It was lovely to welcome our second house to the library for our year seven activity. Incredibly all of them had already borrowed books from us and so were very familiar with our system! Read on to find out how Short’s House got on…
We started week one by guessing the top five heroes and villains of children's literature. Mr Short was very pleased we had a new version of this and managed to get the White Witch when no one else could. Nevaan and Ruby were also very surprised to get right answers! Sherlock Holmes came up a lot and during the discussion of books versus films, Megan was adamant that the Golden Compass was a good adaptation of His Dark Materials. We also talked about reading for pleasure including all the magazines we have in the library and how 10 minutes a day reading can be really good for one's mental health. Most of our pupils liked quiet when reading although Eddie and Ms Johns preferred some kind of noise to concentrate. In terms of where our pupils read - Ruby just needed to be comfortable, Vikram made a blanket den and Blenne needed snacks!
Week two was all about non-fiction. We had a presentation on how we use the Dewey Decimal Classification system in the library and why it is so helpful. After Mrs Osafo told us her favourite food was apple pies, we explored how many different ways we could classify a book on this subject. This included Apple pie religion, Apple pie festivals, poems on apple pies and the legal definition of an apple pie!
We then did the Dewey Dash which was thoroughly enjoyed by all judging by the amount of running that happened and Blenne & Emily managed to win by getting 7 cards. The Dewey Jeopardy quiz was very noisy and competitive with teams going for big points early. In the end the Green Team were victorious with a special mention going to Arthur who remembered when Bristol Library had first opened. Well done Shorts for listening and participating so well!
Short’s worked on their book reviews in week three. We explained what we wanted and gave out a helpful hint sheet. Mrs G did a two minute example of a book review using the novel The List by Patricia Forde. After lots of questions about the book, you all went away to do your own book review.
In week four Short’s presented their book reviews and we were very impressed with them. There were several books that we didn't have in the library which we will now be ordering and we had an interesting discussion about whether the Mr Men books were sexist or not! After much deliberation we managed to find our top five.
In first place was Nevaan with Phoenix by S F Said. He showed us the book and summarised the plot really well saying it was very exciting and descriptive. He had questions running through his mind as he was reading it and felt it was adrenaline inducing. The only weakness was that if you didn't like space or sci-fi, it probably wasn't the book for you.
In second place was Ruby with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling. She showed us the book and explained the plot as well as telling us all her favourite spells.
In third place was George with One of Us by Karen McManus. He gave us a detailed and succinct plot summary and loved the writing style. He delivered his book review very confidently.
In fourth place was Blenne with The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas. This was a dystopian murder mystery novel and the climax depended on piecing all the clues together at the end. This was her favourite part.
In fifth place was Emma with A Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. She was one of the few that filled the entire two minutes as she explained the plot with all its twists along with all its strengths and weaknesses.
Well done Short’s! We really enjoyed listening to your favourite books.
The last week was a letter writing week when all year seven pupils in Short’s house wrote letters to residents in St Joseph's care home. Ms Ray decided that this week we would make cards for our recipients. You all worked incredibly hard and due to the fact that some of the boys were away playing rugby, some of you did two or three cards each. Well done Shorts.
All in all, you were a lovely house to have in our library and we look forward to seeing you all come in and borrow books during the year.
Mrs Godden, Ms Johns, Ms Poole & Mrs Osafo