Hauora display (Term 1 & 2)

In Term 1 and 2, our inquiry focus was on Hauora. This was our display. In the next post, I'll pop up a pic of our new display...

Storylines Digital Tour

On the Wednesday of the Storylines Digital Tour, many classes attended Ned Barraud's sessions. I don't work on a Wednesday, so I missed out, but I enjoyed chatting to Mrs E's class about it on Thursday. They were bubbling over with excitement. They were so pleased that Woodlands Park School got a special shout out. The children enjoyed seeing Ned Barraud demonstrating how he photoshops his illustrations. We have a number of Ned's fabulous books in our library, and many of them tie in well with the junior's inquiry this term - What's in your back yard?

One little boy told his teacher that he wants to illustrate books like Ned when he's big!

On Thursday afternoon I joined Room 6. We listened in to Pauline Smith's presentation. Congratulations on your award, Pauline! We were all really interested in learning more about this regrettable side of New Zealand history. Thank you for researching and writing about the dawn raids.

The children wrote their questions down for our super-typer (See pic) and she typed up the questions. Thank you for answering so many of our questions.

I took a big pile of New Zealand Story books to Room 6 and many children issued copies and made reserves for Dawn Raid. Getting children interested in history. Result!

Thanks so much, Storylines for a successful tour!

Storylines Digital Story Tour

I sat in on Sharon Holt's session for New Entrants - Year 3 children this morning, offered to our school as part of the first Storylines Digital Story Tour. Sharon was engaging, humorous, friendly and informative. It was perfectly pitched for that age group. We loved the signing native birds and the exercise on how to make up your own jokes.

In the afternoon, I joined the session catering for Y4-6 children. Sharon's stories behind her stories kept us captivated. We were really encouraged not to give up on our dreams, even when the going gets tough.  Two Woodlands Park School questions were answered, which really made us feel like we were talking to Sharon in person. We gave a loud paki paki at the end.

Thank you so much to Storylines and to Sharon Holt for inspiring young readers and writers!

NZ Book Awards for Children & YA

As soon as the 2020 award winners for the NZ Book Awards for Children & YA were announced, I went shopping! Most have arrived, a few are on their way. I've been cataloguing and covering them and am pleased that I can start T3 with a fabulous display of these beautiful local books!

For the first two weeks, you won't be able to borrow them, just so that everyone can get a chance to have a look at them - but teachers are encouraged to read them to classes during your visits, and children - do have a read during visits and lunchtimes. Enjoy!

Please return your library books!

Hi everyone,

I did a BIG LEND when I had a hunch that we might go into lockdown - which means some of you had plenty of books to read during the time at home. Some of you ended up taking ten books home. It was cool!

But NOW, it is nearly term end and some books are accidentally being returned to Auckland libraries and some are being put in the wrong tote tray, or left in other cities or lost... :(

So here I am, dressed as a muffin with a cherry on top, saying, pretty please bring all your overdue library books back.

The classes to get ALL their books back will go into my ping pong lucky draw box, and the lucky winner will win a prize from my special box of goodies!

New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults

Here they are, the NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults finalists from three of the categories. I had already purchased some of these fabulous books, and will be ordering more soon. Congratulations to the authors and publishers. What a wonderful celebration of Kiwi creativity.

Artemis Fowl & Alex Rider - two exciting series available in our library!

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer books - available in our school library!

Artemis Fowl is coming to Disney online. We have plenty of Artemis Fowl books in the library in our red dot section (recommended for reading-age nine plus). Now I'm not sure if the series is okay for you to watch (that's up to your parents), but how about you start by reading the books and then when you've finished reading - you might be old enough to watch the series. This is not a punt for Disney, but I do love it when children are inspired to read books that are coming to the cinema or TV. Think Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Mortal Engines, Mary Poppins, Chronicles of Narnia, etc.

Here is a trailer for the Artemis Fowl series:

Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz books - available in our school library!

Alex Rider is a teenage spy. We have a number of Alex Rider books in the library, written by Anthony Horowitz. A new series is coming to TVNZ on demand. It is recommended for teens and young adults, so maybe this is one to watch when you get to intermediate or secondary school. But here's a trailer just to show you how exciting this series is. How about you read some of the books!

Here is the trailer for the series, to get you keen on trying the books: