Thursday, December 16, 2010

Do you know this new book? Try the jigsaw.


Try this jigsaw puzzle and see if you know the name of this wonderful new book, especially written for Christchurch children.

When you've tried the puzzle and guessed the name of the book, check here to see if you are right!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Seen in Wellington

I've just spent the weekend in Wellington, and couldn't resist taking photos of these two signs I saw at a Victoria University Bookshop. There's much truth in these quotes, don't you think?!




Friday, December 03, 2010

The book is dead?

The world of books is changing. For how much longer do you think paper books will be published? Will you be buying a digital tool (eg the Kindle, iPad, Nook) specifically to read electronic books (e-books)? How many books will be published in electronic form only, within the next year? What might be the advantages and disadvantages of e-books?

The world-renowned futurist, Nicholas Negroponte believes the book (as we know it) will be dead in 5 years.

If you love the feel and look of traditional paper books, you may appreciate this book trailer for Lane Smith's new picture book - It's a Book. There are some things that a traditional book simply can't do...



Now, with the end of the year fast approaching, there are a number of our beloved paper books that need to be returned - we'd love to have them back as soon as possible. We need to take good care of these treasures so please bring them back safely to Karen in the next day or two. Thank you!

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Order in the Library - Play the game!

You'll enjoy this Dewey Decimal game called Order in the Library! Learn how the library is organised, and what the different sections are. There are three different games, and they have different levels from beginner to expert.

Enjoy!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

School Library Journal 'Trailee Awards' - we're in the finals!

We have TWO finalists in the School Library Journal 'Trailee Awards'!


This is an international competition that recognises videos that do the best job of promoting books and bringing readers and books together.

WOW - what talented students we have at Springston School! These book trailers were made months ago, without knowing such a competition existed; Carol saw the competition later, and decided to put in three entries. Two of these got into the finals!

And now we urgently need YOUR votes for t
hese “People’s Choice” awards.

There are only FOUR finalists in each category of this competition, and we have TWO finalists in one of these:
Student created for secondary readers (7-12 grade):
  • Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters (Roaring Brook, 2003) by Gail Giles. (By Morgan and Kachina - Year 8)
  • One Door Away from Heaven (Bantam, 2001) by Dean Koontz (By Emma-Rose - Year 8)
The winners will be announced on the evening of October 22 at the School Library JournalLeadership Summit on the Future of Reading in Chicago, IL.

Please vote now. Scroll to the bottom of the voting page to cast your vote - get all your friends and family to vote too!
Voting ends: 9:00 PM CST, Friday October 22.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Holiday reading ideas

If you're looking for some good reads for the holidays, you can't go past Bob's Books Blog for ideas. Bob Docherty has a whole blog of great book reviews for children and young adults. Why don't you check it out!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Library on a Donkey

Humanwire correspondent Valentina Canavesio reports on Luis Soriano Bohorquez who created the Biblioburro, or Library Donkey, in an effort to bring books and the gift of reading to the children in his community of La Gloria, Colombia.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

World Map of Book locations


View Mapping children's literature in a larger map

Bill Lord, a Literacy teacher, has created this map. He talks in his blog about how he hopes others will collaborate and add to the map with locations of their favourite books.

Each placemarker on this map shows a main or starting location mentioned in a children’
s book.
Blue placemarkers are for picture books, red markers are for short novels (less than 150 pages), green markers are for novels and graphic novels.

Anyone can add their own placemarks for books which have inspired them at some point. It is important that people who add books leave a short recommendation with a link to a description of the book (eg on Shelfari, or Amazon).

How about we add the locations of some of our favourite New Zealand books (none are listed yet)! Leave a comment here with your recommendations, or (better still) log into Google Maps with your gmail account and contribute to the map - let us know if you do!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Spring back into Reading! New books on the browsing table:)

Check out the new titles below. I really enjoyed Two weeks with the Queen. We now have books 1, 2 & 3 of the Darren Shan series. Roald Dahl's BFG, another Famous Five and Mr Muggs the Library Cat is there too!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Library Week Video Competition - PLEASE VOTE FOR US NOW!

Kachina, Morgan, and Georgia (Year 8) have created and entered a video for the Library Week 'Love Your Library' Video Competition. The winners of the competition will be selected by popular vote, and there is only another week left for people to vote for their favourite video.

We would be thrilled if you could get as many of your friends and family as possible to vote for the girls' video over the coming week. Please go to the Library Competition Website and find the Springston School video, called
'Full of Surprises!'.

There are some fabulous prizes for the winners. The competition voting ends in one week, so please, vote as many times as you are able to and help us out NOW!

Here's a copy of the video, to tempt you to go and vote!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Welcome to Library Week 2010

This week is 'Library Week' in libraries all around New Zealand. Information on this can be found on the 'Library Week' website. There are several competitions happening too, including writing and making a video.

