October 2013 – Dolphin Book Blog for younger readers

William Tyndale Primary School
Art and Literacy Month October 2013

Through our Authors in Schools projects, Ifeoma Onyefulu and Cheryl Moskowitz gave some amazing presentations to children in eight classes in October. From writing hearing about Nigerian Traditional Tales to writing a Cinquain poem the children were given some real insights to writing in different genres.

Ifeoma read one of her stories from The Girl Who Married a Ghost and other stories a book of folk tales from Nigeria. The story was The Girl who Married a Ghost.

The children were soon enthralled and straight away saw the problem that the girl had and just why she married a ghost, 'She was too choosy' said one child.' She shouldn't have married at all!'

After lots of discussion the children
drew some pictures of the story
and the ghost appeared with the girl.

Cheryl has developed a great technique for the whole class to give something in writing a shared Cinquain.

From the first line being the subject and having 2 syllables,
to the second line being a description and having 4 syllables
to the third line being the purpose and having 6 syllables
to the fourth line being how it feels and having 8 syllables
And the fifth line reflecting the start and having 2 syllables.

All the children took part and voted on the words and lines to be used so it was truly collaborative and very effective.

An examples of the poems created...

Water
Blue sea, salty
Drinking the turquoise waves
Relaxing in the swimming pool
Swish, swash

You can discover Ifeoma's work on Amazon.co.uk here...

You can discover Cheryl's work on Amazzon.co.uk here...

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout and Dolphin Booksellers

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This year two librarians have been awarded the School Librarian of the Year, a celebration at the Hotel Russell in London, on 7th October.

Ginette Doyle, Chair of the SLA School Librarian of the Year Selection committee said:

"They are not joint winners, but each deserves the accolade of School Librarian of the Year.”

Photo from Philip Cooper Photography

“It was an extremely strong, and international, Honour List. In the end we chose two librarians both working in different ways to bring their libraries into the heart of the school and learning.

Candy Gourlay, author of the award-wining Tall Story and recently published second novel, The Shine, presented the award to:

Hilary Cantwell, librarian at St Paul’s Community College Waterford, Republic of Ireland.

Hilary gained expertise in New York schools and public libraries before joining an Irish government programme to create school libraries.

St Paul’s has 430 students and is in a rural county with the highest unemployment in Ireland. It is affiliated to the Irish government’s inclusion programme, Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools.

John Iona, librarian at Oasis Academy Enfield, Middlesex.

John creates award-winning resources, delivers the school’s Extended Project Qualification programme and plays a significant role in curriculum planning and support. The school has 1,100 students of which up to 70% have English as a second language. John actively promotes reading for pleasure with a number of initiatives including Reading Games.

A great celebration and the awards a real reflection of the importance of reading and literacy in schools.

Dolphin Booksellers are pleased to celebrate this achievement of the School Library Association.

Sue Martin

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