October in the LLC

Posted October 3, 2022

Happy October & cozy fall wishes to all Victory families!

 

As a new staff person at Victory this year, I have had a busy and beautiful month getting to know your students and the collection in our Library & Learning Commons. Thank you to everyone who paid us a visit during the Open House – seeing the joy & excitement in the students as they showed off their school and LLC to you all was wonderful, and I was honoured to have had the chance to meet so many families.

 

Each class has already had a couple of visits for book exchange and the Library Helpers from Grades 4, 5 & 6 will be starting to help out during recess this coming week. I look forward to the opening of our popular Makerspace shortly and some homeroom teachers and I have begun planning for collaborative literacy, research, and coding projects for the coming months. I hope to see the Library and Learning Commons become the community hub that we have all been missing the last few years.

 

One of my first jobs in September was to unpack 8 boxes of new books that had been purchased late last year with Equity & Inclusion funds from the UGDSB Board. Many titles were immediately checked out by both teachers and students before I ever had a chance to read them myself (which is an excellent problem to have!)

       

 

I’d like to share some ideas to think about when reading with your students at home:

  • As a book-loving teacher & a parent to one fellow book-worm, but 2 reluctant readers, when I read French writer Daniel Pennac’s The Rights of a Reader this summer it was a reminder that children (and all of us) should be encouraged to read anything, anytime, anywhere, so long as we are enjoying ourselves (this Quentin Blake poster is a summary of his points).
  • Encouraging our students to read a wide-range of material that they choose for themselves – in any language – will help not only their overall reading comprehension & vocabulary development for school, but also their empathy for others and self-confidence (article).
  • As the trusted adults in their lives, we also have a responsibility to model reading for pleasure – one of my favourite Guelph events, the Friends of the Guelph Public Library Book Sale is back this year and is scheduled for October 12th-16th. 8,000 square feet with thousands of books priced at $0.50 – $2.00 for most children’s titles (plus adult books, games, puzzles, etc.)

 

Finally, in looking ahead to some of the STEM and problem-solving challenges we hope to host in the LLC during the school year – and always wanting to keep in mind the environmental impact of our activities – it would be a great help if you could keep your eyes open when cleaning out your cupboards/home office/basement, or when browsing second-hand stores, and donate any of the following:

Makerspace & STEM

  • cardboard tubes (toilet paper rolls, etc.)
  • index cards
  • string & yarn
  • any bits of crafting supplies (pipe cleaners, pom poms, Perler beads, etc.)
  • buttons
  • fabric scraps
  • balloons
  • rubber bands
  • paper clips/binder clips
  • wooden clothes pegs
  • any random wooden or metal bits & pieces (odd screws, washers, Ikea assembly leftovers, etc.)
 Building & Board games

  • LEGO
  • K’Nex
  • KEVA planks
  • Magnatiles
  • Snap Circuits
  • puzzles (especially mid-range difficulty, approx 250-500 pieces)
  • marbles
  • Straws & Connectors
  • wooden blocks or Jenga
  • playing cards, UNO, Set, etc.
  • Board games (problem-solving/educational, eg. Blokus, Battleship, Rush Hour, chess, Sequence, etc.)

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