Springston School Library Blog

When Books Come to Life....

2012-02-22T10:00:00.002+13:00

I'm sure that most of you have seen the Toy Story movies. Did you know that books have a life of their own, just like toys? You can see for yourself how the books of Sean and Lisa OhlenKamp come alive at night....

And, did you know, that just by reading a book yourself, you are transported into the life of that book - WOW!

What books did YOU get for Christmas?

2012-02-03T22:37:00.002+13:00

Books make the best presents ever. I hope you all got at least one book for Christmas. How about sharing some of the titles with us!

We're made the Top 50 School Library Blogs List

2012-01-27T22:22:00.000+13:00

We got a lovely surprise at the end of 2011, to hear that this Blog was selected to to be in the Top 50 School Library Blogs List based on recommendations from other school library blogs and because they think our site is awesome for people interested in school libraries. This includes library blogs from around the world.

Here is their review of our blog:

New Zealand is the home of the "Springston School Library Blog", librarian Karen and a crew of enthusiastic student helpers; check out the cool costumed characters in the Book Week Parade, the latest book shelf arrivals - including a series of Kiwi Corkers, plus a wealth of student-submitted book reviews and trailers on this blog that emphasizes safe cyber citizenship.

Thank you to Charles Sipe of Teacher Certification Degrees for letting us know about their Top 50 list, which has lots of great Blogs to explore!

Steven Spielberg in the Land of Tintin

2011-12-07T20:42:00.001+13:00

Here is an interview with Steven Spielberg about his new movie, The Adventures of Tintin. He is interviewed by teenager, Damien Murphy. They talk about the making of movies, and the importance of reading. I can't wait to see the movie!

Check out your library catalogue and see which Tintin books they have for you to borrow! What is YOUR favourite Tintin book?

Read the book then see the film

2011-11-05T22:30:00.002+13:00

We all love a good movie. And we all love a good book!

How many books have been made into films? LOTS!

If you like to read books, and then see the film, you will enjoy the Christchurch City Libraries page called Read the book - then see the film.

And, if you've seen a great movie, you might wonder if there is a book linked to it. And often there is! Take a look at the Christchurch City Libraries page called Books into film and television.

We all know a couple of great examples of this - The Hobbit (being made now!) And, The Adventures of Tintin is being released soon - how exciting!

What are your favourite 'Book Movies'? Please leave a comment below.

a Google a day

2011-11-03T22:39:00.000+13:00

I only recently came across a Google a day, and thought it might make a fun challenge for more able readers around Year 7/8 in our school.

Has anyone tried it with this age group?
How tempted do you think they would be to just use the hints?
Is there a place for this in our classrooms (I do think we need to increase students' general knowledge) - or should they just focus on the learning focus happening in their classrooms?
Is it too Americanised for our NZ culture? Carol

Holiday Activity

2011-10-06T14:35:00.003+13:00

Gavin Bishop at The Reading Bug

Gavin Bishop will be reading and
signing his latest book
BRUISER

at The Reading Bug
11am Wednesday 12th October

Bruiser is a machine on a mission — a digger who’s ploughing up hillsides, trampling down paddocks and crushing rocks in his plan to build a motorway. That is until a nest containing a baby bird falls right in front of him — and Bruiser realises there’s more to life than tearing up hillsides.
Aimed at 3–8 year-olds, this engaging story carries a gentle environmental message as Bruiser realises the destruction he has caused along his path, ripping up trees and flattening paddocks of daffodils. In the end he is humbled by a tiny baby bird and its mother, and decides to change his ways.

Question Generator

2011-10-04T08:30:00.002+13:00

State Library of Australia/Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

Do you want a fun and easy way to create questions for interviews or for your inquiry?

Click the spin button to generate your question.

Book Week Parade

2011-09-30T08:20:00.000+13:00

Our Book Week Parade has come and gone for another year. Are you in this slideshow?

Any Questions?

2011-09-29T21:06:00.007+13:00

I introduced three students (Years 6-7) to Any Questions this afternoon. It was a spur of the moment thing - I needed a way to help them search for their information independently, and decided Any Questions would fit the bill, and this would also be a great chance to introduce a resource they could use again and again in the future, on their own.

The students are members of our FLL Robotics team, and needed to find out information for their inquiry project relating to food safety. They had no idea this wonderful online resource existed and were amazed and excited to find themselves each chatting to a real librarian online. They each had separate questions, so used a laptop each and logged in to AnyQuestions themselves.

