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Wednesday, 30 April 2014

World Book Day 2014

Well done to the girls who embraced the notion of dressing up as book characters to celebrate World Book Day; well done to the friends who took the photos, too.  The winning individual costume/ photo will be announced on 5 May in assembly. Surprisingly, no-one took any group photos.  There will also be a prize for the individual who brought the most books to donate to a school library. 

Thank you, Herschel girls for the enthusiasm and energy you bring to all you set out to achieve.  This is my last school blog contribution, but I hope others will continue to keep it going.

With love and thanks for so many good experiences, RST.
















Monday, 7 April 2014

World Book Day - Dress Up as a Book Character and Help Create a Library


 

 
 
 
A reminder about World Book Week starting on the 22nd April until the 25th April!

All girls and staff are encouraged to bring any books from home to donate to the book drive happening to collect books to build a library!

Bringing at least one book will give you a ticket to dress up as any book character on Friday 25 April, so get creative!

 
Carina
 
P.S. Send photos of yourself or your friends to seniorlibrary@herschel.org.za and stand to win a prize for the most creative costume RST

Friday, 7 March 2014

and the winner is......

 
CONGRATULATIONS TO SAMEEAH AHMED-ARAI, WHO TOOK HOME SOME HOME-MADE CHOCOLATE FUDGE

Afrikaanse Fiksie vir Maart

Baie dankie, Mevrou Diederichs, vir hierdie boeke:

 
  
 
                          

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


March theme: Fantasy


Do you love reading Fantasy?  If so, you are not alone according to Alison Flood.

 John Green is mentioned as a favourite in the UK; his books are popular right here at Herschel, too.  We have Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, The Fault in our Stars and the co-authored Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Fantasy novels dominated children's reading in 2013

Dragons, magic and dystopia crowd out real world tales in survey of UK children's favourite reading
Harry Potter fans
Fantastic success … Harry Potter fans buying copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Photograph: Frank May/EPA
From The Hobbit to the Hunger Games and Harry Potter, the list of books that the UK's children loved the most last year is almost entirely stuffed with fantasy novels.

Early findings from the biggest annual survey of UK children's reading habits were released today, showing a marked preference for dragons, magic and dystopia over novels set in the real world. According to the What Kids Are Reading report, the most-loved books of last year were JK Rowling's tales of a magical schoolboy, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which came in joint first place in the list, together with Suzanne Collins's Catching Fire, the second book in the dystopian Hunger Games trilogy.

Joint fourth place went to Christopher Paolini's tale of dragons and battles, Inheritance, and Rowling's Chamber of Secrets, with three more Harry Potter titles in joint sixth place, alongside JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero – starring the children of the Greek gods – and Veronica Roth's story of a dystopian future, Divergent.

The only non-fantasy title to make the list of most-loved books was John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, about a terminally-ill teenage cancer patient who falls in love.

Renaissance Learning, which publishes the report, said the results suggest that far from technology being the enemy of literacy, the fact that almost all of the books featuring on the list have been turned into films, apps and computer and online games shows it "may actually encourage children to try more challenging reads".

In years one to five, book choices were on average 2.4 years above children's chronological reading age, according to the report, which claims that "where children are exposed to highly motivational characters and plots from a wide range of media, they are encouraged to try more challenging books, which are often significantly above their chronological reading age". 

"It is wonderful what reading highly-motivating books does for children. For the years one to five, children are reading favourite books at far above their chronological ability, but still maintaining a high rate of success," said the report's author Professor Keith Topping.

Renaissance Learning's managing director Dirk Foch said the report contained "good news for parents who are concerned about the dominance of technology in children's lives". 

"In an increasingly multimedia world, these findings suggest that technology can support literacy, rather than acting as a distraction," said Foch. "Children are clearly drawn to the characters, concepts and authors they will have seen in games, films, TV ads and promotional tie-ups, and if this helps widen and challenge their reading choices, then so much the better." 

The report surveyed 426,067 children, and will be published in full in February.

Most-loved, and what our children's site reviewers thought:
Joint 1st: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, both by JK Rowling
2nd: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
Joint 3rd: Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J K Rowling
Joint 4th: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, all by JK Rowling
The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, both by JRR Tolkien
The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan
Divergent, by Veronica Roth
The Fault in our Stars, by John Green

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Blind Date with a Book


Blind date with a book... a matter of days left.....

 

 

Those of you who are interested, there is still time for you to go on a blind date with a book. All you have to do is to take out one of the books wrapped in brown paper and email me, Kat, with the number that was on the side of the brown cover or the name of the book and a bit about it (if you enjoyed it or you’ve already read it... Anything) on my email address that is available at the Issue Desk by the 2nd of March. 

 
Your name will be entered into a draw and you could stand to win a prize.

 
Happy reading and enjoy your blind date J

 
Kat (Head Monitor 2014)