Awakeri School

Library

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Library News:
Mrs White's latest message. If you want to read some of her old ones, click here, there are some fantastic entries!

Library column 24 September 2019
Hi everyone!
This week I thought I would share a little bit about our book club. The Awakeri Bookateers Club has been running for just over a year. It came about after a suggestion from a keen student who wanted more opportunities to talk about reading and books. The club is open to anyone who loves to read and is in Room 11 or older. We meet three times a term on a Wednesday morning at 8:00 before school in the library and discuss the previous month's theme and which books we each read from that topic. Some topics have proved to be much more of a hit than others, but I think, as with any book club, sometimes it is nice to be challenged to read outside of your normal comfort zone. It's really important for kids to see that reading isn't a school thing - it is a lifelong activity that can be shared with others and that your reading preferences will evolve and be influenced by the other people – and not just your friends. Some of my best recommendations have come from strangers I got chatting to in the library! The group also comes up with a top 10 list for each theme – these are usually laminated and put on display around school to inspire more readers.
Our Top 10 lists include – Family and Friendship; Fantasy; Graphic Novels; Sci Fi; Mystery; Horror; Authors beginning with 'S' and Action.
I interviewed a few people at the meeting this morning, our theme last month was "war."
Mrs White - How did you find out about the club?
Gemma – "I heard about it from a friend." Lily – "Mrs White told me!" Brooke – "Belle told me." Belle – "Bookclub was my idea!"
MW - Why did you want to join the Bookateers?
Brooke – "I love to read but sometimes I find it hard to find books that I enjoy so it's nice to have some different recommendations from the other people in book club." Lily – "I really like to read!" Belle – "I wanted to read more books and talk to other people about what I read." Sam – "I really like reading and chatting to people."
MW - What is the best book you have read so far?
Gemma – "I just finished "Number the stars" which I really liked and was different from the kind of books I normally read." Sophie – "I really enjoyed the Graphic Novels month." Sam – "The 10 pm question by NZ author Kate de Goldi".

If you would like to be part of the Awakeri Bookateers Club, we meet on the 1st, 5th and 9th Wednesday of each Term. Next meeting will be Thursday 17th October (due to Ag day falling on the Wednesday!) Not surprisingly our theme is Animals!
Happy Reading!

The display for Empathy Day. Great work Margo!

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Book Reviews

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Kids Lit Quiz

The latest: 17 May 2018
The Kids Lit BOP regional final is at Tauranga Intermediate on Tuesday evening. We have two teams: A and B. Team A : Sophie, Asha, Sam and Oscar, team B; Issy, Addi, Olivia, Belle and Kaleb. There were 4 rounds of trials to get into the teams. The teams have been working hard, doing homework, doing practice quizzes, having morning Milo and biccie meetings, etc. One thing the teams have been doing is studying the topics that Margo secretly gave them (e.g. Issy's topic was villains, Sophie's was dogs). Each person thought of characters that were in their topic (e.g. Ursula - the sea witch, Hairy Maclary) and they went up against the two teams. We had to see who had the most original answers.
How are you feeling about the finals Sophie? "I'm nervous but excited!"
How do you think you'll do Issy? "I think we'll do pretty well. We've been practising. We've been reading lots of books and we've got a good team." Will you beat the A Team? "Hopefully! Last year we were in front of the A Team for a while."
Tell us about your coaches Sophie. " Margo and Miss Dowzall have been training us very well, giving us different homework and we know a lot more now."
Older memories:
Kids Lit Quiz training off to a good start for 2016!

On Tuesday 27 Oct 2015 four of the children who will be competing next year at the regional Kids Lit Quiz Competition took part in a mini quiz run by the Tauranga Intermediate. The quiz is for Tauranga teams as a warm up for the official Kids Lit Quiz in March and this is the first time Awakeri School has been invited. We were also there to share and inspire other schools with the story of our success in the International Kids Lit Quiz with the children, librarians and teachers who attended. Mrs Petersen and Mrs White gave short Power point presentations outlining the events of the last six years of KLQ for Awakeri and some details about the training we do with the teams each year. Then onto the quiz – always the most exciting part! The quiz consisted of five rounds of ten questions and Awakeri were lucky enough to hold on to a strong first round lead to win the competition! The prize of choosing three books each from the sponsor Books-A-Plenty in Tauranga plus several spot prizes of books and chocolates certainly made the day worthwhile for the team! On the return journey we stopped by to see the statues of Lynley Dodds' famous dog and cat creations along the waterfront. Here is a picture of the team with Hairy Maclary and company, from left; Ben White, Riley McDonald, Alex Robbie and Tayla Jones.