I kept an eye on what was happening and was interested to see how the students responded. The first thing that struck me was how they realised they couldn't type as fast as they wanted to when chatting to their librarian. Also, suddenly spelling naturally became an issue for them - they wanted it right and they were panicking a little (asking me how to spell this or that). Also, I found myself NOT worrying so much about the spelling etc, and just telling them to write what they could and the person at the other end would say if they didn't understand. Of course, the correct spelling was important at the stage of putting key words into search boxes. I showed them how to copy and paste any ideas from the librarian, into a Google search box (to save themselves doing extra typing) - keyboard commands made the process quicker. Not all the students knew how to work with tabs in their browser, so that was another lesson for the day. And bookmarking was refreshed, too. I also kept an eye on the etiquette - greetings and sign-offs, and responding to questions asked of them by the librarian. But, this was just the nuts and bolts stuff.

Of course, being able to read was essential - not only what the librarian was saying to them, but skimming the results that came up on a Google page once their mentored/guided search was underway, and later reading the websites themselves. The big thinking came with forming their question and thinking about possible key words - not easy for all of them.

Once some suitable sites were found, and thanks to the help of their respective librarian guides they were found, the students then needed to read these and glean some information. They'd done enough for the afternoon, and this stage was to be done for homework. The websites and transcripts were emailed home to be referred to later.

At the end, the students all had some good resources to help them. When parents arrived at school to pick up their children (this was an after school session), they were greeted by three VERY excited students who couldn't wait to show them what they'd been doing!

I thought the whole experience was great, and left with a real buzz myself. And I was delighted that there had been three librarians available to give that one-to-one help to my students. Thank you Any Questions!

Carol

Who are these whacky book characters?

2011-09-28T11:43:00.000+13:00

The teachers dressed up as Book characters for Book Week. Can you tell who they dressed as?

Please leave a comment telling us which book characters you recognise!

Click on the photo to see more clearly.

Books take these boys somewhere interesting!

2011-08-25T15:15:00.003+12:00

Books can take you to dangerous worlds, especially if you're a boy!

By Hayden, Freddie and Oliver.

Books can take YOU anywhere!

2011-08-25T09:29:00.006+12:00

Anna (a Year 5 student) already knows that books can take us anywhere! (And this is her first attempt at green-screening in iMovie. She has also been learning to give credit for any Creative Commons photos she finds on the internet, and wishes to use).

Please leave a comment telling us where books have taken YOU.

Long Live the Book - by AbeBooks

2011-08-18T14:22:00.006+12:00

I just came across this beautiful video, mentioned on the Stephen's Lighthouse Blog, and I simply had to share it here.

Next week is Book Week at Springston School (actually, I think that EVERY week should be Book Week)! So, this video is great for reminding us about what books can mean to us.

What other words about books could we add to a video like this?

What word would YOU add to this sentence:

Books are....................

Please leave a comment below and tell us!

Book Week postponed until next week

2011-08-16T12:49:00.003+12:00

Book Week has been postponed until next week because of the snow causing school closures. The same timetable will operate, with Dress Up Day being next Wednesday 24 August.

In the meantime, snuggle up and enjoy some books now - share some reading with mum or dad, or brother/sister/friend.

Where will your imagination take you? What will you learn?

Post a comment below, and let us know where your reading has taken you during these snow days.

Book Review - Bear Grylls: Living Wild

2011-06-23T13:31:00.003+12:00

Author: Bear Grylls

The book Living Wild is about surviving in all terrain in the wild. This book is full of useful information and skills you need to know about before you go for your trek day tramp or weekend camping trip.

My favourite character is Bear because he features most in the book and his ideas are great.
What I enjoyed about this book is that there is so much information about scouting that I did not know before I read it and I thought there was just the right amount of detail.
This book is based on a true story.

This is his first book and if there were any other books he wrote I would be very excited to read them.
I have only read the first book but I would like to read other titles if he wrote more books.
Bear Grylls lives in Britain and is known around the world.

I would recommend this book to people that enjoy camping and tramping or to people who just want to learn about surviving in the wild.
A friend in my classroom recommended this book to me. This book is rated four stars as a good book.

I found it at the school library and I would definitely read this book in the future.
This book is published by 4 books.

By Matthew S.

Latest new books in the library.

2011-06-21T12:27:00.000+12:00

Updates to our Shelfari Bookshelf - Thanks Team Enterprise!

