News about the library and more!
The votes are in! The Canadian Picture Book of the Year is Small Saul by Ashley Spires!
Over the last several weeks. Divisions 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 read the five nominees for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. First they decided on criteria for a great picture book. Then we read all 5 books during their library times. Finally, they voted. Stay tuned for some of the students’ comments about the books they read.
The other nominees were:
It was an exciting week at South Slope/BCSD! Divisions 9 and 10 have been reading many versions of the Gingerbread man story and even made their own gingerbread boy. On Tuesday they put him in the oven to bake, but when they returned to the kitchen he was gone! They searched all over the school, but couldn’t find him.
On Wednesday morning when I came back to the library I noticed all the missing posters they had made and spoke to some of the students about their missing gingerbread boy. Later that day I was shocked to see the gingerbread boy running through the library! He was so frightened, but agreed to stay with me and not run away. Divisions 9 and 10 were close on his heels when they arrived at the library. I brought him out to see them and read the letter he had written to them.
After school, I took the gingerbread boy up to Grouse Mountain. He will stay in the gingerbread village there until Santa’s reindeer, Dancer and Vixen, can bring him back to Gingerbread Land.
What an exciting week!
Thank you to Ms. Lawder for use of the photos of this memorable event.
In Divison 5 the students have been very busy writing and editing stories. Last week they came to the library to watch a video interview from NBC Learn with children’s author, Mo Willems. The students noticed they had some connections with his writing process, but there were also some surprises.
Click here to check out the Mo Willems video and many more authors, too.
It is hard to believe but tonight we will reach 50 nights of reading! Thank you to all the students and staff who are helping us reach our goal to “Read to the Moon!”. Please hand in your completed 50 night forms to the library. 100 night forms will be available Wednesday.
Today we had a visit from the BC Lions! At an assembly they spoke to us about how team work, determination and striving for success can help us reach our goals whatever they may be. Thank you to Solomon Elimimian #56, Dante March #31 and Jovan Olafioye #63 for your inspirational message and for signing so many autographs!
Last Wednesday South Slope/BCSD celebrated Halloween in fine style. The primary students started off the day with a parade. Later many classes had celebrations in their classrooms. BCSD intermediate students organized games and activities for the younger students. Divisions 1 and 2 had a dance in the gym. It was an super spooky day!
It was a warm and cozy afternoon at South Slope/ BCSD this past Monday. After lunch we all got our books and read around the school in our pyjamas.
Congratulations to everyone who helped us celebrate reading!
Tomorrow is Drop Everything And Read day. Don’t forget to wear your pajamas and join us right after lunch for at least 20 minutes of reading. We will be joining schools around the province as we celebrate the power and joy of reading!
We were excited to host graphic novelist Scott Chantler at our school this past Tuesday. Divisions 4, 15, 16, and 17 were the lucky students who got to hear his presentation and learn more about the art of writing a graphic novel. Marissa, a big fan from Division 17, introduced Scott and then he began his presentation.
Next, he talked to us about the differences between a comic book (series of stories, shorter periodical) and a graphic novel (one story, longer, published as a book). But they both are considered part of the “Comics” genre.
He then read us a script from his new book, The Captive Prince, and showed us the panels at the same time. Some of his original ideas in the script stayed the same; some changed.
Some students had a copy of his book and read along.
Many students had prepared powerful questions for Scott. We learned that he announced to his mom at age 6 that he wanted to draw comics.
One of the highlights was when he drew the characters from his series: Dessa, Topper and Fisk. Shannon said, “He makes it look so easy!” And indeed he did.
Thank you to Scott and Ilona at the Vancouver Writer’s Festival for making this great event possible.
Were you at the presentation? What was your favourite part?
Last Thursday Kim Sparling from the Terry Fox foundation visited our school again. She spoke to BCSD students about her battle with cancer and how she survived. She brought her running leg, which she calls “black Betty”, and let the students touch it to see how it felt. The students asked her lots of interesting questions. She told us she had to “dig deep” when she was diagnosed with cancer at 18 years of age and how she was determined to survive. We also found out that Kim is training hard and hopes to compete at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. We wish her all the best.
Thanks for sharing your inspiring story, Kim!
