Bullies by Howard Binkow. Check out Howard’s web page on bullying. Grades 2 and up will be reading Zero by Kathryn Otoshi, a story about self esteem and being yourself. Another powerful story by Kathryn Otoshi is One, where the colour red bullies all the other colours. Don’t forget to wear PINK on Wednesday!

Feb 14 – Feb 18 Read-a-Louds

This week, the primary grades will be reading “A String of Hearts” by Laura Elliott, a Valentines Day story. The intermediates are reading “Buzaak Chinie (The Porcelain Goat): A Traditional Afghanistan Folk Tale”. I chose a story from the Middle East as a “tie-in” to events occuring in several Middle Eastern countries, such as Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen. We will look at a map of the Middle East, and locate Afghanistan. We will also discuss similarities and differences between Western folk tales and Middle Eastern folk tales.

Feb 7 – Feb 11 Read-a-Louds

This week we are celebrating Black History Month. The Kindergarteners and the Grade 1’s will be reading “Peter’s Chair” by famed African American writer Ezra Jack Keats. All other grades will be reading “Back of the Bus” by Aaron Reynolds. “Back of the Bus” is an account of Rosa Parks’ arrest in December 1955, for sitting at the front of a public bus with the white folks. There are also many books on display in the Library relating to African American history, or stories written by African American authors. To learn more about African American history, especially in Canada, visit the following website:

Black History Canada

January 31 – February 4 Read-a-Louds

In recognition of Chinese/Lunar New Year on February 3rd, this week the Kindergarten classes will be listening to “My First Chinese New Year” by Karen Katz. Grade 1 students will be listening to “Bringing In the New Year” by Grace Lin. Grades 2 thru 7 will be listening to Jane Yolen’s “The Seeing Stick,” a folktale from China. This is the year of the Rabbit, and any students born in 1999 have the Rabbit as their lucky Lunar animal.

New Books for February

More new books will be on display during the first week of February. This time there are mostly Easy picturebooks, and Nonfiction books to browse through.  The new books will be available for borrowing on Friday, February 4th at 3:00 pm.