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October 2024 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

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Libby Inductions: Now that the s1s have received their iPads, we visited s1 English classes to deliver Libby inductions. Pupils were given their library card numbers and given step by step instructions on how to access and navigate the eBook app suing their School Library cards.  Pupils loved the ease of access and range of topics and genres available on the app. For more information, visits the Glasgow Life Libraries Libby page.

Black History Month: We compiled scores of books by Black British authors as part of an S3s English reading project for Black History Month. Pupils were presented with a range of fiction and nonfiction books for junior, Young Adult, and Senior audiences to select from.

Pupil Library Committee: Our new Pupil Library Committee recruits successfully completed their first task of helping to process a huge six-box delivery. They helped stamped the date labels with the school library logo, sorted and arranged each book according to genre or subject, and helped shelved the books into the appropriate places.

Creative Writing Contest: Our Creative Writing Contest submission date was the 31st October, and we received six excellent entries from pupils across all year groups. They have been handed over to our pupil judges who will select and announce the winner come Monday, 18th November during Book Week Scotland.

 

New Book Highlights

The History of the Computer: People, Inventions, and Technology That Changed Our World by Rachel Ignotofsky

The Secret World of Plants: Tales of More Than 100 Remarkable Flowers, Trees, and Seeds by Ben Hoare

Lonely Planet Kids The Ocean Book: Explore The Hidden Depth of Our Blue Planet by Derek Harvey

 

Books of the day

02.10.24: Black Artists Shaping the World by Sharna Jackson

04.10.24: Dragonracers by Peter Bunzl, illustrated by Lia Visrin

07.10.24: Horrible Histories: Ghosts by Terry Deary, Illustrated by Martin Brown

09.10.24: Hidden Figures: the True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Shetterly

11.10.24: Kemosha of the Caribbean by Alex Wheatle

21.10.24: Wrath by Marcus Sedgewick

23.10.24: An Illustrated History of Ghosts by Adam Allsuch Boardman

25.10.24: Science Museum: The Book of Discoveries: Incredible Breakthroughs That Changed the World by Time Cooke and Drew Bardana

28.10.24: Black and British: An Illustrated History by David Olusoga, Illustrated by Melleny Taylor

30.10.24: Haunted Dolls by Martha London

 

Author of the Week:

01.10.24: Tom Mitchell

07.10.24: Ross Welford

21.10.24: Gill Lewis

28.10.24: Efua Traore

 

Series of the Week

01.10.24: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

07.10.24: My laugh Out Loud Life by Burhana islam

21.10.24: Strangeworlds Detective Agency by LD Lapinski

28.10.24: Thousand Worlds by Yoon Ha Lee

 

Literary and Cultural Celebration Book Lists and Displays for October

Dyslexia Awareness Week Scotland (Sept 20th – Oct 6th)

World Space Week (Oct 4th – 10th)

Black History Month (Throughout October)

Mental Health Day (Oct 10th)

Diwali (Oct 31st)

Halloween/Samhain (Oct 31st – Nov 1st)

Trending Book Lists:

Epic Reads New Releases | The Guardian Children’s Book Roundup | LoveReading4Kids Books of the Month | Scholastic Books of the Month | Scottish Book Trust Book Lists |Toppsta Monthly Highlights | Waterstones Books of the Month

Book Awards

Winners: Diverse Book Awards | Forward Prizes for Poetry | Polari Prizes

Shortlist: Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction

October has been such a busy month here at Eastbank Library.  You would think with a full week’s holiday in the middle of the month that things would be quieter – but that’s not at all the way things have worked out.

First of all, we have a new team of Reading Leaders comprising of S1 pupils.  The girls worked really hard to get their positions.  They came to the library after responding to an appeal for help, completed application forms and finished 2 full weeks of training.  They covered how to check in and check out books on the Library Management System; where books are shelved and what the special sections of the library contain – such as our Equalities, Anti-Racism and Graphic Novel bookshelves.

They have learned really quickly and been reliable too.  Here they are proudly with their Reading Leader badges on their ties.  Celebrations too for our Senior Reader Leaders who enjoyed last year so much they have come back and helped train our new recruits. There is only 1 Senior Reading Leader in the photo, however we do have 3 in total.   Our full team of 7 will make the library an even more brilliant place to be ! Well done to them all !

Our Anime Club started up at the end of September and interest is growing all the time.  Here are some of our attendees watching the latest anime screening in the library.  This month there was a chance to sample some Japanese sweets too.   Luckily one of our Anime Club members speaks Japanese and was able to translate the flavours on the packaging to help everyone choose which sweet they wanted.  Without her we would have been so puzzled.   Team work makes the dream work !

