It is always wonderful to see children coming to the library prepared to do research or to find a new book to read. Bringing pens and paper, books and devices always makes the library visits easier.
Milla was certainly eager and very prepared today, including bringing a big smile.
Ryan and George hard at library duty today after our lunch time book club. They were totally oblivious to the other students in the library and also to having their photo taken. I don’t think I can see much work going on here today but it is so lovely to see the boys so involved with their books.
The book they both happen to be reading is
Little Manfred
By Michael Morpurgo
We are moving towards making some fun changes in our school library. As part of the Makerspace movement we are hoping to have Makerpsace Mondays where children are offered the chance to be creative. We will have Lego challenges, chances to create stop-start animations, create artistic items out of old books and heaps of other activities, many science based. One of the main ideas of the Makerpsace movement is the idea of creating something new. This delightful picture book, just new to our library, highlights the whole idea of making something from start to finish. Beautifully illustrated, this is a perfect example of how imagination and creative thinking can inspire some of the best things in life. Great for our key competencies of “thinker” and “sparkle”.
Do you want to be scared! Do you want goosebumps to shiver up and down your spine? If you do then you need to watch out for this movie when it comes out later this year.
We have plenty of the Goosebump books in the library so do come and read a few before the movie. You might need to reserve them as they are so popular they are always out.
Check out the author R. L. Stine’s website for lots of ideas and information about his books.
The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults is happening in August. Up until July 31st children can vote for their favourite book in the Children’s Choice section.
There are four categories to choose from. As many of you will know my own book Canterbury Quake : My New Zealand Story is a finalist in the junior fiction category. In fact I feel very honored that children nominated my book which put it through to the finalists section. If you haven’t voted yet just click on the image below and get started. Thank you to those who have voted for my book as their favourite. It means so much.
Wow! What a day. Our school played host to a community event where we were entertained and delighted by the wonderfully talented Dav Pilkey, author and illustrator of so many children’s books. He is of course most famous for his Captain Underpants series.
His presentation was so funny and so well presented that everyone was in awe. From a young child who battled with ADHD and dyslexia he has used his difficulties to his advantage and now sells books in the millions.
Our wonderful Kapa Haka team performed a very touching welcome to Dav and his wife and the team from Scholastic. Many of the students had just come from playing Saturday sports. I know we all felt so proud of them all.
Dav Pilkey talked for about an hour, drawing, giving away books, posters and book vouchers. People were happy to wait patiently afterwards, for up to an hour and a half, for a chance to have a photo with Dav and get their books signed. I waited until the end and got my book signed too – yay! I even managed to get him to pop in to our school library and have his picture taken next to our library tree.
Scholastic very kindly donated a pile of his books to our library and Dav signed each of them. We are so lucky. Thank you Scholastic! Look out too for a chance to bid on one of his signed posters. Dav very generously donated two signed posters which will be auctioned off later this year with funds going towards building a new swimming pool as ours was damaged beyond repair in the earthquakes.
There may be more photos to come but here are just a few to remember our wonderful Saturday with Dav Pilkey.
I do want to publicly thank so many people who gave up part of their Saturday to help make this event happen. From the PTA who moved in ever so quickly to set up the seating, to the many teachers and staff who came in on their day off and collected tickets, moved things around, took care of the sound system and just did whatever needed to be done. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you to Paul W our caretaker for helping with security and heavy lifting and waited until the end to lock up. Without everyone’s help this event would not have been as successful as it was. And it was – a huge success. So many children talking happily talking about books is just music to the ears.
Last night I was one of 700 lucky people to witness David Walliams in action. He was here as a guest for the Word Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival.
He was incredibly funny and entertaining. Very spontaneous and knew just how to make the crowd laugh. He was interviewed by the award winning writer Rachel King who kept the show flowing with ease.
He read from his books as well with heaps of expression.
He talked about his writing and how many of his characters come from people he actually knows. He even talked about his sister would dress him up in girls clothes when he was very little and parade him around the house. That inspired his book The boy in the dress which we have in the library, of course. Even his famous corner shop owner Raj is based on someone real. If you want to know more do check out his website.
