A Busy Term in the Beach Drive Learning Commons

We have had a busy term in our Learning Commons! Hosting activities such as GNS Reads, author visits, a giant map from the RBCM, a Russell Book Fair and two 1000 X 5 book drives organized by Library Squad and Round Square! 

What is GNS Reads? 

Similar to the ‘CBC Reads’ program we ran a similar initiative during October and November for Kindergarten to Grade 5 students called GNS Reads. The Grade 4 Library Squad members chose 12 books from the Chocolate Lily Book Awards 2025 shortlist. Our 12 Champion teachers each highlighted one of the selected books. Each week the students from K/1, 2/3 and 4/5 voted out one book. Over the last few months, the teacher champions had to talk about why the book should be read, the characters, the setting and the problem in their story. In each case, the champions were only given 90 seconds to defend their books! 

The winning books were: Pineshish The Blue Jay by Michel Noel and illustrated by Camille Lavoie presented by Mr. Johnson , PAWS: Priya Puts Herself First by Michele Assarasakorn & Nathan Fairbairn presented by Mr. Haines, and Shamus The Urban Rez Dog by Leslie Gentile presented by Mrs. Wallace. All of our champions did an amazing job preparing their titles! Thank you Mr. Boisjoli—our new Vice Principal—for initiating this amazing program for our Learning Commons. The titles quickly became the most popular to be checked out in our collection!

What is the Chocolate Lily Book Awards Program? The Chocolate Lily Book Awards celebrate BC authors and illustrators while striving to increase literacy for grade school children in British Columbia. Students in Kindergarten to Grade 5 will participate in this program through our Learning Commons this year by reading and voting for nominated books in their grade category.