 

Also at the end of the month we celebrated Diwali in our chilled colouring corner.  We decorated the area with flameless candles to symbolise the Festival of Lights.  In addition, a choice of Diwali colouring sheets were available to pupils to allow a chilled colouring in period with some beautiful images to colour.  This activity was really popular and on the first day of the sheets being available, they had to be replenished.  It is amazing how the library can provide a calm atmosphere in such a busy school.

 

 

At the end of October is of course Hallowe’en.  A spooky time was had in the library as there seemed to be many books just “disappearing” in pupils’ bedrooms, never to be found again.  Indeed the haunting seems to be getting worse, as it has extended to the books disappearing from school bags and classrooms as well !  Just as well we will be in November soon, and maybe the library ghost will mend its ways and disappearing books will return to the shelves again !

Bannerman R.I.P. (Read in Peace)

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In the broad daylight of the lunch break, Bannerman High School library was infused by a eerie atmosphere as the horror books spirits’ made their presence known among the shelves. Their purpose was to inspire the participants of our Halloween spooky stories session! Our lunchtime writing session was the perfect chance for everyone to have a go at writing their own creepy story, or read a horror book in their quiet time. The participants also got some sweets in return because, obviously, it wouldn’t be Halloween without treats! Two of our talented students volunteered to decorate the treat box, transforming it into something straight out of a horror movie. The box was decorated with a spooky night setting, and filled with Halloween sweets for everyone to enjoy!

Until next Halloween, keep reading, keep writing, and stay terrifically creative! 👻

October @ Holyrood Library

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We’ve had a busy month so far, with plenty to celebrate in the Library.

October is Black History Month, so our S3 Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers -Tafsirr, Rand and Lauren created this fantastic book  display. 

They wanted to highlight books that were joyful and celebratory, so included biographies of famous actors, sportspeople, scientists, musicians and World leaders. And some history books, celebrating art and culture, but also remembering the sad and unjust parts of Black history in a respectful way.

 

In Holyrood, we feel that it’s very important to provide diverse and anti-racist books.  So in a survey, when asked what they would like to see in the library, our Senior pupils made these suggestions :

  • A section focused on highlighting ethic minorities like biographies or books on cooking
  • More books in different languages, and also books to encourage people to learn more about other cultures
  • Scottish brown and black boys/girls everyday experiences
  • Maybe more history books on Scotland’s involvement in the slave trade.

Some of the books purchased so far:

 

Higher ESOL requests

Our readers are passionate about seeing voices of all different nationalities and cultures represented on the library shelves. Mrs Cooper’s Higher ESOL class asked for a selection of books by black authors for the classroom. Here are some of the authors they are currently enjoying: Malorie Blackman, Jumata Emill, Sharon Flake, Danielle Jawando, Shade Lapite, Jason Reynolds, Efua Traore, Alex Wheatle.

And we often like to discuss favourite authors and poets in our library Teams chat. We thought these words were very inspiring: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive: and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style”. Maya Angelou

At the start of October, we also celebrated Dyslexia Awareness Week with a pupil-led outreach library in the Fuel zone.

This showcased the books we have available in a dyslexia friendly format; and Mr. Lang provided a Quiz about famous people.  We also had a Design Your Own Superpower competition, to show that all skills and talents are valued, such as super strength, invisibility, telekinesis, talking to animals, being kind, helping one another, and putting your rubbish in the bin. So many skills – what a talented bunch!

Well done everyone

Miss Kindness

 

 

 

Spooky Tales!

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The days are getting colder, the nights are getting longer, and the vibes are getting spookier – join in with these spooky tales, available from your school library!

Just click on the cover to learn more about the book:

                                                        

Looking for more?  Here’s the Glasgow Libraries Halloween selection for teens – available here on Libby! 

Black History Month Trip

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Throughout October we have been recognising the importance of Black History Month. Our Library Assistants did an excellent job creating a new wall display. S5 and 6 pupils headed over to Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery to find out more about how slavery and colonialism have shaped Glasgow. Museum staff delivered a fantastic workshop focusing on their new permanent exhibition “Glasgow – City of Empire”. Thank you for having us!

St Roch’s Reads: October

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What’s happening this month in St Roch’s School Library?

