The winning Woodlands Park book trailer for 2014 is ...

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe! by Vittoria, Jess, Molly, Kowhai and Holly! (Book by C.S. Lewis)

Congratulations! Two of these children (Vittoria and Jess) won the title last year too. (I see a career with Peter Jackson in the making ...)

I tallied up the online votes and the school votes and I am pleased to say that each trailer received a good number of votes at school and online. The library was full of children at lunch times who had come in to watch the trailers and place their votes, and there was a buzz of excitement as the teams promoted their trailers by writing slogans on the library windows with liquid chalk. 

It was lovely to hear that parents had voted online to get behind their children. Ultimately, every one of the four teams can be really proud of their trailer. They all are a unique expression of the interpretations of the books that they chose. 

I am looking forward to making book trailers again next year, and growing this project into mini IMovies if possible.

Keep reading!
Kate

Y6 Book Club Book Trailers 2014

Please help us to choose the winning Woodlands Park Book Trailer for 2014 by voting in our poll on the right hand side of the blog. 

The Y6 book club, Black & White inc. worked hard on creating these trailers. They worked in teams, and had to agree on a book to review and create a storyboard with pictures. We then planned a photography day where they came in with outfits and set props and had great fun taking pics to replicate their storyboard (as well as a few ad lib pics). Once all the pics had been reduced (and some of them had been edited to add waves, etc), then I worked with one group at a time to create the trailers on Animoto. The teams had to help me to put the pics into the order they wanted, work out the captions and choose a theme background and music to set the mood. I think they have done a wonderful job. Last year we selected images from the internet, but it has been great fun letting the children be creative and take their own pics, adding an element of drama to the making of the movies.

So, without further ado ...

Here are the links for the trailers:

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - book trailer by Alex, Naomi, Elyse, Hannah and Imogen - with guest appearances by DJ and Ryan.

Clubs - book trailer by Amber, Jack, Brooke, Thewannya.

Kensuke's Kingdom - book trailer by Layne, Cosmo, Zac, Mia and Jack L.

The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe - book trailer by Vittoria, Jess, Kowhai, Molly & Holly.

Enjoy!

The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

I'm excited to announce that the final book trailer for the Y6 book club, Black & White inc. is complete! Please click on the link below to view this delightful trailer, created by Jess, Vittoria, Kowhai, Molly and Holly.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Book Trailer

Soon I will collate all of the trailers into one post and create a voting poll so that you can vote online for your favourite, so that we can find the Woodlands Park Book Trailer Winner for 2015.

In my mind all four groups are winners because each group has created a captivating trailer with interesting photographs that tell a story and hopefully lure potential readers to delve into their next good read ....

Have a great weekend everyone. I'm going to be putting my feet up and finishing my book (that is after I have done the laundry...)

Kensuke's Kingdom Book Trailer

Watch Kensuke's Kingdom book trailer by clicking the link below:


Kensuke's Kingdom Book Trailer


This trailer was made by Layne, Cosmo, Zac, Mia and Jack (who stars as Michael in the trailer). With a lot of excellent posing and some photoediting, we've managed to capture Michael falling overboard, swimming in the sea and stranded on an island, awash with waves. The programme used for the photo-editing was PicsArt. The video was made on Animoto, on an ipad mini.


Enjoy!


PS - I am busy covering a box set of awesome Michael Morpurgo books which will be available in the library soon!

Book spine poetry

While I was helping a group to complete their book trailer at book club last Thursday, the others created poems and stories from the titles on book spines. Some of them make sense, while others may be slightly more abstract. Read between the lines :)

A Million Ways Home by Dianna Dorisi Winget - reviewed by Claudia of Room 1o

A Million Ways Home by Dianna Dorisi Winget: 

Reviewed by Claudia of Room 14

Poppy Parker's life has been turned upside down after her grandma (and guardian) ends up in hospital. But Poppy, dog-lover, extraordinaire artist and fixer of problems plans to "spring" Grandma Beth so Poppy can get out of an orphanage and things can go back to normal. But not all things go to plan when she witnesses a horrible crime and 'normal is running away'. To keep Poppy safe she will stay with Detective Brannigan's mum. It's weird at first but Poppy soon settles in, sort-of making friends with a girl named Lizzie and definitely best friends with Gunner, a beautiful German shepherd with an unstable future. 

