When it’s cold outside, the library is always a warm and fun place to be. The smiles on these children’s faces shows the enjoyment they had putting together a monster puzzle. Other children were reading, drawing, playing card games and others were just hanging out and chatting with each other. So rather than be out in the cold, pop in and have some fun in a nice relaxing, warm place.
Today the year one children celebrated the Very Hungry Caterpillar’s 50th birthday. A little late because we are always so busy here at school but we couldn’t let such an important birthday go by without doing something special ourselves.
We began with the story of Very Hungry Caterpillar which is such a favourite with everyone. Afterwards, there was lots of things to make; like butterfly and caterpillar cards, bookmarks, pom pom caterpillars, activity sheets to follow and play with and so much more. We love Mrs Brown’s birthday quilt, especially as it has fabric with pictures by Eric Carle who is the writer and illustrator of the Very Hungry Caterpillar book. Did you know the author has just had his own big birthday celebration as he just turned 90 years old. That is a lot of celebrating to do.
You can’t have a birthday without a present so we now have a beautiful new 50th birthday special edition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
And of course it isn’t a party unless there is cake. Huge thanks to Holly and her boys for the decorating.
A big thank you to all the year one teachers and our wonderful children. We had almost 80 children happily engaged with the activities. A big thank you to Holly and her boys for the lovely, and yummy cake. And a massive thank you to Mrs Brown for all her hard mahi and support on this very special occasion.
We have some year six book club students sharing their reviews of books they have enjoyed reading in book club.
If you think you might enjoy these too, then come to the library for some holiday reading.
I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
The book I am Malala is an inspiration to girls and women all over the world. She is a hero, standing up for your rights, learning and loving is the one and only way to achieve a goal. This book explains Malala’s story – how she was once a normal girl reading her nobel Quran, going to school and shopping at the bazaar. One day a Taliban soldier shot her and her friend. Miraculously Malala survived. She earned two prizes speaking at the UN and telling her story. This is all a miracle.
I loved this book. It wanted me to read its words. Malala Yousafza is my hero and will always be in the future.
Reham
Lord of the Rings
By J. R. r. Tolkien
I think the book was very emotional . A lot of the people in the book had great characteristics. I would recommend the book for people if you are looking for an emotional, or action or adventure, or even fantasy read. I very much enjoyed it because of the suspense and it made me feel in the moment.
I would rate it 4.9
0.1 was bad because I wanted it to go longer.
By Corby
My New Zealand Story
Canterbury Earthquake 2010-2011
By Desna Wallace
The story of the Canterbury Earthquake 2010-2011 is a very marvelous diary. The book is sad because of the earthquakes in 2010-2011. It was an humongous earthquake. The book is amazing because you get to learn about some of the history in 2010-2011 and the history of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Namasvi P
Hapless hero Henrie By P James
Have you ever wondered how much trouble you will be in when you’re a girl but you were supposed to be a boy. You have broken the family tradition! But it’s not just a family tradition, Melchiors have only been birthing boys for 200 years! Alone at home a mysterious postcard says that they will tell more about her parents! Ellie said that whatever happens if it is not an emergency to NOT leave the house! Should she disobey Ellie? What happened to her parents? What will happen?…
Natsuki
We are finally up and running again with our library blog after a number of technical issues.
We begin with a huge thank you to our amazing PTA team who work so hard at fundraising. Without the PTA we would not have new library books. They secured us a grant from CERT to buy a Scholastic Standing Order subscription which gives us many newly published books to add to our library.
As well as securing a grant for library books the PTA have kindly donated money for the purchase of some New Zealand wildlife hand puppets and finger puppets. We have a kiwi, kokako, tuatara, kea, morepork and a penguin hand puppet and a number of smaller finger puppets. Puppets have so many benefits. Imagination, oral language, creative thinking, not forgetting of course, all the fun and laughter. These puppets will live in the library but teachers will also use them with books so the whole school will benefit from the PTA’s generosity. I have been watching the children play with the puppets and their imagination is wonderfully exciting. Watching quiet children suddenly taking on the persona of a native bird is magical. There are plenty of library books to read about these birds to make the experience even more fun.
