Tag Archives: reading

Lochend new non fiction

We’ve had some amazing new non fiction arrive last week at Lochend. Why don’t you prepare for Halloween at the end of October by reading some gruesome and scary new books?

Do No Harm and Cursebreaker

Nothing is scarier than real life, and in Do No Harm there’s lots of real life medical stories from the past to the present day. This book shows how we’ve come from cutting off limbs with saws right up to date – making progress in the fight against cancer and other diseases. A great read, with short sections and fantastic graphics

Cursebreaker

Want to be scared? This book, with it’s creepy adventures, gives you the choice to play a game where you can escape from prison – then fight your way to freedom via a fantasy world. Great fun.

New Non Fiction

There’s lots to love in our new non fiction selection. Whether you want to find the confidence to speak up and be heard, or select a new film to watch there’s something for everyone. Even a new Vegan cook book to get you cooking new recipies !

Book of the Month for October – Artificial Intelligence by Tom Jackson

This tiny book is a colourful explosion of great information, with 4 chapters taking us from the early days of AI decades ago right up to today. It’s a great read, giving clear information and you can dip into topics without having to read the full book.

Holyrood Library, September Update

Leave a reply

What I’m Reading ….

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

our students are reading ….

Bright by Jessica Jung

Both titles are part of our September theme : East and South East Asian Heritage Month, #ESEAHM celebrating the writing and culture of China, Japan, Korea and other countries in this geographical area.

The book display was created by our S3 Duke of Edinburgh volunteers.

Our Writing for Fun lunchtime club is new this month. Inspired by our White Water Writers project last session, our original group of young writers are now mentoring S1 pupils to enjoy creative writing. They chose fun writing prompts including “Pretend you’re a toothbrush”.

We had a brilliant time. The mentors are busy making plans for next month, including a new theme, and a Competition.

Well done everyone. Some of our S1 and S2 pupils’ creative writing, and illustrations :

Try something new

Thanks to Adam for bringing in a favourite book for me to try. As I’m not usually a fan of Sci-fi/ Fantasy, I’m really enjoying reading a new genre. Happy reading everyone.

Children of Time

The #Rood Reads Library Update

Leave a reply

For end of term, our Reading Schools Committee held a celebration event, and chose their highlights of the year:

Fatima, S3 loved the visit from Nadine Aisha Jassatt. Nadine read a poem from ‘Let Me Tell You This’ and told us about her brand-new book ‘The Stories Grandma Forgot’. We shared lots of different words in different World languages, and thought about how to use these in our own poems.

Mehreen, S3 has enjoyed writing about books and sharing book recommendations. Here’s our display to celebrate Eid.

Sam likes chilling out in the Library (me too!). The group has lots of fun together, like the Book Oscars at Easter time, and choosing a book from the rewards vending machine.

Everyone agreed that Zine Club, run by Ailbhe from Glasgow Zine Library was brilliant. “We loved the zine making”.

S1 enjoyed meeting Maisie Chan, and learning about the importance of diversity in books. This was part of the YA-ldi Glasgow Schools’ Book Awards.

the Duke of Edinburgh library volunteers did excellent work keeping the book displays up to date, and helping to run the library at lunchtimes.

International Women’s Day

12 of our young people wrote a novel together as part of the White Water Writers’ Project. An amazing achievement. We celebrated in style with a Book Launch party for parents, friends and teachers.

What a year! So much fun. Have a wonderful holiday, and join us for more reading adventures in August.

Reading Highlights at Holyrood

Leave a reply

We hope you enjoy our reading highlights from December/ January. Huge thank you to our visitors, and also to the wonderful Library Helpers and young people for taking part!

Miss Brown’s S2 enjoyed a drawing workshop with Neil Slorance. We were inspired to hear about Neil’s early comics, love of drawing, travelogues and astronomy, and the brilliant graphic novels ‘Dungeon Fun’, and Doctor Who. We learned how to draw faces, adding features to create expressions, and even had a shot at drawing our own comic strips, collaboratively with classmates.

This event was funded by the School Library Improvement Fund.

