Events, Growing Readers Tips

Upcoming Scholastic Book Fair, Growing Readers Tip

Junior Flyer

Download Junior Highlights Flyer Spring PDF

Senior Flyer

Download Senior Highlights Flyer Spring PDF

Get ready for the Scholastic Book Fair, HHCS! It will be held the week of April 2-5, including availability during Student-Led Conferences. Please let me know if you might be able to volunteer! Email Mrs. Baillargeon at L.Baillargeon@hh-cs.org.

 

GROWING READERS TIP:

 

Yes, we can build reading skills when we are shuttling kids between school and home or sports practice and the grocery store. Try one or more of these ideas this week while driving around town with your child.

 

  • Listen to an audiobook or podcast.
  • Brainstorm together about how many words begin with a certain sound.
  • Look for letters on billboards, signs, and buildings.
  • Play a category game. Name a category such as ‘fruit’ and then brainstorm words that fit in that category. 

TAKE AWAY: Play a reading game or listen to an audiobook in the car this week. 

 

 

 

Authors, Events, Growing Readers Tips, Storywalk

Author Visits, New Storywalk, and Growing Readers Tip

 

New storywalk The Library Fish is now up in our wetlands! Come and take a walk with your kids and enjoy the story out in nature!

Home

Grades 3-6 had a fantastic Zoom visit with the hilarious author Chris Grabenstein! It was especially exciting to hear that the last installment of his Lemoncello book series comes out this fall! Many of his books are available at our HHCS library.

Kindergarten – Grade 3’s author visit was with Forest of Reading award nominee Lindsay Zier-Vogel! We loved having her read her book, Dear Street, to us and hearing about her love lettering project. Grade 1-2 adapted her project to write letters of appreciation to different areas of our school! I already found one in the library and am looking forward to seeing more around the school! Untitled design - 1

GROWING READERS TIP:

There is a lot of wait time during sports practices, music lessons, and club meetings. Carry along a book or two for these opportunities. Your child can look at books on their own or with siblings and friends. 

 

Take away: Pack a few books in the practice bag. 

Apps and websites, Events, Family Literacy, Growing Readers Tips

Britannica School, Reading Review Challenge, and Growing Readers Tip

Did you know that we have a school subscription to Britannica School? It is an amazing resource! Check it out here at https://school.eb.com/levels. The username and password are both hhcs. Encyclopedia Britannica Logo

Britannica School can be an amazing homework helper! It has different reading levels available for each article, so that you can tier the information to the level that your student is at. It has a read-aloud feature and can translate to other languages as well! You can use Britannica ImageQuest to find rights-cleared images that can be used for reports. Britannica is a safe way for our kids to search the internet for what they need and is fun to use! It has at-a-glance collections of information on various topics, a Canada At a Glance section, early elementary fundamentals for grades K-2, news stories of the day, an online atlas, and a compare countries tool. Check out this article here for a guided tour for parents. britannicaeducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Britannica-School-Guided-Tour-For-Parents.pdf

GROWING READERS TIP: (From GrowingBookbyBook.com)

 

Helping your child feel like reading is one of their special super powers early on is important. Noticing aloud when your child does things such as selects a book, talks about a story, enjoys a read-aloud, notices things in a book, talks about a story, enjoys a read-aloud, notices things in a book, or perhaps even reads, helps your child feel like he/she is living a readerly life. 

 

Try these prompts this week as you notice your child living a readerly life.

 

“You have a real superpower for ____________.”

“You did ___________________, which is something that strong readers do.”

 

TAKE AWAY: I can help my child discover their inner reading superpower. 

Christmas, Events, Scholastic Book Club

Read-a-Thon, New Scholastic Digi-Flyers, Pictures from Jolabokaflod

January English Flyer

Picture of English November Flyer

January French Flyer

Picture of French November Flyer

My class code is RC391237.

 

We are excited to present the HHCS Usborne Read-a-Thon for the second year! Your child received a package on Friday for this amazing opportunity. Blast into reading and support the HHCS library while building your child’s personal home library as well! Usborne has an amazing selection of fiction and non-fiction as well as activity books and puzzles.

Just before the Christmas break we had a wonderful and cozy day to celebrate Jolabokaflod- the Icelandic tradition of the ‘Christmas book flood’. We enjoyed lots of reading and yummy hot chocolate. Thank you to all the guest readers who volunteered as well as those who helped to serve the drinks!

Christmas, Events, Special Days/Weeks/Months, Storywalk

Ornament Pictures, New Storywalk, and new Moose News issue- MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The new issue of the student-run newspaper, The Moose News, is here! Take a look, you can read it here online. There are lots of fun and informative articles for you to read!

 

Thank you to all who brought in a book-related Christmas ornament that they made for the library! It was so fun to look at these every day!

The new Storywalk is up! Come and check it out the next time you are at school- go for a walk through our wetlands!

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas with lots of cozy reading time!

Christmas, Events, Scholastic Book Club, Special Days/Weeks/Months

Jolabokaflod- The Christmas Book Flood, Christmas Book Ornament Challenge, and Scholastic Holiday Flyers

I am looking for volunteers! Do you like to read? Do you like Christmas? Do you like kids? We are looking for parent volunteers to guest read to classes on Thursday, Dec. 21 for a special celebration of JOLABOKAFLOD- the Icelandic tradition of ‘flooding’ with books on Christmas Eve! We will be reading in different ways and enjoying hot chocolate and pajamas. Please email Mrs. B. if you can help out- L.Baillargeon@hh-cs.org. Check out this article to learn more about Jolabokaflod! The Christmas Book Flood

Founding story

book-tree-2 Bitmoji Image

English Holiday Wish Guide

Picture of English November Flyer

French Holiday Wish Guide

Picture of French November Flyer

Scholastic holiday flyers are here!

