Our library is instagramming!

Yes, it is true.  I am venturing out into another form of social media and I will need all of the advice you can give me!  We are now on instagram as Rivierlibrary so search us up and follow pretty please.  Then help me continue to take some great photos of our library and keep me from doing anything embarrassing or going hashtag crazy!  Let's have some fun with this - I'm open to your ideas!

Fun times in the library!

We have been crafting once again in the library!  When Rivier students heard that the public library was hosting a program to make no-sew emoji pillows we wondered if we could produce some right here at school.  The results were fantastic!  Close to 30 fabulous, very expressive pillows made over a couple of lunch hours and lots of fun had by all!

We finished off 2015 with our Harry Potter themed Christmas party - complete with a somewhat sketchy polyjuice potion punch.  Newcomers to book club had their chance to whip up some awesome wands (secret ingredient = lots of hot glue!)

Those of you who are still getting used to our new schedule, take note:  due to the 2 day system and jazz choir frequency,  BOOK CLUB MEETS EVERY SECOND WEEK, JUNIOR AND SENIOR TOGETHER AT 11:40 WHEN TUESDAY IS DAY 1.  Make sense?  We don't always have a big craft or party, but we do always have MANY things to talk about!

Also, for those of you asking if it is too late to join book club - it is never too late.  We are super-flexible.  The more, the merrier!

Get those Scholastic book orders in!

Scholastic Orders:
If you haven't had a chance to look at the September Scholastic flyers, check them out soon as I would like to have our order placed next week!  I am calling for all orders to be in by Tuesday, September 22.  AND,  you can now pay directly ONLINE through parentpay on the scholastic website.  It will ask you for your province, city, school, (enter Rivier Academy School) and teacher (Lori Cappelletto) and then proceed with your payment info.  Each month will have a "Parent Pay Code" found on the order form - this month's is "CLIFFORD".

Book Club:
Those of us not in Jazz Choir met on Tuesday at lunch and discussed our "Choose Kind" campaign tied into the book Wonder.   We have a bulletin board in the library and invite everyone to stop in and add notes to it outlining any acts of kindness you have done during the day, or that have been done for you!  Let's make our school, and our world, a better place!  We also talked about other books around the theme of struggling to belong, or being/feeling different.  Many of these books, along with some others are now on display in a "try walking in someone else's shoes" display.  Come and have a look!
Our next Senior Book Club meeting will be Tuesday, September 22 at 11:40.  We will then have
Junior Book Club join us at 12:05.

Just so that we can hear our conversation while we meet for book club, I would ask that my foosball players take that day off  :)

“If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary—the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.” ~R.J. Palacio Wonder

First Book Club Meeting Today!

I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend!  We will hold our very first book club meeting of the 2015/16 school year at noon hour today.  I am calling for grades 7-12 all together this time just to see how many people are interested, and then we will get ourselves organized and decide exactly how we are going to proceed for the rest of the year.

Also,  I will distribute the Scholastic flyers today and ask that if you wish to place an order that you turn it in to me in the library by Thursday, September 24th.  

This is a LIBRARY!

A little laugh for the middle of our first week ;)

Welcome Back to Fabulous Fall 2015!

Welcome! It is great to see all of the familiar AND many new faces in the halls of Rivier this year. You are all very welcome to join me in the library to browse for books to read, play some games, have a chat, or find something else fun to do! I look forward to catching up with all of you and getting to know our new friends! We will be adding some new books to our collection soon, and I will also be distributing our first batch of Scholastic flyers in the near future, so watch for those if you like ordering your own books!

I know many of us are big John Green fans so I thought I would start with HIS back to school post, which is AWESOME!

Probably my favourite book cover EVER!

I just have to share the cover of a soon-to-be-released book by a few of our favourite authors.  It wins my vote for best cover this year.  I just want to stare at it - but then I'm kind of a cat person!

If you want to find out a little more about this book (it's set to be released in the fall) head on over to
E. Lockhart's blog .  

