Kids' Lit. Quiz

We've been training for months, and we have one more training session before our competition.  Training?  How do you train for Childrens' Literature?  Let me go back a bit.

About three years ago, I got wind of an opportunity for the students here at SAM.  A new competition was being introduced to Canada, and it was a competition in the sport of reading. Yes, the "Sport of Reading"! How could I, as a teacher-librarian, not participate in such an event?  I indicated my interest and in the fall of that year, the necessary information was forwarded to me, and the training began.

Can reading be a sport?  I guess it has to do with how you define sport.  This event involves months of preparation all leading toward a team competition.  Sounds like sport to me.

As we trained, we learned that this event has been happening around the world for several years.  It all started with an education Prof. in New Zealand who saw a need for a competitive event that would appeal to kids who were, perhaps not interested in athletics.  He then created a new kind of sport.

There has been a consistent group of 11 students who have been training for this competition.  Each week we meet during lunchtime and try to answer questions.  The difficult thing is that there are so many books to read!

Last Thursday, another team visited us from Jean Augustine Girls' Leadership Academy.  We had a small competition with forty questions.  The teams were fairly close, but one of the SAM teams came out on top.

Our competition is next Monday.  Check back to see how we did.

Literacy Night

SAM happily welcomed Toronto author Lesley Livingston last Wednesday, January 15, as SAM hosted our first Literacy Night.  Parents and students were able to learn about reading and writing strategies for both the English and French streams.  In addition there was a presentation on how to help motivate students to read more.  The climax of the evening was a presentation by Lesley in the library where she spoke to an audience of about 50 people.

Lesley shared with us some of her journey as a writer, but more importantly she spoke about the importance of reading within her own life and career.

The evening was a great success.  Families left with prizes of books and games, and the wonderful taste of cookies and hot chocolate.  

We hope to do this again next year.