Book Worms

READiscover Books - Book Week 2007

2007-10-18T20:21:00.000+10:00

Our Book Week was a quiet event this year because this term is so full of many events - however we had the Children’s Bookshop at Beecroft run our Book Fair and it was fantastic. Parents and children remarked on the quality and quantity of the books supplied and the fact that Paul McDonald, the proprietor (previously a Vice President of the English Teachers Association) was able to return in the afternoon with extra copies of books we had run out of in the morning. Such great service! We also managed to have Anne from the Children’s Bookshop stay the whole day and do all the transactions for us. It allowed me time to put all my Premier’s Reading Challenge entries online!

Our children were also complimented on their courteousness and their good manners and me for my organisation and enthusiasm. Now I finally have some money to spend on updating my non-fiction resources, an area of great need when children are attempting tasks and some of the websites are too onerously literate for them to understand and use in their work.

Our second event was our guest illustrator, Stephen Axelson, a totally unassuming artist and writer who talked his way through his illustrative techniques demonstrating to the children what could be achieved with different lines etc. He used his graphic tablet and pen and pastel chalks to show different types of images that can be created using the computer and paper and left us with three wonderful prints to frame and place in our school. Amazingly they join our Kim Gamble ones and he was a classmate of his in Sydney.

We certainly had the opportunity to READiscover Books in many ways at Holy Cross this Book Week!

Sydney Writers Festival

2007-06-24T11:59:00.000+10:00

What a brilliant afternoon we had. Eamon, Michaela, Ellie and I travelled to Parramatta to see and hear Philip Ardagh, Kate Forsythe and Andy Griffiths talk about their books and where their ideas for writing come from. Philip's actually developed from writing letters to his nephew at boarding school and Kate's new series from a charm bracelet her grandmother had. By far Andy Griffith's was the favourite of the afternoon when he told us his ideas come from playing with his children's toys, looking at what people do and imagining if they could do it differently. We were laughing a lot with both Andy and Philip while Kate was a bit more serious. Later Andy posed for a photograph with us. We all enjoyed the afternoon immensely especially as we also were able to see a live performance by the Sydney Youth Theatre.

Sydney Writers Festival

2007-05-21T20:11:00.000+10:00

This is it! The week to get in those entries to become part of the Festival by visiting the Riverside Theatre and hearing 3 great authors speak. If you want to be in the competition pick up a form at the library and have it in by Thursday. Winners notified Thursday afternoon.

Premier's Reading Challenge

2007-04-29T13:08:00.000+10:00

Congratulations to Samantha M. in Year 5 who has already completed the Premier's Reading Challenge for 2007. Michaela in Year 5 is following close behind. Don't forget to borrow the Challenge books and keep your list up to date so we can put them online for you. Let's see who can be finished third!

You might like to write a review of a Challenge book you have read. Contact me in the library if you would like to and we can arrange a time for you to do it. To read some reviews go to

http://prc3-4holycross.blogspot.com

or

http://prc5-6holycross.blogspot.com

Shortlisted Books for 2007 CBC Awards

2007-04-20T13:56:00.000+10:00

The 2007 Shortlist for the Children's Book Council Awards has been announced. Follow this link to check out the books that have been nominated

http://www.cbc.org.au/short07.htm

then check out iBistro and see what we have in the library at Holy Cross. Happy searching!

Meeting Celebrities at the Sydney Writers Festival

2007-04-18T20:03:00.000+10:00

Just like Hollywood, Holy Cross is used to having celebrities at our school. This year though we have been invited to attend the Sydney Writers Festival at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta and meet some celebrity authors. Three lucky children from Year 4 up will be able to accompany me. I will let you know how soon!!

We will get to see Andy Griffiths

http://www.andygriffiths.com.au

Phillip Ardagh
http://www.philipardagh.com/

and Kate Forsyth.
http://www.chainofcharms.com.au

Premier's Reading Challenge 2007 Web Log

2007-03-13T16:05:00.000+11:00

From now on children in Years 3-6 will be reviewing their Premier's Reading Challenge books on two blogs.