Also in January, we welcomed author Manjeet Mann, Clare from Refuweegee, and Fraser, Thomas and Clara from the Scottish Book Trust. This event was part of a Scottish Friendly Book Tour. This workshop was amazing! We heard about Manjeet’s journey as a writer, enjoyed readings from her verse novels ‘Run Rebel’, and ‘The Crossing’, tried some free-writing exercises, shared our work to the audience, had a Q. & A. So much great feedback :

“I loved the part when we had activities to do with a famous author. It inspired me to be more imaginative and to write more” Haya (S2)

“S2 are currently looking at equality and empowerment, and this event helped to bring what we had been talking about in class to life. The pupil interaction (writing task) was brilliant. All round super event!” Mrs Ford, PT Pupil Voice

Also impressive was the care and effort put in by all young people and staff to provide a warm welcome. An outstanding day, happy memories were made, and pupils left inspired!

In December, we had visits from Ailbhe and Martha, from Glasgow Zine Library. We loved making our own zines at these fun workshops. GZL is an amazing local resource, and we are very grateful to Ailbhe for setting up links with us and working with our wonderful Equalities Alliance and Anti-Racist groups.

Also in December, over 200 S1 pupils completed the Glasgow Libraries Christmas Reading Challenge and received these lovely certificates. Well done everyone.

Our pupil helpers have been busy creating displays. Here is a selection:

World Hijab Day

Holocaust Memorial Day

Burns Day Poetry

The Reading Schools Committee is back in action. We enjoyed a Christmas party, put together a list of favourite books to read for Christmas and we’re now getting to grips with the YAldi shortlist. YAldi – Glasgow School Libraries’ Book Award – is a new event in the reading calendar, organised by Ms DeLeavey and Ms Sferrazzo 😊. We are looking forward to interviewing Ann Sei Lin via e-mail (what an amazing opportunity)! and voting for our favourite book in April.

Ann Sei Lin

Book Reviews Ending on a high note, our keen readers are always happy to share their book reviews. We hope that these will help you find a book that you will love. Happy Reading !

The Night Circus by Erin Morgensten “I really loved this book. It’s the definition of a fantasy book. It’s so magical and really transports you to another world. Definitely my favourite book.” Isha, S4

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell “Beautifully written and full of historical detail. Deeply moving; I would recommend this book” Ms Blackburn

November updates!

Leave a reply

Welcome back to the Gaelic School blog!

We have had a lot on recently, with more to come in the coming months. Check back here for news on author visits, Book week Scotland and other library-related news.

Storytelling for Mental Health

We are finally underway with our Storytelling group! Over the course of the school year, our group will be engaging in various storytelling-related activities including games, crafts, reading and much much more. Aside from mental health, a key theme of the group is ‘diversity’. We will be giving updates on what the group have been up to here, so don’t miss it!

For our first session, we got everyone to pair off, tell each other an amusing or interesting story about themselves and the other had to re-tell it but be…economical with the truth. It was a lot of fun and we had some excellent stories. As with every session, we get the pupils to describe how they are feeling in one word at the start and end by scanning a QR code (pictured) and entering it into a linked form.

Book Tok display

Introducing our new permanent display: Book Tok! Come down and find some of the top trending books and authors.

Mrs Kindness

September 11, 2022

New Term

Our focus this term is to enjoy reading! Our new S1 pupils have been fantastic already. This week we’ve held a Playground library at lunchtime, and also plan to celebrate Roald Dahl day.

September projects :

Led by Mr, McLeod in Social Subjects, we have started our Superhero Readers project, aimed at encouraging our young people to learn more about the World through reading. The new books include both fiction and non-fiction. Our updated Social Subjects section will be decorated with pupil artwork and Superhero signs! (photo shows work in progress).

This hardworking S1 class are examining the books and deciding on headings such as Climate change, Refugees, Racism, Crime, Poverty

New book selection and displays will have input from our Rights Respecting School Committee and newly formed pupil Equalities Alliance, to ensure the library is inclusive and welcoming to everyone.
Last year we were successful in gaining Reading Schools Silver Accreditation. This year we are going for Gold with the fantastic leadership of Ms Longo and the Reading Schools Committee. Here are some of the Committee, enjoying their well-deserved trophy.