2011-06-10T08:00:00.001+12:00

Thanks to our Team Enterprise students for adding some new books to our Shelfari bookshelf! View our shelf in the right column of this blog, and check out the students' opinions of the books they are reading (hover your mouse over a book). Or go to Shelfari to take a closer look at our bookshelf.

Cyber Citizenship Resources

2011-06-04T20:22:00.008+12:00

Image by Daniel Voyager

Check out our new pages covering different aspects of Cyber Citizenship for Parents and Teachers: Responsible use of information, Online Safety, and Communication. These pages can be viewed at the top of this Blog.

Lively Library

2011-05-25T13:36:00.004+12:00

The Library was a busy place during our first half hour break at lunchtime today! Carol grabbed the camera and captured some of the moments.

Did you notice a wonderful Student Librarian, hard at work shelving books?

Book Xylophone - indeed!

2011-05-22T23:07:00.001+12:00

Now, I bet you never thought of this as a use for your books! But don't go trying it on any books without checking with your parents first!

How do you think they managed to get the different notes from the books?

Kid's Lit Quiz

2011-05-16T13:15:00.003+12:00

On Friday Jahna, Philippa, Oliver and Freddie represented our school at the Kid's Lit Quiz held at Cobham Intermediate School. Approximately 47 teams from all around Canterbury competed. Ten sets of ten questions on a variety of topics were asked, with each team choosing a 'double points' topic.

While the marking was happening spot prizes were given out for answering questions; the audience won book prizes and the children $5 cash, well done Oliver!

The team marks for the different sections were, Ages 6, Alias's 6, Beasts 8, Classics 7, Colours 4, Construction 5, Extra Terrestials 5, Hats 6, Islands 8 and XL 7.

1st place went to Cobham on 83 points followed by Chisnalwood 1 82, Cathedral Grammer 2 81 - a very close competition. Our team finished on 62 points about 16th place.

Well done team, our best effort yet, can't wait until next year! Anyone can try out for the team, it is open to Years 6, 7 & 8. Start reading now!

New! New! New! Loads of new books on the browsing table

2011-05-13T13:24:00.000+12:00

It is a sophisticated picture book

4 new I Hero titles

Two titles from Kirsty Murray's 'Children of the Wind' Series

Stories for horse lovers

Alex recommends Mr Stink. An adventure goes wrong up on Raven's Mountain

Artemis is back!

Winnie has a birthday party

Sensational Survivors- NZ Post finalist

Finalist Junior Fiction NZ Books awards

At last, Hunting stories for the adventurous

'Flush' joins 'Hoot' and 'Scat'by Carl Hiaasen

'Adolphus Tips' Voicethread

2011-05-11T20:15:00.003+12:00

Have you read this book? Please leave a comment on our Voicethread. Click on the 'Comment' button, sign in, choose your identity, and then record your thoughts.

(This post is also published on Team Venture's Blog).

Reporters: Hannah D and Courtney

Next-generation digital book - amazing!

2011-05-05T21:15:00.004+12:00

This short video of a next-generation digital book will blow your mind! I simply had to post it here. You can view more information about this video and its creator, Mike Matas here at TED.

What do you think? Please leave a comment with your thoughts.

2011 Librarians

2011-04-05T11:54:00.015+12:00

Introducing Callum who loves Hunting and Fishing and has just read Bear Grylls book.

Callum has been awarded the 'Librarian of the Month' award for his fantastic attitude and great enthusiasm as a new librarian. Well done Callum!

Haidee loves Michael Morpurgo books and has read lots of them.

Tanna loves netball and rugby and loves her pets.

Alice loves to bake, swimming and loves JK Rowling books.

Annabelle loves to read, swim and dance. Her favourite book is Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo.

Philippa really loves reading Pongwiffy books but reads lots of others too!

Matthew likes Jimi Hendrix music and enjoys gymnastics.

Mollie loves horses and enjoys riding, eventing and reading Roald Dahl books.

Ana enjoys cooking and babysitting and belongs to a marching team.

Jahna loves to play her guitar, listening to Don McLean and climbing. Jahna is close to gaining her GOLD Librarian badge

'Books, Books, Books' Game

2011-04-03T21:04:00.006+12:00

You may enjoying playing this hangman game to find the right kind of book or genre.

