On Thursday, Nov. 17th, 63 gr. 7 students gathered in our library to celebrate reading and literacy. They brought their pillows, sleeping bags and wore comfy p.j.'s to kick back and read for pleasure. Students browsed the library book shelves and created forts all over the library.
They raised $1340.00 for new library resources. Students listed over 40 new books, magazines and resources they wish to have the library purchase with the fundraising money.
Local acclaimed author Alan Cumyn entertained the participants with storytelling from his latest book, Dear Sylvia. Students actively participated in a Question & Answer session afterwards.
Many students received door prizes by draw and the top fundraisers received gift certificates to Old Navy, Leishman Books and Shoppers Drugmart. Two lucky participants won tickets to the 67's hockey game this Friday Nov. 28th.
Thank You to All Students, Staff and Parents who supported this literacy initiative!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
White Pine 2009 Titles
Coming soon to your library!!!
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Tweaked by Katherine Holubitsky
The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane by Polly Horvath
Gotcha! by Shelley Hrdlitschka
Dooley Takes the Fall by Norah McClintock
After River: A Novel by Donna Milner
Daughter of War by Marsha Forchu Skrypuch
Gravity Journal by Gail Sidonie Sobat
Chanda's Wars by Allan Stratton
Mountain Girl, River Girl by Ting-Xing Ye
The White Pine Club Toronto trip will take place May 12-13th this year!
Save the date in your calendars!
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Tweaked by Katherine Holubitsky
The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane by Polly Horvath
Gotcha! by Shelley Hrdlitschka
Dooley Takes the Fall by Norah McClintock
After River: A Novel by Donna Milner
Daughter of War by Marsha Forchu Skrypuch
Gravity Journal by Gail Sidonie Sobat
Chanda's Wars by Allan Stratton
Mountain Girl, River Girl by Ting-Xing Ye
The White Pine Club Toronto trip will take place May 12-13th this year!
Save the date in your calendars!
Red Maple 2009 Titles
Coming soon to your library!!!
Fiction
Way Lies North by Jean Rose Baxter
Perilous Passage by B.J. Bayle
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Payback by James Heneghan
The Castaways by Iain Lawrence
Frost by Nicole Luiken
Out of the Cold by Norah McClintock
A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson
Egghead by Caroline Pignat
Not Fair,Clare by Yvonne Prinz
Non-Fiction
Dangerous Crossings! by Antonia Banyard
At Vimy Ridge: Canada's Greatest World War I Victory by Hugh Brewster
SOS: Stories of Survival by Ed Butts
Canadian Boys Who Rocked the World by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Fire on the Water by Wendy Lewis
The Kids Book of Canada At War by Elizabeth Macleod
Royal Murder: The Deadly Intrigue of Ten Sovereigns by Elizabeth MacLeod
Healing Our World by David Morley
Island of Hope and Sorrow: The Story of Grosse Ile by Anne Renaud
Desperate Glory: The Story of WWI by John Wilson
Fiction
Way Lies North by Jean Rose Baxter
Perilous Passage by B.J. Bayle
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Payback by James Heneghan
The Castaways by Iain Lawrence
Frost by Nicole Luiken
Out of the Cold by Norah McClintock
A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson
Egghead by Caroline Pignat
Not Fair,Clare by Yvonne Prinz
Non-Fiction
Dangerous Crossings! by Antonia Banyard
At Vimy Ridge: Canada's Greatest World War I Victory by Hugh Brewster
SOS: Stories of Survival by Ed Butts
Canadian Boys Who Rocked the World by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Fire on the Water by Wendy Lewis
The Kids Book of Canada At War by Elizabeth Macleod
Royal Murder: The Deadly Intrigue of Ten Sovereigns by Elizabeth MacLeod
Healing Our World by David Morley
Island of Hope and Sorrow: The Story of Grosse Ile by Anne Renaud
Desperate Glory: The Story of WWI by John Wilson
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Real Guys Read Club
The Real Guys Read Club is a reading club for Gr. 12 guys mentoring gr. 7 guys. The Real Guys will meet every Tuesday in the library on their spare to read for pleasure together. The aim of the club is to create postitive attitudes toward reading by show-casing "guy friendly" reading material and topics. For example, war stories, adventure, horror and mystery, biography and history, non-fiction statistics etc.
Jon Scieszka, the author of popular books for boys has created a web site called guysread.com for boys to discuss issues related to books and reading. In Scieszka's words this project is a "literacy program to help boys become better readers, better students, better guys!"
More REAL GUYS are needed for mentoring the gr. 7s. Please see Ms. Murray in the library asap to sign up. In return you will receive 12 hrs of community service, a fantastic letter of recommendation AND the satisfaction of leaving a legacy of literacy when you graduate!
Mentor Training Session will be held on Wednesday Oct. 8th during period 1 in the library.
Jon Scieszka, the author of popular books for boys has created a web site called guysread.com for boys to discuss issues related to books and reading. In Scieszka's words this project is a "literacy program to help boys become better readers, better students, better guys!"
More REAL GUYS are needed for mentoring the gr. 7s. Please see Ms. Murray in the library asap to sign up. In return you will receive 12 hrs of community service, a fantastic letter of recommendation AND the satisfaction of leaving a legacy of literacy when you graduate!
Mentor Training Session will be held on Wednesday Oct. 8th during period 1 in the library.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Hot New Non-fiction for FeVeR!
Three Cups of Tea
State of the Middle East An Atlas of Conflict and Resolution
Jokelopedia
Knit Scarves!
Book of IQ Tests
Afghanistan: Hope and Beauty in a War-Torn Land
Accused to Acquitted
Fashion Now 2
Picture Yourself making Jewelry and Beading
Famous Aircraft in Origami
Mailboxes: 20 Unique Projects
Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter without Me Ed. 7
Healing our World, Inside Doctors without Borders
Hopes and Dreams: The Story of Barack Obama
The War of Art
Hot New Fiction for FeVeR!!!
Hot New Graphic Novels
Death Note
Frank Miller's 300
Pride of Baghdad
Runaways HC
Scott Pilgrim
Watchmen
We3
Y: The Last Man
Tsubasa vol. 4-17
Naruto vol. 12-29
Prince of Tennis vol. 19-25
Graphics For GIRLS!!!
Crimson Hero
Dramacon
Heaven
High School Debut
Kare Kano
Life Sucks
Love Com
Love Roma
minx
Nana
Paradise Kiss
Vampire Knight
Skip Beat
Zombies Calling
New Historical Fiction
The Other Boleyn Girl & many other titles by Philippa Gregory
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
Mary, called Magdalene & many other titles by Margaret George
The Sunne in Splendour & other titles by Sharon Kay Penman
Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden co-author of the Dangerous Book for Boys
Hot New Fiction
The Twlight Series including Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
Silverfin by Charlie Higson, the young Bond Series
Devil May Care, The New James Bond Novel by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Nineteen Minutes & many other titles by Jodi Picoult
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Pretty Little Liars series
Clique: Summer Collection series
Summer Boys series
Crank and Glass by Ellen Hopkins
Hot New Canadian Fiction
Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
Cockroach by Rawi Hage, winner of the $160,000 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
Island: The Collected Stoires of Alistair Macleod
Monday, June 2, 2008
Book Club Bash at Sacred Heart- Success!
This year’s Interscholastic Red Maple Reading Club Celebration was a hit! Nine schools attended Sacred Heart High School on May 29th to form a grand total of 130 students. Costumes were worn, books were discussed, and laughter was heard. Everybody had an amazing time!
The students weren’t permitted to sit with only their friends- they had to ‘break the ice’ with the other schools first. The Icebreaker activity allowed students from every school to interact with each other, and soon everybody was talking and having a ball. The barrier of the separate schools had been broken down and now it didn’t matter where you came from.
