Blog

David Walliams in Christchurch – a fun night for many.

It was lovely to see lots of FOS children at the David Walliams event run by Word Christchurch on Sunday night. David was funny, witty and just a fantastic entertainer. He read from his stories and asked questions and had the audience laughing throughout the whole evening.

Some of our children from school getting right into the mood. And just for the record we do of course have multiple copies of all his books as they are always being issued out and reserved and in very high demand.

For those that missed out on this wonderful night you can still have fun checking out his books and activities on his website right here.

The two Kate’s

Jacob getting his prize after asking a question.

14
DEC

0

Christmas village in the library

Thanks to Mr Walker for working so hard to turn our library tree into a Christmas Wonderland.

20
NOV

0

Perfect day for gardening

Lots of new plants arrived today thanks to our very supportive PTA. The boys are taking charge of delivery. Next time you are in the school do take time to check out our much-loved garden. Chessa has been working with all of our children throughout the year to produce a thriving, natural space. There has been lots of learning about plants and where our food comes from and lots of excited children as they will soon get to taste the vegetables they have grown.

We have many books on gardening if you want to try growing your own vegetables and flowers at home.

15
NOV

0

Frank Worsely – Famous Past pupil, dream maker and explorer

As we move towards our very special Ra Whakahira day this week it is time to reflect on Fendalton School’s most famous past pupil Frank Worsely.

Frank Worsley entered our school when it was known as Fendalton Public school on the 9th October 1884 at 12 years of age. He was the 188th student enrolled at the school. He left at the end of 1887 having gained his Sixth Standard Certificate. He was Dux of the school in 1887 despite the fact that he was caned on many occasions. His photo hangs in the office foyer.

He was a member of Ernest Shackleton’s South Polar Expedition between 1914 and 1917. If it wasn’t for his bravery and his incredible navigation skills, many lives would have been lost after they hit ice and became stranded. He and his team endured many dangers and times of hunger over two years on ice and at sea but they all survived.

In 2000 an old flag and very old hand-written letter were found in an attic space. The flag once belonged to Frank Worsley and is now with the Canterbury Museum for safe-keeping.

You can check his name in the school register from 1887. It is a little hard to read but his name is the first one on the list.

I hope you all have fun on our special celebratory day.

13
NOV

0

Reading buddies in the library

We have a basket of soft toys in the library which are used as reading buddies. They are used everyday without fail. I love this photo of one of our girls who is so totally caught up in her reading that she didn’t even realise a photo was being taken. I love how the animals are all lined up listening intently. Perfect start to any day is time with a good book.

31
OCT

0

Fantastic afternoon with author Juliette MacIver

Friday afternoon was fantastic. The junior classes were entertained by the wonderfully funny and very talented author Juliette MacIver. Juliette had us all laughing out loud and even dancing and quacking like ducks. Lots of fun.

Juliette has written many picture books and her latest book That’s not a hippopotamus won the NZ picture book of the year award this year.

We have almost all of her books so do come and check them out especially if you want to laugh out loud. If you want to know more about Juliette and what she does then check out her website here.

30
OCT

0

Chinese Language Week meets Dinosaur Rescue

Welcome back to Term 4. It is going to be a great term starting off with Chinese Language Week. Room 20 have made some posters, Chinese lanterns and Chinese fans for our library display. The highlight is the collection of author Kyle Mewburn’s Dinosaur rescue books written in Chinese. They will be available at the end of the week but don’t forget we also have them all in English as well. Huge thank you to Kyle for gifting the books to our school.

If you want to see a funny trailer for the series then click here

If you want to find out more about the author just click here.

We also have lots of other books in Chinese so pop in and check some out.

16
OCT

0

Little Golden Book library quilt

Our beautiful Little Golden Book quilt is now hanging in the library for everyone to see.

To celebrate Little Golden Book’s 75th anniversary, teacher Karen Brown and a group of children formed a small quilting group and created this gorgeous wall quilt. The fabric is a mixture of colours and characters symbolising story and togetherness. How many storybook characters can you see?

The quilt really is about community and sharing stories with each other, many of which were once published as Little Golden Books. The fabric, machine quilting and embroidery was paid for from the sale of old library books earlier this year making it a true school community quilt. So a big thank you to everyone involved. Do pop in and see it sometime.

28
SEP

0

Little Golden Books, Quilting

New Zealand cricketer and ex-pupil Corey Anderson came to visit us today

What an absolute delight this morning to have ex-pupil and New Zealand cricketer Corey Anderson visit the year fours. He came in to help us celebrate Little Golden Books 75th anniversary.

Lots of questions from lots of excited children and he was swamped afterwards for autographs.

1
SEP

0

Relaxing way to end the day

Rooms 18 and 19 relaxing in the the library on Tuesday afternoon. The bean bags are always a favourite place to snuggle up and read. The children were so engrossed in their books that they didn’t even realise a photo was being taken. We have plenty more can’t-put-down books to choose from when you come in.

30
AUG

0

New Zealand Poetry Day with lots of fun and rhymes

What a fantastic day at school today. It was NZ Daffodil day so our students wore mufti with lots of yellow and green which perfectly matched the beautiful spring-like day we had. Their mufti day donations are going to the Cancer Society. Many children also made daffodil models from all sorts of recycled material.