I got stuck on one of the clues and almost got hanged - the question about the book about the past - I didn't quite agree with the answer. There was one other I didn't think was quite right - the book with words that rhyme. Perhaps you can post a comment to tell me if you spotted the problems I had.

See how you get on! Go to the website and click the button to 'Play this game!'

Have fun!

The latest fantastic new titles on display now!

2011-03-11T12:35:00.000+13:00

Des Hunt's latest 'The Peco Incident' will not disappoint

New picture books!

Simon says you must read 'SCAT'

'Pongwiffy' books are Philippa's favourite

Bug Buddies.. be in quick and reserve these!

Something for everyone here:)

Fantastic read along story for juniors.

Library Book Bags

2011-03-07T15:10:00.000+13:00

It is great to see most of you with book bags this term. Remember everyone needs a book bag for their library books.

NZ Post Book Awards + Writing Competition

2011-03-07T12:27:00.002+13:00

Come in and check out the finalists for the NZ Post Book Awards for 2011.

Check in for details for the writing competition. You have until 30 April to get your own story, poem or creative writing done. No more than 300 words. Prizes to be won. nzpostbookawards.co.nz

And more fantastic titles...

2011-02-16T15:10:00.001+13:00

Some more fantastic new books for you to read

2011-02-14T14:51:00.004+13:00

Welcome back to school :)

2011-02-14T12:00:00.001+13:00

It is great to see the book bags coming into the library, this will keep the books looking great. Please remember to bring them each time you come to the library.

We have lots of exciting new books for browsing, titles for everyone. They will be available for issue in a week. You can reserve the book- ask at the desk. Check out the books below.

I read four of these over the holidays, I enjoyed them all and they are all very different stories!

FAB book cover for a laptop!

2011-02-11T11:30:00.008+13:00

The new cover for Carol's Macbook Pro has arrived! It's a wonderful cover, created by author and illustrator Colin Thompson. Several of his designs are available from gelaskins and you can use them to cover your ipod or computer.

Carol loves this particular cover because it shows how the imagination can run wild with a good book. If you click on the cover and look more closely, you will see that many of the books have titles that aren't quite right... Can you tell what is wrong with them? How about leaving a comment with the ones you discover. (Here's an example: 'War and Peas' should be 'War and Peace'.

Colin has written some wonderful books and picture books. Why don't you look for some of his titles in our own library? See if you enjoy his illustrations as much as Carol does!

Librarians Wanted!

2011-02-04T21:24:00.003+13:00

An exciting year is ahead in the Library - and we want YOU to be part of it! We need 5 new Librarians. Please come to the Library at first break on Monday 7 February to find out more about being a Librarian.

Do you know this new book? Try the jigsaw.

2010-12-16T17:49:00.005+13:00

New Book

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!

Seen in Wellington

2010-12-12T22:12:00.006+13:00

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?!

The book is dead?

2010-12-03T15:43:00.003+13:00

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!

Order in the Library - Play the game!

2010-11-06T20:54:00.000+13:00

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!

And even more - books on all sorts of topics, come in and browse now.

2010-10-27T13:44:00.000+13:00

And even more fabulous books....

2010-10-20T14:33:00.007+13:00

Take a look at some of the new books in the library this term.

2010-10-20T13:23:00.001+13:00

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

2010-09-30T11:29:00.001+13:00

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.

Holiday reading ideas

2010-09-23T18:18:00.001+12:00

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!

Library on a Donkey

2010-09-16T09:50:00.000+12:00

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.

World Map of Book locations

2010-08-28T19:00:00.002+12:00

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!

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

2010-08-24T14:56:00.003+12:00

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!

Library Week Video Competition - PLEASE VOTE FOR US NOW!

2010-08-18T23:09:00.008+12:00

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!

Welcome to Library Week 2010

2010-08-16T07:45:00.005+12:00

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.

Creative Bookends

2010-08-05T22:30:00.000+12:00

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!

Read this Book!

2010-08-04T08:30:00.000+12:00

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.

National Poetry Day - Friday 30 July

2010-07-26T20:20:00.003+12:00

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?!

Two great new Book Reviews on Shelfari

2010-07-22T10:15:00.005+12:00

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!

Welcome back - Term 3

2010-07-19T08:00:00.062+12:00

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

2010-07-19T08:00:00.042+12:00

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

New titles in the Library

2010-07-19T08:00:00.041+12:00

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

New titles in the Library

2010-07-19T08:00:00.039+12:00

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

Library Blog Crossword Puzzle 1

2010-07-09T08:00:00.001+12:00

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

Click on any of the numbered squares, and a clue will appear at the top of the puzzle.
Read the clue and type your answer into the box beside the clue.
Press 'Enter'.
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).

