Thanks to the help of the CDC Vimont SIS group, students and staff of The Learning Exchange and CDC Vimont have the opportunity to bring home a new or used book for winter reading!!
Tag Archives: Books
Welcome to TLE’s Storytime #5 for some courage-themed fun, part of TLE’s Free Gummy Bear Reading Club!
Featured Story: After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again)
Everyone knows that when Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. But what happened after?
~ by Dan Santat
Craft Activity: Courage Heart
Create a courage heart with ideas of courage that can be used when children are faced with situations in which they need to be brave.
Materials
- markers
- glue
- scissors
- yarn
- Paper + hole puncher (2 paper hearts)
- assorted decorative pieces: pom poms, stickers, jewels, etc.
- tissue paper
- stamper
- courage cards
Directions
NOTE: You can decorate the hearts before they are sewn together or sew and then decorate. If you are going to use lots of glue, it is best to sew the hearts first.
- Take the long piece of yarn and thread it through the plastic needle. Pull through eye until the piece is doubled over and equal in length. Tie the ends into a knot.
- Place the two hearts over each other so the holes line up.
- Starting at the top hole, leave approximately 12 inches of yarn hanging out (see picture below). This will be used as the other half of the bow once the hearts are sewn together.
- Thread the needle through the holes in the two hearts. Pull the needle in, out and around the hearts. Don’t connect the hearts at the top. You should have approximately 12″ of thread left on each side.
- Decorate the heart (you can also do this BEFORE sewing them together):
- Use the markers, stamp, pom poms and sticky buttons to decorate
- Tear or cut pieces of tissue paper and scrunch into pieces to glue on the heart
- Cut the shapes from the Courage Paper.
- Draw or write down words or pictures that made you think of ways you could be brave. Invite other members of the family to include words or pictures. Place into your heart.
- Tie the remaining yarn into a bow over the middle of the heart. See example below.
- Hang on a door handle, bulletin board or wall.
- As a family, revisit the words and pictures. Discuss and have fun!
Related Stories Online
Plucky Irene, a dressmaker’s daughter, braves a fierce snowstorm to deliver a new gown to the duchess in time for the ball.
Recipes
Cooking with your kids can help boost their development:
Increases language development
Enhances fine motor skills
Improves reading development
Introduces children to science and math skills
Let the kids decorate their food with sunny egg faces. Cut templates for the faces out of a simple omelette using round cookie cutter, then animate using olives for eyes, shredded cheese for hair, and cherry tomatoes for noses and smiles. ~ eggs.ca
Activity Ideas
Songs and Music
Song: ALL ABOUT COURAGE Educational Content: This song encourages students to show courage, by being brave and trying new things. Some examples include: getting through your first dance recital, trying out for a t-ball team, reading a book independently, singing a solo, going on a scary ride, going down the highest slide, raising your hand to answer a question in class, standing up to a bully, saving someone in danger, trying a new vegetable, etc. ~ HARRYKINDERGARTENMUSIC.COM
Information & Fun Facts
Welcome to TLE’s Storytime #4 for some friendship-themed fun, part of TLE’s Free Gummy Bear Reading Club!
Featured Story: The Adventures of Beekle The Unimaginary Friend
New York Times bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Dan Santat combines classic storytelling with breathtaking art, creating an unforgettable tale about friendship, imagination, and the courage to find one’s place in the world.
~ by Dan Santat
Craft Activity: Friendship & Family Frames
Materials needed:
- markers
- scissors
- assorted decorative pieces + stick ons
- fancy tape
- jute or string
- picture frames
- clips
- pictures or drawings
Directions:
- Use the assorted decorative stick on pieces and fancy tape to decorate your picture frames.
- Use the markers to colour or draw on the frames.
- Find a picture of you with a friend or family member for your frame doing something you love.
- Cut the picture to-size.
- Add the pictures to the frames.
- Use the clips to hang the frames to jute or string.
- Hang your string of frames on a wall, bulletin board or door. Enjoy!
Related Stories Online
The Rainbow Fish is an award-winning book about a beautiful fish who finds friendship and happiness when he learns to share.
Recipes
Cooking with your kids can help boost their development:
Increases language development
Enhances fine motor skills
Improves reading development
Introduces children to science and math skills
Bring the kids together with their friends to help make this kid-friendly fruit salad into a cooperative friendship salad.
Family Fun: Craft and Activity Ideas
Songs and Music
Information & Fun Facts
What is friendship? Friends play together, share together, and dance together! Elmo and Rosita know all about friendship because they are the best of friends!