While she and Lizzie navigate a rocky friendship and figure out how to save Gunner, Poppy also plots out a new plan to rescue Grandma Beth and get home, all while avoiding a dangerous criminal who might still be looking for her.

Will everything go to her plan, or will it not go to plan and fall to pieces?

Clubs Book Trailer - Book by Kate De Goldi

Presenting the ... Clubs Book Trailer (Click this link to view).


Well done to Jack, Amber, Brooke and Thewannya for an exciting trailer! We were honoured to have Kate De Goldi visit our school earlier this year. This Y6 book club group were inspired by Kate, and created this trailer about her book, "Clubs". They were also inspired by Jacqui Colley's illustrations. Let loose with a camera, they formed some interesting poses - and I even agreed to be tied to a tree, like one of the teachers in the book.


I will talk more about the making of the book trailers in a later post. Two have been completed (Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Clubs), and two more are in the final stages.


Hopefully, you will get inspiration from these book trailers for your next favourite book! 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book Trailer

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book Trailer



Well done to Naomi, Alex, Hannah, Elyse & Imogen who made this wonderful book trailer, along with guest 'actor', DJ (Charlie). I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it :)

Look how many books we've issued this year so far!

Hi everyone.

I am so impressed by the number of books that Woodlands Park children read. I know that not every book that is taken home actually gets read, but many of them do. I have just done a statistical report on our library software and it tells me that Woodlands Park Library has issued ...

11145 books so far this year!

Keep reading guys. 

Have a happy holiday.

I am almost finished with a display for early next term called "Don't judge a book by its movie" which should be fun. See you in term 4.

Kate

Reflecting on a stellar visit from Mark Sommerset

Mark Sommerset doesn’t often do school visits these days, so we were very privileged that he spent the day at Woodlands Park School with our junior and middle school children. He entertained children with songs, performed readings of his laugh-out-loud, hilarious books (“Baa Baa Smart Sheep” and the sequel, “I Love Lemonade”) and shared a delightful movie that helped children to connect the idea of writing, design, illustrating and publishing while demonstrating that dreams are possible. 

Mark also delved deeper into his personal journey as a writer which is reflected in his book “The Boy and the Cherry Tree” – asking children to look for symbolism and deeper meaning. One of the children said that the tree symbolised “destiny”. We all felt very motivated and inspired after Mark’s visit and are extremely grateful for his time!

Thank-you Mark!

Mark Sommerset is visiting our school tomorrow!

 We are so excited that we are going to meet Mark Sommerset tomorrow! He is hopping on the ferry from his home in Waiheke Island where he and his wife Rowan create a wonderful array of award-winning picture books!

Mark's books have been available in the library and many of you will have giggled yourself silly over "Baa Baa Smart Sheep" and the sequel, "I love lemonade" -  Did you know that "Baa Baa Smart Sheep" was the recipient of the 2011 Children's Choice award in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards?

"Two little bugs", a delightful tale about finding your wings, was the Book of the Year and won Best Children's Book in the PANZ New Zealand Book Design Awards.

The delightful rhyming "Cork in the ocean" was given a FIVE STAR rating by the Herald on Sunday and is a dreamy ocean adventure that can be enjoyed over and over again.

 I personally am really interested to hear the story behind Mark and Rowan's new book, "The Boy and the Cherry Tree" which seems to me to have hidden depths to it.

All of Mark and Rowan's books are on sale at the school office this week at special rates. Come and see me (Kate) from 3-3.30pm.

Mark will be signing books at 3pm on Thursday 11th September.

Gobble, gobble!

Kensukes Kingdom Trailer - gathering ideas for our Y6 book club!

Kensuke's Kingdom Booktrailer

Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

A group of Y6 children are doing their book trailer on Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. Hopefully this short film will add some theatrical inspiration for your pics Team Kensuke!

