Cashmere Avenue Library

Scholastic Book Orders

2012-02-09T11:16:00.000+13:00

The Scholastic book orders have come home this week, if your child doesn't have one you can pick up a copy from the table in the school entrance.

Please ensure that you put your child's name and room number on the order form itself NOT just on the envelope!

The orders are due in Thursday 23rd February 2012.

Welcome back to Cashmere for 2012

2012-02-09T11:12:00.001+13:00

It's the start of 2012, welcome back to Cashmere and the start of a great year. The library has lots of new books coming onto the shelves over the next few weeks and lots of plans for competitions and exciting new displays this year. Keep an eye out and remember to pop in or leave a comment either here or on our comments page if you have a suggestion for the library.

Save those pennies for the Book Fair

2011-11-14T12:21:00.001+13:00

Well it's Week 4 already and term is flying by. The library closes to classes at the end of this week and we are running the Book Fair in here next week. Come in and have a browse, see if there is something you would like for yourself or think about Christmas and buy a book for someone else. We are open until 4pm after school every day next week.

Happy Reading!

New Books!

2011-11-07T14:15:00.001+13:00

As the year draws to an end, we are already looking at what exciting new books we want to purchase for the library next year. If you know of a series or book which you think we should get for the library do come in and tell us about it so we can add it to our list.

We had lots of great feedback from our Middles and Seniors helping us to pick out books that belong on the green spot Senior Bookshelf. Thanks to all those who came to tell us about a book they had read that we should look at green spotting.

Upcoming Bookfair

2011-11-02T12:03:00.000+13:00

The library will be holding another bookfair in week 5 - Monday 21st - Friday 25th November. The Library will be open for purchases from 8.30 - 9.30am and 2.30 - 4pm each day. This is a great opportunity to buy books for Christmas presents and holidays and at the same time earn more money for books for our school library.

Parents - we offer a hold behind the desk service to keep those books a secret or come in while your child is in class.

Applications for Student Librarian!

2011-10-26T12:12:00.004+13:00

It's that time of year again when we wave good bye and say thank you to the year 6 student librarians and look for some new librarians to come in and help us. If you are going to be year 4 or above, whether you have been a librarian before or not, you can come and get an application form from the library and apply for a job.

Application forms are available from week 1 and the closing date by which all applications must be in by is 18th November. Please fill it in carefully and give us a good reason to pick you as we always have a lot of applications for only a few spaces.

2011-10-07T09:06:00.000+13:00

Bartu from the Senior Syndicate has been working really hard on his writing. Here is his finished piece of work. Well Done Bartu!

The last test.

Jeff shook hishead and found himself on a field. He was surrounded with people who were thereto race. He tried to find his brotherbut there were too many people.

Suddenly he hearda squealing noise. It sounded like James Bond!

“Kid do you read me?”

“Yeah” Jeff said.

“Go to thetoilet”.

Jeff jumped up andraced towards the toilet. Jeff opened the door and found his brother. He was sitting on the ground with a laptopnext to him.

“Go and race…OK,”said Jim

“OK” said Jeff.

Jeff unlocked thedoor and started running as fast as he could.

After a few secondshe was catching up and “BOOM” an explosion came to life, Jeff fell backwards.

He pulled himselfup and continued running. He uncovered a walkie-talkie in his pocket.

“Who is there?”said Jeff

“Me” said Jim

“I will deactivatethe traps” said Jim.

Jeff continuedrunning and running. He was getting exhausted and he was in last place. Or washe…

He discovered hewas at the finish line holding a trophy…

And suddenly Jimand Jeff found themselves in their room on their beds.

Junior Syndicate Writing

2011-09-14T12:45:00.000+12:00

Some children in the Junior Syndicate have been writing descriptions of adults in school. Here are a few of them:

Mrs McDonald by Maika

She is tall. She helps us find books. She gives us turns of the stamp. She has got blonde hair and blue eyes. She works in the library and takes care of the library. She sounds beautiful and sweet. She likes stamping the books and she likes children helping her.

Gail by Kiara

She has dark hair and her eyes are brown. She sounds like a red rose. She might be in the staff room and she works in the office. She looks beautiful. She helps people. She is Gail

Mr Forrest by Amy

He has nice looking eyes. He also wears ties that suit him very well. His hair is as white as the clouds in the sky. He is the principal of our school and of course he always says stuff in assembly. His voice is very calm.

