Hello, readers!
Please find attached the link to our latest issue of the Library Newsletter. https://www.flipsnack.com/5B5DF899E8C/newsletter-october-2021.html
A very special one, as entirely curated by two of our wonderful library assistants.
Happy reading!
It’s been a fun start to the year in the library at John Paul Academy. The library is open again for pupils to borrow books after months of lockdowns and restrictions. The new S1 cohort have loved coming to the library to check out books, with hundreds of books borrowed since we returned to school after the summer holidays!
We have lots of very enthusiastic readers in the new S1 group and it’s great to see them in the library every day picking out new books to read. They are especially fond of our manga collection, and have put in several requests for more – keep your eyes peeled for new titles coming soon!
Our S3 EAL Book Club, every Wednesday at lunchtime, has just begun Project Cinderella! Every week our club will read a different version of the Cinderella story, taken from different times and places. Once we’ve finished, we’re going to write our own version of the story! We started this month with Charles Perrault’s classic version of the story, famous for the Disney animation. Watch this space to see the club progress, and ideas for our own version of the story! [This project is supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund].
The library has also started up a new Comic Club, for fans of comics, graphic novels and especially manga! Our new comic club members have had a library takeover, helping to choose new comics, graphic novels and manga to buy for the library, and have created this fantastic display with some of their favourite options for their fellow pupils to borrow! Some of their notes included “This book is really interesting” and “Join our comic club for awesome books like these!”. Our club meets every Monday at lunchtime, and is open for more members to join in!
Pupils have also been getting creative with our new Craft Cart! So far pupils have tried their hand at paper cranes and origami bookmarks, as well as creating and drawing their own posters and characters.
If you want to see what’s coming up in October, then check out Bookmarked, the JPA Library newsletter, at this link.
Thanks for reading, and watch this space for future updates!
Hello!
This year our great Library Team will host a bookish event every month.
The fir
st planned was Hobbit Day Celebration on Wednesday, 22nd September.
Each library assistants has helped to make it a great success:
On the event day,in small teams we have solved Gollum’s riddles, looking for clues around the library, and completing a related crossword. We were very busy, but it was lovely to see so many young people adventuring in a new book genre, socializing and having fun.
Here are our event winners!
Do not worry, though, as we are already working on the next event!
This post will give you a quick introduction to the library and how it works – pop in and visit soon!
First, I would like to introduce myself – Miss West, the librarian for John Paul Academy.
Here’s a little information about me:
You can find me in the library all day, every (school) day. If you have any questions, need help, or just want a good book chat, pop into the library and say hello!
You can find fiction, non fiction, comics, graphic novels, quick-reads and super-readable books in the library. There are books on a variety of topics or genres to suit your needs, whether it’s reading to learn or reading for pleasure!
And it’s about more than books! We also have space for group work, games and crafts. In the library, you can read, write, relax, play, learn and create!
New Feature: The Craft Cart! – Whether you enjoy designing and making useful or fun objects, or you just like to keep your head and your hands busy, there will be something to keep you occupied on our craft cart!
Here are the basic rules on how you can use the library:
Opening Hours:
The Rules
Borrowing:
There are lots of ways you can take part with the library online:
Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year! I’m looking forward to seeing everyone to the Library, with a special welcome to the new S1s. Continue reading
In May, we were very lucky to be part of STEM Equals project, supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund.
The project started with our 3 researchers visiting from the University of Strathclyde– Lauren, Atimati and Richard introducing themselves and talking about their life as students of Biomedical Engineering, Electronic and Electrical Engineering and Physics.
Our S1 class compared Paisley’s annual rainfall data and explored how this data is relevant for understanding climate change with the help of researchers. Pupils drew graphs and looked for weather patterns and trends. We talked about who can be a scientist (everyone!) and what is Citizen Science.
Pupils did two experiments – identifying plastics and plant water sensor using micro:bits.
Lastly, our S1 pupils got a remote visit from Gill Lewis, who is a children’s author, vet and wildlife enthusiast. She wrote over 20 books about animals and environmental issues and many pupils were already familiar with her books, especially White Dolphin. In her video, Gill explained why books are important, why arts are important to science and even taught us to speak Gorilla!
The school library received almost 50 new books (thank you SLIC and Miss Clarke, a school librarian from All Saints Secondary School and Lochend Community High School!) and we created a new display to tie in with the project.
