Ain't No Party Like a Library Book Club Party!

Yesterday was our last Book Club for the year. We celebrated by eating junk food (yes, in the library! Our Book Club numbers have fluctuated throughout  the year, due to sport commitments and the like but out regular members can be seen in the picture below munching away at their treats.

Book Club has been such a blast this year. Thank you to all of you for your reviews, chats and general madness! 

To anyone interested in joining Book Club next year, here are a few more reasons to tempt you...

Book Club gets first pick of any new books that are accessed into the library. 

Book Club type up reviews which often are published here on the library blog.

Book Club occasionally get treats, like biscuits. 

Digital Book Trailers

This is a project the Grade Sevens undertook in library and I'm so excited to share a few of the final products on the blog today. Book reviews form a big part of our library curriculum, learners practice creating blurbs for books they've read using elements that publishers would use in order to create an interest in reading the book. Learners also learn that it's OK to give an honest opinion about a book they've read. 

By the time Grade Seven comes around, book reviews can begin to feel a bit like a chore. So, we shook up the concept of a book review by deciding to create digital book trailers. The Grade Sevens worked in groups. They made a unanimous decision about which book they were going to "advertise". They then created a storyboard. Over the course of the following lessons, they used Windows Movie Maker to create a trailer. The Grade Sevens also learnt a little about copyright and borrowing images from websites. They were given the instruction to include credits to where they found images on the web. The music they used was from copyright free sites. This project took a little while to complete but I was completely amazed by how creative the Grade Sevens got. I was so proud of them after watching their completed trailers. Library also became a fun session, I was often greeted at the door by eager faces asking if they were going to work on their trailers during their lesson. 

Below is one really excellent trailer from each class. Well done to every Grade Seven pupil though on the effort they put into their trailers.

The Enemy  Created by Matt B and Kieran C (7Du)

Spud   Created by Tristan, Vito, Morgan and Josh (7Ke)

                   

Twilight   Created by Jade, Leah and Rhiannon (7Nu)

                     

The Hunger Games   Created by James B and Gabriel (7Sk)

                     

The Big Return to the LIbrary

Over the next two weeks every class in the school will be visiting the library for the last time in 2012. Can you believe we've reached this point of the year already?

The good news is that it means a lovely holiday is around the corner. The bad news is that it's also the time that every one returns any library book they currently have out on their name. Our books are well-read and need a little holiday too!

If you have any outstanding books, you are welcome to drop them off at the library at break or after school and don't forget to bring those bags when you visit with your class.

If you need a reading fix during the December holidays, why don't you pop in to one of the local libraries? Joining is free and they allow you to take up to ten books out! Here are a few libraries that are close by:

Fish Hoek Library

Central Circle, Fish Hoek

021 784 2030

Ocean View Library

Carina Close, Ocean View

021 783 1887

Kommetjie Library

Somerset Road, Kommetjie

021 783 1848

It's Blog, Blog, Blogs for Grade Sixes in the Library!

Here is another post brought to you by our amazing Grade Six bloggers! This post was written by Liam, Cole, James and Fayan in Grade 6 Williams. They chose the "Top Ten Books" topic. I think they did a pretty good job of selling the books on their list!

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Top 10 Must Reads

These books are the top ten books in our opinion that we suggest you read, that is if you haven’t read them already!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is a fast-paced, action-packed book. It can get sad and violent and is not for the light-hearted.

Skulduggery Pleasant (The Faceless Ones) by Derek Landy

Skulduggery Pleasant is a hilarious book filled with magic and mystery.

It is impossible to put down.

Percy Jackson (The Lightning Thief) by Rick Riordan

It is an action packed, fictional, page turner. Don’t read this book if you don’t like magical action.

Artemis Fowl (The Opal Deception) By Eion Colfer

It is an action-packed, awesome book. It is a brilliant mix of sci–fi and fantasy.

Harry Potter and The Order of the Pheonix by J.K. Rowling

It is a magical book of wonder and has a brilliant plot. This is a definite must read.

Supernaturalist by Eion Colfer

This is a really good sci-fi book. It shows a fairly near future where the greed of the human race has grown immensely.

