#freebookmarks for your #schoollibrary - Halloween

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Using the frames in Canva, we imported some Halloween Colouring in sheets into the frames. The result was some Halloween colouring in bookmarks. Something different for 2019. The black border makes them very easy to splice in our guillotine.

Card was 280gsm through our photocopier.

[click to download a large copy]

Enjoy!

Reading Circle Bookmarks

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The bookmarks are a result of unpacking Dr Margaret Merga’s book “Reading Engagement for Tweens and Teens”.

Early in the book she talks about the types of influences that impact on teen reading engagement or the “will to read”. The Reading Circle format at our school is part of encouraging a shared social habit in reading and encouraging students to talk about what they do and don't like in a novel. But that can only happen when we model good social engagement habits.

We hold our Reading Circles twice a term and in between reading circles we do reading conversations/observations to find out what students are reading and how they are tracking.

Bookmarks were made in Canva to try and focus the students when we do Reading Circles.

[write club] Using Music to get into the mood for NaNoWriMo

I've been playing with the idea of a playlist or song to get me into the NaNowriMo "mood". 

When I was young and did annual dancing concerts, the dance school would play a song as a lead in to the start of the concert. Back then it was Neil Diamond "Crunchy Granola Suite", quite a long song. Everyone back stage knew that once that song started they would have 4 minutes to get onto the stage for the first performance. Every time I listen to Crunchy Granola I have flashbacks to leotards and tap shoes.

When I started thinking of songs for NaNoWriMo, I automatically thought of Elvis Costello's "Everyday I write the book" or The Beatles "Paperback Writer".

The song has to be uplifting or perhaps well suited to the genre that you are writing about.
For example: If you were writing a Murder Mystery you might have "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" on your playlist.  I love this remake of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" by Mona Lisa Twins.

Dive down the rabbit hole and find a song that gives you a pep in your step for NaNoWriMo!

[write club] NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

November is nearly here, which means that NaNoWriMo is nearly upon us (National Novel Writing Month). 

I've tried this a few times with writing clubs over the years. Sometimes the kids embrace the concept, other times they don't. This year with the aid of Canva, I decided to make a NaNoWriMo Calendar for our writers. 

Printed off in A3, they can pin it up on their writing desk and at the end of each day record their progress each day.

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Here is a downloadable copy of the calendar.

[click image to download]

Our first task next week is to have a think about characters and plot, so that we can start writing on the 1st of November!