The first is the PRC3-4 Blog located at

http://prc3-4holycross.blogspot.com

and the PRC5-6 Blog located at

http://prc5-6holycross.blogspot.com

We do hope you will visit these blogs and leave your comments of encouragement for our first-time reviewers. They might even whet your appetite to read some of the books on the challenge.

Our Library at Last!

2007-03-10T18:49:00.000+11:00

Last Monday after new shelving, tables and books were placed in the library space we opened for business! The children were elated and loved entering the newly set up space. The chairs and tables were a real bonus and its now getting hard to get them off them!They will have to reorientate themselves as we have moved some of our areas but new signage will indicate to the children where they can access the books and other resources.

Already our breaks have become times when the library is full of children reading, sharing books with each other, playing board games or helping prepare our new resources for the library shelves. During our week of closure we had great help from three Year 6 boys who came daily to help with the preparation. We thank them and all the helpers especially our mums who come in daily to prepare resources for the children's use and to those who take resources home to prepare for us. We must now admit that our new shelves are groaning under the weight of all the books that were in cupboards and boxes but the children are devouring the quantity and quality of the material available to them.

We now look forward to even greater things happening in the library at lunchtimes and hope Fathers Paul and Stephen are enjoying their new church as much as we are enjoying our new library space.

Wiki for Year 4

2007-02-25T20:33:00.000+11:00

Last year our Year 5 children participated in blogging, each class having its own web log. They are available to view at
http://marvellous-magnificent-mauve.blogspot.com
http://electric5.blogspot.com
and
http://stayingaliveinyear5p.blogspot.com

This term in Year 4 we are working on producing some of their work in a wiki available at
http://www.glenwoodcommunity.wikispaces.com

Come, sign in and send us a comment.

Exciting News!

2007-02-20T20:23:00.000+11:00

The library the Parish of Holy Cross has been using as a Mass Centre will finally become the learning space it was intended to be during the next few weeks. The Parish celebrates its last Sunday Masses with us this Sunday, February 25th. We are really looking forward to creating a vibrant space where you can read and relax, play board games with your friends or use the computers at lunch and recess and where great learning will take place in many areas during the school day.

We look forward to this exciting change and already have a few volunteers from Year 5 who would like to help us with those changes.

We congratulate the parish on finally being able to participate in the Eucharist in their own Church and wish them the very best as they finally say good-bye to us!

Library Opening

2007-02-05T11:17:00.000+11:00

In a few weeks we hope to have our library fully operational as the Parish of Blessed John XXIII will move into its new church and facilities. We have been looking forward to this for a long time and cannot wait to install our new shelving and place all the books we have kept hidden away in cupboards for all the Holy Cross children to read.

In the future we hope this library will truly become a place of learning, using both digital and print media, and quiet recreational activities for the children. Hopefully only 4 weeks to go!!

Deborah Abela Visits Holy Cross

2006-09-04T11:06:00.000+10:00

During Book Week, Deborah Abela, author of the Max Remy and Jasper Zammit series of books visited us. She spoke to the children about how she gets her ideas for stories and used her example of how when she worked on Channel 10's Cheese TV she often borrowed ideas from the work of those around her. She showed us samples of this. We also learnt that she loves to wear her pyjamas and because she works from home gets to wear them all day!
We were able to learn about Max based loosely on herself at age 12 years and how she uses different inventions to help her in her adventures. Also we were able to see some of her beautiful photos of Malta where she set Max's latest adventure and that her next Max book will be called "The French Code" which we will look forward to reading. Some of the older children were able to be part of a Max mission and work out ways to complete their dangerous tasks.
While Deborah was with us she took time out to talk to the children and sign their books. We had a great day with Deborah and would encourage other schools to have her visit them.

Anthony Browne Visits Australia

2006-06-26T18:55:00.000+10:00

On Friday 23rd June, while I was at school working hard, Mrs Walter who sometimes does relief days for me, had the great pleasure of attending a talk and book signing by Anthony Browne, the English author and illustrator at the Kinokuniya Bookshop in the city.

Anthony is a slightly built man and he looks a lot like “Willy the Wimp” without the facial hair. He spoke to a large group that included about 6 school groups and many other Librarians and parents.

