Eric Walters Author Visit

On Nov. 26th, Eric Walters visited our Learning Commons to speak to over 200 students in gr. 7-10.  They were spellbound!  He is a superstar presenter and highly motivating for reluctant readers.   See the photostory of the event above this post!

Check out the display of some of his 75 titles in the L.C.

Make change with your CHANGE!  Give your pennies, nickels and dimes to the L.C. charity fundraiser for the Creation of Hope Project sponsored by Eric Walters.

Check out the details @ www.creationofhope.com

Option One - Those requiring tax receipts are asked to make out cheques to Africa Inland Mission and add “Creation of Hope” on the memo line and mail them to 4082 Powderhorn Crescent, Mississauga, ON, L5L 3B9. The cheques will then be forwarded to AIM.  Africa Inland Mission (AIM) is a registered charity which is affliated with the project on the ground in Kenya.  AIM takes an 7% administrative fee and the remaining 93% is sent to our program for direct use.

Option Two -  Those who do not require tax receipts are asked to make cheques out to Creation of Hope and mail them to the address listed above.  100% of the money is sent to staff in Kenya for direct use.

A commitment has been made that 100% of money that comes from schools or children will always go to service.  Some schools have needed to use the first option – donating through AIM – and we have undertaken to ‘pay’ the 7% administrative cost so that the project still receives 100% – 100 cents on the dollar – going directly to service.

Often people will ask for money to be directed to specific projects or goals (goats, blankets, tools etc) and we work to honour those requests.  Here are the costs for some items:

Planting a sapling – $.23       Blanket – $6.00          Chicken – $8.00

School Uniform – $14.00  Farm Tools for a Family – $20.00 Goat – $40.00

Fund the entire Rolling Hills orphanage – one day or week at a time; There are 34 children at Rolling Hills Residence. To fund the costs of the orphanage (food, clothing, school fees, school supplies, medical care, electricity, water, sanitation and salary for the matron, tutor and night watchman) for one day is $50, or for one week is $350.00  Fund the program for a week . . . or two . . . or more.  You will get back a thank you from the children indicating the exact week you supported them, and a picture like the one above.

Kindness Week: Read All About It!

Check out the display of great books to celebrate Kindness Week in the Learning Commons!

Celebrate Kindness by reading these brand new books:

Read Ellen Hopkins poetic novelization "Tilt".  Follow the lives of  three teens who find the strength they need to hold on when their world's been tilted completely off its axis.  

Read  Everybody SEES the ants.  Lucky Linderman doesn't want to wake up...he has a secret that helps him wade through the daily mundane torture of his life.  In his dreams he escapes to the war-ridden jungles of Laos, and the prison his grandfather couldn't escape, where he can be a real man, an adventurer and a hero.  But how long can Lucky keep hiding in his dreams before reality forces its way through?            

                                                                         

 

Read The Pregnancy Project, a memoir.  A girl pretends to be pregnant in high school and learns the meaning of family, friends and living beyond stereotypes. 

Read The Letter Q:  Queer Writer's Notes to their younger selves.  In this anthology 64 award winning authors and illustrators such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline Woodson, Terrence McNally, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan and Armistead Maupin make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to have known then about their lives as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered people.  With bracing honesty, these are words of love, messages of understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead. 

Read The Relectant Journal of Henry k. Larsen.  Thirteen year old Henry's happy ordinary life comes to an abrupt hald when his older brother, Jesse, picks up their father's hunting rifle and leave the house one morning.  What follows, shatters his family, who are forced to resume their lives in a new city, where no one knows their past

Check out these titles and more @ your Learning Commons!

Lest We Forget....Read to Remember!

Check out the display of books about War and Peace in the Learning Commons!

Watch the War themed Book Trailers on the SJH Learning Commons Youtube Channel by clicking on the link below: 

SJH Learning Commons War Playlist

WP and RM Books are now in! Come read 'em!

Check out the list of titles @ www.accessola.com/forest.

Students speak about what the Forest of Reading means to them:

Instagrok Learning Tool @ instagrok.com

Check out this excellent research tool but use with CAUTION! @ www.instagrok.com

It allows students to enter searches for key concepts. The results are displayed in the form of an interactive web graph.  The right side bar displays key terms with links to websites, a list of websites, videos and images related to the concept queried.  It also creates a multiple choice quiz and glossary of terms using the search results.

CAUTION:  Some of the results are in congruent and therefore lead to some red-herrings in the resources list and quiz!  This could be used as a meta cognition teaching opportunity in that students could explain which results are excellent and which results are erroneous!  

In a perfect world, the user would be able to manipulate the results list and customize the graphs but hey...it's a FREE resource which means it is not free of FRUSTRATION!

Enjoy!