Inkeart by Cornelia Funke

Inkheart is a very original book. There is no other book like this. It is really good.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

A well written, epic fantasy adventure that goes on and on but, by the end, you want it to go on longer.

The Enemy by Charlie Higson

The Enemy is a scary but gripping book. If you like horror you must read this book.   

The Witches by Roald Dahl       

The Witches is a happy book. It's funny and amazing and if you have a little sister this is a great bed time story to read her (and to scare her with!)     

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Read other blog posts by our talented Grade Six writers here!

Dinosaurs in the LIbrary

The Grade Threes are currently learning all about dinosaurs in class, a topic they are very enthusiastic about! During library they have been exploring their creative side by writing funny poems about dinosaurs.

Before we began, we learnt about where dinosaur books can be found on the library shelves according to the Dewey Decimal system. They were then taken through a process to help them construct a poem and once they had all their planning in place, they set off to write their masterpieces.

Some found it challenging, some couldn't stop the words tumbling from their brain to their pages, but overall their efforts resulted in hilarious dinosaur poems.

The following poem was written by Aaron in Grade Three Hewson. He thought it would be funny for a dinosaur to find its way into the library.

A Dinosaur In The Library

By Aaron O

A dinosaur in the library.

But, how could this be?

Did it jump through the roof?

Or climb in using a tree?

The dinosaur reads a book. 

The teacher is so scared, hiding under the desk

without phoning the policeman who is sleepy in his bed.

The clock strikes five, the dinosaur gets a fright.

The dinosaur runs away saying; "Goodbye and goodnight!"

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Isn't Aaron's poem brilliant? I can't wait to see what the Grade Three girls come up with during Library next week!

The Adventures of Roald Dahl

Last term, the Grade Six learners discovered the world of blogging. After learning what a blog is and how to write a post for a blog, they set off to research a topic for a blog post from a list of options. Their finished blog articles were amazing and a few of them will be shared here on Birdie Bookworms over the next few weeks. 

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This post was written by Kim, Paige and Rebekah in Grade Six Suter. They choose the "Favourite Author" topic and found out some interesting things about Roald Dahl's life.

Have you ever wondered about Roald Dahl’s life? His favourite things and his best books? This blog post will give you all the information you need to know. 

Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales in 1996. Roald Dahl’s first school was Llandaff Cathedral School, St Peters, Repton. For his first job, he was a representative in East Africa for the Shell Oil Company. He was also a RAF fighter pilot in the Second World War in the 1940, he had a bad plane crash so he ended up retiring and became an author. His Norwegian parents had five children, he was the only boy. His youngest sister died at the age of seven, and his father died two months after from heart pain. He was three when his father died.

His first piece of writing was about his adventures in war, which was bought by the Saturday Evening Post. Surprisingly he received terrible marks in English. He had five children, one died at the age of seven from measles.

Roald Dahl's first book was The Gremlins. Then, he wrote Some One Like You. Roald Dahl has been writing children’s stories since 1960. Roald Dahl’s books are enjoyable because they are funny, interesting, exciting and magical. They teach good life lessons. Some of his best children's books are The BFG, Matilda, The Witches, Boy, The Twits, Going Solo and Esio Trot.

His motto was: "My candle burns at both ends, it will not last the night, but oh my foes and oh my friends, it gives a lovely life."  Roald Dahl sadly died in 1990 at the age of 74.

Hopefully you now know all you need to know about Roald Dahl, the greatest author who ever lived. He was so amazing he managed to write both children and adult books.

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And the winners are......

Every term we have a class library competition. Classes are awarded points for bringing their bags and for their overall behaviour. The class that collected the most points in term three is Grade 5 Ross! Well done, boys and girls! You can expect some cupcakes to be delivered to your classroom when you are back from camp.

Here are the top five scoring classes for Term Three:

1. Grade 5 Ross           2355
2. Grade 3 Laufs          1915
3. Grade 5 De Meillon 1650
4. Grade 4 Herman      1615
5. Grade 2 Wiley          1600

We have cleared the boards and started a new competition for Term Four. So bring those bags and remember to switch on those library voices!

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