The annual Red Maple Trivia was once again won by Immaculata, but St. Joe’s was the second runner up. The questions quickly became increasingly more difficult, but one member of our team hung on to the very last. Next year I’m sure that we will be coming home winners! Our trivia team (Dream Team) was made up of four members of our team who showed considerable knowledge of the books. Amanda Chiounard, Michael Bascelli, Keelia LaFreniere and Emily De Venz. We came so close, too!
Now for the winner of the Red Maple Award. The book Safe As Houses by Eric Walters won by a landslide, although many of the St. Joe’s members expected Darkwing to emerge victorious. Several students who read all ten of the selected books won a prize. The names of these students are Tsu-Trang Nguyen, Robyn Kemp, Keelia LaFreniere, Silvana Botros, Danielle Denisko, Michael Bascelli, Kayla Duguay, Emily DeVenz, and Amanda Chiounard. Congratulations!
Next, of course, lunch was served. Pizza, pop and cake only increased the hyperactivity of the students, and the library at Sacred Heart was filled with the buzz of laughter. Then the students were in for a huge surprise!
Oni, the Haitian Sensation, visited our celebration. She introduced us to her book, Ghettostocracy and her spoken word style of poetry. The poems she told us were a mixture of rap, singing and poetry, very much to my liking. Many student volunteers had the opportunity to partake in some of Oni’s interesting and enjoyable social justice activities, such as Cross the Line and Change the World. She told us of a homeless poet named Crazy Dave who writes poetry… on cardboard! Oni had student volunteers read his poem Warrior to our group. His poem was amazing, and he is very proud of his work (so Oni tells us). But finally, the Haitian Sensation had to leave, and the day was drawing to a close.
Students loaded the buses among their newly found friends from Sacred Heart, Lester B. Pearson, St. Joe’s, Frank Ryan, Mother Teresa, St. Paul, St. Mark, St. Peter and Immaculata. Almost all had a door prize from the ongoing draw that continued throughout the celebration. Loaded down with prizes and thoughts of the wonderful celebration, the students returned to their schools with enormous grins on their faces.
Now to answer the question on all of our minds- was this year’s celebration a success? The answer is…
YES!
Written by Keelia LaFreniere
Grade Seven
The students weren’t permitted to sit with only their friends- they had to ‘break the ice’ with the other schools first. The Icebreaker activity allowed students from every school to interact with each other, and soon everybody was talking and having a ball. The barrier of the separate schools had been broken down and now it didn’t matter where you came from.
The annual Red Maple Trivia was once again won by Immaculata, but St. Joe’s was the second runner up. The questions quickly became increasingly more difficult, but one member of our team hung on to the very last. Next year I’m sure that we will be coming home winners! Our trivia team (Dream Team) was made up of four members of our team who showed considerable knowledge of the books. Amanda Chiounard, Michael Bascelli, Keelia LaFreniere and Emily De Venz. We came so close, too!
Now for the winner of the Red Maple Award. The book Safe As Houses by Eric Walters won by a landslide, although many of the St. Joe’s members expected Darkwing to emerge victorious. Several students who read all ten of the selected books won a prize. The names of these students are Tsu-Trang Nguyen, Robyn Kemp, Keelia LaFreniere, Silvana Botros, Danielle Denisko, Michael Bascelli, Kayla Duguay, Emily DeVenz, and Amanda Chiounard. Congratulations!
Next, of course, lunch was served. Pizza, pop and cake only increased the hyperactivity of the students, and the library at Sacred Heart was filled with the buzz of laughter. Then the students were in for a huge surprise!
Oni, the Haitian Sensation, visited our celebration. She introduced us to her book, Ghettostocracy and her spoken word style of poetry. The poems she told us were a mixture of rap, singing and poetry, very much to my liking. Many student volunteers had the opportunity to partake in some of Oni’s interesting and enjoyable social justice activities, such as Cross the Line and Change the World. She told us of a homeless poet named Crazy Dave who writes poetry… on cardboard! Oni had student volunteers read his poem Warrior to our group. His poem was amazing, and he is very proud of his work (so Oni tells us). But finally, the Haitian Sensation had to leave, and the day was drawing to a close.