AND as well as all this going on it was New Zealand Poetry day. We had our annual Popcorn and Poetry session in the library at lunch time. Not wanting to miss out on all the poetry, many children queued outside the library as they ate their lunch. Children read and shared their own poems, or poems they liked. It always amazes me how keen the children are and how supportive they are of each other’s creations. It is never easy standing up in front of others and for some of these children it was a bit scary but they all did an amazing job. Happy NZ Poetry day everyone.

Popcorn and bookmarks were shared as well.

25
AUG

0

Daffodil Day, Poetry

Makerspace – making bristle bots in the library

What a busy lunch time on Wednesday. We were so lucky to have a visit form Amanda from Creokit who demonstrated one of her Makerspace activities. The children were delighted with their creations of little bristle bots. While it was certainly educational it was mostly a lot of fun. The children were totally engaged and eager to learn. This would be cool to try with bigger brushes. A great way to spend the lunch break.

11
AUG

0

A chance discovery in the school grounds.

A few weeks ago Mr Walker was working hard in the school grounds near the sandpit. He decided to investigate an old piece of timber that had been covered up for years. Just look at what he found. Hidden under an old wooden trap door was a toy box for sandpit toys.

No one seems to know for sure but we believe the toys were in school in the early 1990’s trapped for years underground. Very rusty but very cool. Thank you Mr Walker.

10
AUG

0

NZ book awards for Children and Young Adults

Come in to the library for your chance to celebrate some of the best New Zealand authors and illustrators. Our library display showcases some of the best books, all of them are finalists for the upcoming awards ceremony. A couple of the books are missing as they are issued out and of course we don’t have the young adult books. I have read almost all of these books and I know how good they all are. Come and see for yourself.

You can view the books and discuss what you think makes them a finalist. You can vote for your favourite but remember to think about your reasons why it is your favourite or why you think it deserves to be a finalist. If you choose the same books as the real judges, you might even get to win a book prize for yourself.

For more information on the awards just click here.

1
AUG

0

Library display of Little Golden Books

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the first publication of Little Golden Books. The books were really the first children’s picture books that people could afford to buy. They were in grocery stores and readily available almost everywhere for only 25cents.

As we love reading and stories we will be having our own little celebration here at school. There will be a special assembly event later this term with lots of celebrating, reading and singing.

The library tree has lots of books to look at and even a dress made out of old pages from Little Golden Books. Mostly the books used were tatty and damaged and a perfect way to recycle and repurpose.

More details will be in an upcoming newsletter.

28
JUL

0

Little Golden Books

Quilt-making in the library to celebrate Little Golden Books

In term three we will be celebrating 75 years since the very first Little Golden Book was published. The books are favourites for so many people all over the world. The Poky Little Puppy was one of the very first and is still a huge hit with readers. It is still my favourite. When I was little my family even had a black cat we named Poky after the little dog in the story.

We love reading here at school so will celebrate in style with a chance for parents to come in to school and read Little Golden Books with their families.

One of the special things we are doing is making a quilt to hang on the library wall. It is based on stories from the Little Golden Books and each little piece represents a story. Children from year 5 and 6 will take turns to help create blocks and put the blocks together to form the quilt. They are so eager that they give up their morning tea time to help. It is great that we have boys helping as well. More photos in another post.

I love the smiles on the girls faces as they complete the first blocks for the quilt. A massive thank to our teacher Karen Brown for her skills and expertise as she teaches the children new skills.

Here is a trailer to tell you more about Little Golden Books

22
JUN

0

Little Golden Books, Quilts

Fantastic way to start the day with a new David Walliams book

Happy birthday Eddie. How exciting to get the latest David Walliams book for your birthday.

You are obviously a huge fan judging by the huge grin on your face this morning. What a very cool way to start the day.

You can have more fun checking out David Walliams website right here. We do of course have all of his books in the school library for students to borrow.

This is the book Eddie is so excited about.

20
JUN

0

All in a day’s work.

We have had a few wandering hedgehogs lately. They seem to come out searching for a bit of food and get themselves stuck in different places around the school. Those that seem unwell go to the animal hospital but others are taken to the native area and encouraged to find a safe place under the leaves.

Here’s Mr Walker and a group of children rescuing the latest one.

Curled up in a ball for his journey across the school grounds to safety. So cute but perhaps not so cuddly.

20
JUN

0

Always something happening in the library

How wonderful to see a small group of boys coming to the library before school today to write their poems for the Star Wars competition. Great conversations too.

Lunch time was busy as usual with children reading, drawing, playing cards, using the iPads and just keeping warm and happy.

It was especially lovely to see children listening and reading along with an audio book. Harry and Anne are both very lost in the story of Beauty and the Beast.

25
MAY

0

FOS library is celebrating our past.

As part of our school-wide topic we are looking at our past from Victorian times to the early days of our school which opened in 1875.

The library tree has many photos of the school from the 1920’s. There are a couple of books which are over 100 years old as well. Two dolls from 1925 are in school uniform and you can read more about the dolls here.

Old readers from the 1960’s and even School Journals from 1939. SO many things to look at and to think about how things have changed. The teacher rules are very funny.

Did you know that in 1915 teachers had to be at school early to light the fires to keep the rooms warm, or that teachers had to wear at least two petticoats.

Do take the time to have a look.

22
MAY

0

Fendalton School history, Our past

Page 4 of 25 «...2 345 6...»