Sunday 27 November 2011

Battle of the Books


We've already started to get ready for our Battle of the Books competition. First step: read the books!

If you are not familiar with Battle of the Books it runs like this: Students read the books on the list for their grade level. There are three levels: grade 3/4, grade 5, and grade 6/7. Each level has 12 books to read.  I recommend reading books from these lists even if you do not plan on participating in the Battle of the Books. These lists make it easy to choose good books to read. You can find a list of the books HERE.

After you have read all of the books, you start practicing questions and answers based on the books. We will start practicing in the new year. The competition first takes place at the school level. Then there is the Zone level and finally the District level. You compete as a team of three students.

We had our first meeting on Monday, November 7th. We sat around in small groups, eating Timbits and discussing our favourite books on the list so far. Lots of fun! We meet every Monday at lunch to talk about our favourite books on the Battle lists so far, and to record what books we have read.

Students who have finished reading 5 books by December 12th will be invited to a pizza party which will take place in the library on December 14th.

Some of the Battle Books are in my "LibraryThing" on my right sidebar. Click on a cover that look interesting to you. If you then click on the "LibraryThing" link on the bottom right hand side, and you will see a review for that book.

Bonne journée!

Mme Hunter

Saturday 26 November 2011

Looking for a book to read?

If you are looking for a book to read and don't have any ideas, try this website. You can do a simple search and enter your age and a few key words, or search in a genre (mystery, fantasy, humour, historical fiction etc.) Another interesting way to find a book is to decide what personality you are. Click on "Books for Boys" or "Books for Girls" and follow the instructions.
 

When you have a list, check to see if our school library has any of the books by clicking on the library search button on the right side-bar of this blog.

 Bonne journée!

Mme Hunter

Sunday 20 November 2011

Did you know that you can access resources from home?

When you are at home, you can find out what resources we have in the library. Click on the keyboard key to the right, with "Library Search" on it, and it will take you to this page.



If you would like to access World Book Online or the EBSCO databases from home, go to the Online Resources page at the top of the blog. Click on the icon and then you will need to enter a password. You can get the password from Mme Hunter. You may remember it from having worked with her in the library.

Bonne journée!

Mme Hunter

Friday 18 November 2011

Take a listen to our new class projects!

Les classes de Mme Bournival et Mme Graf et Mme Leblanc

Bienvenue! Nous sommes très contents que vous veniez écouter nos présentations sur des différentes planètes.



Go to www.voicethread.com, click on "Browse" and then enter southsahali (one word) and the last name of your child's teacher in the search box to find your child's project. Enjoy!

This post will be archived under the "Class Projects" tab found at the top of the blog.

Sunday 13 November 2011

Books are amazing!

Take a minute to watch this short video! We're always getting new books in the library and you can find out about them on the library website. Stay tuned! Soon you will see book recommendations appear under "Great Books" in one of the tabs at the top.



Bonne fin de semaine!

Mme Hunter

Saturday 12 November 2011

We're moving into the 21st Century!

Over the summer some major renovations took place in our library. We added 20 new computer stations and installed the Smartboard on the wall beside the circulation desk.


We are aleady getting a lot of use out of our new spaces. Students are learning how to find resources in our library using the online catalogue. They are conducting research online and are using the computers to put together their final products.




Here we have enough space for a whole class to take part in interactive lessons on the Smartboard.




We moved our non-fiction area over and we still have room for 6 big work tables for students to use when reading or working.




Here is our storytime area. We have recently organized the popular Easy fiction according to series in baskets to make it easier for the younger students to find the books they are looking for.

Come by for a visit and check out our "new" library!

Mme Hunter