Students loaded the buses among their newly found friends from Sacred Heart, Lester B. Pearson, St. Joe’s, Frank Ryan, Mother Teresa, St. Paul, St. Mark, St. Peter and Immaculata. Almost all had a door prize from the ongoing draw that continued throughout the celebration. Loaded down with prizes and thoughts of the wonderful celebration, the students returned to their schools with enormous grins on their faces.
Now to answer the question on all of our minds- was this year’s celebration a success? The answer is…
YES!
Written by Keelia LaFreniere
Grade Seven
White Pine Readers Frolic in the Forest of Reading in Toronto!!!
On Tuesday, May 20th, six members of the St. Joseph White Pine Book Club left our school in a luxury coach bus destined for Toronto, along with 44 other students from Sacred Heart, Immaculata, St. Paul’s, and Lester B. Pearson. Five hours later, after lunch at a highway stop, we arrived at the Ryerson University International Living Centre where we stayed the night. After an information session in the dining area, we were sent off to our dorms to unpack and get ready to go to dinner and a play.
The Richtree Restaurant was a buffet, the likes of which most of us had never seen. What at first resembled a grocery store, we soon realized was an intricately laid out buffet in which each person received a “credit card” which they could use to purchase different kinds of food. The food was delicious and, needless to say, the $15 we prepaid was not sufficient enough for most.
Freedom to roam the mall came after dinner, but unfortunately, all the stores had just closed as we were leaving the restaurant. On our way to the play, we made a ‘small detour’ to do the Canadian Walk of Fame. Many photographs were taken along the way. We were like tourists visiting Canada’s – sorry Ontario’s –capital for the first time.
Finally, we arrived at the Bluma Appel Theatre at the St. Lawrence Arts Complex. We were glued to the edge of our seats by the first intermission of Stephen King’s, Misery. The suspenseful, terrorizing play adapted from King’s novel by Simon Moore, held our undivided attention for the next two hours. The Question and Answer session afterward was very intense and suspenseful in its own right. The actress, Nicola Cavendish, playing Annie Wilkes, admitted that she was a bit dyslectic. She revealed that the movement of actor Tom McCamus’ leg, off the bed was so she would remember to chop the fake leg rather than his actual leg.
After walking the –you don’t want to know how many—blocks back to the residence, many were ready to collapse into our beds and sleep…others were not so inclined. Forcefully woken at 7:00 am, we all enjoyed an 'all you could eat’ breakfast at the dormitory café. Then we boarded the bus again and headed to our main attraction at the Harbourfront Centre. Arriving half an hour early, we had plenty of time to find our way around and decide what workshops we wanted to attend. We were set loose in the Forest of Reading Festival along with 800 other Ontario high school students.
Workshops included a 90-minute live spoken word performance and motivational talk by renowned poet Dwayne Morgan, (who was also the Masters of Ceremony for the award show), a book making workshop, a writing workshop hosted by author Teresa Toten, a graphic artist anime workshop and various other writing themed workshops. Other activities included a balloon artist, ball toss activities, live music, a stilt walker, a tour of a tall ship, and the opportunity to meet the authors and have an autograph signed in your own book.
At 12:45 pm we gathered, half frozen, at the Sirius Stage overlooking Toronto’s harbour of Lake Ontario. The temperature was about 8 degrees Celsius and the wind was wickedly cold. However, the crowd still listened attentively to the inspiring and hilarious speeches from the nominated authors, some who were there in person and some who had students read their speeches by proxy. A student whom read his/her own critique of the novel introduced each author. Finally, they announced the winner, Martine Leavitt who wrote Keturah and the Lord Death. The runner up Honour books was Carrie Mac’s Droughtlanders and Don Aker’s The Space Between. See Ms. Murray to check out these books @ your library!
