Forest of Reading Awards

Last week the Grade 2-6 students attended the Forest of Reading Awards. This year was particularly exciting as we had 3 Olivet students on stage during the ceremony! One of our grade 3 students was the official sign holder for author Angus Mike Deas. Another of our grade 5 students introduced author, Ingrid Lee. We even had one of our grade 6 students help to announce the nominees for the 2013 Silver Birch Fiction Awards! We are so proud of all our students!

The Forest of Reading Awards is an event much anticipated by the students and teachers. Every year a box of new books is delivered to the school and the teachers almost have as much fun as the students going through it and reading the new arrivals.

The students are required to read a certain number of books for their reading level to be able to vote on their favourites. To ensure that the students comprehend the stories they are reading they are also tested on the books they have read. These book reports are always captivating to hear, as a student describes their favourite part of the book.

But the best part of the Forest of Reading is going down to the Harbourfront each year and hearing the cheers of excitement from the young audience members as their favourite authors take the stage. It is great to see these authors being greeted like rock stars! After the award ceremony the students have a chance to meet the authors and get their autographs.

For more information about Olivet School visit us at www.olivetschool.ca.

Forest of Reading Program at Olivet

Look at all the books that the upper grades have been reading through the Forest of Reading Program.  After every student has read every book they each get to vote on the various favourites.

Participating in the Forest of Trees Reading Program

Olivet is participating in the Forest of Trees reading program run by the Ontario library Association (OLA). The older students were paired up with students from the Primary Class and together they read the Blue Spruce level books. This further develops the older student’s ability to read aloud, encourages the younger students to practice their reading skills, and allows the younger students to accomplish their reading goals for the program.

Forest of Reading

The grades 2 through 5 went to Harbourfront to celebrate the Forest of Reading. The children had to read 10 books each and then voted for their favourite. The winners were announced at special ceremonies which the children attended. Hundreds of screaming children just can't be wrong! The authors were treated like rock stars and the fever was high!!

Also on this special day was the opportunity to meet with the many authors, chat with them a bit and get their autographs. We also attended two informative sessions given by two of the authors.
As you can see in the photos, the children were having fun while being encouraged in their reading efforts.

One of our students won a copy of "Hunchback Assignments". She was delighted to meet the author, Arthur Slade, and get her new book autographed.

The students were all excited to meet the famous author Gordon Korman. For this year's Silver Birch awards he was nominated for "Zoobreak"!

In the event that one of the authors was not available, we had the opportunity to write a message to him/her on the "Graffiti Board". The messages were all heart warming and encouraging. The authors are sure to love them.

The students paid attention while Maureen Fergus, author of "Ortega" gave a talk on how to write good fiction stories.

There was even a small art gallery featuring original art by some of the illustrators of the books. The children were most impressed by the clay picture by Barbara Reid which was in "Perfect Snow". We also paused for a long time to admire the wildlife paintings by Robert Bateman which made up part of his book "Vanishing Habitats".

The students are posing with Maureen Fergus, author of Ortega.

Olivet is most grateful to Margaret and Dave Starkey for their kind donation to our field trip fund which makes school trips like this one possible. Their thoughtfulness is most appreciated.

Forest of Reading

Every year Olivet participates in the “Forest of Reading” program put on by the Ontario Library Association (OLA). An OLA selection committee chooses 10 books for each reading category; this list is made available, by late fall, to schools and libraries across the province. The children then start to read! Read! Read!! In April the children vote for their favourite book(s) and finally, in a special ceremony at Harbourfront in May, the awards are given to the winners.

The entire process is so exciting! The children look forward to the new crop of books as though it were Christmas! The books fly in and out of the library as the children take them to the classrooms and home to read. The children’s conversations and the chatter about books is music to a teacher’s ears!

This year we have a special bulletin board to encourage and track the children’s reading. It is located just to the left of the main office. If you are in the building, please come and see it!! For the rest of you, we will post photos of the board as the children progress in their reading; you will notice that the tree will sprout more and more leaves!

Forest of Reading Awards Ceremony

Last week, the Junior Room and Primary Room students traveled to the Habourfront to attend the Forest of Reading Awards Ceremony. The children participated in the voting process last month and had to read a certain number of books in their program to be eligible to vote. Yoan was selected to introduce the author of one of his favourite books! The students all had a great time!


Yoan and Robert Paul Weston, who is the author or "Zorgamazoo" the book which won the 2010 Silver Birch Award for fiction.

Linda DeMeulemeester, author of "The Secret of Grim Hill" and "Grim Hill The Secret Deepens" is autographing for the Olivet children.

Yoan introduces Robert Paul Weston at the Awards Ceremony.