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".