By the time we were ready to go home, we were ready to call it the Frozen Pine Award Ceremony (Thank You Mr. Kay for canceling the swim in the lake!). Climbing gratefully into the warmth of the bus, we headed home after an exciting two days. And no, we didn’t lose anyone…nearly…
I don’t think anyone will be forgetting this trip anytime soon. So, thank you Ms. Murray and all the other teacher-librarians who helped make this possible. We are extremely grateful for the two days off school the month before exams!
Article by student author and reader extraordinaire, Deanna Edgley!
The Richtree Restaurant was a buffet, the likes of which most of us had never seen. What at first resembled a grocery store, we soon realized was an intricately laid out buffet in which each person received a “credit card” which they could use to purchase different kinds of food. The food was delicious and, needless to say, the $15 we prepaid was not sufficient enough for most.
Freedom to roam the mall came after dinner, but unfortunately, all the stores had just closed as we were leaving the restaurant. On our way to the play, we made a ‘small detour’ to do the Canadian Walk of Fame. Many photographs were taken along the way. We were like tourists visiting Canada’s – sorry Ontario’s –capital for the first time.
Finally, we arrived at the Bluma Appel Theatre at the St. Lawrence Arts Complex. We were glued to the edge of our seats by the first intermission of Stephen King’s, Misery. The suspenseful, terrorizing play adapted from King’s novel by Simon Moore, held our undivided attention for the next two hours. The Question and Answer session afterward was very intense and suspenseful in its own right. The actress, Nicola Cavendish, playing Annie Wilkes, admitted that she was a bit dyslectic. She revealed that the movement of actor Tom McCamus’ leg, off the bed was so she would remember to chop the fake leg rather than his actual leg.
After walking the –you don’t want to know how many—blocks back to the residence, many were ready to collapse into our beds and sleep…others were not so inclined. Forcefully woken at 7:00 am, we all enjoyed an 'all you could eat’ breakfast at the dormitory café. Then we boarded the bus again and headed to our main attraction at the Harbourfront Centre. Arriving half an hour early, we had plenty of time to find our way around and decide what workshops we wanted to attend. We were set loose in the Forest of Reading Festival along with 800 other Ontario high school students.
Workshops included a 90-minute live spoken word performance and motivational talk by renowned poet Dwayne Morgan, (who was also the Masters of Ceremony for the award show), a book making workshop, a writing workshop hosted by author Teresa Toten, a graphic artist anime workshop and various other writing themed workshops. Other activities included a balloon artist, ball toss activities, live music, a stilt walker, a tour of a tall ship, and the opportunity to meet the authors and have an autograph signed in your own book.
At 12:45 pm we gathered, half frozen, at the Sirius Stage overlooking Toronto’s harbour of Lake Ontario. The temperature was about 8 degrees Celsius and the wind was wickedly cold. However, the crowd still listened attentively to the inspiring and hilarious speeches from the nominated authors, some who were there in person and some who had students read their speeches by proxy. A student whom read his/her own critique of the novel introduced each author. Finally, they announced the winner, Martine Leavitt who wrote Keturah and the Lord Death. The runner up Honour books was Carrie Mac’s Droughtlanders and Don Aker’s The Space Between. See Ms. Murray to check out these books @ your library!
By the time we were ready to go home, we were ready to call it the Frozen Pine Award Ceremony (Thank You Mr. Kay for canceling the swim in the lake!). Climbing gratefully into the warmth of the bus, we headed home after an exciting two days. And no, we didn’t lose anyone…nearly…
I don’t think anyone will be forgetting this trip anytime soon. So, thank you Ms. Murray and all the other teacher-librarians who helped make this possible. We are extremely grateful for the two days off school the month before exams!
Article by student author and reader extraordinaire, Deanna Edgley!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Research Success @ your Library gr. 7-12
Check out the links for Research Success and the Virtual Library for help with your culminating task projects!
Research Success has tips for each stage of the Research Process and the full MLA and APA citation style guide. It includes tips for note-making, visual organizers, forming a thesis statement and an essay outline. It also has checklists for evaluating information sources.