I think we have settled on Tuesday, June 16 at lunch for our Book Club wrap up.  All members,  junior and senior are invited and we will commence the festivities at 11:45 or so.

It's almost time to READ UP and GO HOME!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT IS MAY 25TH??!!   This happens every year.  Once we get to the Victoria Day long weekend, the rest of the year goes by in the blink of an eye.   SO,  this is a gentle reminder to start thinking about reading the books you already have (those of you who have those lists of 3, or 4, or 7 books you JUST HAD TO HAVE)  and get them back to me before we start to wrap things up for the end of the year.
Those of you who are hoarding your overdues - the day of reckoning is fast approaching.  CLEAN YOUR DESKs.  CLEAN YOUR LOCKER.  CLEAN YOUR BEDROOM.  Just bring me the books. It's not that complicated.  Really.

Book club members - any suggestions for a final meeting/celebration?  Let me know what day works best for everyone.

Lupo enjoyed Marvel Super Hero Day during our
last spirit week!

Unwrap a good read!

Our latest library display challenges you to choose your next book based only on the first line or two!
Fun, right?  If the idea appeals to you, come have a look at the display and see if any of the opening lines grab your interest!

Lupo continues to enjoy his role as library assistant and appreciates all of the attention lavished upon him by students!  He especially got into Hawaiian Day during our last spirit week ;)

Any of you who stop by the library at lunch are welcome to take part in our ongoing crafting - we are decorating hands for the display shelf and have lots of paint chips available for bookmarks.   We are also expecting another shipment of new books, so keep your eyes on the new book display - hurray!

Happy Easter!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter break!
I know that many of you have been visiting the library to stock up on reading material for your free time - me too :)

We had a great time this week celebrating the Easter season with themed cupcake decorating and games at our book club meeting.  Chicks,  jelly bean nests, and  bunnies were produced and devoured.   Some of our senior girls produced lovely easter bonnets with paper plates and leftover craft supplies.  Lots of fun!

And for those of you who keep saying how Lupo is growing up so fast, here's a throwback Thursday:  remember when he WAS this little?  The toy in this picture has long ago been EATEN.

 He has made friends with his feline brothers though (at least one of them) and they snuggle together at home.  You will notice that Frisby sleeps with his eyes open when Lupo is around ;)

Send me your shelfies!

All book clubbers and other interested students take note!  We are creating a library display of "shelfies" - photos of you in front of your bookshelves at home OR with your favourite book.  SO snap that photo and send it to me at:
lori.cappelletto@pacsd.ca
and I will get them printed out for you to admire on our wall!  Hopefully we will get some teacher photos up there too!

A Fabulous February!

 Speaking of fun and fabulous, we had a great time in the library with our Valentine's Day party!

Between decorating cookies, stacking candy hearts, tossing marshmallows, EATING candy, making duct tape roses and the other games to play,  a great time was had by all!  4th period study students benefitted from the leftovers!

Our latest Scholastic order has arrived with many great new titles.  There's the new Ally Carter book All Fall Down,  the bestselling The School For Good and Evil by Soman Chainani (ordinary kids are trained to be fairy-tale heroes and villains),  and Atlantia by Ally Condie if you like something mermaid-y.   Come check out the new book shelf or ask me for a recommendation!

Today's Smile...

I know several of my library regulars will relate to this one!

If you enjoy "book nerd problems" be sure to have a look at their youtube channel and also check out Epic Reads!

As we wrap up January and move towards Valentine's Day, are we all in favour of another round of "Blind Date with a Book?" Yes? No? Let me know if you loved it or would pass on it this year.

Appreciating Dragons!

In our library we definitely appreciate dragons in literature.  Book club members are huge fans of the Eragon series, the Last Dragon Chronicles, and the Wings of Fire series, to name just a few!  So, to commemorate "Appreciate a Dragon Day"  last week I thought it would be fun to try making these dragon eggs I found on instructables:

They start out as plastic easter eggs and are transformed with hot glue and paint.  Lots of fun to create and they turn out pretty awesome!  This is just a small sample of what's been created so far - and more are being produced every lunch hour!