My Class Code
RC391237

Leanne Baillargeon’s classroom will earn 20% in Classroom Rewards on rewardable items when you Ship to School.

Events

A.R. Deadline Soon, Book Character Potatoes Contest

Just a reminder to everyone that the Accelerated Reader deadline is coming up on Thursday November 16! At that point students should be done their reading for the term and are just finishing up the AR tests. Accelerated Reader not only gets our students to read more, but our program also promotes goal-setting and time management. Keep reading, HHCS!

The Book Character Potato contest in the library was back this year, after having it two years ago.  I was even MORE impressed with the students’ creativity and hard work this time around! How amazing to see all the adorable book characters keeping our library cheery and cozy! We had entries such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Charlotte’s Web, Aslan, The Cat in the Cat, a Minion, Harry Potter, The Couch Potato, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Pigeon, The Hockey Sweater, Pinocchio, Sherlock Holmes, Monsters Inc, The Little Prince, Elephant and Piggie, Wordy Birdy, The Good Egg, and more. Have a look!

Events, Family Literacy, Growing Readers Tips, Storywalk

New Storywalk, Growing Readers tip, and Book Character Potato Contest

The new Storywalk is up! Check out “I Hear You, Forest” by Kallie George out in our school wetlands and forest. Follow the signs in order, read the story, and do the activities at each stop. Check out my previous Storywalk posts to learn more. This could be a great after school activity with your kids!

I’m looking forward to receiving the Book Character potatoes from the students this week! Use the search bar on the blog to check out previous posts about this contest from 2 years ago!

GROWING READERS TIP- DO YOU LIKE TO HAVE FUN?

 

We all like to have fun. We often remember content associated with times of having fun and being playful. That holds true for learning too. Weaving learning through play is one of the most powerful means of helping kids learn. 

 

Take away: Learning happens through play. 

Digital Literacy, Events, Family Literacy, Media Literacy

Digital Citizenship and Screen-Free Week, Christian Book Fair

Hope to see you at the book fair! Your children will have class time to check out the books- ask your child’s teacher if they are shopping on the Thursday or the Monday.

Be sure to encourage your child throughout the week if they are participating in Screen-Free Week! We are so excited to have some of our students taking on this challenge! What a great opportunity.

As all of our teachers are doing digital citizenship lessons this week in class for Digital Citizenship Week, I encourage you to check out the information and resources below.

What does media balance look like for you and your family?  Let’s have these important conversations both at home and at school to help our children learn responsibility and respect.  Here’s some advice from Common Sense Media:

 

  • Create screen-free times and zones.
  • Try parental controls.
  • Establish clear family rules.
  • Watch and play together.
  • Help kids identify healthy behaviours.

Managing Media with Children Ages 3-8

 

What is Digital Citizenship and Why is it Important?

Digital citizenship is using digital resources effectively and responsibly. Digital citizenship encompasses areas such as media balance, giving credit for others’ work, finding reliable internet sources, being kind online, being aware of our digital trail, using safety and privacy online,, and using media smarts to make responsible choices as consumers.

 

Our HHCS mission statement says:

 

“We confess that the goal of education is to nurture children to grow in a sure knowledge of Jesus Christ as the Lord of life.  We equip children with the skills necessary to develop their gifts and talents to their full potential.  We challenge them to serve God according to his Word and teach them to discern their role in responsible service.”

 

This mission statement is applied to every area of life at HHCS, including digital citizenship.  We want our children to be responsible digital citizens in the same way we want them to be responsible citizens of the world in general. Our children can serve God and develop their gifts and talents through digital activities as well as other activities in life.  They will need guidance to do this. By having home and school working together as partners, we can be proactive rather than reactive in guiding students how to be their best selves in all areas of life.

If the Tech Planners that we sent home didn’t make it to you, here are the digital versions:

Tech Planner age 2-8

Tech Planner age 9-12

Tech Planner age 13+

“Digital citizenship should be a community effort.  

The impact will be more powerful when students have multiple trusted adults they can discuss issues with, 

and when they’re hearing the same messages reinforced from both home and school.” – Kathleen A. Morris

 

Digital Literacy, Events, Family Literacy, Media Literacy, Scholastic Book Club, Special Days/Weeks/Months

Screen-Free and Digital Citizenship Week Coming Up, and October Scholastic Flyers

Picture of English October Teacher Newsletter

October- English Digi-Flyer

Picture of French October Teacher Newsletter

October- French Digi-Flyer

My Class Code
RC391237
Shipping is free to your home for orders over $40!
The week of October 16, HHCS for the first time is going to participate in Screen-Free Week and Digital Citizenship Week! We are planning lessons every day on topics of media balance, online bullying and how to deal with it, reliable information, giving credit for images and information, and online safety. We are excited to dedicate an entire week to these important topics. Please keep an eye out for family resource sheets that will be coming home. We are also challenging HHCS students, staff, and families to take the Scree-Free Week challenge! We are going to see how many of us can take a break from entertainment screens for a whole week. All classes received a visit from myself or from our school social worker this past week to introduce the challenge and hand out pledge cards. Ask your grades K-4 children about ‘The Couch Potato’ book! Here is a video read aloud of it, as well as other books related to digital citizenship.
Books about safe use of technology
https://childhood101.com/picture-books-digital-citizenship/
Book Cover
Book Cover