A report published Monday Dec. 12, 2011, finds that fewer Ontario children are reading for pleasure. The report, published by research group People for Education, shows the number of Ontario Grade 3 students who say they like to read dropped from 75% in 1998-99 to 50% in 2010-11.
Gallanough fosters the love of reading in children and adults. We have compiled a list of 23 things you can do to encourage your children to read for pleasure.
Gallanough's List (PDF Format)
People For Educatio report (PDF Format)
People For Education Web SIte
The Gishen Family have been "Friends of the Gallanough" for many years and have also given their time and support to the Gallanough Resource Centre in a wide variety of ways.
Lee, Roy and their two children, Roselyn and Alan have been participating enthusiastically in our summer programs since Gallanough was reopened in November 1999 with a volunteer Board of Directors.
In the past few years they have been volunteering their time to help plan and run several of these programs.
Click for: the full story.
We had a great meeting of the Gallanough Book Club when we were joined by author of 'Annie's Girl', Maureen Coppinger.
Maureen endured thirteen years in an Irish orphanage (industrial school) in the 1930s and 1940s. She emigrated to Canada in 1955 where she married and raised three sons.
'Annie's Girl' is the touching and evocative memoir of an illegitimate child’s profound struggle to overcome a shame-filled past and solve the mystery of her origins.
This is Maureen Coppinger's own story told with insight, compassion and a pace that will keep you turning the pages until the very end.
If you missed meeting Maureen at the Gallanough Book Club meeting you can watch a video interview of her on YouTube.
Click for: MORE PHOTOS.
Heather Spear is the owner of Northwood Academy and a long time member of the Gallanough Board of Directors.
This story is about her family, especially her mother, Jean,who as a young woman in World War II England fell in love with Canadian soldier George Spear and who arrived in Ottawa as a 22 year old war bride.
Since then Jean has been instrumental in forming a club for war brides, for which she was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2006. At that time she traveled to Buckingham Palace to receive her award from Queen Elizabeth.
This year Jean and her family met the future King and Queen of England during their trip to Ottawa.
Read the background article published in the Ottawa Citizen as well as the actual account of the meeting.
Peter Jablonski Passes Away - Holocaust Survivor & Gallanough Volunteer
Peter was also a Holocaust survivor who lost both his parents and his sister to the concentration camps. Peter was a survivor and was instrumental in saving others, including his cousin George and Walter Saltzberg, by smuggling them out of the country.
Peter passed away on July 17th after a long battle with cancer. Link to Peter's obituary.
To read about Peter's rescue of Walter Saltzberg view this article in the Winnipeg Jewish Review.
NEW: The Globe and Mail 'Lives Lived' section features Peter Jablonski. Link to the Globe and Mail article.
2. We have Audio books and CDs you can listen to in your car on a road trip.
3. We have computers you can use and although we charge 10 cents a page for printing and photocopying, that is a lot less than anywhere else.
4. You can borrow movies on DVD and VHS and again there are very short waiting lists for the recent titles.
5. You can watch movies in our library on our TV.
6. You can join one of our 2 Book Clubs – one for any age and another for teens and twenties. (Secret … they have wonderful snacks, sometimes watch an episode of the X-files after they discuss the book and have also even been known to go out for a meal or to the midnight opening of the new Harry Potter movie.)
7. You can have a quiet get together with friends and associates in our comfortable sitting area. Meetings, card games etc. are all acceptable as long as they don’t get too noisy.
8. You can bring your child to Story time twice a week from October to June while you look for material in the library.
9. Girls this summer can join a 45-minute Cardio and Stretch class with our wonderful and certified instructor, Nella.
10. The Mad Scientist enthusiast can learn about weather, water, detective science and much more.
11. Those who love crafts can do origami, make a wallet and other amazing things.
12. Adults can learn beginning computer on our Mac computers or bring their own laptop to learn on.
13. Kids can learn to use our Mac computers as well as more advanced research techniques.
14. Play one of our most popular games, Library ABC Bingo with friends in the library.
15. Start a new knitting project with experienced knitters or finish an old one while you chat with friends.
16. Play chess and other board games with friends in the summer.
17. Register for the summer reading program, fill out your reading log, get stickers for every book you read and enter a raffle once a week to win a prize at the end of the summer.
18. Borrow computer games for 3 weeks and renew them twice if needed.
19. Read and borrow books in other languages including Russian, Chinese and French.
20. We have a water cooler, which is free, and serve coffee (from Steeper’s) and tea for $1.00 per cup.
21. Borrow a recent issue of Vanity Fair magazine for 3 weeks or any other of our popular magazines.