Happy New Year 2015!

What a great week we have had at Randerson library.  Books, books and more books came back from students after a heavy dose of holiday reading :)   We shared book talks, shelfies and great books 'we' got for Christmas.  From K-7 there were non-stop discussions on books, connections, enjoyment and recommendations. There were students sharing books with friends, others recommending series, others speaking of their trips to the public library over the break.  Remember if you want to see a book in our library that we don't have, stop by and write it on the "recommended books" list.  I will be putting an order in next week. :)  Yeah to the power of FREE READING!!!

Some of the top reviewed books included;
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Long Haul
Smile & Sisters
Cherub (the series is hugely popular with our Gr. 7 boys)

Author Terri Mack visists Randerson

Author Terri Mack joined us at Randerson today to share her new book Mouse Celebrates Winter Solstice.  I joined Mrs. MacDonald and her Gr. 2/3 class to learn why Terri wrote this book and the meaning behind it.  We learned about winter and summer solstice, about the 13 lunar moons each year and why Indigenous Peoples call North America Turtle Island.  Students showed keen interest in Terri’s lesson and loved looking at the detailed pictures drawn by artist Bill Henin.  We really liked how Bill included the constellations exactly how the stars will align in the northern hemisphere on December 21^st, the winter solstice.  We are going to look closely to try to find the crab that Bill hides in all of Terri’s books.

Author Terri Mack @ Randerson

Did you know the Bill is the first and only artist whose work has travelled to space?  Canadian Astronaut Dr. Robert Thirsk took Bill’s art up to the International Space Station.  Wow we thought that was pretty cool!  Thanks Terri Mack for coming to Randerson.

 

 Comments from the students included:

“I am very impressed with this book.” Aana

“The detail is so good it made me want to look closely at each page.” Natasha

“I like the story telling.”  Dylan

“I like how the sky and moon have First Nations art.” Sam

“I like how the snowflakes move with the wind.” Anu

“I like how she talks about everyone coming together.” Hirsh

Shelfies & Book Talks

We used the Pic Collage app for our shelfies

Mr. Nixon's Gr. 5/6, Mr. Rosenau's Gr. 4/5 and Ms. Burnham's Gr. 4 classes shared their shelfies this week, prompting a run on certain books in our library. Top books reviewed include Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne,  A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass and Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney. Students book-talked their favourite books and discussed why their classmates might enjoy them. They shared their shelfies using the Pic Collage app on the iPad.

 What are shelfies?  Shelfies are a picture of

• three great books you have read recently
• stacked up like a book shelf
• in alphabetical and/or dewey order
• a picture of a book you want to read

Students led discussions on favourite authors like Wendy Mass and Kenneth Oppel, favourite series like Warriors and DOWK, and favourite genres ~ comedy, adventure, drama. Other students introduced their classmates to the mysteries of The Hardy Boys,  Inkheart and Conspiracy 365.  Various non-fiction books were also shared including 365 Things to Make and Do by Usborne and The Audubon Field Guides.

DEaR Nanaimo Clippers join Randerson kids to Drop Everything and Read

We are loving pajama day

 

 

Randerson students and staff once again took part in the annual Drop Everything and Read event.  DEar celebrates the importance of reading and the enjoyment of free reading.  Six members of the Nanaimo Clippers dropped by to read with us.  A fun time was had by all :)

This provincial wide event sees more than 70,000 students province-wide Drop Everything and Read. 

Randerson part of DEar 2014 Provincial Literacy Ev

 

Thank You Nanaimo Clippers for taking part in DEaR

 

 

Drop Everything and Read at Randerson has become a tradition kids and teachers love!  Not only do we get to read with the entire school but we get to wear our pajamas :)


Mrs. Jones taking part in DEaR

                                                                       Mr. Mazzei reading during DEaR (in his pj's)

Halloween @ Randerson

It's a spooktacular week at Randerson with lots of ghostly & ghoulish activities filling our classrooms and seeping into the hallways....

Mr. Nixon's Gr. 5/6 class is hosting a pumpkin carving contest with proceeds going to UNICEF.  Be sure to enter your pumpkin....if you dare.....

 

 

 

 

Gr. 2/3's using Explain Everything for Math problem solving

Randerson's school wide goal this year has been to work on math problem solving.  Students from k-7 have been taking part in weekly problem solving activities.  Each class then submits their solutions to Mr. Mazzei.  Every week a student from each division is recognized for their problem solving skills. 