I love lemonade read by Mark Sommerset

Birds, birds, real and imaginary!

Inspired by Janet Martin's lively New Zealand bird, book characters, the juniors participated in a competition whereby they were asked to draw and name their favourite bird, real or made-up. Here are some of the delightful winning pictures. These children each won a signed copy of "Emily the Kiwi plays the ukelele", with a personal note from Janet and a signed bookmark. The gorgeous bird art is on display in the library at present. Do pop in and have a peak. I have managed to put up about half of the pics, and promise to swap and put up the other half in about two week's time. 

  

Storylines Festival information

Go to the Storylines website for information on the Storylines Festival. 

Auckland: 30 August - 10am - 3pm, Aotea Centre.

Enjoy!

Author visits: Janet Martin & The Jampots "wowed" the juniors

Janet Martin and her partner Davyd (The Jampots) entertained the juniors for an hour in the hall yesterday with their lively mix of reading-aloud, storytelling, music and sound-effects. Janet is the author of numerous well-loved picture books about our local birds, and lives locally. There are songs at the back of the books and Janet and Davyd involved the children in sing-along fun and actions. This linked in with the Arts inquiry topic - including music, writing, visual art and a performance. 

The juniors have been creating beautiful bird art of their own which we handed over to Janet for judging. In an email from Janet, she says, "Just been looking through the artwork and you have some budding young artists to be sure". One child in each junior class will win a copy of Emily the Kiwi for their winning bird picture. 

Thank-you so much Janet and Davyd!

I will be selling Janet's books at the front office all week from 3 - 3.30 pm. They are $15 each and $3 per book goes to our school. 

   

Looking at book trailers

The Y6 book club are looking at book trailers to help them formulate their ideas: Here are some links for today's book club gathering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYVeWyES38&sns=em - Made with Animoto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1emxcttgKE&safe=active - Made with PhotoStory3

http://animoto.com/play/x5jAUO16N7SWauHDX10z0A - A short Animoto movie to demonstrate how long the computer version is (30 seconds which equals about 6 images & captions.

http://www.booktrailersforreaders.com/Home+Student+Book+Trailers Many more to choose from!



We will use a template like this for the storyboard.

Off to get my coffee, see you soon!
Kate

Library news

Thank-you to everyone who supported the book fair. On the whole it was a huge success, and thanks to your support, we raised over $2000 in books for the school library! There was a minor glitch at the end where I ended up in bed, sick, so there was a delay in getting a handful of books into children's eager laps. I am hopeful that 99.9% of you have your books. I am waiting for one book, as far as I am aware. If you haven't received a book, please do come and chat to me.

Here are a few fun memories of the event:

As you can see, Geronimo caused quite a stir when he went from class to class to invite children to visit the fair and fill in their wish lists. 

There was quite a buzz in the library for the two days prior to the fair, where children browsed the books and filled in their wish lists.

As the theme was a book fair garden, I enlisted a few talented seniors to help me turn the issue desk into a garden bed of flowers. Given the idea and left very much to their own initiative, I think they did a splendid job!

 Geronimo visited the book fair when it was in full swing and enjoyed meeting some of our Wonderful Woodlands Park children.

We have two other special authors visiting soon - Janet Martin visits the juniors on Monday 18th August and Mark Sommerset visits the juniors and middle school on Thursday 11th September.

Here is some news from Mark Sommerset:

WE WOULD LOVE YOUR SUPPORT
If you love our books, now’s the time to vote them into the WHITCOULLS TOP 50 KIDS BOOKS! It means a lot to us to be on this list as it really raises the profile of our books in store – AND by voting you go in the draw to win one of twenty $100 Whitcoulls gift vouchers! >VOTE HERE< to get in behind BAA BAA SMART SHEEP and I LOVE LEMONADE (and of course any of our other books)

Voting closes on Sunday 17th August 2014.

Click here to vote: http://top50.whitcoulls.co.nz/

Library events for term three

The library has three exciting events planned for term three (that's a tongue-twister)!