Not the best photo sorry, but it was very difficult to get a clear shot. I waited in line for an hour to get a book signed. We were lucky to get two books signed for school.
There are a few signed copies of Awful Auntie and Demon Dentist available to buy from The Children’s Bookshop if you wanted to get your own copy.
It is a glorious Autumn day here at school today. The children have been laughing to the sounds of the crunch and crackle of fallen leaves as they run through them, kicking them up in the air.
It is a delight to watch. The backdrop red classroom is of one of our historic open-air rooms.
Ray Blank was the headmaster of Fendalton School from 1922 until 1949. He was instrumental is opening up classrooms which featured much larger windows for more light and ventilation. The French doors open to the playground. This was to help combat influenza last century. It is wonderful that it survived the earthquakes and still stands proudly in our school grounds.
We are so excited to be hosting a free event for Dav Pilkey, the author of the very popular Captain Underpants books. We have multiple copies of his books but they are never on the library shelves as they are always out being read by children. He will be at our school on Saturday 23rd May at 12pm. Check the school newsletter for more information or come and see me in the library.
This is a ticketed event and there will be no entry without a ticket. Tickets can be picked up from Desna in the school library but they will only be given out to adults. You can also obtain tickets from The Children’s Bookshop on Blenheim Road.
This event will be advertised in papers next week and we expect a rush so do get in quickly or you might miss out.
If you want to read more about Dav Pilkey and his books click here.
Enjoy watching the trailers about some of his books.
In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the tragic events which happened at Gallipoli in 1915 we played our own small part here at school today. We gathered out on the courts near the flag pole where the New Zealand and Australian flags were blowing gently in the breeze. Mr Sibson read out the poem In Flander’s Field and talked a bit about the war. We sang our National Anthem proudly. The seniors have placed crosses in front of the school to honour the soldiers who sacrificed their lives at this time.
The library has a display of books about ANZAC Day and World War 1 if you want to learn more.
You can also take a virtual tour of ANZAC Cove here.
The world famous entertainer Ed Sheeran will be coming to Christchurch and our year sixes have worked hard at putting together a video hoping to win a chance for him to visit our school. They have done a wonderful job creating scenes set to his music. We are all very proud of our students. Special thanks to Kelsey Davidson.
And watch out for the tattoos – nothing like getting things just right!
Warner Brothers must be acknowledged here as Ed sings his hit song I see fire. Fingers crossed he will be here at school next week singing this in person.
Emmaline and the bunny
By Katherine Hannigan
This book is awesome. Emmaline finds a wild bunny in the woods and they become friends. Both Emmaline and Bunny hop and “scoot-skedaddle” all over the place. They dig holes together and Emmaline does just what the bunny does. I like this book because they are amazing friends. The pictures are cute and colourful.
Review by Sammy H age 6
Thanks, Sammy. Great review. I love how the author has lots of wonderful words like “dinglederrydee” and “hoopadinglelaladee”.
If you go to the author’s website you can find pages on how to draw a bunny like the one in her book.
David Walliams books are always at the top of the list of favourites. They are always being borrowed and rarely make it to the shelves because they are so popular. As part of the Autumn Christchurch Word festival and in association with the Auckland Writers Festival David is coming to Christchurch. Tickets are available here Wordchristchurch.co.nz but I think you will need to be quick.
This really is a once in a life-time opportunity for fans to see him.
And just as a reminder of his work check out the trailer for Gangsta Granny below.
One of our senior students just making himself at home in the library before school. Corin was so absorbed in his book he was completely oblivious to anyone else in the library, even when I took his photo. I did of course gets his permission to post this pic doing what he loves to do. Reading anywhere and anytime.
Dragon Knight : Fire
By Kyle Mewburn
Illustrated by Donovan Bixley
Scholastic NZ
Sometimes being half boy, half dragon gets really messy!
Wow! Just look at the gorgeous blossoms outside the library. They are just beautiful.