Summer Reading Journey

Everyone loves time for reading during the holidays. Books (and films) can also help boost tourism.

In June, I visited St. Abbs. Are you a fan of Marvel Comics and the Avengers movies? In ‘Endgame’ filmed in 2017, St. Abbs beautiful coastline became the location for Thor’s home planet.

In the Visitor Centre you can hold the hammer of Thor, take a quiz, and find out all about the filming.

I also visited Rosslyn Chapel . The intricacy and beauty of this building is testimony to the skill of the craftsmen who built it in the 15th century. By taking a guided tour, I learned about the architecture and secrets of Rosslyn, the struggle to preserve the building, and how Dan Brown’s bestseller the Da Vinci Code, came to the rescue, putting Rosslyn Chapel firmly on the tourist map, and raising much needed income.

The Chapel famously appeared in the 2006 film, with a stellar cast including Tom Hanks, Audrey Tatou and Sir Ian McKellen. After a murder in the Louvre Museum, and a frantic chase through London, Professor Langdon and Sophie Neveu finally solve the secret of the Grail after visiting the Chapel’s crypt.

Staff at Holyrood are enthusiastic readers. Mrs Livingstone has very kindly shared one of her favourite books of the summer : The Alice Network. Having a great interest in history, she has also visited Norte Dame de Lorette, the largest French military cemetery. There can be found information and a small memorial to Louise de Bettignies who was the real life founder of the Allies WW1 spy network , (known as the Alice Network in Kate Quinn’s book).

Historical fiction can often bring incredible true stories to life, and helps us to understand important figures from the past.

Thank you also to Ms Stevenson, Ms Crawford and Mrs McDonald for recommending books borrowed from the school library that they enjoyed over the Summer. (‘Eleanor Oliphant’ is also one of my favourites).

Pupil & staff recommendations are always superb!

Khadija, S3 : “The Ms Marvel Comic is sooo good, especially of you are a Marvel fan! You will love the Ms Marvel series on Disney channel too, It is about a Pakistani girl and it is very diverse”.

Zirsh, S6, read many books during the holidays. This one was perfect for summer reading as it was about friendship, and travelling together, very enjoyable.

Have a wonderful Autumn term

Wee Write! @ the Gaelic School!

Leave a reply

This year, the school were involved in two Wee Write! events!

For the first one, we had Johan Nic a’Ghobiann visit the school to give a talk to our S2s:

We also went with our S1s to the Mitchell for an event with illustrator Chris Mould who talked about his new illustrated version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. He also gave us plenty of tips to improve our own drawing skills.

(apologies for the poor quality photos!)

Watch this space for my exciting updates next month!

Holyrood Library, Spring Update

Leave a reply

Welcome to the Library blog for March and April !

Our Rights Respecting School book display showcases books on diversity, inclusion and well-being. This display was organised by one of our S6 Volunteers, who has also worked on cataloguing hundreds of books this year, a great example of our Pupil Voice and Caritas volunteering in action, thank you.

World Book Day : our S1 ‘Design a Book Token’ competition was a great success. The entries were superb, showing both a love of reading and excellent design skills. Our prize-winners enjoyed a lunchtime celebration. Special thanks to Head Girl, Maryam for presenting prizes and giving an inspiring speech to S1.

Our S3 lunchtime readers have been busy creating beautiful art, including flowers and bees to decorate our Science week Display, and bookmarks for Miss Melville’s wonderful Coffee Morning for Ukraine

We love sharing book reviews and recommendations

We even get replies from fantastic authors! “I’m so happy that Boy 87 was your book of the day. Thank you S1 helpers!”, Ele Fountain, author of Boy 87

Here is the Numeracy Wall created by Miss Blackburn’s Sumdog Club. We look forward to holding more numeracy activities in the library throughout the year.

Our S6 contribution to the library has been immense. Their helpfulness and enthusiasm, has made the library a joyful place. Thank you S6 for the Book-Tok idea, now under-way. I will continue to add new titles. Special thanks to Aaminah.

Our S6 held an amazing Culture Day in the Assembly Hall. Seeing the joy and pride in our wonderful, diverse Holyrood community has inspired me to look out for more diverse books by indigenous authors in future.

