John Carr's fabulous second visit

John Carr visited our school today as part of Book Week. Each whanau group had a session with him in the hall. John's last visit was in 2020, and he was as entertaining and inspirational now as he was then. John entertained the children (and staff) with hilarious poems, rap songs, illustrations of children, stories about publishing, and tips on how children can write poems and stories.

I was ever so so proud of the WPS children today - they knew when to laugh and when to settle and show manaakitanga. At the end, a student thanked John for his "delightful visit". There were smiles and cheers, and a big paki paki.

Thank you so much John, for your time, energy, and enthusiasm, and all you bring to children's literacy with your 178 titles (for the SPCA, the School Journal, Sunshine books, and more)!

A huge thank you to Simie and the staff at ReadNZ Te Pou Muramura for organising another fabulous author visit!

Book Week 2025

WPS Book Week is coming soon!

Here are some dates for you to diarise for Book Week. A poster is coming soon.

Scholastic Book Fair times: Opening night! Mon 4 August: 2.30 - 4pm

Tues 5 August: 8.30 - 9.30 am and 2.30 - 4pm

Wed 6 August:  8.30 - 9.30 am and 2.30 - 4pm

Thurs 7 August:  8.30 - 9.30 am and 2.30 - 4pm

Friday 8 August: 8.30 - 9.30 am. Fair closes after this.

Other fun activities:  An author visit on Thursday 7 Aug and the famous Book Character dress up parade on Friday 8 Aug.

We hope to see you there!

Clare Aramakutu

Clare Aramakutu visited the school on 9 June as part of the Storylines Story Tour. Clare was down to earth and really comfortable with the children. She told us about her writing and publishing journey, and showcased some of her wonderful books. 

I later purchased some Lucy Loopy books for the school library, as they looked like engaging science fiction books, with educational space themes about the Hubble Telescope, etc, which tied in with our Space Inquiry. 

Clare also read to us from Koro's Star, which won the Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon award in 2023.

Here is a write up on Koro's Star: Set in the 1960s, Koro’s Star is a heart-warming, exciting, adventure story.

It’s the beginning of the summer holidays in 1967 when 10-year-old Atama moves with his family into a new army base. His father, Atama’s hero, departs for Vietnam, asking Atama to look after his mum and his younger sister, Maia, while he’s away.

Atama is nervous about making friends at the new camp, so his dad leaves a surprise under his pillow: Koro’s 1939-1945 star medal, handed down to Dad after his own father died during World War II. Atama finds new friends but has to undergo an ‘initiation’ to become part of their club.

Wearing Koro’s medal around his neck, Atama hopes it will give him courage … but is unprepared for what lies ahead, deep in the tunnels beneath the army base.

Thank you so much for visiting our school Clare, you were wonderful! Thank you to Storylines for another fabulous author visit!

Not long until Book Week!

 

Book Week

We are so excited about Book Week which will be running in week 3. 

There will be a Scholastic book fair running in the library, guest readers, a book character dress up day, and Sally Sutton is our visiting author - to name just a few of the bookish activities coming up. 

More info to come soon ...

Colouring competition winners!

Well done WPS children for your amazing entries in the recent FIVE GO on an ADVENTURE colouring contest. 

I am delighted to share that Freya won 1st place in the 8-year + category and her prize is a family pass to see the show! 

Yiyi won 2nd place in the 8-year + category and her prize is a $30 Dorothy Butler book voucher!

Sorcha won 3rd place in the 8-year + category and her prize is a $20 Dorothy Butler book voucher!

Here are their colourful entries.

  

Thank you to the Tim Bray Theatre Company and Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop :)

Aki Fukuoka on the Storylines National Story Tour

We were so excited to learn that we had won another Storylines National Story Tour visit! On Monday 17 June, Aki Fukuoka visited our school. The year 3/4s (whanau pohutukawa) were treated to a lively presentation in the hall.