Welcome to TLE’s Storytime #3 for some gratitude-themed fun, part of TLE’s Free Gummy Bear Reading Club!
Featured Story: The Grateful Book
There is so much to be grateful for.
~ by Angela Kohler
Craft Activity:
This gratitude jar is a fun, easy family activity. Add to the jar weekly, daily or monthly and have everyone to write down one thing each time they are thankful for.
Materials needed:
- jar
- ribbon or yarn
- markers
- gratitude cards or squares of paper
- scissors
- label for jar
Directions:
- Decorate a family gratitude jar
- Cut out squares of paper or use the gratitude template
- Write or draw what you are grateful for, people and things you love.
- Read/share as a family, and put in jar
- Revisit contents of jar once full
Using the gratitude jar and writing down what we are thankful for can happen around the family dinner table. Pass out small paper cards and some pens and ask everyone to write what they were most thankful for that given day, week or month. After reading the cards out loud, place them in the jar and watch the gratitude jar fill up. It can be fun to lay all the cards out and revisit each one as a family monthly.
Related Stories Online
In this autobiographical story, Little Trisha, overjoyed at the thought of learning how to read struggles when she finds that all the letters and numbers get jumbled up. Her classmates make matters worse by calling her “dummy.” Finally, in fifth grade, she is lucky enough to have a teacher who recognizes Trisha’s incredible artistic ability, understands her problem, and takes the time to lead her to the magic of reading.
Recipes
These heart-shaped shortbread cookies are light, buttery and topped with royal icing. They are perfect to make for gifts and you can also use lollipop sticks to make cookie pops with this recipe. ~ KidSpotKitchen
…these muffins taste amazing and look beautiful when arranged in a love heart. Decorate with pink icing and heart sprinkles! ~ KidSpotKitchen
Family Fun: Craft and Activity Ideas
Songs and Music
Welcome to TLE’s Storytime #2 for some sharing-themed fun, part of TLE’s Free Gummy Bear Reading Club!
Learning to share is important for making and keeping friends and playing well with other children. But sharing can be a challenge, especially at first. Your child will need plenty of practice and encouragement.
Featured Story: The Squirrels Who Squabbled
Two greedy squirrels learn to share in the third hilarious rhyming adventure from the bestselling creators of THE LION INSIDE.
~ by Jim Field
Craft Activity
Wooden Nature Magnets
Materials needed:
- assorted wooden nature pieces
- markers
- glitter glue
- self-adhesive magnets
- nature scene printout or paper to draw a scene
Directions:
- Colour the wooden nature pieces and use glitter glue if wanted.
- Attach magnet pieces to each finished wooden piece.
- Colour and decorate the nature scene printout.
- Use the nature scene along with the wooden magnets to tell a story or decorate a fridge!
How to Draw
Related Stories Online
Norris the bear waits patiently for the last ripe fruit to fall from the tree only to find out what it takes to make two new friends.
Recipes
Cooking with your kids can help boost their development:
Increases language development
Enhances fine motor skills
Improves reading development
Introduces children to science and math skills
Fun Squirrel Facts
Sharing Ideas
Activity Ideas
Vocabulary
Family Reading Club
We’re BACK! Join the Sunday Gummy Bear Family Reading Club! Spend an hour Sunday mornings with The Learning Exchange for stories, songs, craft time and parent resources to engage you and your child with fun interactive stories starting with a fun Halloween-themed dress-up day October 31st!
Registration
You can register for all Sunday sessions or just one or two. You will receive a Zoom link for the session/s after you register. FREE for all families! Children registered will receive* a free Gummy Bear activity bag, complete with the items needed for the weekly craft!
Date and theme:
- Oct. 31 | Halloween
- Nov. 7 | Sharing
- Nov. 14 | Gratitude
- Nov. 21 | Friendship
- Nov. 28 | Courage
Gummy Bear Song
Gummy Bear Activity Bags
Children will receive a Gummy Bear Club membership certificate, Gummy Bear jellies, a Scholastic book, craft supplies for weekly crafts, and Gummy Bear ears to wear for each Sunday morning reading! *Quantities are limited
*Gummy Bear Activity Bags (quantities limited) can be picked up, in advance, in the Laval area. You will receive more information after registration.
Gummy Bear ears made by Party Ears, one of TLE’s literacy supporters
Storyline Online is available 24 hours a day for children, parents, caregivers and educators worldwide. Each book includes supplemental curriculum developed by a credentialed elementary educator, aiming to strengthen comprehension and verbal and written skills for English-language learners.