Debby by Tim

She's mostly on computers in the office or the staff room. She has blonde hair and her eyes are hazel. She often wears t-shirts with flowers on it. She sounds like a transformer.

Fabulous descriptions guys - well done!

Scholastic Lucky Book Orders

2011-09-13T13:30:00.001+12:00

The Scholastic book order forms have gone out today. Have a look at them with your child and if you want to place an order, the orders are due in by Thursday 22nd September.

ICAS Exam Results

2011-09-10T13:40:00.000+12:00

Congratulations to all those who received a certificate for the ICAS Science and Writing exams on Friday. A huge number of children choose to take part in these exams each year which is fantastic and a tribute to their positive attitude. Well done to everyone who took part as well as those on stage. It must be all the reading you do and the great books we have in our school library!

Library Suggestions!

2011-08-28T14:58:00.001+12:00

We want to know your favourite book title or author and the reasons why. Add a comment below telling us and then, Cashmere kids, pop into the library for a surprise!

Storylines Festival Competition Winner!

2011-08-24T14:00:00.005+12:00

Dan from the Senior Syndicate entered a competition at the Storylines festival last weekend. He had to write a one page story, imagining he had created a machine that enabled him to fly. Dan's fantastic story won him first prize. Well done Dan!!

THE AEROSCOOTER

Vrrrr....!With sweaty hands desperately trying to get a tight grasp on slippery handlebars and feet barely touching the boards, dizziness took me over, and neither up nor down seemed to go anywhere. A deafening rattle echoed violently inside my terrified ears. My sense of balance was stolen by confusion, and an ever-lasting earthquake didn't help. Nowhere was up, nowhere was down.

Suddenly, there was a blast of air as the machine levitated in to the finally still sky. Upside down or not, the feeling was incredible. While a cool breeze chilled my shaky body, I was lifted higher and higher. Looking up, a beautiful blue carried on for eternity. Looking down, I saw ants walking across concrete. I'd gone too far. With a soft whirring noise, some small puffs of air burst out, making my hovering aircraft lower itself down, like a deflating helium balloon. The wind created a mid-air roller coaster, and with all the jerks and bumps I began to feel sick.

My wheel-less aeroscooter was no match for the strong westerly gusts. As the sun drooped down the sky and flopped behind some shadowy mountains, the atmosphere gave off an eerie orange glow. It looked as if the sun was surrendering and giving a magnanimous gift to the night. Meanwhile, a disturbing dimness swallowed me up. Descending through puffy clouds and soaring over brick and metal rooftops, I felt an uneasy feeling inside me. Slowly, I clambered down the invisible ladder in the sky. Unfortunately, the transparent rungs were like ice rinks.

As the engine groaned, trying to slow the aeroscooter down as it fell rapidly towards a rough landing, I lost control of the handlebars as the flying scooter began to vibrate, especially it's surfboard-like footplate. Crack! Two small jets made a noise like a whip while they started to puff air downwards to balance the aeroscooter. Soon, rattling began to control my body, and the whole world turned upside down...

CRASH! My body jerked so violently my mind became nothing but shock. Smoke billowed up around me, as if it were glad to escape. After an annoying fit of coughing, my eyes began to adjust. My backyard closed in around me, like it wanted to corner me. There I was, sitting raggedly next to my aeroscooter. My brain was straining to decide what emotion to give me. Nervous, confused, terrified, relieved, worried, scared, disturbed, uneasy and shocked. I'd been through all of them. Whatever it was, I was glad to be alive and that I'd made that journey.

Seniors Bookshelf

2011-08-22T09:54:00.002+12:00

A new bookshelf for Seniors only books has been ordered. It should be arriving in the next couple of weeks so look out for it in your library. We will be taking the books that are suitable for Senior Syndicate students only, off the general shelves and onto this new bookshelf. They will also be stickered bright green for easy shelving for the student librarians and parent helpers.

If you have any thoughts on a book that you have read recently and you think should be on a Senior bookshelf, post your suggestions below or come and see the Librarians.

Childrens Literature Book Group for Parents.