Aki Fukuoka is the talented illustrator the famous Billie B Brown series and the Lily - the littlest angel series, both of which are really popular at our school. She also illustrated the Sam Kerr series, and picture books like Witchy goes shopping and Giraffe attack.

Aki showed us the many versions of Billie B Brown that she created for the publisher. There were around 100 versions before they decided on the perfect character. Billie B Brown has sold over 5 million copies worldwide!

We learnt about the publishing process, and how a drawing goes from a pencil draft, to "inked" to shaded and then to full colour. After that we enjoyed a drawing demonstration. Aki asked us to select two volunteers. I selected a girl and a teacher selected a boy. She created adorable 'book covers' of them and asked us to come up with the title. It was a wonderful, interactive time. The children were engaged during the Q&A time and asked thoughtful questions.

Thank you so much to Storylines and to Aki Fukouka for an inspiring morning! Afterwards the children told me they were "hooked in", Aki was "inspiring", "an amazing artist", and a teacher told me that many children started their own books after the visit. Once again, we are most grateful for the time and energy that goes into these tours!

 

Samoan Language Week

 Talofa Lava,

We have enjoyed Samoan Language Week at WPS. In the library I have been reading stories to the children from the Children of the Pacific series. 

I love the theme of this year's Samoan Language Week, "Serve in love for a blessed future".

Authors around the alphabet

We have finished going from A-Z in the authors around the alphabet display shelf. It is definitely a shelf theme that I will return to at some point, but for now, after Samoan Language Week, I have a new shelf theme coming up... Watch this space for more details. I think the children are going to enjoy this one!

Colouring competition winners!

Congratulations to the following children who entered the Tim Bray colouring competition (via the school library), and won prizes!

Sofia: 2nd place in the 6-8 age group

Sorcha: 2nd place in the 8+ age group and Freya, 3rd place in this age group.

The lucky winners have won book vouchers from the wonderful Dorothy Butler Childrens' Bookshop. As they are all keen readers, they are delighted.

Thank you to all the sponsors of this competition. I hope the Great Piratical Rumbustification will be a rip roaring success.

Sea Week

Sea Week made a splash at WPS Library. We "reached for a good book", and children entered a sea themed colouring competition at lunchtimes. Here are some pics.

Storylines National Story Tour

We were thrilled to hear that we had won another Storylines National Story Tour visit recently. Tessa Duder and Peter Millett visited our school on Monday 11 August. It was such an honour to hear from Tessa CNZM OBE. We were fascinated by her life story, including her swimming medal, working on the Spirit of Adventure, visiting Scott Base, and the research she did for her new book, The Sparrow. 

Both authors talked about research and about intermingling fiction and non-fiction (historical fiction). Peter shared some interesting choices that he asked the illustrator to make in The Anzac Puppy, and how he conducted his research in the days before the internet. It was interesting to hear about the challenge he had in making sure the ending was right. Our Y5/6 ākonga  will have gleaned so much from this - as their teachers are talking to them about the importance of research and rewriting before publishing. Thank you Storylines for an excellent visit! Kate, WPS Librarian

I was amazed that we had one another Storylines tour! It is our 4th since I've been working here. We've had Fifi Colston, Swapna Haddow, Des Hunt & Tania Roxborough and now Tessa Duder and Peter Millett visit our school. As a school we feel incredibly fortunate and grateful to Storylines for all your hard mahi bringing authors to schools! Thank you to Vicki Cunningham for your work behind the scenes and to Miguel for doing the facilitating. Thank you to Tessa for sharing your wonderful life story with us (we were star-struck) and Peter for your vibrant presentation and interesting behind the story titbits.

It's buzzing back at school

The beginning of term is always busy in the library - training new class and lunchtime librarians, getting the National Library books out to the classes, putting up new displays, etc. It's a buzz :) We're looking at bees this term. Pop in - it's a hive of activity ;)

 

Colouring competition winners

Congratulations to Pearl, Sorcha and Lilly from Room 8 who placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Tim Bray "The Magic Faraway Tree" colouring competition, and to their teacher Lee for encouraging them!