Great Game: Inference Battleship

2010-07-02T23:24:00.004+12:00

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!

Winners of Library Book Week Competition 1 - Create a bookmark

2010-06-27T19:00:00.002+12:00

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

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

2010-06-25T08:00:00.004+12:00

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.

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.

Winners of the Library Book Week Competition 2 - First line of your book?

2010-06-24T00:20:00.013+12:00

We had lots of entries in this competition, from all over the world! It was great to have some parents and teachers taking part too!

It was really interesting to see the first lines of the books you were reading (you can read them all here). However, there could only be 4 winners, and these were selected by a lucky draw. The winners are:

Jack Thorp - Room 7
Jahna - Room 7
Katy - Room 7
Isabella Marra - A+ Adventurers (Room 2)

Congratulations! Your prizes will be handed out at next week's assembly.

If you found this activity interesting, you may like to go to the KidderLit website and check out the selection of first liners from books within your own age group or area of interest.

Book Trailer by Morgan and Kachina: 'Dead Girls Don't Write Letters'

2010-06-23T12:32:00.006+12:00

Another wonderful Book Trailer from the the Year 7/8 Extension Reading Group, this book written by Gail Giles.

Emma-Rose's Book Trailer Video - 'One Door Away from Heaven' by Dean Koontz

2010-06-18T08:30:00.000+12:00

Another wonderful Book Trailer from the the Year 7/8 Extension Reading Group. This one is scary though, so we suggest you view it first, before showing to younger children.

Library Book Week Competition 3 - Library Blog Treasure Hunt

2010-06-15T19:00:00.001+12:00

This competition aims to help you get to know this blog better.

The Treasure Hunt has 10 questions.

Click here to download the Treasure Hunt (it is a pdf), then print it off.

Put your name and room number at the top of the page. Then print your answers neatly in the space under each question.

When you have finished the Treasure Hunt, put it in the Treasure Hunt box in the Library.

This competition closes on Wednesday next week - 23 June, at 9:00 am sharp. All correct answers will go in a lucky draw - the first 4 correct entries drawn will win a prize. Image attribution Treasure Map: veezzle.com Image ID: 575957
Image attribution Treasure Chest: veezzle.com Image ID: 375180

Library Book Week Competition 2 - First line of your book?

2010-06-14T19:00:00.003+12:00

Have you noticed the KidderLit widget down the right side of this Blog? It gives the first line (sentence actually) from a number of children's books.

It is interesting to see the many ways that different authors start their books! Here is the first line of the book that I'm reading at the moment:

One of my first memories is of learning to read. ('The Book Whisperer', by Donalyn Miller 2009)

To enter the competition, post a comment below, and tell us the first line of the book YOU are reading now (for pleasure - not a classroom reader), along with the Title and Author of the book (don't forget to sign the post with your first name, too, so we know who is entering the competition).

We will hold a lucky draw of all the comments posted by Springston School students.

The first four comments drawn will win a prize!

The deadline for comments to enter this competition is 9:00 pm on Thursday night. Amended deadline - now 9:00 am Wednesday morning 23 June.

Library Book Week Competition 1 - Create a bookmark

2010-06-13T13:46:00.014+12:00

This is the first of 3 competitions being posted on the Library Blog this week. Look out for the other competitions on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings!

Create a bookmark completely on a computer, print it off and bring it along to the Library to be displayed and judged. (Note: the bookmarks pictured above were NOT made on a computer and would not count in the competition):

You can make your bookmark at home, or at school.
You could use Kid Pix or Pages (Page Layout section), or any other suitable software to make your Bookmark.
Be sure to include your Name and Year level on the back of your bookmark, or on an attached piece of paper.
Entries will be in two sections, Years 1-4 and Years 5-8, with two prizes for each section.
Students in the Senior section are asked to add words to their bookmark that encourage people to read.

Bookmarks will be judged on design and creativity (and for senior students, also how well the message on the bookmark encourages someone to read).

All entries must be received in the Library no later than 9:00 am on Friday morning. Have fun making your bookmark! Amended deadline - now 9:00 am Wednesday morning 23 June.

