A Magic Faraway Tree pendant

The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton has been my favourite book since I was a little girl and I noticed last term when we were making our light bulbs for Book Week that quite a few of our students love it too.  When I taught Year One many years ago I read The Magic Faraway Tree to my class. I decided to make a big tree trunk in the middle of our classroom and gave each student a paper plate to design and create a land they would like to visit at the top of the tree. I attached their wonderfully creative ‘lands’ to the metal rafters that went across our ceiling and our classroom was transformed into our very own Magic Faraway Tree! It is still one of my favourite teaching activities ever!

During the holidays I went to a craft market at Federation Square and discovered a talented lady who uses old books to make make jewellery. I was very excited to find a pendant  she had made by using a page from The Magic Faraway Tree! Now I can wear a piece my favourite book…

Book Week Creative Challenge winners

One of the ways students can participate in the fun of Book Week is by joining in our  Book Week Creative Challenge. They are encouraged to unleash their imagination and creativity on the Book Week theme which this year was Books Light Up Our World

It is like Christmas for me as students bring in their fabulous creations and I love putting them around the LRC for everyone to enjoy. The hardest part is trying to choose winners and I’ve done my best. I have also included photos of some of our Creative Challenge entries, but this is by no means all of them…

Congratulations and a BIG thank you to everyone who participated in our Book Week Creative Challenge and lit up our library with your imagination and creativity…

First Place Winners:

Maya K (1MB)  Chloe S (3C)  Oliver V (1MB) Indiana O (5DV)  Imogen P (3C)

Second Place Winners:

Layla R (6P)  Lily A (1C)  Mia L (3C)  Tara C & Claire L (3JC) Monica (3C)  Genevieve B (5DV) & Naomi B (3C) Mackinlie L (4W) & Elijah (6P)

Third Place Winners

Sam B (1C)  Ethan P (1C) Audrey C (4VT)  Max A (1GC)  Lauren B (5A) Ethan S (6P)

Book Week Creative Challenge Winners on PhotoPeach

Book Week Creative Challenge on PhotoPeach

Do you have a favourite creation?

Book Week Creative Challenge – Books Light Up Our World

free glitter text and family website at FamilyLobby.com

Each year for Book Week we have a Creative Challenge. I hope there will be lots of students joining in and having fun letting their imagination and creativity run wild with ‘Books Light Up Our World’

We have been talking about making Story Book Paper Bag Lanterns. Here are some great ideas and steps for making them from My Little Bookcase

You can also search online for “Books Light Up Our World” and select ‘images’ to find some of the ideas we have talked about in the LRC…

A fun day at the Children’s Book Festival 2015

Melbourne turned on a magnificent sunny day for this year’s Children’s Book Festival

It was wonderful seeing so many families on the lawns of the State Library basking in the sunshine enjoying live entertainment or reading books that were provided.  Inside the library it was buzzing with children wearing monster horns dragging their mums and dads to activities (past students trying hard to study!). There were book signings with lines of eager readers; Meet the Author and Illustrator sessions; drawing and writing workshops with the experts; a chance to make and publish your own book; time to chill in red comfy bean bags and listen to stories or you could get creative making your own “Oddity” for a collaborative giant book.

One of my favourite parts of the day was walking into the beautiful domed La Trobe Reading Room where the Jazz band was playing and lots of children were having fun participating in the creative activities set up for them. This space is usually SILENT but today music and the sound of children laughing were bouncing off the walls and it was magical!

If you click HERE and scroll through the photos from the Wheeler Centre you will see two lucky people from our school who met Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton!

I was surprised when I came across author Tristan Bancks sitting on a bench in front of the library! We had a great chat about books and writing and Tristan kindly signed three books I had hoped to get signed for our library. The Year Fours love his hilarious story “My Nan’s Tougher”.  I really enjoyed his Meet the Author session and the audience laughed a lot. Tristan is a great storyteller and I discovered that he sometimes likes to do his writing when walking along the beach…can you work out how?

A big thank you to the Wheeler Centre and the State Library of Victoria for a fabulous day of celebrating books and reading! 

What did you enjoy at the Children’s Book Festival?

A Bookmark Bonanza

Over the past two weeks our LRC has been “creatively messy” as the Year 3 – 6 classes have been busily making their own bookmarks. Students used wrapping paper, old book pages, coloured paper and cardboard (and quite a bit of glue covered the table tops) as they connected books, reading, creativity and imagination to make their fabulous bookmarks.  They chose quotes that either reflected themselves as readers or quotes that would inspire them to read. Here is a selection of bookmarks from the 12 classes….

A Bookmark Bonanza on PhotoPeach

Hopefully these fabulous bookmarks will also encourage people not to bend the corners on the pages our library books!