Geronimo Stilton Book Review

Hi My name Is Megan and I am reviewing this book: Geronimo’s Valentine

I loved this book Because it has a lot of catchy parts!
My favourite part is when Geronimo’s Day starts to go BAD.

My Comment:
I really Strongly love this book because you have a bit of laughs and you get to the point of guessing what's going to happen next and you start to be quite Mysterious in the end and you start thinking to yourself but if this happened why did this happen?

My Opinions:
1: I love this book because It is suitable for young to old readers to me!
2: This book has a lot of cliffhangers so you really start to think!

I give It a rating out of 5
4/5 because I think the beginning starts like usual to me but you may think different!

How to Eat Fried Worms

Would you eat a worm?  How about 15 worms if you were paid $250?
Harakeke students have been reading the novel, How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell. But they're not reading it on their own, they are reading it at the same time as a class called The Brainwaves, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the USA.  As both classes read they are comparing ideas and opinions and sharing them via videos on a website called Dropbox.  The Brainwaves shared some interesting ideas about how they would manage to swallow a worm by adding ingredients to make it taste less wormy and more yummy.  Harakeke Hub also imagined how they would make a worm palatable (taste good enough to swallow).  The video below shows a few Harakeke students introducing themselves to the Brainwaves and sharing their suggestions on how to eat a worm.

Official School Opening

Although we opened our doors to students in February today marked the Official Opening of Amesbury School complete with an opening ceremony, VIPs, speeches, concert, and in the evening a disco for the kids. The Minister of Education formally opened the school then was taken on a school tour by some students.  She visited the library and showed great interest in what the children were doing and why.  The children in turn explained what they were doing and answered her questions. Good on you library group - you represented our library very well.

Art Unveiling

A magnificent piece of art was unveiled during a ceremony at school on Friday. The art work was gifted to Amesbury School by all the companies involved in building the school. The work, by artist and sculptor Jeff Thomson, is made of corrugated iron. The outline shape is New Zealand but it is made of many small parts in the shape of meccano pieces printed with illustrations of flora and fauna of New Zealand. It was interesting to talk to Jeff afterwards about how he creates his works. The printing, similar to screen printing of T-shirts, is done onto flat pieces of metal that are then corrugated and assembled. It took Jeff a long time to make the individual 'meccano' pieces but only two days to assemble the whole 'country.' If you would like to see more pictures of Jeff's art come and look at the display in the library.

Part of the ceremony included the boys performing the haka for the first time.

They were fantastic - loud and enthusiastic.

Spread Joy

"Joy for learning ... joyful living"  These words are part of the Amesbury School philosophy and a group of Koru students have been carrying out an inquiry into what this means. They thought about what joy looks like, sounds like and feels like, in their lives at school and outside of school.  Then they thought of ways they can spread joy at Amesbury School and help others feel joyful.

The video below demonstrates some of their ideas including:
helping others learn
playing fun games with others
inviting others to join in games
playing sports with friends
sharing equipment 
looking after our environment
helping to tidy up
being a caring friend





Music by Mike Strickland

Library Quiz

How well do you know the school library?  The senior students produced quizzes on PhotoPeach to meet two purposes 1) to show their skills in using the library and 2) to help others learn to use the library.
Here are three of the quizzes. Have a go - how many questions can you answer correctly?


jasmineandanjelica on PhotoPeach

Library slideshow by Anaiya and Samuel on PhotoPeach

 Mycke and Kate on PhotoPeach

New Zealand Post Book Awards

Which book do you like best?  It's time for the New Zealand Post Book Awards and you have the chance to vote for your favourite book.  A panel of judges have selected the children's books published in New Zealand in the past year that they think are the best and they will choose some winners.  There is also a Children's Choice Award and that's where you come in.  You can vote for the book you like and be in with a chance to win $1000 worth of book vouchers ($500 for you if you win and $500 for the winner's school).

We have many of the books in our school library so take a look and have a read.  Then visit the Book Awards website, click on the button like the one below and vote for your favourite book.