I loved reading "The Magic Faraway Tree" by Enid Blyton to my own children, who are now young adults. I know many teachers have enjoyed reading this book to their classes over the years. When I saw the competition on FB, I thought it would be fun to share it with children at lunchtimes in the library, and with the teachers. 

Children of all ages loved colouring in the pictures. I posted a big envelope full of entries in time for the deadline and wished them luck.

I know we have talented children at Woodlands Park School, and was thrilled when I received the email saying that despite over 150 entries, we had won all three places in the age 8+ category! 

First prize is a family pass to the Tim Bray production, and 2nd and 3rd prizes are book vouchers from the wonderful Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop. Here are some pics of the happy prizewinners.

   

Pearl's fabulous pink tree

Sorcha and Lilly with their book vouchers

Sorcha's colourful pic

I told the children that there would be children entering from all around the country, but it's always worth giving something a go.

Thank you so much to Tim Bray and Dorothy Butlers Children's Bookshop for putting a smile on these faces.

Authors Around the Alphabet

I love mixing things up a bit in the library. Not too much - as it's great when children know where to find books - but enough to keep it interesting. I have a display shelf that I use for this purpose. This year, I'm running a theme called "Authors Around the Alphabet". 

Every couple of weeks or so, I change the display around, so that it features authors whose last name starts with a letter in the alphabet. We've been through A, B, C, D and we're up to E & F. You can just imagine all the wonderful picture book and chapter book authors that I've had on display.

How it works:

 - When a class comes in they usually get seated on the mat. I often chat to them and offer to read them a story. I will point out anything new on the main wall display (eg. Inquiry topic books, book award displays, etc). Then I'll say - "Now, in Authors around the Alphabet, we're up to..."

- This gives me an opportunity to point out some of the authors' names and their wonderful books to the children, so that they can start making connections and finding favourite authors. It helps to circulate books so that many older books get a chance to be featured and be on face out display.

- I chat to the children about how one letter on the spine signifies that the book is a picture book and three letters, being the first three letters of the authors' name, shows that it is a chapter book. So there is a wee library lesson in there too. If the children are young, I might chat to them about the sound of the letter too.

- Then I'll dive in and read them a book from the display, and invite them to borrow books from there.

So far we've really enjoyed books by Pamela Allen, Aaron Blabey, Anthony Browne, Joy Cowley, Julia Donaldson, Lynley Dodd and Ian Falconer, to name a few. 

I'm really enjoying this little excercise. It offers teachable moments about how the library works, and introduces the concept of authors. I get excited when I discover books I haven't read aloud before too. Such fun!

Stacy Gregg's fabulous visit!

Meeting Stacy Gregg yesterday was a thrilling experience for our ākonga. Stacy is warm and lovely and a pleasure to host. A huge thank you to Stacy for your time and energy! Thank you so much ReadNZ Te Pou Muramura for another fabulous author visit, organised through your Writers in Schools programme. Our children have been so enriched by author visits over the years.

The morning started with a writing workshop for 25 children from whanau harakeke. Stacy led them through the writing of a short story with a beginning, a middle and an end. We brainstormed a variety of first lines in a story, some intriguing, some adventurous and others deliberately gross. Then we brainstormed sentences that formed the crux of the middle of the story, linking up with the opening lines. Finally we wrote the closing lines, some forming a victorious resolution, others deliberately tragic. The children then wrote their own short story based on the various options. When they read their work back to the class I was proud of their imaginations and writing talent. Lastly, they were asked to write a description of their main character and Stacy offered pertinent feedback. A teacher said that some of the children were still working on their stories at tea and wanted to carry on after that. 

Mrs Stephenson had asked me to organise an author for the Hui time. Stacy presented to whanau pohutukawa and whanau harakeke during this time in the hall. It was interesting learning about the actual characters and horses behind Stacy's historical fiction novels. The topics were clearly well researched and presented in an interesting way. The children were hugely engaged, leaning on her every word. A Viking contest was a fun way to end it, giving the children a chance to for some exuberance after sitting and listening so attentively. 