1. Geronimo Stilton is visiting our school, along with the Scholastic book fair which will be held on Wed 30th and Thurs 31st July.



2. Janet Martin (Louie the Tui learns to sing, etc.), a well-loved local writer will be visiting all the juniors on Monday 18th August  August. We will run a competition in the lead up to her visit, and I will be selling her books. She has a surprise new book up her sleeve too!


3. Mark Sommerset (Baa, Baa, Smart Sheep, etc.), a multiple award-winning author will be visiting the juniors and seniors on Thursday, 11th September. "Gobble, gobble, gobble!" His books will be on sale before and after his visit.



Watch this space for further details.

I'm really excited!

But first, happy holidays - travel safely if you are travelling.

Reflecting on the year 5 book club - Black & White Inc.

Today was the penultimate book club with the year fives. I needed to split the book club into a Year 5 book club which ran in Term 1 & 2 and a Year 6 book club which will run in Terms 3 & 4 to make it manageable.

I got to know all of the children in the year five book club really well, and what an exuberant, lovely bunch they are. Today we reflected on what we have done together:

• We made book marks that described why we love reading and are personalised with our photograph, serving as a membership card (and useful too).
• Sharing books we have read by sitting in the "hot seat" and sharing with the class.
• Watching book trailers (from the blog) to get ideas about books to read, and then reserving those books.
• "Speed book sharing", where the children sit together in two circles facing each other and share a book with the person opposite for three minutes before allowing the other person to share for 3 minutes. Then the circle moves over and you share with a new person, and listen to a new person - that way one gets to hear about a number of books. Surprisingly, I think the children preferred the "hot seat" to "speed book sharing". 
• A number of children wrote book reviews which I have published on the blog.
• We created a poster about ourselves - with our photographs stuck on, and illustrations of our favourite book characters, and scribbles about why we love reading.
• The most ambitious project was creating book jackets. Bearing in mind that we meet at morning tea once a week, this was a big undertaking and not all children managed to finish their jackets. Well done to those of you who came in at morning teas and lunches to work on your jackets. The book jackets required a front cover illustration, a short book review on one panel, an author biography on another panel (which required researching the author), a back page with quotations from imaginary newspapers and authors praising the book and a spine design.
• We had a session where we reflected on Kate De Goldi's visit and we talked about the poem she had shared with her workshop.
• Lastly - I had promised the children that we could have a "snowball fight" today. The theme was Harry Potter, and the children split into two groups, Gryffindor and Slytherin. They made a barricade using cushions and chairs and gathered at each side. They wrote their questions about the Harry Potter series on strips of scrap paper, scrunched them up and threw them (like snowballs) at the other team, who had to open them, read the question and write the answer and then throw it back. The objective was to have some unstructured fun at (almost) term end.
• Next week we will have a shared morning tea.

It has been super getting to know you all better and I am so impressed with your creativity, and passion for books and reading. Here is a photo of some of the children in book club. 

Kate De Goldi's Visit

What a wonderful day it was! We want to say an enormous Woodlands Park School thank-you to Kate De Goldi from the bottom of our hearts for inspiring our Y5/6 children. 

The day started with an introductory talk in the hall with all the Y5/6 children. Without giving too much away, Kate sang us a special song, and we replied with the Woodlands Park School song (and actions). Kate shared stories she had written as a child and read one of her short stories to us (theatrically). The conversation evolved into an organic one that included questions asked about Kate's books, the inspiration for her characters, her favourite authors/genres, etc. It was a lively morning down in the hall and left many children buzzing about meeting an acclaimed New Zealand author.

The workshop, (held in the library for a class-sized group of senior children) went exceedingly well. The children hung on every word and were utterly engaged (as was I). Through exercises, discussion and her highly entertaining, engaging personality, the children were inspired to write some exhilarating poetry. I will publish some of these poems on the blog in due course. 

The feedback from teachers has been really positive and I am grateful that this opportunity, brought to us through our Book Council membership, was so openly accommodated by Liz and the staff. Thank-you to Lynette at the Book Council for making it happen!

