Author? Visiting us????

Kia Ora Bloggers,

today's post will be about an exciting visit we had from an author...

Karyn Wilson!

Karyn Wilson is a New Zealand author who has  (almost) published two books, today, she came and visited our school. We got to learn facts about her and her process and what went well and what didn't.

It was great having her, we got to  read one of her books that hasn't been released yet and we even got to see all of her drafts and got to hear how she did it. Also, all of her books are made in NZ isn't that great!

Leading up to her coming here, we were all looking forwards to her coming here and I was actually a tiny bit nervous because Jedi & I (we are heads of the student council) Presented her with a card and some flowers, but it was okay because she is really nice.

If you would like to see some more about her here is her website.

Here are some photos in a slide, I have also walked through what we were talking about:

I hope you enjoyed as much as I did. If you have any questions I'll answer them. Thank you for reading my blog post.

- Julia

Rimu Class - Hooked on Books!

This weeks in Yalhurst we have been having a Hooked on Books Week. We had this so that we could expand our reading genres and different authors and the books we read get us hooked but we don't read all oth ebook so we have to put our name down  on a list if we want to read the rest of the book. So everyday we get a new book and we don't know what it is until we find out, each day in a different way and creative activity.

On day one it was simple - the teachers pulled a name out of our stick box, The book was called The Honest Truth and it is about a boy who has cancer and runs away. We had to create a recount of what it would be like if we were Mark (mark is the one who has cancer). We also had to make a slide about routes and I found it quite easy because it was a simple task.

 On day two (Tuesday) we played pass the parcel and on the first round it stopped where Gracie and I sat and Gracie opened it, and it went until the last layer (it went forever) and the book was called Space adventure and it is where you get to choose your outcomes and decisions, and it is really fun, we then had to create a persuasive piece of writing about which planet we thought that the person should live on. We also made a pick - a path about it.

 On day three (Wednesday) we had to put together a digital puzzle to learn what the book was called and it was called 'The first hippo on the moon' and before we say the books pictures we got a piece of writing and buddy up with someone and create batik artwork, at the end of the day we got to see the real pictures in the book. We also had to do some optical Maths work where we try creating optical art where it is an illusion.

On day four (Thursday) We had a treasure hunt to find the book and it was wrapped. The person who found it got to open it and it was called ' A Fish In A Tree' it is about a girl who has trouble reading but won't admit to it. We had to read what it was like for someone with dyslexia and how hard it is to read. It is very hard to read and understand words. Here is a link to that. Did you find that Dyslexia sit hard to read? - I know I did.

Today (Friday) we had a vote what book it was but we didn't know which one won and then names got called out and we had choose what box (A, B or C) and we had to choose until it was the correct one. It was called 'The Person Controller' and I have already read this at home and it is fantastic. We haven't done activities on this one yet.

Overall book week has taught me a lot to do with genres and authors and other literacy and maths activities. Some activities were hard and some were slightly easier. But overall this week has been fun. sometimes you think a book won't be good and it ends up being great. This book week in our School has been amazing, you should try it.

Here are some photos: