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St Roch’s Reads: June

What’s happening in St Roch’s library as we reach the end of another school year

Empathy Day

Taking place in June every year, Empathy Day celebrates and grows empathy’s power to create a better world. It shines a light on books’ role in raising an empathy-educated generation. through stories, and to put empathy into action!

This year we marked empathy day with an Empathy Bookshelf display and Empathy Reads noticeboard. The library volunteers did a wonderful job on their corridor display.

Ms Wood’s S2 class also joined in an Empathy Day activity session. We listened to ‘The piano at the station’ a story by Helen Rutter from the empathy shorts collection. We then spoke in groups about the story, using conversation prompts then helped us think about the experience and emotions of characters. Afterwards we broke out the art supplies and created colourful emotion maps, describing our own feelings from the day or imagining what the characters were feeling in the story. There are lots of great activities and samples in the annual Empathy Day resource pack and on their website including a great selection of short stories from fantastic authors.

Storytelling group

: ‘Annoyed’

: ‘Energetic’

: ‘Jealous’

We also had our final story group of the year! Our groups in S1 and S2 take part in creative activities focused on storytelling which can help pupils to recognize their emotions and express themselves.

For our last sessions pupils picked an emotion off the feelings wheel, imagined that emotion as a character and then wrote a descriptive poem. Afterwards we used modelling clay or lego to build our poem character. This session was based on poetry prompts shared by Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2023 Joseph Coelho.

Library Volunteers

As term finished, we celebrated a year of hard work from our volunteer team with a pizza party and movie screening. Everyone was a great help in the library over the year but a few pupils went above and beyond and earned their first Library Assistant Award. Well done to Raya, Ore, Rose, Ava, Roya and Msgana. And a big thank you to our HT Mr Herron for providing the pizza and snacks, which went down very well! What a great end to the school year.

Creative Writing @Holyrood

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We’ve been busy celebrating in the library this term. In May we welcomed Julie McNeil, poet and football fan supreme. What great timing for the Euros! We learned how emotions and sport are closely linked, shared our own sporting memories and started to turn these into poems. There was inspiring discussion and writing from Mr. Devlin’s S1 class. The S2 Writing mentors joined in working alongside and encouraging everyone. This workshop was part of Glasgow Libraries Wee Write Festival, supported by the Scottish Poetry Library.

Julie’s Workshop

It was brilliant meeting Julie and hearing her feedback afterwards: “What a fantastic group of writers! Really enjoyed their company and hearing all their great ideas”. We now have copies of Julie’s books ‘We are Scottish Football’, and ‘Mission Dyslexia’ in the library, to borrow and enjoy.

Also in May, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of our White Water Writers Project, funded by the School Library Improvement Fund. Since writing their own book, the group has gone from strength to strength, mentoring a ‘Writing for Fun’ club for S1 pupils, taking part in Scottish Book Trust 50 Words writing competition, writing poetry, sharing book reviews, and generally having a brilliant time.

It’s always a party when the Writing mentors are around!

S2 Writers Celebration

In June, we had a special visit from Charis, Careers Adviser, who admired the work of our hardworking S1 and S2 lunchtime team, and presented prizes.

Visit from Charis, SDS

We feel very lucky to have so much support for Creative Writing here at Holyrood, both from everyone in the school and from Glasgow Libraries, and also from visitors who help us.

Whether any of our writers go on to do this as a career, or just as a hobby, writing is an incredible talent to have, and we want to hear your voices. So keep writing – You’ve been absolutely fantastic this year!

Euros competition

Have a wonderful holiday.

Bannerman in June

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As the school year is slowly drawing to close and everyone in school seems focused on the EuroCup and the holidays, the English department has been completing the evidence portfolio for Bannerman to achieve its Reading Schools Award. One of the last projects was the focus on a book bingo, which quite a few pupils have completed! Surely they will be excited for their reward.

Happy empathy day!

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On the 6th of June, we celebrated Empathy Day in St Mungo’s school library with great enthusiasm. Pupils worked together to create a remarkable Empathy Display, featuring their colorful artwork and thoughtful messages that highlighted the importance of empathy.

As part of the celebration, pupils made Emotion Maps, which creatively depicted various feelings and experiences. This activity encouraged self-expression and fostered a deeper understanding among peers.

In the library, pupils also hid character bookmarks throughout the shelves, inviting others to discover and share new stories. Each bookmark was a hidden gem, promoting conversations and connections among readers.

Additionally, we introduced an Empathy Bookshelf, filled with books that inspire empathy and kindness. This special collection now serves as a resource for pupils seeking to explore stories that open hearts and minds.

Empathy Day was a successful event that emphasized the power of empathy in building connections and understanding within our school community.

Short stories book by the Storytelling club

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Since the beginning of the year, members of the Storytelling for Wellbeing Club have created over 25 incredible stories.

Throughout the year, they created stories with the help of creative prompts, engaging board games, evocative pictures, and various arts and crafts activities. These tools sparked their imaginations and fuelled their creativity, resulting in a diverse collection of unique tales.

Now, they are excitedly compiling these stories into their very own storybook! Pupils are enthusiastically arranging the chapters, ensuring a smooth flow from one story to the next, and creating beautiful illustrations to bring the book to life. Additionally, they are recording the stories and generating QR codes to include in the book. This innovative feature allows readers to scan the codes and listen to the stories, providing an enriching audiobook experience.

The pupils’ hard work and creativity are truly shining through in this wonderful project!

May 2024 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

Book Returns: As exams took place throughout May, the School Librarian visited all S1-3 English classes to distribute lists of books on loan. There are over 900 books on loan to S1-3 pupils, highlighting the brilliant readership of our pupils and support from our English department in Shawlands. The lists have proved to be a helpful reminder to the pupils of the books they have borrowed and the library book return boxes are located in each classroom make it easy for them to return their loans. So far, pupils have returned 200 books, with more being returned each day. This is a tremendous effort on behalf of our department and the young people who truly value their library service and love reading for pleasure. Great work everybody, keep them coming!

Creative Writing Contest: Our seasonal creative writing contest is underway with ‘Summer’ as the theme. Any form of creative writing is accepted, maximum 500 words.

International Museums Day: International Museums Day was celebrated May 18^th. We uploaded an interactive list of 50 famous international museums and a list of 20 Glasgow museums on our Library Channel for pupils to explore, featuring famous art galleries and national museums who’ve digitised pieces from their collections. Visit the Glasgow Life Museums page for information on local museums and galleries or try one of these highlights from our international list:

Anne Frank House – Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Louvre – Paris, France

The Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York City, USA

Natural History Museum – London, England

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History – Washington, USA

Sistine Chapel – Vatican City

National Walking Month: May was National Walking Month. On our Library Channel, we’ve uploaded a list of local community libraries in the catchment area all within a walking distance of an hour or less from the school. Community Libraries nearby the school include:

Langside Library, 2 Sinclair Drive (0.8 miles, 19 mins walking time)

Pollokshaws Library, 60 Shawbridge Street (0.8 miles, 19 mins walking time)

Pollokshields Library, 30 Leslie Street (0.9 miles, 21 mins walking time)

Govanhill Library, 170 Langside Road (1.1 miles, 25 mins walking time)

Couper Library, 84-86 Clarkston Road (1.8 miles, 40 mins walking time)

Gorbals Library, 180 Crown Street (2.0 miles, 45 mins walking time)

Ibrox Library, 1-5 Midlock Street (2.0 miles, 45 mins walking time)

Pollok Library, Pollock Civic Realm, 2EN Cowglen Road (3.0 miles, 1 hour walking time)

Poe or Young Adult Quiz: Pupils were invited to take part in our Poe or Young Adult quiz on Teams as part of World Goth Day. Participants had to decide whether the quotes were from a YA novel or from the ‘Father of Goth’, Edgar Allan Poe.

Waterstones Haul: We received a fantastic haul from Waterstones, selected by our very own Glasgow School Librarians. Here are some highlights:

The Attack of the Robot Librarian by Sam Copeland and Jenny Pearson, illustrated by Robyn Boyden and Katie Kear

Bite Risk by SJ Wells

The Ramadan Family Cookbook by Anisa Karolia

Roar: A Guide to Dreaming Big and Playing the Sport you Love by Beth Mead

Explanatorium of Science by Robert Winston

Human 2.0: A Celebration of Human Bionics by Patrick Kane and Samuel Rodriguez

Swatch: The Summer issue of Swatch, the Glasgow School Libraries’ eMagazine is now live. Packed with book lists, an exclusive interview with Maisie Chan, and lots of fun stuff including a recipe for salt and chilli wedges, an origami paper fan craft, and a quiz. Interactive back issues are available on the Library Channel on Teams.

Author of the Week: Chosen by pupils

06.05: Benjamin Zephaniah

13.05: Sue Wallman

20.05: Bali Rai

27.05: Samira Ahmed

Series of the Week: Chosen by pupils

06.05: Pandava (Aru Shah) by Roshani Chokshi

13.05: Young Elites by Marie Lu

20.05: Pages & Co by Anna James

27.05: Pizazz by Sophy Henn

Literary and Cultural Celebration Book Lists for May:

Gothic Book List: Featuring all ages gothic fiction to tie in with World Goth Day festivities.

Shelf Help Book List: Mental Health Awareness Week took place from 13^th-19^th May on the theme of “Movement: Moving more for our mental health”. Our book list features some helpful titles on mental health for Young People that are available in the School Library.

Trending Book Lists:

Recent Awards: UK book award winners, shortlists, and longlists

Winners: International Booker Prize | British Book Awards | CrimeFest Awards | Dylan Thomas Prize | Jhalak Prize

Shortlists: CLiPPA Poetry Award | CWA Daggers Awards | Klaus Flugge Prize | Sports Book Awards |

Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

Competitions:

Foyles Young Poets of the Year Award

Book Buzz: Latest book news from major media outlets and websites

What’s On in June

Zine Workshop: Glasgow Zine Library will be popping by Thursday, June 20th during lunchtime to host a zine workshop. Pupils will; learn how to create their very own zine from scratch.

