Get Caught Reading Hall of Fame
The Reading Hall of Fame has closed for another year.
Between September and May, 233 students from Grade 1 to 8 brought in reading logs and became members (a new record) and read 18,000 picture storybooks and 3770 novels, for a grand total of 21,770 books read - another record! Cathy, in Grade 7, has read 230 novels since September. Thirteen staff members, parents, former students and Fern community members sent in reading logs and joined the Get Caught Reading Honour Roll. Four Primary classes all became members of the Reading Hall of Fame, and celebrated their achievement with pizza, cupcakes and apple juice.
Students, parents, staff, community members, be sure to keep a reading log over the summer and hand it into Ms. Douglas by September 7th!
Book Clubs
The Boys' and Girls' Book Clubs and the Intermediate Book Club read several novels set during the War of 1812, and visited websites and watched educational videos about this important event in Canadian history, before taking part in two overnight visits to Fort York. If you are interested in reading reviews of books set during the War of 1812, please visit www.fernfolio.edublogs.org.
We had a history focus for boys and girls all year long, also enjoying Carol Matas' Footsteps in the Snow, which tells the story of the Selkirk Settlement, Bernice Thurman Hunter's That Scatterbrain Booky, set in Toronto during the Great Depression, A Forest of Gold, by Courtney Maika about life in the town of Mattawa, Ontario, in the late 1920s, and War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, the remarkable WWI story of a horse who is purchased by the British Army.
Intermediate Book Club members read and discussed a wide range of novels, from titles nominated for the Red Maple prize to the works of Rick Riordan, J. K. Rowling, Kit Pearson, and many others. We had lively debates about the relative merits of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, and any book that features a vampire or werewolf, and whether the knowledge of death helps to define life. We plan to continue our War of 1812 activities next year, culminating in a day-long journey through Toronto's history as we revisit the invasion and capture of York on its 200th anniversary.
Forest of Reading
The Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading program has concluded another successful year. Between October and April, students in Grades 4 to 6 read the titles nominated for the Silver Birch Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Express prizes, while Grade 7 and 8 students read the Red Maple Fiction titles. For the first time this year, we also registered for the Prix Tamarack program, designed for students in Extended French and French Immersion from Grades 4 to 8. Those who read a minimum of five books in any one category were able to help select the winner of that category by voting for their favourite book!
Twenty Junior and twenty Intermediate readers attended the Silver Birch Fiction and Red Maple Awards ceremonies at Harbourfront on May 15th and 16th, where they took part in a wide range of literature-based activities and met the authors of the nominated titles. Both days were terrific!
Between September and May, 233 students from Grade 1 to 8 brought in reading logs and became members (a new record) and read 18,000 picture storybooks and 3770 novels, for a grand total of 21,770 books read - another record! Cathy, in Grade 7, has read 230 novels since September. Thirteen staff members, parents, former students and Fern community members sent in reading logs and joined the Get Caught Reading Honour Roll. Four Primary classes all became members of the Reading Hall of Fame, and celebrated their achievement with pizza, cupcakes and apple juice.
Students, parents, staff, community members, be sure to keep a reading log over the summer and hand it into Ms. Douglas by September 7th!
Book Clubs
The Boys' and Girls' Book Clubs and the Intermediate Book Club read several novels set during the War of 1812, and visited websites and watched educational videos about this important event in Canadian history, before taking part in two overnight visits to Fort York. If you are interested in reading reviews of books set during the War of 1812, please visit www.fernfolio.edublogs.org.
We had a history focus for boys and girls all year long, also enjoying Carol Matas' Footsteps in the Snow, which tells the story of the Selkirk Settlement, Bernice Thurman Hunter's That Scatterbrain Booky, set in Toronto during the Great Depression, A Forest of Gold, by Courtney Maika about life in the town of Mattawa, Ontario, in the late 1920s, and War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, the remarkable WWI story of a horse who is purchased by the British Army.
Intermediate Book Club members read and discussed a wide range of novels, from titles nominated for the Red Maple prize to the works of Rick Riordan, J. K. Rowling, Kit Pearson, and many others. We had lively debates about the relative merits of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, and any book that features a vampire or werewolf, and whether the knowledge of death helps to define life. We plan to continue our War of 1812 activities next year, culminating in a day-long journey through Toronto's history as we revisit the invasion and capture of York on its 200th anniversary.
Forest of Reading
The Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading program has concluded another successful year. Between October and April, students in Grades 4 to 6 read the titles nominated for the Silver Birch Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Express prizes, while Grade 7 and 8 students read the Red Maple Fiction titles. For the first time this year, we also registered for the Prix Tamarack program, designed for students in Extended French and French Immersion from Grades 4 to 8. Those who read a minimum of five books in any one category were able to help select the winner of that category by voting for their favourite book!
Twenty Junior and twenty Intermediate readers attended the Silver Birch Fiction and Red Maple Awards ceremonies at Harbourfront on May 15th and 16th, where they took part in a wide range of literature-based activities and met the authors of the nominated titles. Both days were terrific!