With our school goal in mind, Gr. 2/3 students in Mrs. MacDonald's worked on problem solving using the iPads. 

We used:
- math problem solving question(s)
- math manipulatives - today we used blocks                             
- iPads (1 per two students)
- app - Explain Everything

Our super-fantastic, energetic kids used the manipulatives to work through their problem. At each stage they took a picture and put it into a slide in Explain Everything. They then recorded their voice, explaining how they worked through the problem and what their thinking was to solve the problem.  While voicing their solving strategies, their partner used the pen in the app to circle the area the student was speaking about.  Teams completed three slides per problem.

Author Marty Chan visits Randerson

Randerson K-3 students and teachers welcomed Marty Chan as part of Bookfest 2014.  Marty is an Edmonton author and playwright who has written numerous books from picture books, to YA and adult books. Marty entertained our primary students with stories, jokes and his inspiration of how he became a writer.

Marty Chan visiting Randerson



Our grade 1's talk about Marty's visit.

Marty Chan made me laugh.                        by Addy

I liked it when Lilly hit Marty Chan with  her hair.  She was very funny and silly. She even stepped  on Marty Chan's foot. I like Marty Chan.    by Haohao

Marty Chan is funny. I liked it when Lilly went up. 
                                                                     by Jessica

Marty Chan has written a story.  It was funny because the cats were silly.  My other favourite part was Lilly performing something funny.       by Esmee

How many books have you written?  My favourite part was the little stage thing. I also liked the jokes. You are very cool Marty Chan!        by Alex

Picture by Alex

Have you heard of Marty Chan? He came to my school.  What I liked about him is he told funny stories.                                                         by Daniel

What I liked about Marty Chan was that  he picked me for a story.          by Lilly
PS You are very funny Marty Chan.

Marty Chan came to our school.  He is funny. He told us about his cats. One of the cats stole 39 pens.                                                              by Lucas

Marty Chan is cool. He rites funny books. Good job Marty Chan.  By Madison

I like wen Lilly went up with Marty Chan.  By Michaela

I was happy he came to our school because he tells funny stuff.   By Yash

Grade 3 & 4's talk about Marty's visit

 

 

Marty's books :)

 

I liked how he acted out how when he told his mom about him making fun of his mom was funny.

 

by Alex

 

Marty Chan is silly and fun and also he is very creative.   by Faith

 

I liked Marty Chan because he was really funny.   By Liam

 

I liked Marty Chan because all his stories are funny and interesting, like the story of Frozen Brains.  by Oliver

 

I think he does good magic tricks that are funny.

 

Rule #1 he is not allowed to pee in the tent! Marty Chan is a great author.  by Luke

 

Have you ever had Marty come to speek at your school? He describes him and his books.  He is a funny man.  I like Marty.   By Jenna

 

Marty Chan came to our school.  He was SUPER funny!!  He told us how he came up with some of the ideas for his (some of) books.  Like how he got his idea for Frozen Brains.  It was HILARIOUS!!!  And his idea for his bigfoot series when he went camping with his best friend Jay.

The #1 rule was NEVER pee in the tent!!! They ended by getting so scared.  Jay broke rule #1. 

 

by Samantha

 

 I liked Marty Chan because he can do majic.  By Courtney

 

Marty  Chan has a good sence of humer.  I think he has a good imagination.  By Serena

 

Marty Chan came to our school he was so funny he did funny jokes his books are really cool my favourite book was frozen cow brains.     by Avary

 

Marty Chan was hilarious.  He enspired me to read a lot since last week.  I recommend it for all ages.

by Trey

 

Have you heard of Marty Chan. My favourite part was his card tricks.  By Carson

 

Marty Chan's book is all funny I like the book 'frozen brains'   by Hannah

 

Marty came to our school he was very funny and I learned that big foot is real.   by Maren

 

I think Marty Chan was awesome and I like his self stories.

 

Marty Chan is a really funny guy.  My favourite book was the Big foot ones and how he told us the story about when he went camping with Jay.  And he thought it was Big foot that was chasing him.  I also liked how him and Jay found frozen cow brains in his freezer.  by Leah

 

Have you heard of Marty?  I liked him he was really funny.  by Kiana

 

I like Marty Chan's attitude.  He's really His books are awesome!!   by Jaden