Image Attribution: "Day 158 -- Featuring Bookmarks by SEP+Book+Club"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97651299@N00/3606154474

Mollie's Book Trailer Video - 'Chosen by a Horse' by Susan Richards

2010-06-10T12:12:00.000+12:00

The Year 7/8 Extension Reading Group has been working with Carol for 40 minutes each week to create Book Trailers. They viewed some examples on the internet, and decided they could do even better!

Mollie loves horses, and hers was the first book trailer to be finished ready for the blog. Here it is! Enjoy!

(The difficult to read list of credits at the end includes the Creative Commons images used in this video).

MORE new titles in the library!

2010-06-10T11:31:00.003+12:00

More new books 10 June

2010-06-10T11:23:00.003+12:00

An intriguing story, I am reading this at present.

Another great Fleur Beale story.

New books 10 June

2010-06-10T11:15:00.006+12:00

Things to do on those rainy days

More fun and laughter from your favourite authors

A search engine with a difference!

2010-06-09T09:00:00.000+12:00

I've just found Sortfix. What a great tool to guide children through how to form an effective web search! This would be great to use in the classroom or at home.

Watch the demo video first, and learn how to type in a search word, and then have Sortfix help you decide which 'power words' to use to narrow down your search. Drag the words you need, into the 'Add to Search' Box; and the words you don't want, into the 'Remove' Box. You will be able to see how these words are added to, or removed from, your original words in the main search box. Then Sortfix finds the search results for you!

Definitely worth looking at, to learn how to use key words and different search terms to search more effectively.

Poll: How many books do you read?

2010-05-31T07:58:00.003+12:00

Dr Seuss Books Jigsaw Puzzle

2010-05-22T19:27:00.020+12:00

Click this image to go to the puzzle at Jigsaw Planet.

If you are like me, you love Dr Seuss books - I have a shelf full of them at home!

I found a great photo of a few of the Dr Seuss books, and thought I would turn it into a jigsaw puzzle for you. The puzzle has 63 pieces and took me 18:17 minutes to complete the first time. How long will it take you? (Tip: The puzzle does not take up the whole screen, and is portrait-shaped, not landscape).

If you'd like to do an easier 20 piece version of the same puzzle, click here: seuss.

Try the puzzle and then post a comment to tell us your favourite Dr Seuss book. Please leave your first name and age with your post.

Puzzle Image Attribution: Image: 'SEUSS!'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44707814@N00/2403276073

2010 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards winners announced

2010-05-20T09:45:00.005+12:00

The winners of the 2010 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards have been announced today. You can view the full list of winners here.

Picture Book and New Zealand Post Book of the Year: Old Hu-Hu by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Rachel Driscoll.

Honour Award: The Word Witch by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by David Elliot and edited by Tessa Duder.

Non-fiction: E3 Call Home by Janet Hunt.

Junior Fiction: The Loblolly Boy by James Norcliffe.

Young Adult Fiction: Blood of the Lamb: The Crossing by Mandy Hager.

Best First Book Award: The Bone Tiki by David Hair.

Children's Choice Award: The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith, illustrated by Katz Cowley.

Have you read any of these books? If so, please post us a comment to let us know which book/s you've read and what you thought of them.

New magazine - National Geographic KIDS

2010-05-07T11:38:00.002+12:00

Come and check out the new magazine in the library, National Geographic KIDS.

New titles in the library

2010-05-07T11:35:00.001+12:00

We have approximately 30 new books in the library, something for everyone. They are for browsing only at the moment but come in and have a look and you can reserve the book. You will find them on the display stands.

The NZ Post book awards will be announcing the winners on 19 May 2010. Some of the finalist books are circulating the classrooms, some are in the library. Come in and see!

Reading for Life - This is reading

2010-04-28T08:30:00.009+12:00

Famous actors, musicians and other celebrities read aloud and show how reading is central to their lives. A very clever video!

Perhaps you could get together with a friend, and make a video like this yourself! Who could you get to read for your video? What books would they read from? Now, there's a challenge!

Bookworm Game

2010-04-21T08:30:00.000+12:00

Click on the image above to go to the Bookworm Adventures game. Play the game online, don't download it. First, click the link to 'Learn how to play', then 'Play the game'.

You'll have lots of fun making words and trying to get a high score, before the burning tiles reach the bottom of the screen.

Post a Comment below, to tell us your highest score in one session in this free online version of the game! Tell us only your first name and age in your Comment.

