Christchurch South Literacy Quiz

On 20th September 2012,  2 teams from Springston School competed in the Christchurch South Lit Quiz at the Addington School Hall along with 9 other teams. This was the first time we had been involved in this quiz. We had 11 books to read and learn, from picture books to novels. Each team was made up with children from Years 3-6. There were twelve rounds, each had 10 questions, one general question round that had really tough questions.

To prepare for the quiz everyone had to read the books and write a set of 10 questions and answers, they then were assigned books to be the 'expert'. They shared their questions with each other and we had regular meetings as a group.

Each team also made a team 'flag', that was judged during the evening.On the night we had entertainment from 'Adrian from Reading Rocks" showing us his awesome juggling  skills- learned from a BOOK. His message was that we can learn anything from a book.

Back row left to right - Alice, Georgia L, Lucy C, Georgia G, Molly, Mya, John.
Front Row-Ethan, Kaylee, Lucy B, Ellie, Maggie, Lucy Co, Libby. Absent: Ashley

At the end of the evening all the children were given supper and received a lunch box full of goodies.
Opawa School won with 95 points, Springston Super Readers were 6th with 83 and Springston Speedy Greedy Readers were 8th with 80.5 points. A fantastic effort! Our reserves did the quiz as part of the audience and did very well too. Springston School was very lucky to win the prize of $300 worth of books donated by Scholastic.
Georgia and Lucy the team captains for the night said, "It was nerve racking at first because we didn`t know what to do and it was hard work trying to write down the answers and listen because everybody was talking at once". "It was great fun and a very exciting night".  "We would like to thank our families for their great support on the night".

Climb inside and live in your book!

I'm sure that all you book-lovers out there will appreciate this quote!

From Slapix.com

What book would you like to live in? What makes the book a place you want to inhabit!

Interviews with NZ Children's Authors

You might enjoy looking at a Christchurch City Libraries web page that has lots of interesting information about many of New Zealand's Children's authors. Actually, you'll be amazed to see how many authors are listed!

What are their favourite foods, embarrassing moments and nicknames? Find out from their interviews page. Enjoy reading some short stories, too! Click on the different places marked on the map or look at the A to Z list of authors to find out more about your favourite authors.

Who is YOUR favourite NZ Author? Are all these authors listed in our OPAC Catalogue in the Library? Leave a comment to let us know.

Image from http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Kids/ChildrensAuthors/

Margaret Mahy has left us

Photo by Bob and Nancy. Bronze bust of Margeret Mahy as part of the Twelve Local Heroes sculpture

 I am reading today's sad news that Margaret Mahy died today, at the age of 76.

Margaret wrote her first story when she was 7, and since then she has written more than 120 books and won many awards for her writing. Her books have been translated into 15 languages so they can be enjoyed by children around the world.

The Christchurch City Libraries have a brief biography of Margaret Mahy that you might like to read.

It is sad to think that there will be no new books from this amazing author, but her wonderful stories will live on for generations of children to come.

Please leave a comment, telling us your favourite book by Margaret Mahy.

NZ Book Cover War Competition - Heat 1

Last week Zac Harding ran his International Book Cover War, and the winning cover was Revived by Cat Patrick. GUESS WHAT.... someone from our school community entered and WON - can you find out who? Perhaps that family will leave us a comment here...

This week it's the turn of the NZ book covers. Can we win again?

Zac has chosen what he thinks are the top 4 NZ kids/YA book covers of 2012 and it's up to you to vote for your favourite. Anyone who votes goes into the draw for a signed copy of Rick Riordan's The Serpent's Shadow. Have your say and vote now at NZ Book Cover War Heat 1.

You'll have to be quick to vote because the winners will be announced on Monday 30 July.

Competition for Skulduggery Pleasant fans

 Zac Harding is promoting another competition, this time on the Christchurch Kids Blog where they are on the hunt for Canterbury's biggest Skulduggery Pleasant fan.

Children from throughout Canterbury can enter to win the chance to interview Derek Landy, author of Skulduggery Pleasant, when he comes to Christchurch on Friday 10 August. Both the winner and the runner-up will also win a full set of Skulduggery Pleasant New Zealand Tour Edition books. WOW!