So A huge thank you to everyone in the PTA and to all the families who participate in the different events like; sausage sizzle, Quiz Nights, buying spring bulbs and so many other events. It means so much to our children and helps them in so many ways.
I can’t believe how quick the year has gone, but it is now time to add some festive cheer to our library. The Christmas books are waiting to be read. Santa’s letterbox is waiting for your letters. Come and watch the train circle around Santa and listen to him singing in his sleigh. There will be activities happening at lunch times with crafts and Christmas stories to share.
I love this tradition we have here at Fendalton School where the year six book club students stroll down to our local kindergarten and share Christmas stories with the young children. Our students wear Christmas hats, read Christmas picture books and spend time playing with the children, many who end up coming here later.
Our students have spent morning tea times reading their stories to get them perfect. A few of the students have siblings at the kindergarten which is just lovely. Our students also performed a variety of Maori songs and dance.
We will be having a shared lunch today to celebrate all the fun we have had in book club. We read challenging novels and often have some very deep discussions, which is just magic. A perfect way to finish up a book-filled year together.
This is an amazing result after a year of hard work. Fundraising, which is essential to the survival of any school, is dependent on the time-generosity, persistence and perseverance of a formidable team of parents. A huge thank you to each and everyone of you for everything. Without your dedication we would not have these wonderful new resources. A salute to you all.
What a lovely relaxed way to spend a Friday afternoon. Room 11 were engrossed when their teacher Laura read them the picture book A booming in the night by Ben Brown and beautifully illustrated by Helen Taylor.
The children enjoyed the story and Laura then shared with them all about how endangered the kakapo bird is and how we can try and help. What a perfect way to finish the week.
If you want to know more about the kakapo and hear the booming for yourself then just click here. Sadly there are only about 150 kakapo left in the world so reading about them helps us remember how special they are and remind us to find ways to help them.
Yesterday we sold heaps of culled library books as a fundraiser for our FPS children who will be travelling to Auckland for the National Competitions.
We are so proud of our students who worked very hard to make it to the finals and very happy to support them in this small way. Thank you to everyone who bought our used library books. We hope you enjoy reading them. We raised a grand total of $347 which is just wonderful.
Congratulations to the raffle winners of the boxes of new books; Johanna, King and Kate M.
There were four other mats and benches of books but I like this photo with the last of our blossoms providing shelter from the warm sunny day we had yesterday.
Last day of term and the holiday feeling is everywhere. There is still plenty of time to come and get some books out for holiday reading.
Over the last few weeks we have been learning about Monarch butterflies. Classes were given a tray of seeds to try and grow swan plants to encourage Monarch butterflies to our gardens.
Our caretaker Mr Walker will be looking after them during the holidays and hopefully when we return in two weeks some of the seeds will have popped their heads out from the soil.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and find some warm sunny space to read a good adventure, mystery story or a book to make you laugh out loud.
See you next term.
Go Girl: a storybook of epic NZ women
By Barbara Else
Amy was lucky to attend the Christchurch Word Festival session with author Barbara Else and even got to meet her after the event.
Thank you, Amy for sharing your thoughts on the afternoon. And yes! We do have the book in the library.
On Saturday I went to the Christchurch Word Festival to hear Barbara Else talk about her book Go Girl. Barbara was very entertaining. She did lots of research and told us lots of stories. It was really exciting to meet her and get my book signed. I had to wait for mum to read the book first because she liked it too. One of the ladies in the book used to go to Fendalton School. Her name is Hayley Westenra and she is a famous singer. It was a very enjoyable day, one of my best days ever.
By Amy V
Today was New Zealand National Poetry Day but we celebrated yesterday, a day early, as many senior children would miss out because of Friday sports.
The library was buzzing with excitement as students read out their favourite poems by other poets. Many read out their own creative poems. Children read on their own or in pairs.
Taking part in the National Day of Poetry grows in number every year.