Story groups

Our S1 and S2 story groups take place every two weeks in the library. In September we had a new bunch of pupils join, so we made some ‘All about me’ zines to get to know each other. Our S2 group did some poetry craft, making their own patchwork-poems out of quotes from lines of poetry and songs. 

This month we had a spooky theme for our sessions- monsters! We learned a bit about the story of Frankenstein (did you know that ‘Frankenstein’ was actually the scientist, not the monster??) and then designed our own monsters. There were some very scary creations! Afterwards we managed to squeeze in a Blooket ‘gold quest’ quiz, which was almost as scary.  

New volunteers 

This month we welcome 10 new volunteers who want to join the pupil library team. Our new members met their mentors who will help them learn all about being a library assistant and show them the ropes for the next month. Pupils will be learning about how the library is organised, practising customer service skills and helping senior volunteers with projects.  They’ll be pros in no time!

October Book Displays

We’ve got two spotlight displays this month. On our Black History Month display you’ll find a range of non-fiction books celebrating Black history, culture and important figures. Don’t worry if you’re not a non-fiction fan, there’s also some great fiction books by Black authors. 

October is of course Spooky Season. If you’re a fan of all things scary, our Halloween display is perfect for you. It’s full of frightful books, ghoulish horror, mysterious murders and things that go bump in the night.

Happy reading everyone!

CHS Rights Respecting Book-of-the-Month: October

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The Rights Respecting Schools Award recognises a school’s achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into practice within the school and beyond. Castlemilk High School is currently working hard towards getting a Gold award this year. To help raise awareness of pupils rights, every month the library features one book that highlights some articles from the UNCRC. October’s Book-of-the-Month is The curious case of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon,  which links to a number of articles including:  

  • Article 2: Nondiscrimination
  • Article 12: Respect for the views of the child
  • Article 23: Children with a disability

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. 

Fifteen-year-old Christopher knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he discovers a dead dog on a neighbour’s lawn he decides to solve the mystery and write a detective thriller about it.

As in all good detective stories, however, the more he unearths, the deeper the mystery gets.. 

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time is available now in book , ebook and audiobook format from the school library.

Find out more about borrowing ebooks and audiobooks using the Libby app

Staff book club @St Mungo’s academy

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This year, the library is excited to host a staff book club! Once a month, members of staff come together to discuss a chosen book in a relaxed and friendly setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In our first session, we spent time talking about the kinds of books we enjoy and shared ideas for future reads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The winning choice was Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. After reading the book, we reconvened to talk about its powerful themes of loss, family, and identity. To balance the emotional depth of the story, we enjoyed some Korean snacks, which tied in beautifully with the book’s cultural elements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The session was a great success, with everyone enjoying both the conversation and the refreshments. For our next meeting, the group unanimously chose Intermezzo as our next book to explore. We’re all looking forward to another thoughtful discussion!

 

 

It’s the end of term and the library is unusually quiet due to the October holidays.  In Lochend, flying off the shelves just now is Vampire Diaries. It’s back on TV again, and lots of our students are possibly discovering it for the first time.  Full of page turning stories, the books tell of Elena and Stefan and their adventures, being teenage vampires and navigating their strange world – and their relationship !  Don’t go into a cemetery late at night like these teens did – it always ends badly !  Go on, read it for Hallowe’en !

Have you ever wondered what the library looks like when the pupils go on holiday?  Tidy I hear you say?!   There’s always lots to do, but looking at the library today, it’s splendid and we’re lucky to have such a good library space.  Stunning shelved fiction Here’s our very beautiful section – the fiction shelves – which are arranged by genre to help you find your next read more easily.   There are hundreds of books to choose from, and if you’re not sure what to pick the School Librarian will help you.   Thank you to the library assistants in schools who often help us tidy up.

 

Finding your way round the library space can be a bit daunting at first.  However as well as our fiction all arranged in one area, our non fiction books are just the same.  Spread over a series of shelves, our non-fiction books are arranged by the Dewey Decimal System, that’s how the numbers on the side of the books are arranged.  Dewey can seem a bit difficult at first, but don’t worry, that’s another thing the School Librarian can help you with.  If you want to learn more about the Dewey Decimal System – here’s a great site to help you out –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuRmTY4UJwQ

Non Fiction Display

Sometimes the best way to get to know the library is by simply walking round a few times and looking at things that catch your eye.  Today, I’ll leave you with a post of the seating area and the non-fiction area to give you a fuller view of our fantastic space.Spacious Seating Area

COME TO THE LIBRARY !   We look forward to seeing your soon !