The highlight for me was when Marlo, a student, said to Kate De Goldi, "It's not every day that a real life author comes to visit our school. Thank-you!" and Aidan said it was his "best day ever".

The ACB with Honora Lee

Book Reviews by Black & White Inc. Book Club

Do you have a gran who is always forgetting things? Meet Honora Lee, the main character of this book. This is a story of Perry, who wants Gran to cooperate and help with the ACB; Gran who is stubborn and always hurrying about and forgets most of what everyone tells her, and all the others at Santa Lucia. Doris with her airy kisses and love for Nina's baking, Dorothy who wears lots of jewellery and is always playing the piano, and Melvyn Broome who Gran steals mints from, who used to play cricket every weekend. 

This is a hilarious book and I recommend to anyone who likes reading. Join Gran and Perry as they write this crazy, mixed-up alphabet book called the ACB. I think this is a great book and I hope you do too.

By Alex, Room 14.

Kate De Goldi is coming to visit!

Yes, I kid you not! Kate De Goldi is coming to visit OUR school on Thursday 5th June. That's next week! As members of the New Zealand Book Council, we are partaking in the Writers in Schools programme and we have managed to secure a visit with Kate De Goldi, a multiple award-winning New Zealand author.

I've recruited a creative team of school librarians who have named themselves "Team Goldi" whose primary aim is to make Kate feel incredibly welcome at Woodlands Park School. They are creating a welcome poster which we will display in the school library and, inspired by the style of the Lolly Leopold series (Billy & Clubs) they have decorated the library windows with liquid chalk. I explained to some of the new entrants (who were staring, aghast) that we aren't usually allowed to draw on windows, but this was a special pen that can be rubbed out, and that these children had special permission because a famous New Zealand author is coming to visit! The windows are drawing fascination from passing students, however many of them can't resist the temptation to rub their fingers through the chalk to see what happens...



Keep an eye out for a couple of book reviews on The ACB with Honora Lee, coming soon. 

Quick facts about Kate De Goldi:

Kate has won countless awards, including: - 

- The ACB with Honora Lee was a finalist in the 2013 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards in the Junior Fiction category.

- New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards 2009 Book of the Year for The 10 PM Question.
- New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2005 Book of the Year for Clubs.
- Storylines Notable Books List 2007 Picture Books list for Billy.
- New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards 1997 Young Adult Fiction Winner for Sanctuary.

·                     Kate De Goldi was born in Christchurch, but now lives in Wellington. She used to write as Kate Flannery before winning awards for her first young adult novel, The Sanctuary.

·                     Kate loves visiting schools, getting new ideas for a book, and finishing a book.

·                     Her cat, Sylvie, is "ever-so-slightly wild, very beautiful and quite neurotic" (NZ Book Council website)

·                     Kate started out by writing short stories and has carried on from there. She advises children to Read, Read, Read and to sit down and get started with writing something down.

·                     Kate's favourite colour is yellow, her favourite food is pasta and she likes a range of genres and authors.

Black & White Inc. Book Club Book Reviews

Gangsta Granny

by David Walliams, illustrated by Tony Ross

The book ‘Gangsta Granny’ is about a boy called Ben. Ben didn’t like going to his Grandma’s place every Friday. He didn’t like his Granny because Granny would always spit in her used tissue that she kept up the sleeve of her cardigan and wipe Ben’s face with it! Her TV had been broken since 1992 and now it was covered in dust so thick, it was like fur. Granny also stank of cabbage!

So what do you think of Granny? I suppose you think she is boring, but you don’t know the kind of adventures Ben and his Granny have. If you want to find out more, read this awesome book.

I thought the book was one of the best books ever, if you like funny books. I recommend this book for eight years and up.

By Dan Rm 14

Black & White Inc. Book Club book reviews

Care of Henry - by Anne Fine

Hugo has to choose who to stay with while his Mum is having a baby. Granny? Mrs Mariposa next door? Uncle Jack? Who is the best? I think that this book is for aged eight and up. I give this book a ten out of ten. By Fenna - Room 14