Book character parade

The sun shone on our book character parade this morning! It was wonderful to see so many children and staff members dressed up as familiar book characters. Thank you to the parents who worked behind the scenes to create some incredible costumes. 

The syndicates dressed up in themes: Whanau Kowhai teachers were dressed as the very hungry caterpillar, his food, and the butterfly he turns into. They did a delightful skit. 

Whanau Pohutukawa teachers were dressed as fairy tale characters, including Prince Charming, one of the Seven Dwarves, Captain Hook, etc, and strutted their stuff. They met children characters from their stories! 

Whanau Harakeke teachers were dressed as Willie Wonka and the Oompa Loompas and did an Oompa Loompa dance.

The office ladies and I were characters from the Fairy Meadows stories.

I saw so many wonderful costumes and have posted pics in the posts below.

The prize winners for various categories have been given a voucher to spend at the Scholastic Book Fair. Yes, breaking news, we'll be having the fair in week 4 of term 4. That's Nov 2 -6th. Watch this space for more news.

Hope you all have a safe and happy two weeks.

Book character dress up parade

 

Book character dress up parade

 

Book character dress up parade

 

Book character dress up day

Next Friday, 25 September is Book Character dress up day!

Some of the teachers and I have been reading this delightful book to classes today, to get children excited about dressing up.

We had great fun this afternoon, with children guessing who some of the characters are in this fun and entertaining picture book.

The great thing about dress-up days is you don't need to spend a lot of money. You can make robot heads out of recycling, etc. There are wonderful ideas on Pinterest.

The office ladies and I are teaming up, or should I say, "theming" up. I'm looking forward to seeing who you'll be coming as!

Decodable Books

 

We have a set of new decodable books in the library. 

Here is a quote from the Simple Words website about decodable books:

"As a former special education teacher with experience in inclusive and self-contained settings, I was constantly on the hunt for reading materials that matched the needs and interests of my students. Simple Words Books' Sam is Stuck by Cigdem Knebel is exactly the type of book that I sought. The story provides a high interest and delightful storyline with a controlled vocabulary that makes the book an excellent resource for reading specialists, elementary educators, and special education teachers."

- Deb Troehler, VA, Special Ed Teacher for 15 years

An exciting adventure set on a beautiful island. Two young brothers, Flynn and Paddy, use their skills with a slingshot and a bow and arrow in an attempt to defend the island's dragons from evil poachers who are after an egg and a dragon trophy. With the help of their faithful pets (including a tame dragon), they will need to be brave if they can overcome Pitbull and his ghastly team. The author has cleverly used an app to add interest. A choice book for reluctant readers wanting a chapter book adventure, similar to the Famous Five adventures.

We have the first three books in the series in our school library, and enjoyed a visit from James Russell a few years ago! 

Tui Street Tales - Anne Kayes

 Book Review

A cool neighbourhood of Kiwi kids, parents, teachers and some nasty characters are weaved together into a set of fairy tales that will enchant younger readers. The neighbourhood friendships grow throughout the story, making it feel familiar and friendly. I love the interplay between old fairy tales, modern technology and the New Zealand flavour. Anne visited our school and had the children begging her to continue her dramatic reading. Perfect for a class read aloud, especially for year 3-6s.

Kate

Kia Kaha Te Reo Māori

 

Kia Ora,

Next week is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori / Māori  Language Week

Here is a list of some fabulous books we have in our school library, which includes picture dictionaries, Te Reo singalong books with CDs, stories written in Te Reo, or partly in Te Reo, etc.

http://library.woodlandspark.school.nz/?serviceId=ExternalEvent&rlSn=33&rlKey=729809720

Teachers, if you are after a specific book, please email me.

Ngā mihi, Kate

John Carr's author/illustrator visit

Today we had the pleasure of a visit from John Carr, thanks to Read NZ Te Pou Muramura with support from Creative NZ.

John was absolutely delightful and had the children in stitches. John shared some fun short writing prompts with the children, ideas about cartoon drawing, stand-up comedian type jokes (for kids) and even had a rap challenge. The children and staff were fully engaged.

Pretending to be a cow while reading poetry to a field of cows

I read a quote on Goodreads just yesterday that reminded me of John Carr: 

“Genius is no more than childhood recaptured at will, childhood equipped now with man's physical means to express itself..." Charles Baudelaire

After lunch, John ran a cartooning workshop. John looked at facial expressions to express feelings, body language, characteristics - and gave the children a few prompts so that they can make their own cartoons and funny poems. The children very quickly came up with some amazing ideas - I have asked them to carry on working on their drawings and poems at home and to bring them in to show me.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month:

At the end of the day, John presented his book, Manu's Journey to Emma. We are so proud of Emma, an incredibly brave cancer survivor, and talented cat cartoonist. John wrote Manu's Journey about a young owl's journey to recover from cancer. He wrote it as part of the "Big Hoot" project which raised funds for the Child Cancer Foundation. You may remember our owl, Blossom (who now lives in the library) was part of the "Little Hoot" (the school owls). John signed the book and had a lovely chat with Emma. I believe she is looking forward to reading it.

Thank you ever so much, John, for your humour, warmth and creativity. You are inspirational indeed!

Visiting author

John Carr is visiting our school on Monday (7 Sep)! He is a children's fiction author who has written around 150 titles for educational publishers Sunshine Books. John Carr also works as a cartoonist and a comedian. Thanks to our membership with Read NZ Te Pou Muramura, we have access to visits from NZ authors and illustrators.

John will be presenting to the children at Hui time, and will also be running a cartooning workshop for a group of children after lunch.

I'm looking forward to meeting him!