Pupils from both Everest classes have been creating their own graphic novels based on the life of the amazing Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Pupils could focus on any aspect of his life; from his early years, to his climbing achievements to his legacy.
Take a look at the brilliant work:
Well done to all the pupils who put in the extra effort over the Christmas holidays and completed their 2 book cracker.
Here is a selection of the best reasons for reading at Christmas.
Reading at Christmas time is the best because…
“Its cold outside” Ben
“You have lots of time to relax, you can drink hot chocolate and you are still doing your English but not in class.” Erin
“It teaches you to appreciate what you have and be grateful you have a family.” Sara
“You can sit cosy and read whilst watching people silly enough to go outside in a storm, battling with their brolly.” Rachel
“It relaxes you in-between the chaos of family life at Christmas and gives you an excuse to get away from annoying members of your family.” Josh
“When you are cold you can snuggle up in your blankets and just read a book to relax. After that you can go for a wee sleep.” Portia
“I can sit on the sofa or bed in my PJs reading. I can have a cosy night with peppermint hot chocolate in my bed with fluffy slippers.” Emma
“I curl up next to the fireplace and the Christmas tree and read my book.” Sonia
“It is relaxing, fun and an enjoyable thing to do at this special time of year.” Alistair
“You get to cuddle up beside the fire and dig into a good book. You can stay up all night just reading and reading. Once you have read all the books you can go out and get more- they are on sale!” Zaynah
“You can curl up with a good book and hot chocolate, while it’s cold outside and you are all nice and toasty in the house with your head in another world.” Rhianna
“It relaxes you and takes away all the stress of Christmas; waiting for Santa to come.” Evy
“You can add in an extra helping of excitement to the fun of Christmas by reading an enthralling novel.”Zainah
“I am not going to be all cheesy and say the best thing about reading at Christmas is because I sit down and drink hot chocolate while reading.
I like reading books at Christmas because I read before bed and it helps me fall asleep quickly because at Christmas time I can’t get to sleep because I am so excited. P.S I love reading!” Olivia
“You can snuggle up on your bed or your couch in your pyjamas and get cosy whilst reading a good book.” Robbie
“You get to relax and it’s something you can look forward to; reading the next day.” Sophie
As part of a class project pupils were asked to mine interesting and unusual words from the classic ; Smith by Leon Garfied.
This is what the winning pupils came up with.
Winner
The Client – By Joseph
It was just another day. You know the usual; my secretary dextrously tapping away at her keyboard; me in the solitary confinement of my office, customary coffee in hand. The tapping came to a halt abruptly and I could vaguely make out the subtle tones of female voices. One was of course familiar to me. The other was not.
What followed was the subsequent tottering of my secretary’s heels and after a few seconds a brisk knock at my door.
In her sanctimonious tone, Miss Lancaster announced the arrival of a potential new client anxious to see me. I agreed and the lady was directed into my office. A little embarrassed I became aware of the rooms musty odour and I turned to open a window.
The lady introduced herself with a slight accent though she was proficient in English. She was beautiful but from her complexion I could detect she was flustered.
Comment:
My winner is … The Client. A crisp and clean short story. The new vocabulary fits well into the story and does not feel as if it has been put there for a class project. It reads like the beginning of a detective novel and already there are little clues as to what might happen next … strained relationship with a snotty secretary, musty room why? A client with an accent ooh exotic… so many questions … great!
Runner – Up
First Day by Jenna
She approached the door with circumspection. This was her first ever job and she had brooded over this moment a thousand times. Indecision of whether to knock or not passed through her. She looked behind her and could see her quaint little house standing sombre adjacent to all the others in the village. She wiped her hands on her livery disdainfully and knocked the door.
An affable man wearing a freshly pressed suit opened the door. “You must be the new maid”, he said gesturing for her to come in, “yes” she replied while looking around the huge hallway decorated with hatchments and paintings. “There is no need to look so peevish”, he smiles, “I’ll look after you”. He led her down towards the maid’s chambers. She blundered down the staircase and almost crashed into him. He laughed as he said “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to the darkness…”
Comment:
The New Maid story is second in my selection. It could have been taken right off the pages of a Bronte/ Austen novel. It was so easy to imagine the scene and it painted a vibrant picture of a vignette of someone’s life… and then there is the ending … pure Victorian Gothic horror “Don’t worry you’ll get used to the darkness.” It’s as if the author has closed the door on the new maid and we are left with only our imagination as to what the “darkness” might hold. Come back don’t go in there!
Third equal
The Present – by Joshua
On Christmas Eve I looked wistfully at the brightly coloured gifts under the tree. The lights from the Christmas candles and the tree lights made the pigment of the brightly shining gift wrap shimmer and glisten in the darkness. All that vexation over whether my mum’s present would arrive had been unnecessary. All the sanctimonious crowing from my sister over my lack of gift was finished.