Merry Christmas!

Well,  as all of you who visit the library know, I have a new assistant.

Lupo has been learning the loops of the library and life in general here at Rivier for the past few weeks AND making our life much more interesting at home!  So far he has not swallowed any hamsters, lizards or fish and has only drooled on the cats a little bit.   Luckily for me, Mrs. Bonneau gives me tips on being a good "dog mom" so hopefully he will grow up to be a polite canine citizen.

Last week was our "Santa's workshop" for both book clubs in the library.  We decorated Christmas sugar cookies and had several craft tables on the go.   We worked on recycled book Christmas trees, snowflake ornaments, popsicle stick snowmen, beading and ribbon crafts.  Lots of supplies are leftover for more crafting today -  homemade gifts are always the best!

Happy Saskatchewan Library Week!

Library week is upon us and I hope some of you have created "Book Spine Poetry" to enter in the provincial contest.  Visit  Book Spine Poetry to enter and see the work of others!  Just for fun I pulled a few books as I was shelving and came up with this:

And in exciting home news, we had a visit from Mrs. Bonneau and one of the new puppies this weekend AND my cats did not freak out.  So...it looks like we may be adding this little guy to our menagerie!

My first choice for a name was Thor, followed by Sherlock or Archer, but it looks like I am going to get outvoted and he will end up as an Angus, Nitro, Fargo, or Harley.  Opinions?

This would put our household livestock at:  2 cats, 1 dog, 2 robo hamsters, 1 lizard, 1 piranha, and a big tank of assorted fish.  The more, the merrier, right?

Autumn crafting...

Senior Book Club members tried out a new craft today - wrapped wire words and letters.
They turned out very well and we will do the same activity with juniors tomorrow!
Here's a sample of some of the finished products:

Our next senior meeting will be on Tuesday, October 14 at 11:40 so that we don't miss out due to the Thanksgiving long weekend.  After that we will be back to Mondays again (October 27.)

Our Scholastic order has arrived, so there will be new books out within the next week or two.  Keep your eyes on the usual shelf!

Possible times for Senior Book Club

It has been suggested by the Grade 10s that we try Mondays at 11:40 for Senior Book Club.  What do you think Grade 12s?  Let me know how you would like to proceed and we will get started!

Junior Book Club will remain on Tuesdays at 12:05 unless otherwise announced.

Starting another awesome year!

Welcome back to school! I am super-excited to begin another great year of awesome books and fun stuff in the library!
We had our first Book Club meeting this week and it looks like we may be having Senior Book Club too - it's been a few years but I am looking forward to having two groups once again.
There are a few new books ready to go - a couple already have short waiting lists, including Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern.

I talked about this title at Book Club - it was probably my favourite book this summer.  I think if you enjoyed The Fault in our Stars you will like this one too.  OR another really good read (a close second on my favourites list) is Zak and Mia.  It's set in Australia (shout-out to Crysta) and tells the story of two teens who meet in the hospital.

Anyone still interested in Book Club is welcome to join us.  Junior Book Club will remain on Tuesdays at 12:05, and Senior Book Club time is still being decided - let me know your preference!

Hand them over... Please!

I know it is hard to believe, but another school year is ALMOST over!
Please, please bring me your library books AND any textbooks you are no longer using and will not need for final exams.

All Book Club members are invited to the library at lunch hour on Thursday, the 19th for a small wrap-up celebration for this year.  Listen to the announcements or check back here for an update on the exact time.   If everyone is present, we will see about having a group photo taken at that time too.

Remember to check around for those stray books!

Twinkle, Twinkle, Goodbye Tree!

Well, sadly the great big library tree lovingly nurtured by the Sisters has dropped its leaves for the last time.  There was no big comeback for it this time BUT Chandra had the brilliant idea of decking the "skeleton" out with twinkle lights and giving it a second chance at life - so to speak.