Our Bookshelf on Shelfari

2010-04-17T01:47:00.002+12:00

Your Librarians have a new bookshelf on Shelfari, where we can put the books we have read.

You can see the most recent books we've read on the Shelfari bookshelf in our blog sidebar.

Or you can look at ALL the books we have placed on our bookshelf by following the link in the blog sidebar. There will be a widening range of books appearing there, suitable for student readers of all levels, as well as for parents.

You can see ratings for books, and read brief book reviews by your Librarians or from other readers.

Shelfari is a great place to find ideas for the next book you could read. You might even want to create your own bookshelf there, but please check with your parents first, before doing this.

New! Delicious Bookmarks

2010-04-10T00:29:00.011+12:00

No, we are not cooking up delicious bookmarks for you to eat!

But, we have been busy collecting and organising bookmarks to some fabulous websites for you, on a special website called delicious.

You can view our rapidly growing list of bookmarks on delicious, organised according to curriculum areas and tagged to help you find topics of interest and relevant to what you are learning about at school.

Try it out, have a browse - go to the website, type in a tag (keyword) and search for something you're learning about. You'll be amazed at the websites you'll find listed for educational use. There are also lots of links to fun online games to support literacy and numeracy education, for use in the classroom or at home.

Down the sidebar of this blog you will also see the newest bookmarks listed on delicious, to tempt you to look further.

We hope you find delicious to be useful, as well as fun!

Image: 'chocolate milkshake'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37187217@N07/4178624922

Happy Easter!

2010-04-02T02:28:00.009+13:00

We hope you have a wonderful Easter holiday with family, and friends, and... a few great books to read while you nibble those Easter eggs! The weather forecast isn't looking too flash, so you might have a chance to put your feet up for a while and settle into a good book.

How about posting us a Comment below, and telling us what you are reading during the holiday break!

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2010 Competition: Years 4-10

2010-03-29T21:53:00.005+13:00

(Click on the picture above to see a bigger version).

Here is a FUN competition for Years 4-10 students! Have you seen the book, Dear Alison, by Simon Pollard (ed.)?

This might be a great project to do in your class!

Or maybe you'd just like to do it for fun!

Either way, you're sure to have fun creating your A4 diary page and decorating it! You can use any format to create it, too!

It can be based on any character in any of the 'New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards' finalist books. When you have finished, your teacher can enter it in the competition for you. Entries close on 5 May.

Good luck!

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2010 Competition: Pre-school - Year 3

2010-03-25T08:42:00.006+13:00

(Click on the picture above to see a bigger version).

This looks like such a FUN competition for Junior students! Have you seen the book, Piggity Wiggity Jiggity Jig Goes to Dad's Cafe, by Diana Neild and Phillip Webb?

This might be a great project to do in your class!

Or maybe you'd just like to do it for fun!

Either way, I bet you'll have fun designing your dish and naming it! When you have finished, your teacher can enter it in the competition for you. Entries close on 5 May.

Good luck!

Kids' Lit Quiz

2010-03-18T15:59:00.009+13:00

Do you love reading...., read a lot of books...., like to have fun....? Then the Kid's Kit Quiz may be for you!

The Kids' Lit Quiz is a major national celebration of books and reading. It is a great competition with other schools to test your knowledge about books, characters, authors and more. The winning team from each heat competes in a National Final. National Champions then compete in the World Final, which is in Edinburgh (Scotland) this year.

Anyone from Year 6, 7 or 8 who is interested in being in the team to represent our school is invited to come to the Library in the first break on Monday 22 March.

Have you "checked out" the new Library website?

2010-03-17T19:48:00.007+13:00

We have a new Library website, along with this Library Blog - have you seen it? You can get to it from a link off the Springston School homepage, as well as from this Blog. Please check it out, and bookmark it on your computer at home.

This Library website has been created so that you can find some of the quality resources that are available on the internet - some great sites that may help you find information a little more easily. The Library website is organised into different sections to help you find what you want.

The website is still being developed, and new links will be added. Our next step will be to create a Delicious bookmark account for the Library, where we can store useful bookmarks for students to use at home or at school. So, keep looking back over the next few weeks to see these new developments. And, if you know of a really good web site for students, please post us a comment letting us know what it is, so we can consider adding it to the website, or to the Delicious bookmarks.

We're looking forward to hearing your ideas!

Imagine reading this many books!

2010-03-12T19:27:00.007+13:00

Here's a New Zealand family with a wonderful 'addiction' to books and reading - a family of book worms! Read the online article about them from the Dominion Post newspaper.