2011-08-18T09:54:00.000+12:00

On Tuesday 23rd August at 7pm the Childrens Literature Book Group for Parents is meeting in the school library. This is open to any parents who enjoy childrens literature or want to have a wider knowledge of the books that their children are reading or may read in the future.

The first meeting is a bring your own book - an old favourite or a new that you would like to share. Picture books, chapter books or non fiction so long as they are for children!

Refreshments will be served.

Library Competition

2011-08-14T14:22:00.001+12:00

Be sure to check out the 'What's New?' page to find out details of the new Library Competition, or pop into the Library to find out more.

Writers Block

2011-08-11T11:41:00.002+12:00

Some children from the Senior Syndicate have working hard on their writing. Here are some of their ..

Fairytales with a Twist....

“Cinderella”

Once upon a time in an old black house there lived a kind and beautiful girl with golden hair and deep blue eyes like the sea. She had a mean and nasty stepmother as well as two equally mean step-sisters. They all treated poor Cinderella very badly, making her do all the household chores. She wore the same old dress every day compared to the others who had a big shopping habit…however Cinderella never said a bad word to or about her stepmother and sisters in spite of how they treated her.

One day an invitation on gold paper arrived in the post inviting them to a ball at the Royal Palace, the Prince was looking for a wife! As you can imagine everyone was very excited, even Cinderella but of course her mean stepmother said she could not go, looking as she did.

When the time came to go to the ball, Cinderella had to sit by the fireplace and clean then the whole entire thing L Then the stepmother and sisters left for the ball screeching they were each going to marry the handsome prince!

Suddenly there was a shower of stars and tinkly music and there appeared Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, she had curly blonde hair and a kind smile, however she was only a trainee Fairy Godmother and her voice is stumbling over her words (not a good sign!) and she says “Cinderella, you will go to the ball!” and then another shower of stars and more tinkly music and poor Cinderella looks down and … arrrggghhh!!! Suddenly she falls on her bum; and says in shock, “I am on rollerskates?!” (I think it was meant to be a carriage, but I suppose the spell still made wheels at least).

Cinderella says “my leg is very sore”, would you mind zapping me to see a doctor” so the embarrassed Fairy Godmother zaps Cinderella to the hospital, and a handsome and kind doctor says “you have a broken leg” and instantly they fall in love in a shower of stars and tinkly music – and soon Cinderella moves out of the black house and the handsome doctor asked her to marry him and of course she says yes - and they live happily ever after.

By Olivia

The End

“Goldilocks and the Three Bears”

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Goldilocks, she had yellow curly hair and wore a pretty blue dress with red polka dots on it. One day, she was walking along a path in the forest with pink flowers growing on it, humming a song when she found a beautiful small white cottage with the door wide open! She is a little bit of a nosy sort of girl and she notices the chimney is going … she is feeling cold and tired so decided to go inside the door… she sees on the table three bowls of (green!) porridge, she straight away starts eating the smallest bowl, as the largest bowl is far too big and it is “just right”, she then sees three red chairs and plops down into the smallest chair and has a rest as she is very tired from her walk. Her eyes start to close so she decides to investigate upstairs and see if there is somewhere to lie down. In a bedroom she finds 3 brown beds, the largest one is 2 metres long! She hops into the smallest bed and falls asleep.
Then the bears come home and Goldilocks wakes up to find Father Bear, Mother Bear and little Baby Bear standing over her, Goldilocks starts crying and the bears try to touch her as they have never seen a human before, Goldilocks goes “argghh!” and the bears go “argghh!” Then, to Goldilock’s horror, the bear’s eyes start to glow like red stars … she jumps out of the little bed and tries to jump out of the upstairs window with a rope she always carries – BUT the bears catch her and they put her back to bed and go out looking for blueberries locking her in the cottage, she thinks maybe the want to eat her with blueberries!
The bears found some nice bright blueberries and they all had a bite and they must have been special blueberries because they cast an evil spell on the bears and they decided to go back home and kill poor Goldilocks! But before they can carry out their evil plan, the bears start to grow into big shiny blueberries and start eating each other up and that was the end of them.

Goldilocks ‘s Mother and Father came searching for her and heard her screams from the pretty white cottage and she was rescued.
But she never went uninvited into other people’s houses ever again (and she went right off blueberries!)