To enter, just leave a comment on the Christchurch Kids Blog competition post, with your name and email address, telling them why you are Skulduggery Pleasant's biggest fan. The competition is open until Monday 30 July.

You can't win if you're not in - many of you are getting really good at writing blog comments now - so, give it a go!

International Book Cover War Competition - Heat 1

Zac Harding from the My Best Friends Are Books Blog (he's a Christchurch City Librarian) is running a COMPETITION to vote for the best kids and teen book covers that have been published this year.

Visit his Blog to vote in Heat 1, for your favourite international book cover, from the four he has chosen for you. and also sign up to go in the draw to win a signed hardback copy of Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian (the last book in Eoin Colfer's popular series).

You only have until Sunday 22 July to vote!

What will the most popular cover be? Who will win the book! Check back on Monday.

Be an Author and be in to win!

All our students at Springston School are Authors. So, you all have a chance to be in to win by entering the NZ Post Tell Your Story to the Whole Country Competition! Let's do it!

Just write something about.... YOU..... in 300 words or less, and in the form of a poem, short story, or any other form of creative writing that fits with the theme of ‘My Story’.

This year the 20 best stories will be professionally illustrated and published online as part of an eBook. You could become a famous published author! Not only that, each of the winning authors will win $50 in Booksellers Book Tokens.

You must send in your entry by 31 July 2012 - so.... get writing!

Check out the entry information for kids. And put your entry in here. You could use this email address for the school's contact email that is required.

A treasure trove of information for our students

All our students have access to a free subscription to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition K-8, through a link on the National Library of New Zealand's EPIC resources. This resource is often a more suitable starting point for finding information for our students, then going straight to Google or Wikipedia.

This access is not available by going directly to the Encyclopedia Britannica website. But our slightly longer route is worth the effort. I recommend that parents and students bookmark the site, and make note of our school's username and password access that can be obtained from your teacher, Carol or Mrs Winter. Copy the details and keep them for use at home. I am not allowed to publish them here for you, sorry, as this login is only available to students in NZ schools.

To picque your interest, and show just how many exciting resources are freely available to you, take a look at this video guide to Encyclopedia Britannica Online. I suggest you watch it with your child or in your class.

Awesome Bookmarks by Room 5

Check out the amazing Kimono Doll bookmarks the Room 5 students have been making! I wonder how they made them...

Do you have trouble remembering what 'non-fiction' means?

Most people have to think about the difference between 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' (me too!). So here is a great video to help you understand and remember! It is 6:30 minutes long, and very entertaining, as well as informative.

 

 The Nonfiction Trail was created by Mrs Yollis and Mr Salsich.

Read it! Loved it!

What can I read next? We've all asked that question!

Well, here's a great website by Gavin Jones, called Read it! Loved it! that is sure to help you find a book suited to your interests. And.... Yes, boys, there are books listed here for you, separate from the girls' list!

Books are listed under the following headings:

Adventure

Animal Stories

Crime

Fantasy

Feel Good

Historical Fiction

Horror

Inspiring

Laughter

Mystery

Quick Reads

Romance

Supernatural

Tear-jerkers

Thriller

Tough Times

True Stories

War

Purple Picks (essential reading)

2012 Librarians

Lucy, Chrissy, Haidee, Alice M, Alice T, Callum, Annabelle, Caitlin, Anna, Jackson

Books, Books and more books!

We have loads of new titles in the library, something for everyone.Take a look at some of them pictured here.

Library Happenings

Annabelle and Lucy

Zoe

We  celebrated NZ Book Month in March and had two competitions. Haidee organised a NZ Book Month reading competition. The winners were....senior Annabelle, Intermediate, Zoe and Junior Lucy B. They challenge was who could read the most NZ books in the time given. For the seniors 6 picture books counted as one book and for the intermediates 4 equalled one book. Annnabelle read 8 chapter books. Well done Haidee for coming up with the great idea and organising the whole competition, including the prizes!!

