Mark and Alex's Book Review

Mark (Year 4 ) and Alex (Year 3)  read this Gagana Samoa book in the holidays. They then wrote me this in the library - well done!

Mrs Atkinson's Summer Reading

What did you read these summer holidays? Come and show me the book and tell me about it and I can put a little book review on this blog!

What did I read? Lots and lots!!

My very very favourite author at the moment is Michael Morpurgo. He is English and has written many, many books! I am trying to buy everyone of his at home! I was lucky and got a small pile of his books for Christmas too.

You might know "War Horse" that is currently on at the movies? Have you seen it? Well it was book before it was a movie and it is written by Michael Morpurgo!!

 "War Horse" is written from the horse's point of view. His lovingly looked after by a young lad called Albert. Albert trains the horse Joey to be a working farmhorse and has a very close relationship with it. One day Albert's Dad sells the horse, leaving Albert totally distraught. Joey is sold to the army and goes off to fight in a horrible war. Albert meanwhile joins the army as soon as he is old enough and becomes a vet assistant. he never gives up on trying to find Joey, It is a powerful story of friendship and highly recommended

 A much quicker read of Michael Morpurgo's is "Not bad for a Bad Lad." This is written as a recount about a young boy remembering his life. He is seen as a bad lad, a trouble maker at school. He does discover that he is good at playing the drums. He leaves school and 14 and has a troubled life of stealing and is eventually sent to borstal ( a home for naughty children!). here he discovers the stable and starts looking after a horse called Dombey. This helps keep him out of trouble but the horse is sold to the army. The lad is let out of borstal for good behaviour and one day joins up to the army. he finds Dumbey again and the story end beautifully!

 Want to know all about bee pollination and how a class of students help re-pollinate plants for the dying bees? read about a horrilbe teacher who thinks she can blackmail her students to win a big competition and an even more nastier mayor? "Darius Bell and the Crystal Bees" is the book for you! Odo Hirsch was born in Australia and now lives in England. He is a master story teller and we have several of his books in the library as pictured below!

 All the "Wild West Gang" stories by Joy Cowley have been published into one book! Great for reading a shortish story all at once! One of my favourite New Zealand authors! Joy also writes picture books - we have many in the library too!

Another of Michael Morpurgo's books - we have a class set for years 7-8. This made me cry!! it is a MUST read!!! About a young boy who is swept overboard from his parent's yacht and how he is marooned on a desert island.

So that is just a few that I read. The teachers all read books over the holidays too, so hoepfull we will ahve some reviews from them on here soon too!

Charlie and Kiwi - a new picture book

  We have a lovely new picture book "Charlie and Kiwi", written by Eileen Campbell. Charlie has to write a report for school on a bird. He wanted something different and a little surprising. His parents bought him back a stuffed kiwi from a holiday in New Zealand.Charlie wanted to know why a kiwi was so different to other birds, so he asks his stuffed kiwi. Suddenly they are zooming through space, back in time to discover all about kiwis.

 Way back in time. They go on a journey through evolution to discover how the first birds evolve into thousands of kinds of birds.

 We find out birds evolved from dinosaurs! And learn all about kiwis along the way. It is full of great information.

The book is written in conjunction with the New York Hall of Science - New York City's hands-on science centre. They help to promote science and technology as important tools that help us understand ourselves and the world in which we live!

Come and have a look at this new book! It is fantastic that a book about kiwis has been published by a USA publisher!


Mrs. Atkinson

Native Flora and Fauna (Plants and Animals)

This term we will be studying native flora and fauna (plants and animals). These are plants and animals that are native to New Zealand and occur naturally - they havenot been bought into New Zealand.

In the library we have lots of non-fiction books on plants and animals of NZ.
We also have lots of amazing picture books on plants and animals of NZ that you can read. When you learn about a new topic, you can read both non-fiction and fiction books on the topic.
The photos below show just a few picture books that showcase NZ flora and fauna. These can be read by everyone all the way up to year 8.

Welcome to Robertson Road School Library Blog!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you found some good books to read over summer. I most certainly did!
We opened the library from January 16-25 and had a few fantastic readers visit us!

Moeata ; Maria H ; Peter-Ray ; Raymond ; Siu ; Patrick ; Reece ; Logan ; Kisione and Vincent.

Well done to you all - Mr Nicholls is very proud of you all for visiting the library in the holidays.

I have been busy sorting out and covering many, many, many new books! We have SO MANY new books, it is hard to find places to put them all! Everywhere you look, there are new books! YAY!

I haev also been making up new fiction series boxes. Each box is face out, so it is very visual for you all and has one or more series in the box. This makes it a lot easier for you to find your favourite series faster!

Happy reading!  See you all on January 31st.

Mrs. Atkinson