By Maia

The End

“Jack and the Beanstalk”

Once upon a time there was a good boy called Jack. He lived in a small, pretty village in the mountains with his mother. They were poor and had to work very hard to have enough money to live. Jack was a good hearted boy and wanted to help his mother, so when she asked him to go out and sell their only cow for some money he obeyed her and off he went … BUT someone grabbed him at the market and made him give him the cow for a handful of beans! When he got home and showed his mother, she was very unhappy and told him off. Jack cried because he wanted his mother to be proud of him

The next day, Jack forgot about the beans and for the next few days they just lay on the muddy floor where he had dropped them while he was crying. The next day Jack threw the beans out the window as it made him feel bad looking at them … then the rubbish collectors picked them up saying “we’d better take those” as they are just litter, BUT as the rubbishman bent down to collect them, he tripped over and the beans are thrown into the wet grass and soak into the ground (like magic!).

The next day, Jack went outside still feeling sad and noticed a gigantic grey cloud hanging over their house, as he looked more closely, he noticed there was a huge pot of gold inside the cloud! … Jack’s heart started to beat very fast, this could be the answer to all their problems. He called his mother out of the house and to their amazement, a giant and strong looking beanstalk grew from where the beans had soaked into the ground – right up to the cloud with the pot of gold! “We are rich!” said his mother, and one by one they climbed the beanstalk and when they got to the top they met the giant who turned out to be a friendly giant and once he heard how poor they had been, told them they could have the pot of gold as he had plenty more and because Jack is so good-hearted he decided to share the gold with the other poor people of his village and from time to time, the friendly Giant came down the beanstalk and gave the people of the village more gold so they could all live happily ever after.

By Julia

The End

“The Billy Goat’s Gruff”

Once upon a time in a valley a long long time ago, there lived three Billy Goats who were brothers. Sadly, the valley they lived in was brown and stony like a dried up old river bed BUT in the next valley they could see the grass was green, lush and beautiful.
The poor brothers had sticking out ribs, were lacking in energy and were grumpy with one another due to their lack of food. The eldest brother said “We must cross the bridge to the other valley or we will starve to death” BUT, everyone knew there was a wicked troll who lived under the bridge. They happened to find a coin near the bridge and a sign at the bridge’s entrance that said “IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO CROSS” … bit the goats could not read. The eldest brother said “I have a plan” – and he whispered to his brothers; they bravely tiptoed over the bridge and got the coin! However the troll had extremely sensitive ears and heard the steps, he came out to investigate … he was scary looking with sharp yellow teeth, a hairy body and a horrible growly voice, the troll said “I want to eat you all up!” The eldest brother said “wait! You could buy lots of great food with this coin” The troll made a grab for the coin and shouted “give me the coin!”
Meanwhile, the youngest Billy Goat threw the coin high in the air … the troll looked up and the middle Billy Goat Gruff KICKED the horrible troll in the stomach causing him to yell in pain .. allowing the three brothers to quickly run across the bridge to enjoy forever, the rich green grass of the next valley … and they lived happily ever after.
Meanwhile the troll, after picking up the coin, decided to buy himself a new house a long way from the bridge and never bothered any goats or other animals ever again.

By Robbie
The End

“The Princess and the ~~Pea~~ Lemon”

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess with long golden hair and eyes as green as emeralds. She became lost in the deep dark woods one night during a thunderstorm and found herself needing a place to stay for the night. She came across a scary looking castle with tatty drapes hanging down and what looked like a huge attic with dirty creaky windows. She is dripping wet and shivering when she knocks on the door. An old woman with wrinkles, short white hair and a walking stick opens it (creeeeaaak) and says “Come in my child” – the princess doesn’t know what to say, but as she is so cold, wet and tired she goes inside anyway.