He opened the talk by telling the audience how he and his brother used to play “The Shape Game” when they were young. They would draw a shape and the other one would turn it into something. He drew some examples and then invited some of the children to participate. He spoke about how he studied art at University and he became a children’s illustrator a bit by accident. He then read to the children “Into The Forest” and pointed out many of the clues he had drawn in the book.

The children in the audience asked Anthony why he always drew gorillas or chimps in his books. Anthony told the children that he loved Gorilla’s because when you looked into their eyes, they were so human and gentle. He felt gorillas & chimps were so close to us in behaviour and characteristics, it makes them so interesting.

Anthony went on to tell the audience how he had lost his father when he was quite young. He said his father had taught him and his brother to play rugby, cricket and to box. He encouraged his sons to draw and his father also wrote poetry. He was a big man, physically, but a gentle, cultured man. Anthony based his “gorilla dad” character on his father in the book “Gorilla”. He also said that was his favourite book. He was an absolute delight and happily signed the many books Mrs Walter took in. He hasn’t been in Australia for almost 10 years, so she felt especially pleased she had the opportunity to hear him speak. Maybe next time he comes I will be able to see him too and go out for lunch as well!

New Sports Books

2006-06-13T09:25:00.000+10:00

Recently we were very fortunate to have some beautiful new sports books donated to us by the Holy Cross Hurricanes Junior Rugby Club. Some of these new titles include in-line skating, skateboarding, 100 Australian Sports Stars of the 21st Century BMX Riding and Karate.

Our Sports section at Holy Cross library is one of the most popular and sought after categories. These new arrivals will be sure to entertain our sports enthusiasts.

We are so lucky to have a supportive community within our school and we appreciate this generous donation.

Children's Book Council Conference

2006-06-12T20:32:00.000+10:00

Last month I was lucky enough to attend the Children's Book Council 7th Conference in Sydney. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet and listen to many children's authors and illustrators both from overseas and Australia. It was also great to listen to film producers, directors and Japanese anime educators.

I met illustrators such as Stephen Michael King, Leigh Hobbs and Helen Oxenbury. I also met Andy Griffiths of "Just Disgusting/Just Stupid" fame, Terry Denton, Andrew Daddo, Lisa Shanahan and Libby Gleeson.

The best part however was being interviewed live by James Valentine for his afternoon show on ABC 702!

Shortlisted Books for The Children's Council Awards

2006-06-12T20:24:00.000+10:00

This term we are reading and engaging in activities with some of the shortlisted books for the CBC Awards. The awards will be announced in Book Week in August this year. We are using multiple intelligence activities in co-operative groups to learn more about the stories we are reading and the themes they deal with. It is extremely interesting and we like to present what we have completed at the end of each lesson to the class so that we can all spend time reflecting on what we have accomplished and what we might do if we had to do the task again. We certainly enjoy the activities which are varied.

Max the Monkey Arrives- Monday June 5th

2006-06-04T22:02:00.000+10:00

Max the Monkey arrives on Monday June 5th at Holy Cross. Year 3 are going to show him around our school for the week and be responsible for letting others know what he has been doing.

Max has had an exciting few weeks around the schools in the Diocese and is now looking forward to some more adventures at Holy Cross.

Premier's Reading Challenge

2006-05-31T11:04:00.000+10:00

Once again we have many students participating in the PRC. The enthusiasm for the challenge is outstanding and already a few have completed it. We congratulate them and encourage the others in their pursuit of the last few books they need to read to finish.

Max the Monkey

2006-05-25T13:33:00.000+10:00

In a few weeks we are having Max the Monkey, a special travelling toy visit us. He is visiting a few schools in our diocese. We hope to have him with us in Week 6. He has already had many adventures where he has gone and many new ones await him at Holy Cross. We look forward to his arrival!

Holy Cross Book Worms

2006-05-24T21:24:00.000+10:00

On this blog we hope to preview new books for you that come into our library and new exciting things we are doing. We hope you will be able to join us by placing comments on our blog and providing us with reviews about books you have read and your thoughts on our various happenings in the library.