They have borrowed 2044 books in the past year! Read about why they love reading, and check out the list of their favourite books.

Do you keep a list of the books you read?

How many books to you think you might have read in the past year?

Please let us know by commenting below!

Teacher Book Wizard helps you find suitable books

2010-03-12T00:20:00.002+13:00

Use Scholastic's free Teacher Book Wizard to help you find suitable children's books. Search by Title or Author or keyword, and find a book at the interest level for your age, and your reading ability.

Try it and see if it works for you, then post a comment below, to tell us what you think.

Meet our Librarians for 2010

2010-03-05T20:07:00.004+13:00

Congratulations and welcome to our Librarians for 2010:

Morgan, Chloe, Alex, Philippa, Sara, Kachina, Emily, Ana, Matthew and Jahna.

Gotta Keep Reading!

2010-02-28T18:28:00.003+13:00

From 'Gotta Keep Reading - Ocoee Middle School'

Wow! You've got to admire their enthusiasm for reading! Is there anyone at Springston School who could develop a rap about reading and organise a dance routine for our whole school? You could do it in Garageband. Now, there's a challenge :-)

Robert Swindells

2010-02-25T11:40:00.005+13:00

We have seven more Robert Swindells titles in the library:

Timesnatch
Nightmare Stairs
Room 13
The Secret of Weeping Wood
Inside the Worm
In the Nick of Time
The Shade of Hettie Daynes

Other titles that I really enjoyed but not in our library are Abomination, and my favourite, When Darkness Comes. There are a lot more available.

We love reading because...

2010-02-24T12:24:00.012+13:00

I love reading because you can travel to other worlds from 3000 years ago to the future, you can let yourself go in another place not your own. (Emily, Room 7 Year 8)

I love reading because it can let me into any story, is unpredictable and gives me excitement. It can switch me off to the world around me and tell me almost everything I need to know. ( Jahna, Room 7 Year 7 )

I love reading because you get to travel to other worlds and still be sitting in your own living room. You can understand what the author is thinking and you can use reading in your daily life. (Kachina, Room 7 Year 8)

I love reading because it helps me extend my knowledge about things. It also helps me find out what time the bus goes. (Libby, Room 7 Year 8)

I love reading because it captivates you into other people's worlds and you can live like them in your imagination, I also love reading because you can find out so much about anything you choose and can learn amazing things about the past, today and the future. (Mollie, Room 7 Year 7)

I love reading because it opens up my mind, and helps me get through daily life such as, following directions, reading bus routes, and of course the pleasure of reading other people's point of view. (Morgan, Room 7 Year 8)

Why do YOU love reading? Please post us a comment and let us know!

New titles and reserved books.

2010-02-24T11:19:00.016+13:00

The new titles in the library are now available for issuing. Please collect your reserves as soon as possible.

Watch out for Des Hunt's latest, The Crocodile Nest. If you haven't read any of Des Hunt's books you should!

Des Hunt is a New Zealand author who specialises in action-packed adventures in the natural landscape. We have 10 of his novels in our library. This one is set in New Zealand's Coromandel Peninsula and in Queensland, Australia.

Also new and soon available is Robert Swindells' Shrapnel. This is a great story about a teenage boy during World War Two in England: "A gripping wartime drama".

New Henderson's Boys Books

2010-02-10T14:53:00.005+13:00

New to the library for year 7 and 8 are the latest two Henderson's Boys titles; The Escape and Eagle Day by Robert Muchamore.
Come in and reserve these now, they will be available for issue from Week 3 of Term 1.

The Escape: Takes place as Hitler's army advances towards Paris. Amidst the chaos, two British children are being hunted by German agents...

Eagle Day: Hitler has conquered France and now he intends to defeat Britain, a young group of refugees led by British spy, Charles Henderson, faces a stark choice. To head south into the safety of neutral Spain, or go north on a risky mission to sabotage the German invasion plans.

If you love these books you will be interested to check out the Cherub Campus web site for lots of information and character profiles and bonus stories related to the series of books.

Welcome to our Library Blog

2010-02-10T14:28:00.006+13:00

Welcome to our new library blog. This is a new and exciting time for the library so keep checking back here for what is happening in the library. If you know how to subscribe to a blog you might like to do that.

This is where you will find out what new titles are in the library, you may like to make suggestions of books that you would like to see on the shelves.