After being shown her room, she quickly got ready for bed as it’s too late for dinner. She is so exhausted all she wanted to do was sleep anyway, but when she entered the huge bedroom she saw a very strange sight – there were about fifty different mattresses heaped on the bed, all different shapes, sizes and colours. There were zebra patterns, striped and dots and all sorts of vivid colours! Slowly she climbs up the wooden ladder at the side of the bed and lies down with a sigh, her long wavy hair hanging down like a curtain over the side. Even though she is totally exhausted she thinks she can feel a lump in the mattress, she then tells herself she is just imagining it, but still, she tosses and turns and cannot fall asleep, SO she creeps downstairs to ask the old lady for another bed and the old lady says “hmmmmm” no one has ever felt the enchanted lemon before – you’re the first one, you are now one of us!” Heh Heh Heh

From then on the princess became one of the evil ones and lived in the attic happily evil after, waiting for any lost and weary travellers lost in a storm …

By Katie

The End

Charlie Bone

2011-08-09T11:46:00.000+12:00

The Charlie Bone books are now out on the library shelves. Some of them have been issued already and are very popular. Will you be the first person to write a "Charlie Bone" review on the website?

Ebooks. For or against?

2011-08-04T11:53:00.001+12:00

There has been much made of the introduction of ebooks and ebook readers in the last couple of years Many public and school libraries, including our own Wellington City Council Library, are now offering ebooks for checkout. These can be downloaded onto any device which has the appropriate and free to download software on it. These devices include, PC's, Macs, Ipads, Iphones, various ebook readers.

The school is currently looking into this technology and the possibilty of incorporating it into the existing library to complement, not replace, our paper collection.

Would you use this technology? Do you think it would be a good idea for the library to introduce this facility for the children to have access to? Please leave us your feedback.

Really Reliable Returners Award!

2011-08-02T11:53:00.000+12:00

The library started a new award last term for the classes that remember most consistently to return their library books on a daily basis. The awards for last term went to....

Senior and overall winner was Room 19

Middle Syndicate winner was Room 3

Junior Syndicate winner was Room 5

The competition will run again this term so kids - don't forget to return your books in the morning, tick your class on the list and see if your class can win this term!

Parents Library Evening

2011-08-01T10:34:00.002+12:00

Come along to our next Parents Library Evening on Tuesday 9th August 6 - 7pm. It's a chance to come with your child(ren) and see the library they use each week, have some input into the books they read by issuing up to 6 books under your name to read at home with your child.

Refreshments will be available and the school librarians Mrs McDonald and Mrs Jordan will be on hand to chat to.

Bookfair

2011-07-14T12:26:00.001+12:00

We had a great turn out to the Bookfair last week. Thanks to everyone who supported us and bought books. We were able to pick $600 worth of free books for the school library from the commission we earned. We got a great selection including the final Alex Rider book, some more of the ever popular Star Wars Readers, Dinosaur books and a few fantastic new picture books.

Don't worry if you missed out, the next Scholastic Order forms will be coming home halfway through next term, on the 5th September. There will be another Book Fair in Term 4, look out for dates closer to the time.

Lunchtime Reads

2011-07-05T14:16:00.000+12:00

We had a great time in the library listening to Mr Forrest, Mrs Clearwater, Mrs Aitken and of course Mrs McDonald reading from book one of Charlie Bone - Midnight for Charlie Bone.

We are going to make this a regular lunchtime activity, if you have any suggestions of any good books you would enjoy being read in the library, please let us know.

WOW!!

2011-06-17T11:50:00.001+12:00

What a great night we had last night in the library. We had lots of children and their parents in for our first library open evening. It was nice to see the children showing their parents around and sharing books with them, and we had some lovely comments and feedback too. We will be opening on an evening again early next term so look out for the dates in the newsletter, and we will make sure Debby is also on hand with her drinks and yummy cookies!

Library Open Evening

2011-06-14T13:29:00.001+12:00

This Thursday (16th June) the library will be open from 6 - 7pm, so that your parents can come down and borrow books to read with you. We will be on hand to help them select something that you will enjoy. You can come with them to point them in the right direction too. We will have tea and coffee in after school care - choosing books can be thirsty work!

Charlie Bone Series

2011-06-14T13:23:00.000+12:00

This week (week 7) we will be reading the first chapter of Midnight for Charlie Bone to all the middle and senior classes. On Wednesday and Thursday next week, Mrs Clearwater and Mr Forrest will be popping in to the library at lunchtime to read chapters 2 and 3. We have the whole series of 8 books in our school library, so it's a good series to get stuck in to. Happy reading!

Welcome!

2011-06-14T12:55:00.000+12:00

Welcome to our new Blogspot! We will be using this to keep you up to date with things that are going on in the library. Feel free to add comments and suggestions - they are very helpful!