Stacy kindly donated a few books from her new series, Spellbound Ponies, and an overseas print copy of The Princess and the Foal to our school. Thank you Stacy! I am sure the Spellbound Ponies set will be a hit with younger readers. 

Stacy complimented us on our use of Te Reo in our school which was heartwarming to hear. Thanks again to Stacy Gregg for visiting your old school and bringing so much joy to our ākonga!

Stacy Gregg is visiting Woodlands Park School!

Kia ora,

I've got some exciting news! Stacy Gregg will be visiting our school on Monday 3 April for Hui time!

Here are some interesting facts about Stacy:

She is HarperCollins NZ’s third best-selling children’s author of all time – outranked only by David Walliams and Dr Seuss.

To date, Stacy has sold over a million and half copies, has been nominated four times for New Zealand book awards for junior fiction, has won the Children’s Choice award for fiction three years running, and has also been awarded 7 Storylines Notable books awards including two in 2019, one for her novel The Fire Stallion and the other for Mini-Whinny: Happy Birthday to Me!, her first book in a new series of younger fiction for 5-7 year olds. Mini Whinny was also shortlisted for the NZ Children’s Book Awards in August 2019.

One of her book series has been made into a TV series called Mystic - filmed mostly in NZ - which is currently on telly in the UK and on TVNZ2.

Stacy also wrote the script for this new TV series:

https://www.whakaatamaori.co.nz/media-releases/poniponi-yes-new-fluent-tamariki-show-with-horses-speaking-te-reo-maori-on-maori

And, get this ... Stacy went to Woodlands Park School! She is delighted to be coming to visit us!

We have quite a few of her books in the library:

https://nz.accessit.online/WDL00/#!resources/searchresult

Please encourage your children to read some of her books before she visits to make the most of the Q&A time.

Also, I borrowed some Stacy Gregg books from the National Library for issuing. I'm currently reading Prince of Ponies - it's gripping!

Storylines Tour

A warm welcome to Tania and Des

Thank you so much to Storylines for another fabulous tour yesterday! We were thrilled to host not one, but TWO inspiring New Zealand authors. Des Hunt, Tania Roxborogh and Peter from Storylines joined us in our brand new staffroom for morning tea. Then Tania and Des each presented to a group of children from whanau harakeke.

Morning tea in the new staffroom

Des Hunt presenting

I've had the privilege of listening to Des Hunt at two previous visits to our school, so I attended Tania's presentation. I can report back from Lee that Des was inspiring, using scientific gadgets to engage children. He spoke about rejection, resilience and persistence, which ties in well with discussions whanau harakeke have been having this term.

Tania Roxborogh reading aloud

Saying thank you

The children enjoyed listening to Tania (T.K.) Roxborogh. Her life story is one that deserves a memoir. It is not for me to share here, but to say that Tania pursued her goals with vigour and determination, despite many challenges. Tania also read to us from the first chapter of Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea (supreme winner of the Margaret Mahy award at NZ Children's and Young Adults Book Awards in 2021). I'm sure it will be in high demand next year.

Thanks again to the authors and Storylines for your time and energy!

Bookmark competition

Happy Spring! I hope the clear skies are a tonic for you. They are for me!

I mentioned that we had a bookmark design competition during Book Week, and realise that I haven't shared them yet. The theme was around books and pets, linked in with Scholastic's Paws for Books theme.

There were so many clever designs, and the judges struggled to choose the top three from each school whanau. Congratulations to the winners, and to everyone who participated.

Here they are in no particular order:

National Poetry Day

 National Poetry Day, 26 August 

We celebrated National Poetry Day in the library for the whole week. On Monday 22nd, the Poet-Tree (inspired by a poem by Shel Silverstein) was rather bare, but by the end of Poetry Day, it was laden with spontaneous poems written by children during their library visits!