Alice T and Anna organised a quiz for Year 4-8 children. With over twenty entrants it was really busy. The winner was Lucy C from Room 9 with 11 points out of 15. All the questions were about New Zealand books and authors. A lot of our NZ books have been on display,.

NZ Book Month Quiz winner- Lucy

Kid's Lit. Quiz

On Friday 11th May seven pupils went to the Kid's Lit. Quiz hosted by Cobham Intermediate. Our competing team was Oliver, Freddie, Jake and Anna. Haidee, Annabelle and Georgia went along to observe.

The quiz consisted of ten rounds of ten questions. The teams were given the subject headings of each round and before they started they got to choose their 'double up' round where they would earn double points for that round.

The subjects were; heroes, vegetables, teenagers, schools, sheep, watches, transport, world authors, sport and a visual round called Who am I? Our team competed extremely well and scored 71 points. Their top scoring round was vegetables with 9 points for which they won the tie question and got a book voucher each.

Oliver, Freddie, Jake and Anna

Overall we finished in 14th  place out of 52 competing teams, our best effort in the competition so far. Well done!

On the way home we visited the Children's Bookshop and browsed the shelves for new book ideas for our library.

Top 10 most read books in the world

Here is a fascinating infographic by Jared Flanning, showing the top 10 most popular books (by sales) over the last 50 years. It certainly includes a diverse range of books, and I think it's great to see 'children's' books featuring, too.

 Visual.ly is a website where you can view other infographics, and you can also try creating your own. Infographics are a clever way of showing information visually (in a graphic form). They can show complex information quickly and clearly.

Here is a challenge for our more senior students - to post a comment with the link to another infographic from the internet that you have found interesting, and briefly explain why you found it of interest. Include your first name and Room number on the comment.

by Jared. Browse more infographics.

Desk made of recycled books

Here is a desk with a difference (click on the photo for a closer look)! A creative way to recycle old books, don't you think?

What do YOU do with old books that you no longer want?

Library desk made from recycled books

2012 Librarians

Shelf Elves
Alice K, Brooke, Molly, Bailey and Georgia

The first term has rushed by and we are eagerly awaiting Easter holidays. We have managed well this term in our new look library, adjusting well to less space as Room 9 occupy the side room. This year we have 4 new librarians joining the 6 from last year. We also have 'shelf elves' now, one each day who come in to shelve books at the first break.

Three Little Pigs News Story with a BIG Twist!

Wow! Imagine the story of the Three Little Pigs being written TODAY, as a NEWS story - not just as a story from a book. 

And imagine everyone sharing that news story on Facebook and Twitter...

This amazing video cleverly shows how news spreads VERY quickly these days. But, is that news always accurate?

Favourite Places to Read!

I don't know about you, but my favourite place to read is snuggled up in bed on a Saturday morning, or before I go to sleep at night. 

Alice has taken up the challenge to enter the Christchurch City Libraries competition mentioned in the previous post, and has sent us a copy of the photos she has entered. Hasn't she found a wonderful spot for reading! 

What about YOU! Send in your photos and I will add them here. Or leave us a comment.

Quick, get out your camera!

Photo by langsm

Christchurch City Libraries is holding a photographic competition for NZ Book Month (March). The competition is for children aged 10 years and over. You need to send in a photo of a child reading their favourite book in their favourite place. There are lots of prizes!

The competition closes soon, on Friday 16 March at 5 pm, so you'll have to be quick. Read the photo guidelines and other competition rules here.

How about emailing us a copy of your photo too, and we'll post it here.

500 New Fairytales Discovered in Germany!

Wow, hundreds of new fairytales have been discovered in an archive in Germany, waiting to be enjoyed by future generations of children! (An archive is a place where collections of documents are stored to be kept safe for the future).

These tales had been gathered by a German historian (Franz Xaver von Schonwerth) during the 1800s, at a similar time and in a similar way to what the Brothers Grimm had done with the many magical tales we came to grow up with. They have only been found now, after all these years! How wonderful!

These new tales reportedly have magical animals, princes and witches, as is typical in fairytales. You can read one of the new fairytales called The Turnip Princess. 

What is YOUR favourite fairytale? Please leave a comment below.

More about this exciting discovery, thanks to The Guardian.