Tournament of Books

For I Love to Read Month our school is having a Tournament of Books. We have read two books so far. One was called Edie's Ensembles by Ashley Spires (She is the author of Small Saul which every Grade One student in Canada received as this year's TD Grade One Book Giveaway) and the other one was Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino. We were fortunate to have Mrs. Small, our school secretary, come to our room to read them to us. On Thursday we voted for our favourite book out of the two. It was a close vote, but Edie's Ensembles won in our room. All class votes will be tabulated and the winning book for this week will advance in the tournament to go against a new book that we will read next week. This is such a great way to have the whole school talking about these books. I wonder which one will be the winner? Stay tuned!

Mrs. Small had on a lovely ensemble

Edie's Ensembles

Don't you love Mrs. Small's tangerine top?

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress

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Guest Author and Illustrator

What an amazing day! We were delighted to have an author and illustrator come to our classroom to share the book, Doors in the Air. David Weale (author) and Pierre Pratt (illustrator) were very special guests in our room. They talked about how we can use our imagination to take us to different places and to experience different things. Pierre drew a door and then created an illustration of what could be behind that door based on our ideas. It was so neat to see a picture develop right before our eyes. What a treat it was to hear David read the story he wrote.

Here are our thoughts:

I liked the book. The pictures and the words looked really nice. -Shelby
The best part was when they read the book to us and when we got the book. -Kyla
You can think of anything in your imagination. -Ezra
I loved watching Pierre draw and listening to David read the story. Open a door to your imagination and take an amazing journey! -Mrs. T
I liked when they read the story. -Brianna
I liked the pictures in the book. -Ashley
My favourite picture is the one with all the doors because the story is called, "Doors in the Air". -Ashton
I liked the doors book because doors can bring you anywhere. -Xoie
I liked the page where he found a new land and he floated off. -Andrew
Pierre is a really good drawer. -Reese
My favourite part was the doors page because he was checking every door.-Kody
I liked the flower page because the flowers were well drawn. -Hunter
I liked the book because I liked how they made the words rhyme. -Rylee
I liked the book. My favourite page was when he bent down to get the flower. The flower looks beautiful. -Diamond



Our favourite illustrations.

I liked when the author retold the story. He was very exciting. -Kingston
I loved everything. The best part was how they got the students to create their own story using their imagination. -Ms Claydon
I liked listening to the book. -Brayden
I'm glad we got our own book to keep. -Kayden

We would like to thank the Children's Book Centre and TD Bank Group for giving each Grade One student a copy of this awesome Canadian picture book. What a fabulous way to support children's literacy! It was wonderful to be a selected school for the Doors in the Air Author and Illustrator Tour. Special thanks to Gail Hamilton, a former teacher librarian at BHS, for suggesting our school for this unique event.

What could be behind this door?

Sesame, sesame, snap!



Thanks for signing our class copy!

Who wants their very own book? Yes please!!

We hope you enjoy reading Doors in the Air at home with your family and friends! The book is also available in our school library.

-Mrs. T :)

One!

We had a special guest reader in Room 2. Our principal, Mrs. Palamar, came to our class to read her favourite book called, One by Kathryn Otoshi. The students were able to answer questions and discuss the important messages in the book. Mrs. Palamar challenged the class to encourage someone at home and to use kind words. I hope we all complete our homework challenge. Thank you Mrs. Palamar for visiting our classroom and for sharing your message.


Here are our thoughts:
Stand up for your friends. –Reese
It just takes one to help a person. –Ezra
Being kind is a kind thing to do to people. –Shelby
It only takes one to help. –Xoie
Blue stood up for himself and the other colours. –Hunter
All the colours turned into numbers. –Brianna
Red thought the other colours weren’t nice. –Ashley
Number one came and saved the day. – Rylee
Be kind to people. –Kyla
Red got bigger and bigger. –Graysen
People can make you happy and sad. -Andrew
Red is being mean to blue. –Kody
The colours became friends. –Saydee
Be nice to everyone in the school. -Brayden

Guest Reader

We had a guest reader today in Room 2. Mrs. Tomchak is a resource teacher and reading recovery teacher at our school. She works with some students, but not all of our students get to see her. Children have been asking her to come to visit our class and today she was able to fulfill that request. Mrs. Tomchak read a story by Robert Munsch called, Lighthouse. The illustrations were beautiful. The book takes place in Nova Scotia which is where Mrs. Tomchak grew up. Room 2 would like to thank Mrs. Tomchak for visiting us today and for sharing a special story with us. You can find out more about the book here at the official Robert Munsch site.