| The countdown is over, our school Read-A-Thon starts tomorrow, and we are ready to get reading! For the next ten days, students and staff will be tracking their reading minutes and helping our whole school work toward an exciting shared goal. The best part? All reading counts! Audio books, physical books, being read to, and independent reading all add up. No matter how students enjoy stories, every minute helps our total grow. Each day, classes will record their minutes, and our school tracker will be updated so everyone can watch our progress. If you visit the school, be sure to take a look and cheer us on as we work toward our goal together! To wrap up the Read-A-Thon, we’ll be celebrating in style. Thursday, January 30 will be Dress Up Like a Book Character Day! Students are invited to come to school dressed as their favourite character from a book and join in the fun. Read-A-Thon is a wonderful chance to build reading habits, discover new books, and share a love of stories as a community. We encourage families to join in by reading together and talking about favourite books at home. Let the reading adventures begin, happy Read-A-Thon, everyone! |  |
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January is an exciting month in the library as we begin our annual CKES Mock Caldecott Awards! Students in Grades 1–4 are putting on their “book critic” hats and taking a close look at up to five outstanding picture books. Instead of just reading for fun, they are learning to examine illustrations carefully and think about how artwork helps tell a story. As part of the project, each class is exploring the books together and asking four important questions:
This year’s Mock Caldecott nominees are:
This activity is a fun way to build visual literacy, encourage critical thinking, and celebrate the incredible art that brings stories to life. Stay tuned to find out our winning book!
Our library elves, Crystal and CC (short for Candy Cane!), have officially returned for another festive season of fun, surprises, and a little bit of holiday magic! Students were thrilled to find them this morning hidden and watching closely to see what books are being borrowed. Crystal and CC love spending December in our Library Learning Commons. They explore the shelves, hide in silly places, and sometimes get into just a little mischief. . Over the next few weeks, keep an eye out for their adventures! Welcome back, Crystal and CC! Let the library elf magic (and mischief!) begin! December 1, 2025
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December 16, 2025 December 17, 2025 Right now in the library, our Kindergarten to grade 3 students are exploring something a little different--wordless picture books! These beautiful books tell stories entirely through illustrations, inviting students to become the storytellers themselves. Here are some of the books we have been reading.
Why wordless books?While they might seem simple, they actually help build big skills! When students “read” these books, they’re practicing:
Most importantly, wordless books make reading accessible and fun for all levels of readers, sparking imagination and creativity in every child. Ask your student about the wordless book they chose this week—there’s a good chance they’ll have an amazing story to tell! Our read-a-thon is over, and we did it CKES! We tried to read every day between January 22-31 with the goal of reading 100,000 minutes. We read 103, 524 minutes!
The end of January is book award time! The American Library Association announces the award winners from 2024 for many different awards. At CKES, grades 1 – 4 take part in voting for the book we think should win the Caldecott award. What is the Caldecott Award? This award is given to the illustrator of the most distinguished American published picture book. When we look at possible winners, we ask ourselves 4 questions: 1.Were the pictures drawn well? 2.Did the pictures fit the story? 3.Do the pictures help tell us things about the story that the words don’t? 4.Was the book made for kids? The vote is in, and CKES has chosen our winner!  Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo is a book told mostly in pictures about a little girl named Jun who as just moved from Hong Kong to a small town in the United States. She has a hard time, as she doesn’t speak English, but having her favourite food for lunch reminds her of home. Home in a Lunchbox has won the Caldecott Honour award! Great job CKES for critically thinking and picking the winner!
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AuthorHi! I am Ms. Burns the teacher-librarian here at CKES. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to [email protected] 
What I am Reading:I always have a lot of books on the go! Archives
January 2026
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