The Virtual Library is a great resource for on-line lessons and helpful tutorials on how to write a thesis, how to evaluate a blog, a web-site, a wiki, a search engine etc. It is very informative on all aspects of the research process from accessing information to writing the project. Look at the Information Fluency Resources. Also, this library is accessible 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week from the comfort of your own home!
Research Success has tips for each stage of the Research Process and the full MLA and APA citation style guide. It includes tips for note-making, visual organizers, forming a thesis statement and an essay outline. It also has checklists for evaluating information sources.
The Virtual Library is a great resource for on-line lessons and helpful tutorials on how to write a thesis, how to evaluate a blog, a web-site, a wiki, a search engine etc. It is very informative on all aspects of the research process from accessing information to writing the project. Look at the Information Fluency Resources. Also, this library is accessible 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week from the comfort of your own home!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Bookfest Bonanza!!!
St. Joseph Library's Bookfest raised roughly $500.00 for library resources and reading incentive prizes for FeVeR! Thank You to those who donated their preloved books to our sale! Thank You to those who took away boxes and boxes of books from our sale last night! We are now accepting used book donations for next years sale! Thank You to all the Red Maple Club Members and their friends who ran the Bookfest all week and last night at the Open House! We couldn't have done it without your help!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Celebrate Education Week and Visit the Bookfest!
St. Joseph Library Annual Bookfest is in full swing! Over 3, 000 donated used books are on display in the library until Thursday May 2nd when the sale moves downstairs to the Atrium for the Open House from 3pm -7pm. All books are $1.00 or 6 for $5.00. Please feel free to donate your preloved books to our sale until Wednesday! All proceeds go toward purchasing library resources for students and staff. Spring into Literacy! Read a used book today!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Results of the Red Maple and White Pine Voting Day
The St. Joseph Red Maple Club voted Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel the best book for 2008! There were 11 votes for Darkwing, 3 for Safe as Houses by Eric Walters and 2 for Gemini Summer by Iain Lawrence.
The St. Joseph White Pine Club voted Droughtlanders by Carrie Mac the best book for 2008! A close second was The Space Between by Don Aker. There were also votes cast for Warrior's Daughter, Grist, Kenturah and the Lord Death and Ysabel.
The province-wide results for both clubs will be announced on May 21st by the Ontario Library Association.
Thank You to all our Staff volunteers who read books and talked to our students about them over lunch this semester!
The St. Joseph White Pine Club voted Droughtlanders by Carrie Mac the best book for 2008! A close second was The Space Between by Don Aker. There were also votes cast for Warrior's Daughter, Grist, Kenturah and the Lord Death and Ysabel.
The province-wide results for both clubs will be announced on May 21st by the Ontario Library Association.
Thank You to all our Staff volunteers who read books and talked to our students about them over lunch this semester!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Fav book so far
My favourite book so far would have to be Warrior's Daughter. I love the Celtic history and struggles that Luaine went through. My favourite chapters would have to be the epilogue and the one where she stands up to the king [I forget which one that was]. I would reccomend this book to all lovers of ancient history and customs.
Warrior's Daughter has my vote for the poll. I hope it wins!! :)
Sincerely,
Charlie-girl
Warrior's Daughter has my vote for the poll. I hope it wins!! :)
Sincerely,
Charlie-girl
Thursday, April 17, 2008
You are Invited to Vote in Our Book Club Poll!
All White Pine and Red Maple Book Club members, including our teacher presenters, are invited to vote in our on-line poll. Please only vote one time for one book, so we can keep it real!
Our Formal Ontario Library Association Vote will take place on April 23rd in the library. Please drop by to cast your ballot in person...
Our Formal Ontario Library Association Vote will take place on April 23rd in the library. Please drop by to cast your ballot in person...
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Welcome to the St. Joseph Library Blog!
We will be posting regularly on this blog to advertise up coming library events and literacy initiatives, new books, research tips and strategies and much much more...
Please stay tuned!!!
Please stay tuned!!!
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