I had bought my mum the best present ever! My sister’s complexion had changed dramatically; when she saw me briskly and dextrously wraps the immense gift. As my mum prepared the Christmas dinner in the scullery, I could sit back and relax, knowing everything was under control.
Comment:
The Christmas Eve story about the present was a great example of how less is more. It was a short, to the point, succinct and well – rounded story with hints to other unexplored themes – such as the relationship between the two sisters and the warmth of feeling from the writer to their mother… and you never do find out what the present is!
Third equal
Mean Girls by Caitlin
St David’s High is a high school in the west end of Glasgow. Channel, Alison, Brittany, Miranda and Jade think they are in the “in crowd” in fifth year. They strut the corridor with formidable attitude, glaring at the rest of the fifth years contemptuously. Part of their self-confidence comes from their prosperous background. Their sanctimonious attitude intimidates other girls. They were known as “the plastics” which gave them great eminence.
There were five girls in “the plastics” ranging from Channel who was at the top of the pyramid and felt she was unaccountable to anyone.
Next on the pyramid was Alison with her long blond hair and pretty face but her looks belied her felonious personality.
After Alison came Brittany the cheer captain who was very sporty and very popular despite her blasphemous mouth.
Although Miranda was not top of the pyramid you would be foolish to under estimate or get on the wrong side of her sarcastic, quick-witted tongue and shrewd personality.
Jade was the naive, vexatious airhead who impressed the group with her gentry background but if rumours were to be believed her dad’s impressive title had been bought off the Internet.
So, the moral of this story is “ all that glitters isn’t gold, because sometimes it’s just plastic”.
Comments:
Mean Girls brought 19th century vocabulary bang up to date and applied it very successfully – I could imagine those girls… in fact I think I went to school with some of them .. not in the 18th century and you can never go wrong with a story with a moral!
Well done to all the winners.
A merry band of S2 pupils and the lovely Ms Beaton from English joined me on a trip to the Edinburgh International Book festival.
never one to miss an opportunity to reduce our carbon emissions we invited along our mirror class from Woodfarm to hop on our bus and come along as well.
Our trip was to see us meet up with two brilliant clifi authors – Kate Kelly, marine biologist and aothor of the clifi novel Red Rock, and Sarah Crosson Carnegie short-lister and author of the environmental novel Breathe.
Kate and Sarah both read us little nuggets from their books and told us about their inspirations for their books and thoughts on the environment.
The tagline for our project in East Renfrewshire is “Can books save the world?” After hearing the two authors I think we might have a tiny glimmer of hope.
Pupils then has the chance to ask the authors some questions and then the hour was over!
We assembled more neatly than the Avengers in the book signing tent where Kate and Sarah took the time to speak with our pupils on a one-to-one basis and sign books galore.
It was a great event and certainly gave us all a little more to think about as we move on in our project.
The biggest thanks of all must go to the amazing Lari who came all the way from sunny Edinburgh to spend an afternoon inspiring and encouraging us all.
Even though she is now furiously preparing for the big launch of MindBlind on Friday she still cares about us and has left a bundle of goodies for pupils.
To be able to get your hands on a goody for yourself all you have to do is fill in a quick questionnaire about the event.
Please note: Only those who attended one of the three events are able to take part at this time.
If you are ever lost in the library?
Not sure what to choose?
Feeling left out?
Then do not fear young learner there is a superhero at hand to save you fom your boredom – yes it’s Genreboy!
Thanks to the hard work of some lovely pupils from Mrs. Quinn’s English class our hard working superhero took shape.
Never feel alone again!
Thanks Frankie 😉 for being our model
Oh I do like a good afternoon out and a trip to see a lovely author at another school sounds just the ticket!
So, off went our merry band to Williamwood High ( thanks to Mrs. Adams for hosting the whole thing) to meet with the brilliant author Sophie MCKenzie.
Over 200 pupils were entertained by our thrilling speaker; especially when she read a nerver wrecking chapter from her new book Split Second ( if you want to know more about this book pop into the library as I have some leaflets with a great competition all about her new novel). In fact the day we met with Sophie was the first day the book had come out so those lucky enought to grab a copy and get it signed were some of the first in the whole country to do so.
So, whether you are a fan of Girl Missing or just want a great read why not pop into the library and check out her other books.
Many thanks to Sophie for sharing the afternoon with us AND for her great story all about the gorrilla. Also many thanks to Miss Higggins from the English department for coming along and my great pupils who were a pleasure to travel with (except for the wasp and s/he it didn’t have a blazer!).
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