The First Term has started with a bang, the girls were in the Library on the first day of school using Obami. It has caused great excitement and hopefully the girls will really get into it.
After their settling in period our Grade Noughts came to the Library for the first time to take out books and listen to a story – Dinosaurs love underpants – a good icebreaker! New parents please be aware that if your child wants to take out books more often than in just the class period, you are welcome to come with them to the Library and help them choose. I open as soon after 7.00 a.m. as I can manage.
Grade Ones are back in their routine of taking out books and listening to stories, but this year I have started them off on a “chapter book” – Fudge-a-mania, by Judy Bloom. A few of the girls find it difficult to sit still and listen to a story which has no pictures, but most of the girls are really enjoying the book and I’m sure the others will settle as the story develops and they get to know the different characters and start appreciating the humour.
Grade Two is our “Witchy” year and we have started to read Gill Murphy’s The Worst Witch. This is a delightful series and many of the girls go on to read the other books in the series.Grade Two is the year that their reading is really established and they start to use the Library in earnest.
The Grade Threes are completely captivated by Lynne Reid Banks’ The Fairy Rebel . She also wrote the Indian in the Cupboard books which hopefully our girls will start to read in the next few years. Grade Threes also have an extra period in the Library when they come to take out books, read and generally share various books with friends. This is the year they learn to use the catalogue and start investigating the non-fiction.
Grade Four has already finished reading Toro, Toro by Michael Morpurgo which is set during the Spanish Civil War and have now started reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. They also have a free period in the Library when they can change books and just relax with a book.
Grade Fives are reading Wait until Helen comes by M Downing Hahn which is a ghost story that never fails to get a reaction from the girls!
One of the Grade Sixes asked me to read Hurt go Happy to the class. It centres around a deaf girl and a chimp and deals with several issues concerning being deaf in a hearing world, as well as animal experimentation. The girls seem to be loving it.
Finally, the Grade Seven Book Club is up and running and I’m hoping the girls will be blogging on Obami within the next few days. They have filled in a questionnaire about their reading habits and have committed to reading a number of books this term – they all seem to be really excited by the prospect.
RESEARCH
Grade Sevens are researching natural disasters for the next few weeks and the Library is part of the Soccer World Cup activities with the girls coming in to research specific aspects of their teams and their countries of origin.
Project Work The Grade Sixes started a project on life in the Victorian era at the end of last term, after a visit to the Victorian Museum. The girls are well into the project now and it is due on 21 September. It has been a good opportunity to learn how to assess internet sites. They are also investigating Lightning in the Library.
On the first day of term the Grade Fives went straight into their investigation on Endangered Species, which will take up most of their club time for the term. They always get a huge amount out of this project, and it’s a good exercise to make them more aware of what is happening in their world. They will also be doing a project on 1820 Settlers.
Grade Sevens will be investigating Natural Disasters later in the term and have still to select their topic of their final History project.
New Books2009 (These are only the most recent)
Junior Fiction:
Dick King-Smith Dumpling
Jeremy Strong My Granny’s great escape
Martin Waddell Once there were giants
Joyce Dunbar Magic lemonade (Blue Banana book)
Wendy Hartman Theo the library cat
Julia Donaldson Follow the swallow (Blue Banana book)
Jill Murphy Worst witch to the rescue
Michael Foreman Dad! I can’t sleep
Maryanne Bester The cool Nguni
Three friends and a taxi
Chris Waddell The wild girl
Senior Fiction:
Alex Cliff Super powers books
Trudi Canavan The novice
Jacqueline Wilson Twin Tales
Susan Cooper The dark is rising
Dick King-Smith The water horse
Non-Fiction:
Explorong our National Days series:
Sahm Venter Human Rights Day
Youth Day
Freedom Day
Exploring our Provinces series:
Western Cape
Northern Cape
Eastern Cape
Free State
Kwa-Zulu natal
Limpopo
North West Province
Mpumalanga
Gauteng
Working with Materials series:
Changing materials
Joining materials
Mixing and separating
Photosynthesis
Rubbish and waste
Global warming
What is a self portrait?
What is a sculpture?
What is a still life?
Coal
Understanding Apartheid
Speak up and get along
Life in Ancient Africa
The Ndebele
Amazing animals of South Africa
Life cycle of the mosquito
Readers Digest Notebook Atlas
STORY TIME!
Grade Naughts come to the Library to change books and to listen to a story. We are reading a ‘chapter book’ (Dick King-Smith’s Lady Lollipop) - making a movie in our heads as we listen!
From Grade One onwards I try to read books that I think the children might not read on their own or to introduce them to authors that I think they could comfortably read on their own.
Grade One is reading Sohpie’s Tom, also by Dick King-Smith. Grade Two has just finished Roald Dahlís The Witches and we have started reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Grade Three has read Charlotte’s Web and we have just started Magdalen Nabbís The Enchanted Horse. Grade Four is really enjoying Eva Ibbotson’s Platform 13. Grade Five is reading Phillip Pullmanís Clockwork which is wonderfully scary!
SENIOR BOOKCLUB
The bookclub is run informally from the Grade 7 classroom where there is a specially assigned bookshelf. Library periods are spent reading, discussing books, looking up authors’ websites etc. The girls are presently setting up a blog for comments etc. I find the club really stimulates reading and discussion among the girls.