Picnic in the Library: The School Library will host a special ‘picnic in the library’ during lunchtime as part of National Picnic Week. Music, books, and snacks will be provided.

Libby refreshers for seniors: The School Librarian will make her rounds to S4, 5, and 6 English classes to deliver Libby refresher sessions to promote reading for leisure throughout the summer holidays. The Libby app has thousands of fiction and nonfiction books, audiobooks, and eMagazines that can be accessed on their iPads

Book Lists for June: Interactive book lists available on the Library Channel on Teams

Read with Pride: June is Pride month, an internationally recognised celebration of the LGBT+ community. We’ve compiled a list of LGBT+ fiction and nonfiction for all ages.

Empathy Day: Empathy Day (June 6^th) ‘inspires children to learn more about empathy, have transformational experiences through stories, and to put empathy into action’ by shining a ‘light on book’s role in raising an empathy-generated generation’. Check out Empathy Lab’s Primary and Secondary book lists, the majority of titles are available in the school library.

Refugee Week: Refugee Week (June 17^th-23^rd) is ‘the world’s largest arts and cultural festival celebrating the contributions, creativity, and resilience of refuges and people seeking sanctuary. This year’s theme is ‘Our Home’. Our book lists features fiction and nonfiction for Junior and Young Adult readers.

Windrush Day: Windrush Day (June 22^nd) honours the contributions of British Caribbean communities and marks the arrival of passengers of the Empire Windrush to the UK. Our book list includes fiction and nonfiction for all ages.

South Asian Heritage Month: South Asian Heritage Month (July 17^th-August 17^th) celebrates the heritage of people with roots in South Asian countries. This year’s theme is ‘Free to be me’. Our book list come a month early to ensure it is promoted within the school term and includes fiction and nonfiction for all ages.

We were very grateful to the Scottish Poetry Library this month for funding a poetry session for pupils with Julie McNeill. Julie is a poet and non-fiction writer living in Glasgow. She has published two poetry collections: Something Small and Ragged Rainbows, she also co-wrote Mission Dyslexia, a non-fiction book for children and young people with dyslexia.

Julie is the Poet-in-residence for St Mirren FC charitable trust and a huge football fan.

In the session with our S2 pupils she used football to explore emotion and self-expression. Pupils used a memory as a jumping off point to write their own poem. We were really impressed with the poems that were created, and well done to the pupils who willing to share their wonderful work.

Huge thanks to Julie for visiting and for donating us a signed copy of We are Scottish football. You can borrow this and Mission dyslexia from the school library now.

May in Bellahouston

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We received a wonderful delivery from Waterstones. Naruto 1-27 especially will fly off the shelf.

I also visited the School Library Outreach department in the Mitchell Library and sourced some amazing non-fiction titles to add to our collection. Watch this space.

I had the opportunity to participate in the English Department’s S1 curriculum meeting. Really looking forward to supporting the new curriculum themes in the library, through book buying, displays, activities and more.

Our new library class visit timetable starts next week!

May in Rosshall

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We had a wonderful delivery of new books from Waterstones.

I also visited the School Library Outreach department in the Mitchell Library and sourced some amazing non-fiction titles to add to our collection. Watch this space.

Our application for the Scottish Book Trust’s Danielle Jawando tour has been sent. Fingers crossed!

https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/writing-and-authors/scottish-friendly-childrens-book-tour/tour-danielle-jawando

May you enjoy your new books

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May in Eastbank Academy has been a super busy month as the seniors are all studying for exams – meaning the library reverts to being a much quieter space than usual. But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening ….

In the May bank holidays, Mrs Marshall enjoyed reading a couple of the Yoto Carnegie nominated titles and is looking forward to representing the Scottish Branch of the Youth Library Group at the Yoto Carnegie Award ceremony in June. Here are the reviews of 2 of the books in contention for the Award.

Book Review – Steady for This

What a funny book with wonderful storylines. I loved it so much that I was laughing out loud when I was meant to be overseeing a study session in the library.

Steady for This

MC Growls is the main character who is trying his best to win a rap contest and get prize money to help his mum out. However, Growls does not have the “usual” style of rapping and some of his beats really leave the reader howling. He streams one of his practice sessions inadvertently which end up with his dirty laundry being exposed in public – literally.

Although funny, the book tackles friendships, family struggles and the challenges faced by young carers in the main storyline. However this doesn’t take away from the humour, and isn’t a heavy read at all. Instead, you’ll be flying through the pages and chuckling away in no time ! This copy is currently available to borrow in the school library.

Book Review – Away with Words

And another wonderful title nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Writing Award is Away with Words by Sophie Cameron.

Gala has just moved from Spain to Scotland, where her Dad has moved in with his partner. However Gala doesn’t speak English and starting school is very difficult for her. So she makes friends with a girl called Natalie who has selective mutism. This is a fascinating tale of friendship and the challenges they both face being unable to communicate at school. It’s a must read and available in the school library now !

Eastbank Winners !

We’ve won a couple of book prizes from our x posts this month ! You can enjoy the really fun Magicalia and also The Stone Age Clash, and you can read along with both books using the fun bookmarks sent to us by the publishers. Lucky Eastbank School Library!