The Blue Spruce and Silver Birch programs were realigned in 2007. Blue Spruce now is geared to Kindergarten to Grade 2, with Silver Birch covering Grade 3 to Grade 6. In order to appeal to all of the readers from Grade 3 to 6, a third list has been created, the Silver Birch Express. This list is a combination of fiction and non-fiction, aimed at the Grade 3 - 4 reading level. The idea is to offer this option to all Silver Birch readers, allowing the ESL student, reluctant reader, special need student and the younger students in the group a list that will encourage reading both fiction and non-fiction. All of the books on this list are accessible and will allow all readers to be successful participants/voters. As in all of the independent reading programs, a reader only needs to read 5 books out of a list of 10 to qualify to vote.
There will still be a fiction and non-fiction list offered on Silver Birch,but with the twist that these books will be aimed at the Grade 5 - 6 reader, offering a challenging list for those students who are more mature and capable. Nowhere is it written that only Grade 5 and 6 students can read these lists. It will truly depend on the capabilities of the individual reader. Certainly a proficient Grade 4 reader will be drawn to the regular lists, just as a struggling Grade 6 reader may be more interested in participating using the Express list.
The Silver Birch Award® is given by Grade 3, 4, 5 and 6 students in a spectacular ceremony held annually in May before fifteen hundred of their peers. The children choose winners in Fiction, Non-Fiction and Express when they cast their ballots on the province-wide Voting Day earlier in the same month. It is the most democratic and unbiased process possible when the children make their choice. The program is administered by the Ontario Library Association and run by teacher-librarians and teachers in schools and by children's librarians in public libraries. But the choice belongs to the children. And, in their tens of thousands, they know what they are doing.
SILVER BIRCH AWARD®: Information/Sites
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