Christmas Fun

Welcome to the end of the school year!  The Library has had a great year, and we are so happy that you are enjoying our books, looking at the blog, and reading, reading, reading!!


Just for fun, this is a Muppets clip, with Christmas bellringing.  Watch and enjoy!!

Looking forward to seeing you next year -with lots of new books and heaps of fun things happening!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It's Stocktake Time.... still looking for books.....

Thank you to everyone who has looked for books at home, and at school, and returned their overdue issues!!
If we have fewer books disappear, we can spend our library budget on buying new and exciting titles, not simply replacing lost ones.  We really appreciate your help to find our missing books.


As of today, 23 books are still waiting to be found and returned to your library.  Can you help them to come home?

They will feel like this....

And I will feel like this....!

...from Mrs Nicol

Primary Sources

When you are doing research on a historical topic, it is easy to find so much information that it is overwhelming! To narrow this down a little, you might choose to search for a 'Primary Source'.  
This means information that was made at the  time : like diaries, letters, photos, film footage, even things like drawings and crafts.
So 'The Diary of Anne Frank' is a Primary Source from World War 2, but a novel written about it last year is not.


Below is a short video from National Libraries, showing some historical documents they hold, and why they are important.  It is good to know that our own New Zealand history is being looked after!

Book Sculptures

Some artists do more than just read books - Su Blackwell makes some amazing sculptures.  She often uses fairy tale themes.  Can you recognise some?


Remember these are all made from old, unable-to-be-fixed books - and never, never from library books!!!!  :-)

Maidstone's New Library

Maidstone Intermediate opened its new library this week.  It looks amazing - and here are a few photos to show you just how great it is!

Mrs Asprey has done a wonderful job planning and organising the new library, and it is a fantastic environment for reading and learning.




Congratulations from all of us!

Library Survey 2011

 This year, the library survey is online!
This will save a lot of paper - and one class can complete the survey all together instead of individually, if you prefer.  Thank you for your feedback, and helping to improve your library!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Joy Cowley at Plateau School

It was wonderful to have Joy Cowley come and visit us at school!

It was exciting to hear her read her new book, and wasn't she a great

live storyteller, also??!

Here is Jakob receiving his prize of books and Telstra Clear vouchers

...storytelling in action...

...and a short masterclass in creative writing for Ruru Room!

It was a fantastic visit, and thank you to Penguin Books for the $500 pack of books for the school library. We will all really appreciate them!!

A story for a new term

Welcome back to Term 4!  Today's blogpost is a story for the juniors to enjoy - Joy Cowley reading her own story 'Mrs Wishy Washy and the Big Wash'  I hope you like it :-)

And don't forget.... Joy is visiting us this Thursday!!!!!  Many congratulations to Jakob L for winning the competition..... fantastic!!!

October 6 -Dragonese Day!

Happy How to Train a Dragon Day!

This series just keeps getting better and better!  To celebrate, we have the official clip with the author, Cressida Cowell, talking about the books and how she was inspired to write them...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Today's clip is an interview with Eric Carle, talking about how he developed 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', and demonstrating how he illustrates his books.  He is a very clever man!  Maybe it will give some of you ideas for things to try in the holidays...

For lovers of the Mr Gum books...

I was very excited to find the official 'Mr Gum' website!


It has all the craziness of the books, and lots of great audio, too.  
I especially recommend taking a look at 'Bag of Sticks' and also 'Lamonic Bibber Soundtrack', which (slightly sadly) entertained me for hours.


Click on the Mr Gum image on the book links on the righthand side of the blog!

(Also newly added to book links on the blog are 'The Magic School Bus' and 'Judy Moody'.  If you like the books,  have a look at them, too!)

Scorpia Rising

The library's newest book in the Alex Rider series is 'Scorpia Rising'
Seniors may have been following the series, which doesn't lose any excitement and action in this latest book!


Click below to view the trailer- and come to the library to get the book!

It's Roald Dahl Day today!

September 13th is Roald Dahl Day, so to celebrate,  here is a link to Roald Dahl reading his own poem 'Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf', from 'Revolting Rhymes'. Just click on the title below, and on the 'play' symbol.


I hope you enjoy it!




Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

Cover of Roald Dahl

Library Week - Day 5

Today is the last day of Library Week :(


However, we still have some great things planned!  We will have the Library Olympics after morning tea, so get your brains (and your feet) warmed up!


The competition prizewinners will be announced at assembly this afternoon by Miss O'Keeffe.


The last clip for this week is about The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and it is a talk by the author, Jeff Kinney.  Enjoy!!

For the juniors, here's another Sesame Street clip to end the week!

Happy Library Week - and thank you, everybody!  (especially to the teachers....), for supporting all the events!

Library Week - Day 4

Today is a very special day because we have Holly Gooch coming to visit.  Holly is a professional author and storyteller, and we are very lucky that she is coming to our school!


Here is another fun clip for you to watch - do you like Mr Bean?

Library Week - Day 3

Welcome to 'Dress Up Like a Book Character Day'!  What is your favourite costume??


Today's clip is just for fun - no learning involved.  If you worked at Harper Collins publishers, and were bored at lunchtime, what do you think you might do with all the books just lying around? 

How long do you think it took them to pick all those up?  :-)

Library Week - Day 2

Yesterday we had a clip to celebrate Library Week that was probably more interesting for the seniors....  today here is one for the juniors....although who doesn't love Cookie Monster?  Especially when he's in the Library!!

I hope you enjoyed that - and it will be great to see you tomorrow in costume :-)

Welcome to Library Week 2011!!

We have lots of fun and exciting things planned this week, and hope that you really enjoy them.


To start off the week with  some serious learning, though, have a look at this tutorial on the Dewey system....

New Books 15 August 2011

New books for this week include:

The Emperor of Nihon-Ja: the latest in the Ranger's Apprentice series.  This book is based around Horace, who finds himself unexpectedly helping out the Emperor, with his friends on the way to assist.....

Also, we have a new series call Jigsaw Jones, 

which is a mystery series for Years 3 - 5...     

There is an Eric Carle picture book - you will all know what else he has written just by the style of his art on the cover!

Have a look, also, at our latest Margaret Mahy book, where a computer isn't quite all that it seems!

Happy Reading, everyone!

NERDS!

Have you seen the new NERDS series in the library yet?

Written by Michael Buckley - who also writes the Sisters Grimm graphic novels - we have the first two in the library, and the third is coming soon!!  Nerds are given superpowers to save the world...and they aren't the kind of powers you usually think of!  Come and have a look at the 2nd book on the New Books stand this week.....and in the meantime, here is a link to Michael Buckley talking about them!

A New Term, and a New Display...

Margaret Mahy

                    ...Is one of our best-loved Kiwis, and deservedly so!


She has written over 100 picture books and 40 novels.
Her own favourite book is 'The Lion in the Meadow'.

   Maybe it's your favourite, too?

The Library has a new display to start off Term 3, celebrating Margaret Mahy and her work. Come in and issue one of her wonderful books - one you've read before and loved, perhaps,  or maybe something new....!

'The Cat on the Mat is Flat'

Do you think Andy Griffiths is funny?

Have you read 'Just Crazy'?  Or 'Just Stupid'? Or even 'The Day my Bum went Psycho'?

If you think his books are funny and a bit crazy, click on the video link below, and watch Andy read (or try to read) to his cat.....

do you think you could do a better job than Andy?

New weblinks!

Have you ever wanted to learn to touch type?  It's a great skill to have, and will really impress your teachers, too!  There is now a friendly bee in the ultranet library corner - on the homework helpers page - who will give you access to a BBC Dance Mat Learn to Type website.  Have some fun and learn something really useful at the same time!

We have also got some new links on the blog, as you can see, linking to some favourite books and characters.  Have some fun with
 The Gruffalo  

or research the 39 Clues!



More will be added, so don't forget to come back and check often!!

...and the winners are...!

The NZ Post Book Award winners have been announced!

The winner of the Picture Book Category AND the overall Book of the Year  is:
 The Moon and Farmer McPhee

Congratulations to Margaret Mahy!

The Children's Choice winner was... any guesses?
Yes, it was..

Baa Baa Smart Sheep.

Junior Fiction Winner was:
Finnigan and the Pirates

And the best First Book Award went to
Hollie Chips.

These are all great books, and of course they are all in our library - so come and have a look at them while they are on display for one more week, and then they will be available for issue.

New Books 9 May 2011

Welcome to the new week - and our new books!
This week we have on the shelf some classics and some newer writing.




Stellaluna is the story of a baby bat, who finds herself trying to fit in, and realises some of her differences can really be an advantage!  This story is also a readaloud story on the Storytimeonline site (see Fun Stuff links).


We also have The Nightmare Before Christmas in a manga graphic novel format, to be read back to front!

On a more serious note, we have a biography of Anne Frank, and some science tricks from The Surfing Scientist.
  

Happy Reading!!

New Books 2 May 2011

On the New Book Display this week, we have...

Book 7 of the 39 Clues series: The Viper's Nest

  ..and a new Space Scout adventure!

We also have  a My Story adventure, about World War 2, a great book about Hurricanes, and a great comic book about Autism called 'What's Up with Ben?'

A new picture book called 'Witchy Goes Shopping' is a great readaloud, and there is a new Pearlie adventure too!  Enjoy looking at them, and come and see Mrs Nicol if you would like to reserve any!

  

NZ Post Children's Book Awards

The Book Awards are on again! We have many of the finalists this year, and you may have seen these books below during your class library time.

Picture Books:

Fiction:

Non-fiction:

If you would like to make your own vote for your favourite, click on this link!