Some S1 recommendations showing different cultures, (these are set in Nigeria, and the Himalayas).

Thanks also to S6 for completing the online Library Survey, all your helpful suggestions will go towards making improvements for the coming year.

This lovely manga style drawing, (by Kieran and Demi), sums up our ethos – Everyone is WELCOME in this Library, so please DO look in and say hello next time you are passing. A warm welcome awaits.

March in St Roch’s: World Book Day

Leave a reply

World Book Day is a celebration of reading, authors, illustrators and books which happens in March every year. This year was a particularly special one because it marked 25 years of World Book Day! In St Roch’s, pupils were all given a token which they could use to claim a free book in places like Waterstones, Tesco & Sainsbury’s. There were lots of great books to choose from this year and we were delighted to get some copies for the library.

This year we celebrated World Book Day’s 25th anniversary with lots of library activities. There was a book display with previous WBD books, featured authors and recommendations. S1 and S2 English classes visited the library with their iPads to take part in WBD quiz sessions. We had great fun playing games on Blooket, with questions on Harry Potter, Roald Dahl, Wimpy Kid and lots more. The quiz sets are available online, just click on the one you’d like to play above.

Manga and comics are very popular in St Roch’s, so there was a special lunchtime quiz for all the fans. It was an impressive display of knowledge from everyone, but we had two stand out winners. Well done Louie and Ivy!

During March pupils also took part in the library’s World Book Day Bookopoly reading challenge. Pupils read books to complete a genre on the board and get a prize draw entry. Some brave students went the extra mile and got entries for doing reading dares as well.

Finally, Ms Nimmo’s S1 class created some beautiful poems about nature to display in the library during March. The poems were also made into a class ebook that everyone can enjoy.

All in all it a was a great month of World Book Day celebrations. Looking forward now to next month’s Wee Write festival and some fantastic author events in schools across Glasgow!

Holyrood library – ‘Book chat with S6, and World Book Day fun’

Leave a reply

This month we’re chatting to some of our wonderful S6 Pupils about books and reading. Thank you S6 for sharing these thoughts.

Taiba : “I like reading because it allows me to stand in other peoples’ shoes and experience someone else’s life for a while. I always struggled to decide what I wanted to pursue at university. Reading books written by many different professionals in their careers, such as ‘When Breath Becomes Air‘ made me feel I could make a more educated choice. Reading has also prepared me for the university application process and has given me things to talk about in interviews”.

Manisa: “For me, reading helps me escape reality and also helps me be more creative. I got into reading by finding my types of books in the school library. Reading gives me a perspective that I haven’t seen before”.

Maryam: “I sometimes prefer books to their movies/ TV shows because it allows my imagination to visualise the plot which is different to when a movie dictates what you see. Another thing that I like about reading is that you’re able to appreciate the thoughts of each character, and you are put in their shoes, which can be interesting!”

Holly: “You may think you don’t enjoy reading because you have always viewed it as a task, but once you find a book that you love and are interested in, it can be a perfect escape from reality”

Miss K. : “Seeing our S6 pupils studying in the library and hearing their feedback about books is one of the best things about my job. They can often be found encouraging younger pupils and doing paired reading with S1. Thanks also for the great idea of doing a Book-Tok display. Can’t wait to get started!”

On 3^rd March, we celebrated World Book Day. As part of their Literacy project, S1-S3 pupils were asked to read a book set in a country other than the UK. Some borrowed books from the school library, whole others chose to access the E-library using their I=pads. Ms Longo also ran a project asking all year groups to recommend a favourite book from a different country. This truly reflects the diverse, multi-cultural and welcoming nature of our school.

Our EAL Book Group continues to meet at lunchtimes when we have fun chatting, eating lunch and finding new books to enjoy together.

On library Teams, we’ve enjoyed nominating our favourite places we’d like to visit, as part of the ‘Strange Worlds Detective Agency’ competition. These have included New York; the Eiffel Tower in Paris; Italy, the Maldives, and Bali in Indonesia. I feel as if I’ve travelled the World, from my desk chair.

Thanks to all pupil helpers S1 – S6 who have contributed so much time and energy helping in the Library this month.