For their efforts, students received a bookmark, a bag of popcorn and this year they had the chance to take home a culled book of their choice. Lots of book and poetry discussions could be heard throughout lunchtime and continued even when they were leaving. Music to my ears.
Don’t forget about the poetry competition for the Whitcoulls book vouchers. There are six $30 vouchers to be won. These have been very kindly donated by Elliot and Oliver W. Your poem needs to be about a book character or what books mean to you. Bring them in by Monday 27th for your chance to win. Winners will be announced in the next whole school assembly.
What a fantastic morning here at school today. The year 4, 5 and 6 students all had a session with the wonderful Fifi Colston.
Fifi is a writer, illustrator and World of Wearable Arts winner. We loved her creativity and how she talked about the process of making her wearable works of art. Fifi offered us lots of ideas for how we can make our own creations using things around the house, especially things we can recycle and reuse.
Even though Fifi came down from Wellington she brought a suitcase with her loaded up with her creations. So much to see.
We have her books in the library but if you want to check out her website you will find other ideas too. You can click here to see some of her wonderful entries for the WOW.
Thank you so much to the NZ Book Council Writers in Schools program for making this visit possible. Huge thank you Fifi! Everyone is buzzing with excitment and keen to get started on their own wearable art.
Don’t you just love her dress! Zoom in and look at the cats. Awesome.
Yes. Only 10 more sleeps until Book Week.
Lots of new books from Scholastic to buy in the library. Stock up for birthdays, holidays or even Christmas.
Heroes/character parade Thursday 31 May 9.15 on the tennis courts.
Heaps and heaps of competitions to enter.
Mark Inglis was at school today for a visit with everyone from year three upwards. Students were fascinated, enthralled, and inspired about his life and everything he has been through and everything he has achieved. As our students are focussing on heroes and what it is to overcome challenges, Mark was a perfect example as he has had many hurdles to overcome. He achieved success in overcoming the hurdles because of his positive attitude and because he was courageous, determined and focussed. He is still the only double amputee in the world to climb Mount Everest. That is one amazing achievement!
He is kind and generous and does so much to help others.
We really were very lucky indeed to have him visit us.
Check out his website if you want to know more.
His belief sums up what we are learning here at school for our inquiry.
“Attitude Determines Your Altitude
Challenge is the essence of life”
Thank you for coming to share the story of your life.
The year four, five and six students were entertained and inspired by two very special author visitors this morning. As part of the Storylines Festival we were treated to sessions with Maria Gill and Anne Kayes. Both authors are award winning authors so we consider ourselves very fortunate to have had a visit from them today.
Maria Gill won the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year in 2016 for her book ANZAC Heroes.
Anne Kayes won the 2016 Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award. Anne talked about her novel Tui Street Tales about children in a street where the ordinary everyday life becomes strange and fairytales mingle about.
Maria told us of how she gets her ideas and how much time she sepnds writing. Eight in the morning until six at night and sometimes when she is trying to finish a book she will write every single day. That is an awful lot of writing and dedication. From the display you can see just how many of Maria’s books we have so do come and borrow them. Anne might only have the one book at the moment but we are eagerly waiting for the sequel.
So thank you Storylines Festival for our wonderful start to the week.
Once again we are indebted to the generosity of CERT for their very kind grant which is providing us with many new library books this year. The photo shows just the first books. They are all lovely, shiny and new and will be available to issue soon. We have novels, picture books and non-fiction books to enjoy. Thank you also to the PTA for making this happen. Reading for pleasure is one of the biggest gifts we can give our children so this is just wonderful for our students.
Thank you CERT from all of us here at Fendalton School.
Yesterday Stu Duval came to visit the senior classes. Stu Duval is a writer, illustrator and storyteller.
We loved how creative he was. He had great expressions when telling stories. He had good plot twists and a great sense of humour.
We laughed lots especially at the sound affects he made.
Stu Duval created this awesome painting using chalk. It is about a young convict boy coming to New Zealand in the 1800’s.
We were really inspired by Stu and so lucky to have seen his performance.
By Maggie and Emily
You can find out more about Stu Duval here.