Storyline App Storyline Online Main PageOnline Stories: Search by Author, Reader or Title
Through reading and the celebration of World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April, we can open ourselves to others despite distance, and we can travel thanks to imagination. From April 1st to 23rd, UNESCO will share quotes, poems and messages to symbolize the power of books and encourage reading as much as possible. By creating a sense of community through the shared readings and the shared knowledge, readers around the world can connect and mutually help curb loneliness.
~ UNESCO
April 23rd is the day for celebrating Canadian literature and reading. Dedicate April 23rd to reading and encourage friends and family to do so, too. Celebrate by picking a new book to read or by reading a book to a child. It is also a good occasion to find a new book series to immerse yourself in or to learn more about Canadian authors.
FREE Saturday Stories on Zoom with Enza
Join us for Saturday Stories and crafts with Enza. TLE is honouring World Book Day by giving away free books during the week! Your child may be eligible to receive a free storytime activity knapsack with FREE books and craft activity supplies!
Canada Book Day
Canada Book Day is celebrated on the same day as World Book and Copyright Day, a yearly event organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright.
Help encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. What was your favourite story as a kid? World Book Day encourages you to get it out and read it through again, maybe to your children or grandchildren. Celebrate the day with a great book!
Great Links about Books and Stories
#WBD21 #WorldBookDay #TLE #WBD # WBD21 #WBD #WorldBookDay #WorldBookDay21 #CanadaBookDay #CanadaBookDay21
Canadian Children’s Book Week connects Canadian authors and illustrators with children and teens across Canada. Tour participants speak to their audiences about the pleasures of reading and the delights of Canadian children’s books through their presentations and workshops. Meeting authors, illustrators and storytellers can be a turning point in a child’s life, inspiring a lifelong love of reading. The readings and workshops that take place during Book Week can open a child’s eyes to the world of literature. These readings and interactions with authors, illustrators and storytellers can excite a child about literacy. Whether a child is interested in writing, drawing or telling stories aloud, Book Week inspires young imaginations, teaches children how wonderful a good book can be and encourages them to tell their own stories.
Nicola Winstanley
Nicola Winstanley’s works include Cinnamon Baby, (shortlisted for the 2012 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, and honor-prize winner of the 2012 Ezra Jack Keats Award), and How to Give Your Cat a Bath, (shortlisted for the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award.) Her most recent picture book is Mel and Mo’s Marvelous Balancing Act. She is also a fiction writer, poet and comics creator who has been published in various Canadian literary magazines including Geist, The Dalhousie Review and Grain. Nicola is a full-time professor at Humber College, where she was awarded the Humber Teaching Excellence Award for 2018. She has appeared at The Telling Tales Festival, Word on the Street, IOFA, and Wordstock. She holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Auckland and an MFA from UBC. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario.
Q & A with Nicola Winstanley
Book list
Mel and Mo’s Marvelous Balancing Act by Nicola Winstanley, illustrated by Marianne Ferrer (Annick Press, 2019)
How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps by Nicola Winstanley, illustrated by John Martz (Tundra Books, 2019)
A Bedtime Yarn by Nicola Winstanley, illustrated by Olivia Chin Mueller (Tundra Books, 2017)
The Pirate’s Bed by Nicola Winstanley, illustrated by Matt James (Tundra Books, 2015)
Cinnamon Baby by Nicola Winstanley, illustrated by Janice Nadeau (Kids Can Press, 2011)
Join the Contest: #LoveTLEbooks
Win a Scholastic Book Bag of 50 books for the family! Your family can enter* our free draw to win!
- Take a fun picture about reading: For example, a drawing of a story or the family reading, a bookmark, a picture of a favourite story, etc.
- Post the pic to your Face Book or Twitter before midnight Dec. 31, 2020 and include the hashtag: #LoveTLEbooks
- Next, tag TLE in the post (Don’t forget to use the @ sign!!) :
- FaceBook: @TheLearningExchange1
- Twitter: @TLEliteracy
- CONTEST CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT 2020
- The winner* will be picked randomly and announced New Year’s Day! The winner will be contacted via social media.
Contest details
* Enter as often as you like!!! The contest is open to all residents of Laval, QC (18 years old +) as well as ALL Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board teachers, families and employees. The winner can select from the following book levels and have the box delivered to the home:
PreK-K | Grade 1/2 | Grade 3/4 | Grade 5+
Project funded by:
