Woodlands Park School Library
Thursday 4 April 2024
Colouring competition winners!
Thursday 12 October 2023
Storylines National Story Tour
We were thrilled to hear that we had won another Storylines National Story Tour visit recently. Tessa Duder and Peter Millett visited our school on Monday 11 August. It was such an honour to hear from Tessa CNZM OBE. We were fascinated by her life story, including her swimming medal, working on the Spirit of Adventure, visiting Scott Base, and the research she did for her new book, The Sparrow.
Both authors talked about research and about intermingling fiction and non-fiction (historical fiction). Peter shared some interesting choices that he asked the illustrator to make in The Anzac Puppy, and how he conducted his research in the days before the internet. It was interesting to hear about the challenge he had in making sure the ending was right. Our Y5/6 ākonga will have gleaned so much from this - as their teachers are talking to them about the importance of research and rewriting before publishing. Thank you Storylines for an excellent visit! Kate, WPS Librarian
Thursday 20 July 2023
It's buzzing back at school
The beginning of term is always busy in the library - training new class and lunchtime librarians, getting the National Library books out to the classes, putting up new displays, etc. It's a buzz :) We're looking at bees this term. Pop in - it's a hive of activity ;)
Wednesday 28 June 2023
Colouring competition winners
Congratulations to Pearl, Sorcha and Lilly from Room 8 who placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Tim Bray "The Magic Faraway Tree" colouring competition, and to their teacher Lee for encouraging them!
I loved reading "The Magic Faraway Tree" by Enid Blyton to my own children, who are now young adults. I know many teachers have enjoyed reading this book to their classes over the years. When I saw the competition on FB, I thought it would be fun to share it with children at lunchtimes in the library, and with the teachers.
Children of all ages loved colouring in the pictures. I posted a big envelope full of entries in time for the deadline and wished them luck.
I know we have talented children at Woodlands Park School, and was thrilled when I received the email saying that despite over 150 entries, we had won all three places in the age 8+ category!
First prize is a family pass to the Tim Bray production, and 2nd and 3rd prizes are book vouchers from the wonderful Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop. Here are some pics of the happy prizewinners.
I told the children that there would be children entering from all around the country, but it's always worth giving something a go.
Thank you so much to Tim Bray and Dorothy Butlers Children's Bookshop for putting a smile on these faces.
Monday 15 May 2023
Authors Around the Alphabet
I love mixing things up a bit in the library. Not too much - as it's great when children know where to find books - but enough to keep it interesting. I have a display shelf that I use for this purpose. This year, I'm running a theme called "Authors Around the Alphabet".
Every couple of weeks or so, I change the display around, so that it features authors whose last name starts with a letter in the alphabet. We've been through A, B, C, D and we're up to E & F. You can just imagine all the wonderful picture book and chapter book authors that I've had on display.
How it works:
- When a class comes in they usually get seated on the mat. I often chat to them and offer to read them a story. I will point out anything new on the main wall display (eg. Inquiry topic books, book award displays, etc). Then I'll say - "Now, in Authors around the Alphabet, we're up to..."
- This gives me an opportunity to point out some of the authors' names and their wonderful books to the children, so that they can start making connections and finding favourite authors. It helps to circulate books so that many older books get a chance to be featured and be on face out display.
- I chat to the children about how one letter on the spine signifies that the book is a picture book and three letters, being the first three letters of the authors' name, shows that it is a chapter book. So there is a wee library lesson in there too. If the children are young, I might chat to them about the sound of the letter too.
- Then I'll dive in and read them a book from the display, and invite them to borrow books from there.
So far we've really enjoyed books by Pamela Allen, Aaron Blabey, Anthony Browne, Joy Cowley, Julia Donaldson, Lynley Dodd and Ian Falconer, to name a few.
I'm really enjoying this little excercise. It offers teachable moments about how the library works, and introduces the concept of authors. I get excited when I discover books I haven't read aloud before too. Such fun!
Monday 3 April 2023
Stacy Gregg's fabulous visit!
Wednesday 22 March 2023
Stacy Gregg is visiting Woodlands Park School!
Kia ora,
Stacy also wrote the script for this new TV series:
Also, I borrowed some Stacy Gregg books from the National Library for issuing. I'm currently reading Prince of Ponies - it's gripping!