Tag Archives: reading

March in St Roch’s: World Book Day

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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’

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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 3rd 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.

LGBTQ+ History Month @ Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu!

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Hi and welcome to our LGBTQ+ History special!

As you can see, we have displayed some excellent books which deal with LGBT themes or feature leading LGBT characters or protagonists. Some are more ‘obvious’ than others, but we hope there is something for everyone here!

Thanks to the LGBTQ+ group for their suggestions! There were some that even caught the librarian off-guard! We have put up some posters (see below) of some of their recommendations. If you can’t find them in the library, most are available on the Libby app (email gwmcgregormark@glow.ea.glasgow.sch.uk if you need more info on this!). We are always looking for more recommendations so please get in touch if you have any that haven’t been mentioned here.

The next update will be for World Book Day on March 3rd. We are hoping to have quizzes, giveaways and much more!

February @ St. Andrew’s!

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Hi everyone! Welcome to our first full month of normal service!

This month is LGBT History Month and we have a display of some great books which relate to LGBTQ+ issues or contain LGBTQ+ characters and protagonists. It’s a very eclectic mix and some are more ‘obvious’ than others, but we hope that there is something for everyone. Plus, there is a free rainbow bookmark with every book borrowed!

This month also brings us Languages Week Scotland as well as International Mother Language Day so what better time to set up our new Community Languages Section! We have a number of new books in French, Polish, Italian, Spanish and Arabic (most of which didn’t last long before pupils snapped them up!). We are hoping to have more in the not-so-distant future but we reckon this is a good start! Also special thanks to our EAL group for creating a new multilingual. ‘Welcome’ sign for the library.

3rd March is World Book Day and we have lots of exciting things planned, including a book cover competition, a book swap and much more. Our next update will be a WBD special so keep your eyes pealed!

 

Bliadhna Mhath Ùr!

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Welcome back to the Glasgow Gaelic School blog!

2022 will hopefully bring us an array of exciting events and updates to the library. We have been working with the Art department in adding a bit of colour and beauty to the library and have decided to use the space to showcase some pupil artwork. As you can see below, there are some excellent examples here:

We have also been working with the pupil-led school magazine, who have their weekly meeting in the library on Thursdays. There are lots of great things coming out of it and the young people are doing a great job of contributing and organising. If you are interested, please get in touch with me on gw19mcgregormark@glow.ea.glasgow.sch.uk and I will p ass this onto the magazine’s editor, Sophie (S6). Also, look out for the library segment for more updates and reading recommendations!

January 27th also marks Holocaust Memorial Day. A day on which we draw attention to and raise awareness of the Holocaust and all genocides across the world. We have set up a display of related books (below) which we will leave up for the next few weeks. Also, check out the Glasgow School Librarian eMag for further reading!

Next month will be LGBT History Month and we hope to bring you further news, recommendations and happenings in the library. See you then!

Happy New Year from St. Andrew’s!

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I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and found time to relax with a good book!

We have largely been closed since we came back from the break to accommodate prelims. However, we can still provide books! Aside from reintroducing the class boxes – a bespoke selection of books for each class – we are also bringing back our click and collect service. Click on this link, fill in the form, and collect your book!

Alternatively, we have QR codes dotted around the school and also on our Twitter page which will also take you to the form. 

There are also vast selections of eBooks and Audiobooks available on Libby and BorrowBox – both of which are available on your iPads. You’ll need your library card number or your PIN, so if you don’t have those then email me at gw19mcgregormark@glow.ea.glasgow.sch.uk

 

More updates in February where we will be back up and running to full capacity plus the return of the Manga Club, the EAL reading group and other exciting events!

Holyrood Library – Summer Term

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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!

Holyrood Library – Spring update

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We started our Library Teams page in February to keep in touch and share book chat. All activities were organised or led by S1-3 pupils. What a fantastic time we’ve had! Thank you to everyone in our Team, both for contributing, and reading along during lockdown. Hope you all had fun!

Competitions

Our first competition, created by Zara, was ‘Create your own Character’. Our prizewinning entries came from Rose K. & Sahar (S1), and Brenna (S2).

Rose (S1)

We loved the skill shown in Rose’s drawing and how the character matched the description.

Sahar (S1)

Sahar: An excellent character and description, great imagination in choosing to make the character a villain!

Brenna (S2)

Fantastic use of description and colour in Brenna’s drawing to bring this character to life.

Our next competition idea came from Rose ‘Tell your favourite story with a Twist’. Cillian used his knowledge of Tom Gates, to come up with an alternative ending, involving Tom’s mum.

We also enjoyed making Origami bookmarks  . So impressed by B. M’s bookmark:

                         

As we’ve all been doing more cooking during lockdown, we started looking at Recipe Books.

Eman, Anna and Bilal came up with some brilliant ideas for recipes, I enjoyed trying out these ideas for a Toasted sandwich , Feta Pasta bake and Ms Longo made this great find of an easy to make version of Gulab jamun (I’ve still to try this – it looks wonderful)!

Next we shared our Favourite books. Here are some of the titles that Anna, Zara, & Abdul recommend.

         

Harry Potter, the Faraway Tree and Dork diaries and Percy Jackson series are also firm  favourites.