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Jules Scheele (they/them) are a Glasgow-based illustrator, comics artist and graphic facilitator whose art focuses strongly on mental health, queerness, activism and community. They created many personal zines, but most notably illustrated books Queer: A Graphic History, Gender: A Graphic Guide and Sexuality: A Graphic Guide.
Jules recorded a video talk for our S3 pupils and school LGBT+ club, where they talked about the history of zines, their journey to becoming an illustrator, showed us how to make a simple zine by using only A4 paper and scissors and answered pupils’ questions that were everything from “Who do you hope to reach with your art?” to “What advice would you give to your teenage self”.
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Smithycroft Library won a Toppsta competition for the best display using new Angie Thomas’ book Concrete Rose and won two more copies of the book! I can’t wait for pupils to read this prequel to the bestselling book The Hate U Give and tell me what they think!
Thank you everyone for this school year and see you in the next one! 🙂
Thank you Helpers!
Here’s a round up of some of the fun we’ve had in May/ June:
Most days start with a “Good Morning” on library Teams. We check in with each other and make sure everyone is having a good day.
We enjoyed fun quizzes for ‘Earth Day’, and ‘Oceans Day’, finding out which animals each of us resembles!
On Empathy Day we chatted about empathy and how we can look out for each other. We put up a book display of Self-help books, and recommended our favourite authors.
“I recommend self-help books because it does a lot of good for my mental health and self-esteem. I really like the author Fearne Cotton. She uses examples that I can relate to” (S3 Pupil)
We made a Book display for Euro 2021, and prepared books to give to our visiting P7 pupils.
Our Library Helpers have been fantastic, whether helping with book displays, activities, or just chilling out with friends,
Thank you so much to everyone who has borrowed books, helped out either in person or on library Teams or simply just been there for company. Thanks also to Laraib and Fiza our Duke of Edinburgh helpers. You have all been amazing!
Can’t wait to see everyone next year and have even more fun.
Bon Voyage!
Hello there!
It’s almost time to wind down for the summer holidays but our EAL book group have been busy. See the June issue for more info. Link below 🙂
June newsletter: https://t.co/WN7WReL4yS?amp=1
(This Project is supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund).
Hello there!
It’s almost time to wind down for the summer holidays after an action packed May. We had some wonderful visitors in last month, working with our S2s in the Tech Department for the See Yourself in STEM Project. With a focus on climate change and diversity in STEM, the project was funded through SLIF (the School Library Improvement Fund) and involved collaboration between three Glasgow schools (including ours), three authors, Glasgow Life Libraries and the University of Strathclyde. Role model scientists and engineers from the university came in over four sessions. We had the opportunity to try out various experiments such as making bioplastics in the microwave and creating a potato battery. Unfortunately some potato batteries were injured in the process :-).
For more info on the project and the researcher role models click the links below:
Project: https://www.stemequals.ac.uk/Initiatives/See-Yourself-In-STEM
Role models: https://www.stemequals.ac.uk/Initiatives/See-Yourself-In-STEM/Profiles
(This Project is supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund).
In June we celebrate Refugee Week (14-20 June 2021), Refugee Festival Scotland (14-20 June 2021) and World Refugee Day (20 June).
Here are 3 books I recommend everyone to read:
Alpha tells a story of a man, who flees his home country in search of his wife and child, who already left. As he tries to reach France to meet them, he encounters people traffickers, harsh conditions in refugee camps and people desperately trying to cross the sea in overcrowded and dangerous boats.
The journey that would take few hours on a plane, can take months or even years if you are a refugee. The illustrations are mostly black and grey, portraying the journey as never ending and hopeless.
You can watch Sarah Ardizzone (translator) and Bessora (author) talk about Alpha here.
This book is about Sami, a 13 year old boy living in Damascus with his parents and sister. After the local mall is bombed, his family decides they can no longer stay in Syria. Together they embark on a long journey through countries and continents, hoping to reach and find a new home in England.
Boy, Everywhere was included in 2021 Read for Empathy collection.
You can watch A.M. Dassu speak about empathy in this video.
Force to Flee is a collection of refugee children’s stories and drawings, focusing on children from Syria, South Sudan and Central America. The book describes a political situation in these places and explains why so many people try to flee them. It also includes a great list of additional resources for further reading.
None of these books are easy to read. They are heartbreaking, but powerful and important. You can find all these book in the Empathy display in the school library.