Meanwhile,  even though I firmly stated that there would be only ONE annual Library Cupcake War (thus, the annual part) , I decided to relent and bake up some cupcakes for Book Club and wanderers-in to decorate with our guests from our sister-school in Japan.  Fun for all and a great lunch-time treat!

I am thinking it might be minion-making time as per Lilly's suggestion, now that all of the plastic Easter eggs are out!  I will be on the look-out over the next few days and see what I can find for supplies.

There will be LOTS more great books to look forward to over the coming weeks - I will portion them out so the excitement is spread out!

Congratulations to Syndney Duncan, Hunter, and Hayley Remus who were the winners of the "Blind Date with a Book" draw and each received a tub of candy and  a pick from the book stack.  If you are curious how people rated their dates,  have a look at the display board in the library.  I might add the key to my clues too (unless I decide I want to use them next year!)

And then it happened...

Today in Book Club we browsed through the Scholastic flyers and decided to write a progressive story while chatting about what we wanted to order for the library.  Working from a story starter and a folded-over paper that was passed from student to student here is the result:

The day dawned cold and clear over Rivier Academy.   Students freshly rested from a long weekend filed through the doors, unaware of the danger lurking within.  Indeed, none could have guessed what was ahead on this seemingly normal day as those doors closed behind them and they headed to the auditorium for morning assembly.

As they walked down the halls they heard a slithering within the walls.  As they continued to walk, the Chosen One felt something.  It was cold and unforgiving.  He knew he shouldn't tell anyone because they would just give him bad looks, so he just kept walking and being alert.

Meanwhile, in the air vents thousands of vipers were ready to invade the school.  Thick white fog began to trickle out of the larger wooden doors.  Then, the scariest thing of all crashed through the doors!  It was...

Hunter running through the halls with a sword while Lilly rode Glenn Forestwood, the library unicorn!

And that was the end of  noon hour and so the end of our story - fun!

Clipping Right Along!

It was craft AND book club time again in the library today!  We took Jessie's suggestion and created some VERY elegant paperclip bookmarks to fancy up the pages of our novels.  Super swanky.  Mai and Crysta even got in on the action later during their study time.  Who could resist boxes full of buttons?  Out of a box of 80 large paperclips I am left with around 35 - so I think a good time was had by all.  

And now,  just because I feel like it and it has been over three years (can you believe it!) since I first posted this on the blog - lets have another look at my favourite:

It does have a literary connection, after all!

Be My Anti-Valentine?

Instead of the traditional Valentine's Day blah, blah, blah, I thought we would celebrate our awesomeness and independence with a Book Club Anti-Valentine's Day Party on Tuesday!

And the party WAS awesome!  Lots of candy - maybe too much, teachers?

Lots of heart and broken heart cookies to decorate and EAT!  And THEN messing up
copies of romance novel covers and mad-lib love poems added to the ANTI-VALENTINE fun!
We are awesome all by ourselves!

YOU ARE ALL HAVING WAY TOO MUCH FUN OPENING THESE UP!

Magnetic Forces at the Library!

Today we began a new project in the library - gemstone magnets!  I made mine with an eyeball photo and grabbed some steampunk-themed books for us to discuss while our group got to work on an impressive variety of attractive refrigerator and locker decor!  We ranged from eyeballs to miniature animals, flowers and even Jack from the Nightmare Before Christmas, thanks to our collection of recycled magazines.

I will replenish our supplies for those of you interested in making more!

A reminder that Scholastic book orders are due this Friday, January 17th.  If you have noticed any books in the flyers that you think should be added to the library collection, please point them out to me so that I can be sure to add them to our school order.  

Today's chuckle:

Merry Christmas!

And hasn't our library been evolving this year!  So much activity and creativity!  You have all made my days here lots of fun.  From monster bookmarks to Christmas spiders, cupcake wars to the first annual Grade 10 Hunger Games and now our current Ollivander's Wand Shop we are having a great time in 2013/14.  You know that if you have ideas for projects or programs you would like to try I will always do my best to attempt to make them happen!  Who knows what the new year is going to bring?