Anna’s Quiz was a highlight and kept us entertained throughout an entire day. There was much discussion and we had fun trying to come up with our answers. What a brilliant quizmaster! Bilal edged a win, closely followed by Rose, Zara (and Ms Longo and I did pretty well too I’m pleased to say)! Everyone was very sporting in providing clues and congratulating one another.

Our last activity before the holiday break was ‘Re-create your favourite Book Cover’, Eman drew this stunning mosaic style version of ‘The Girl who Lost her Shadow’, which got a lovely comment from author Emily Ilett.

Thank you to Ms Longo for the wonderful video to help us access Glasgow Libraries eBooks.

https://video.link/w/CUfhc

I now can’t wait to chat to all our team members in person to say a huge well done for all your work.

Also, a big thank you to our wonderful S3 Duke of Edinburgh pupils Laraib and Fiza who helped set up the Team and continued to add advice and ideas all the way through; and thank you also to Sarah, Miya, Nida and Chantelle. We wish you every success in completing your Duke of Edinburgh challenges.

Other activities Jan – March

The Library was used as one of the Hubs for our KW pupils. It was lovely to meet colleagues from other depts. and also to see the library resources still being used for research. Our helpful pupils also took an occasional break from classwork to help me unpack and review the new books.

They also decorated our Staff CLPL Library. What wonderful artwork! We wanted to make the most of the fantastic books ordered by Miss Callan, so we made bookmarks for our teachers. Thank you Jodie for printing the bookmark templates.

We enjoyed some Easter craft activities on the last day of term.

Look forward to seeing everyone back in the Library soon. Remember : face coverings, clean hands and surfaces,  and keep a good distance so that we can all stay safe!

 

 

Holyrood Secondary Library, Book Week Scotland

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Book Week Scotland, 16th -22nd November

Pupil review

Here is our first pupil recommendation from Fatima S3, who does superb work helping out in the Library setting up book displays, and helping with crafts for the younger pupils. She is almost half way through this book by wonderful Scottish author Lindsay Littleson.

           

“I recommend ‘The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean’. I really enjoyed reading it. It talks about summer, family and friends”.

We’ve also been using books to find out about Millport, which is the setting for part of this really exciting story.

 

We hope that other pupils will read this book, and also the next book by Lindsay Littleson, called ‘The Awkward Autumn of Lily McLean’

Here at Holyrood, Book Week Scotland is one of the highlights of our year ! We can’t wait to get started with celebrating books and reading, and join in the fun with authors, book lovers and the reading community all over Scotland!

We hope to be joining in with some of the online events listed here:

Book Week Scotland programme of events

In addition, we will be reading, sharing books, and holding our own celebration events all week:

  • How many Scottish authors and books set in Scotland can we read?  There may also be some pupil book reviews!

  • Competition for S1 – design your own mini-book on a Scottish theme Collect an instruction sheet from the Library…. easy and fun! All entries will be displayed in the Library and you could win a prize.
  • Senior pupils will be reading stories from this anthology of writing about the ‘Future’. You can collect your free copy from the Library. Happy reading!

 

  • We will be sharing some of our work in pictures and writing all through the week, and hope that as many pupils and staff as possible will join us to celebrate Book Week Scotland

Holyrood Secondary #LibrariesWeek

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To celebrate #LibrariesWeek 6th-10th October, this blog has been written by one of our most enthusiastic and book – loving classes: Miss Belton’s S3 English Class, who are pleased to share their book recommendations with you.

 

Jared “My favourite book is The Avatar. As it was the only book in this series in the library, I also had to borrow other books. The library is fun because most of the books are fun to read, and this makes your reading better. I hope that you will try to read more too”.

Fantastic advice, thank you Jared.

       

 

Sawdah is one of our most enthusiastic readers and it is always great to see her in the Library. “My favourites include Cry Baby, the Story of Tracy Beaker, and the Dockside series, because there are so many titles in the series to read!”

 

 

Abdou “The book that I like reading is the Last Kids on Earth series by Max Brailler. It’s a book about monster zombies and kids surviving the apocalypse”.

    Thanks to Abdou, other pupils have now enjoyed this series too!

Azeem likes “ all the Roald Dahl books, also comic books, and books about football”.

Denis and Mahmod both enjoyed a book that they read in class The Housekeeper’s Lunch – “this book was really funny and great because the housekeeper couldn’t have his lunch because the crows ate it all”.

Faizan says “My favourite book is Five Famous Fairy Tales”, This is a superb choice, containing tales by Hans Anderson and brothers Grimm. Abdullah recommends history books, and he has read many history and other non-fiction titles.

 

Fatima says “my favourite book is Dork Diaries. I like to read them because they are fun to read”. This is a very popular choice

This dedicated Class is always up for a challenge, and successfully completed last year’s Glasgow Libraries Christmas Reading Challenge, receiving certificates to mark their outstanding achievement.

As an experiment, we also tried reading as a Book Group – our chosen titles were Under the Skin, by Cathy Macphail, and the Fastest Boy in the World, by Elizabeth Laird. However, we decided that we preferred reading our own choice of books (although we do still like to have quiet discussion and share ideas together).

Miss Kindness, Librarian says “It has been a pleasure to see how this class have grown in enthusiasm and confidence over the past two years. I look forward to more fun projects and reading challenges with them”.

 

We would all like to say a big thank you to Miss Belton for all her patience, and enthusiasm, and for making the time for us to go to the library.

We hope you have a wonderful retirement and enjoy more time to read books and have new adventures.”.