A huge congratulations to the 2014 KLQ teams. The A team won the BOP regionals, won the NZ nationals and then came 3rd in the World finals in England. Congratulations Finn Spod, Ben White, Emily and Alex Robbie, also coaches Ann Petersena and Margo White. To check out our past glorious KLQ history go to the Academic archives page.

Here the four students write about their experiences in England:

EMILY
Our long and exciting journey started all the way back in Term 3 last year. Each week we would spend one lunch time being quizzed to find the top 8 students in our school with good literature knowledge. When the teams were chosen our fantastic coaches Mrs Petersen and Margo quizzed us in teams and gave us heaps of ideas and books to read. 
In May, we competed in the regional competition where schools from throughout the Bay of Plenty battled to be B.O.P champions and for the cash prize of $1000 and the chance to compete at the national quiz.
The next quiz, which was in Wellington was much harder, not only were we competing against the best teams in NZ, the questions were much more complicated and we had to buzz in before the other teams to answer a question.  We only won that quiz by one question.
As national champions we were given the chance to compete in England for the Kids’ Lit World Cup. We started training every school day, with Margo and Mrs Petersen always giving us something new to learn, they gave us information about authors and illustrators, suggested different books to read and websites to investigate about books and nursery rhymes.
Then early last month, we were off to England. Going to England is not cheap, and with only 3 weeks to raise enough money for 6 people to travel it would have been almost impossible without the help of so many great sponsors.

ALEX
The Quiz, the reason for it all, the battle of the readers happened on the Tuesday of the trip. On the morning of the Quiz, we all dressed in our handsome uniforms and got on the coach, bound for the Princess Pavilion.  After a practise run through of the quiz with mock questions, we begin to get a bit, no, a lot nervous. The teams filed onto the stage, Australia, Canada, us, Singapore, South Africa, UK and finally USA.
Finally, we were all seated at our tables awaiting the last Kids’ Lit Quiz for 2014, the world final. After what seemed like a bagillion years sitting at our table with Lord Ripper, our team mascot, the two Steves introduced the man who made it happen, quizmaster Wayne Mills and the Quiz could begin at last. After the first category we were doing quite well but at half time we were coming dead last. During the second half we started to creep up the score board and by the end we were pretty sure we were third although they don’t show the score in the last round. Sure enough they called us up for third and we were proud beyond words, far beyond words.

BEN
When we were in Cornwall, the teams and their coaches got treated to a week of fun activities around the glorious city. On Sunday we went to Glendurgan Gardens and the teams loved doing the maze and going on the Giant’s Stride, a huge six person swing. On Monday we visited Heartlands which is a big mining museum with a great playground, and then we went to Pendennis castle, where we met a historian/author called Steph Haxton. On Wednesday we went to Restormel castle and Swanpool beach, where the teams got to go kayaking and bell-boating, which is like rowing a waka. On Thursday we went to the Minack Theatre and a castle called St Michaels Mount, which is in the middle of the ocean. On Friday we went to a fascinating place called the Eden project, where we learnt all about plants, and how they are used.

FINN
Travelling to England as a member of the NZ National Kids’ Lit Quiz team has been a great social experience and an excellent way to meet new friends from around the world. Some of the highlight memories were getting used to the weird and wonderful accents, being invited by the Canadian team for a breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup, learning new games from other countries and running through a hedge maze with new friends.  One Canadian boy was a master magician and could make a coin appear from behind your ear, an Australian member was amazing at soccer, and a Singaporean was an excellent photographer. During the week of activities everyone became really good mates through jumping off rocks into the freezing cold English Channel, playing manhunt in a 13th Century castle ruins and ultimately, the quiz world final and celebratory Gala dinner.
Some of the things we will take away from this once-in-a-lifetime experience apart from memories and photos are that we now have a new network of friends to keep in touch with for future adventures. We have also had a taste of city life and all that goes along with it, like crowds, riding the London underground and navigating through train stations and airports. We’ve had opportunities to chat with famous authors and our eyes have been opened wide to the knowledge that can be learned from books and world travel.

3rd in the World. Wow! Mrs Petersen, Emily, Alex, Ben, Finn and Mrs White represent their school and country with excellence.

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Writers' Corner

FLYING LIKE A BIRD
Milky white clouds, as soft as a new merino jersey,
Stretches of treetops below me,
I soar on golden wings,
close to the dazzling sun,
When I screech, the sound echoes around canyons and valleys,
Breathtaking sights unfold before me,
The life of a bird is magnificent.

BEN WHITE

Some responses to The Hobbit from Room 14:

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