April Spotlights -- all staff

QUARTER 3 BOOK RETURNS AND QUARTER 4 START UP

Texts should be returned by the last day of classes this quarter. Please touch base with Sook about returns, as well as a date/time for quarter 4 text check outs.

CRITERION FILMS ON DEMAND

A reminder that our district holds a license for this film streaming service, allowing access to a library of films with direct links to many subjects in our curriculum -- including newer films such as The Hate U Give, used in our English program at Vic High.

Access Criterion through the Special Subscriptions Links beneath the Staff Resources page on the library web site. Log in to this page with vhstaff1914 and you'll see the link to Criterion, along with the user name and password for off-site usage. You don't need a password within our school.

READING THEME - APRIL

April is National Poetry Month, with the theme of resilience. There will be a grab box of poems (a single poem a day will be featured) at the entrance to the library between Monday, April 19 and Thursday, April 29. Choose one and give it to a colleague or student who could use a morale boost! Please also come to the library as there will be a chocolate treat that you can attach to the poem. Thursday, April 29 is Poem-in-Your Pocket Day so that would be a great time to give it!

To complement the poetry month theme, the library is featuring a display of fiction and non-fiction with a strong underlying theme of resilience. The library has drawn from a wide range of recommended reads lists, featuring both lighter and heavier reads, YA and adult titles. Please check out the display (available April 15) and encourage your students to do so.

VIC HIGH READS 2021 - BENTO BOX STYLE

Given that we have a food-based theme with the library menu and "Door Dash" promotions this year, it makes sense that our 2021 reading celebration would follow suit.

Students are creating "book bento boxes" -- a visual, creative and thought-provoking format of presenting their perspectives on a book of choice from one of the following themes OR on a theme of choice: resilience, hero’s journey, social justice, adversity/conflict, dystopia, best of 2020, Vic High Reads collection, and Indigenous authors.

You can view student creations on the bulletin board at the entrance to the library and by connecting to the library's Instagram feed @vichighlibrary.

Although the initiative has begun with English classes, students from any subject area are welcome to participate. There will be fun participation activities for prizes (managed through a Google Classroom), and if there is a recreational reading book you'd like to feature in your subject area, perhaps it can become a bonus activity for your students. The library has ready-made instructions you can give to your students who wish to participate. A modified version of the instructions given to students in English classes will be posted on this blog.

The end goal is to assemble these creations on a large wall hanging -- like a quilt -- that will serve as a beautiful piece of artwork for our new library wing at Grant Street.

LOOKING AHEAD

I am looking forward to connecting with you and your classes during quarter 4 - showing your students database sources, helping them cite -- or teaching one or multiple aspects of a research-based inquiry project.

If you're in the mood for a new book, our library has acquired the short listed Canada Reads titles along with a number of other staff-recommended reads that will appeal to many.