Love Reading Week - Author visit

Author visits are fantastic. Ree Gillett and her puppets were a big hit with our students. She spent two days with us and shared not only her story and songs but also provided some great thinking routines for teachers to use with their students. Thanks Ree.

Ree and Freddy visit our school on PhotoPeach

Love Reading Week starts tomorrow...

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I have written 15 quizzes - one for each day of the week at the three levels; lower primary, upper primary and secondary. The idea is for classes to take the quiz each day. The questions are of course about books, our library, our library management system, Destiny, and searching. Last year these were really popular - I hope they will be again.

In the secondary quiz the final question each day is the answer to a google a day Google post a new question daily and people have to use their search skills to answer it. I am hoping this will lead to some homerooms deciding to take the Google a day quiz each morning. 

Why a daily quiz? It is part of our desire to become an Inquiry Library. 

Other events and activities this week - Ree Gillett is visiting both campuses. It is exciting to have an author visit during Love Reading Week. Every lunchtime we will have story readings for both primary and secondary students. On Friday we have a school spirit day - dressing up as a book character. Our PYA is running a Book Swap at both campuses. 

It will be busy. It will be fun. I hope it will be a great celebration of our love for reading.

Getting ready for Love Reading week

 The week after next will be our annual "Love Reading Week" . Well when I say 'annual' we started last year and we are doing it again this year and will be continuing again next year - that makes it annual doesn't it?

Last year all the primary classes wrote poems which began "I read because..." inspired by the poem by Richard Peck 

I read because one
 life isn’t enough, and 
in the pages of a book I can be anybody;

I read because the 
words that build 
the story become mine, 
to build my life;

I read not for happy
 endings but for new
 beginnings; I’m just
 beginning myself, and 
I wouldn’t mind a map;

I read because I have
 friends who don’t, and
 young though they are,
 they’re beginning to
 run out of material;

I read because every
 journey begins at 
the library, and it’s
 time for me to start 
packing;

I read because one
 of these days I’m going
 to get out of this
 town, and I’m going to
 go everywhere and meet
 everyone, and I want
 to be ready.”

–Richard Peck, author
, Zihuatanejo, Mexico, 
1990

So each student wrote their own line to add to the poem and then I created a tagxedo cloud picture. I blogged about the whole week last February.

Now getting ready for this year we have added to the mix - an author visit, reading in the library at lunchtimes and a final dress sup day (what was I thinking?)

I have yet to write the quizzes which were such a big hit last year. I am thinking of adding a Google a day to the secondary school one just to see how they go.

More on this later - obviously...