The theme this year is "Ask Me - You Might Be Surprised! He Taonga Te Patai."

This theme reflects librarians not only as people who issue books to you, but as people who have a world of knowledge and experience at their fingertips. All you need to do is - ask! The Te Reo translation means "to ask is precious" which signifies the importance of teaching, listening and learning."

So, pop into our library and say a friendly "Hello" to Karen, and just ask if you need help with what book to read next, or information for your inquiry.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Creative Bookends

These are just a couple of some of the Creative Bookends shown at CrookedBrains. Have you ever seen bookends like these?

What bookends do YOU have at home?

How about taking a photo of your bookends, in the same way as the ones from
CrookedBrains, and emailing the photo to us. We might be able to post the pictures on the blog, and if we get enough photos we'll turn them into a slideshow!

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Read this Book!



Maddy and Emma (Year 6) read this book for their class Novel Study and enjoyed it so much they thought others should read it too. This is a book trailer with a difference!

Thanks to Team Endeavour for giving permission for us to re-publish this video.

Monday, July 26, 2010

National Poetry Day - Friday 30 July 2010


Micheal Rosen performing his poem, Boogy Woogy Buggy.

This Friday 30 July is National Poetry Day. Would you like to find your favourite poem, practise reading it out loud, and then video yourself reading it? If so, we'd love to put your video on the Library Blog as soon as possible!


Make sure you start by clearly saying the name of the poem, and the poet/author. There is no need to read quickly, take your time and enjoy it.

You can use a Flip camera, or Photobooth on a Macbook, or a digital camera to record your video. Stay close to the camera for your recording. Save it on StudentWrite in the folder Carol has made there called Poetry Week.

Please name your video using your name and Room number.

We'll look forward to hearing some great poems! Who will be first?!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Two great new Book Reviews on Shelfari

Check out the two new book reviews that Kachina (Year 8) has put on our Shelfari Bookshelf (down the right side of this page). There are reviews for Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer, and The Crocodile Nest by Des Hunt.

Simply hover your mouse over the new titles for the books on the top two shelves and read what she has to say about these books. Well done, Kachina!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Welcome back - Term 3

Welcome back - I hope that you have had a good break and managed to get some reading done during the holidays.

Check out the new titles, ready now for browsing, come in and reserve the title you want!

New puzzles books

Hours of puzzling fun in Anna Nilsen's Pirates and Rolf Heinmann's Brain Busting Bonanza.

New titles in the Library

Two more titles in the Make Your Own Art series: Paper Folding and Drawing.

New titles in the Library


New books for juniors or those who still love a good picture book!

Friday, July 09, 2010

Library Blog Crossword Puzzle 1

Here is something to keep older students (and maybe their mums and dads) entertained on a wet day during the holidays - a crossword puzzle!

  1. Click on any of the numbered squares, and a clue will appear at the top of the puzzle.
  2. Read the clue and type your answer into the box beside the clue.
  3. Press 'Enter'.
  4. You won't know if your answers are correct until you fill all the boxes, and then press the 'Check' button at the bottom of the puzzle.

Good luck!

(Tips: watch your spelling; but don't worry about capital letters for this puzzle).

Friday, July 02, 2010

Great Game: Inference Battleship


We thought you like might like to have a new game for the holidays. So, here is a game of Battleship with a difference! Try to beat your computer opponent by sinking all their ships first. Click on a square on the board to try to find their ships. If you click on a square that has part of a ship, then you must answer a simple question for that square to be counted as a strike. Who will win?!

Let us know what you think of this game by posting us a comment.

Thanks to the 5 Degrees Blog for this idea!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Winners of Library Book Week Competition 1 - Create a bookmark

It was great to see a few students responding to the challenge of making a bookmark on the computer. Senior students also did a great job of thinking about the words to put on their bookmarks. Congratulations to the winners!

Years 1-4 Winners
(3 prizes awarded instead of the 2 originally offered)
Ellie - Room 4
Lucy B - Room 1
Isabella M - Room 2


Year 5-8 Winners
Emma-Rose - Room 7
Lucy - Room 7

Friday, June 25, 2010

Winners of Library Book Week Competition 3 - Library Blog Treasure Hunt

Image attribution Treasure Map: veezzle.com Image ID: 575957

We had 3 entries in this competition, and all had the correct answers for the Treasure Hunt!

The lucky winners are:

Oliver
- Room 5

Mollie
- Room 7

Kachina
- Room 7


You can download the correct answers
here or view them online by clicking on the image below.


Blog Treasure Hunt Answers

If anyone would like to create their own short Treasure Hunt of the Library Blog we'd be happy to publish it here for others to try, just let Karen or Carol know.