Recommended Children's Books For Christmas

Why not take a trip to your local library or bookshop and pick up a Christmas tale over the festive season? With so many out there to choose from, here are just five we recommend...

 

 

Frank Lampard's 'Frankie Saves Christmas'

Frankie and his team love playing football. There's always time for a game - even at Christmas! It's two nights before Christmas and Frankie, Charlie, Louise and Max are having a sleepover. But in the middle of the night they are magicked away to Lapland, where Santa tells them that a sack of Christmas presents has been stolen! The team set off to find them, but first have to face challenges from a naughty elf, a rogue reindeer and an abominable snowman...Can Frankie find the presents - and save Christmas?

 

 

The Jolly Christmas Postman

It's Christmas Eve and the Jolly Postman is delivering greetings to various fairy-tale characters - there's a card for Baby Bear, a game appropriately called 'Beware' for Red Riding Hood from Mr Wolf, a get-well jigsaw for hospitalised Humpty Dumpty and three more surprise envelopes containing letters, cards, etc. Everyone's favourite postman keeps on peddling his bicycle up hill and down dale ...and into everybody's hearts.

 

 

Santa is Coming to Essex

Join Santa as he makes his way across Essex delivering presents!

 

 

The Dinosaur That Pooped Christmas

Danny wants everything for Christmas. But what he gets is a dinosaur, a very hungry dinosaur. Danny's new dino eats up all of Christmas, but as we all know, what goes in must come out...Danny is about to have the most EXPLOSIVE Christmas of his life! There's poop, presents and prehistoric creatures in this festive feast!

 

 

The Snowman

Everyone's favourite snowman by Raymond Briggs. One winter's night, a snowman comes to life and an unforgettable adventure begins. Raymond Briggs' favourite classic is a true piece of Christmas magic - narrated entirely through pictures, it captures the wonder and innocence of childhood and is now recognised throughout the world.

KS1 Spinebreakers' Competition - Winners Announced

Our KS1 Spinebreakers met last week to judge the entries for their 'Scarecrows' Wedding' competition. It was a difficult decision, but they finally chose the two worthy winners. Here they are are with their winning entries...

 

 

Well done Brooke and Sky, the Spinebreakers were very impressed with the amount of time and effort put into each scarecrow!

New Spinebreakers For Palm Class

Sandra and Daniel have been chosen to act as Spinebreakers for Palm class for the rest of the academic year. We hope they enjoy this exciting opportunity and continue to share their love of reading with their peers.

 

Returning Books Raffle - Winners Announced!

The winners of the Returning Books Raffle were announced earlier in the week. All six children have chosen the books they would like to receive and will be rewarded with them on Friday. A big congratulations to Teighan from Nursery, Phoebe from Apple, Arya and James from year one, and Libby and Kimberley from year two who are the winners for this term.

 

The raffle will return in the Spring term, to be in with a chance of winning, simply return your book each week you visit the library. For every book you return you will receive a ticket for your class box. After six weeks a winner will be chosen from each class box, the winners can each choose a book of their choice to keep. The more times you return your book the more chances you will have of winning! 

Around The World With Wally - Competition Starts January!

The National Literacy Trust have teamed up with Walker Books to create an exciting writing challenge for children 9 years and under. The competition will take place from 5 January to 2 April 2015.

 

 

How the competition works:

Using Where's Wally? scenes as inspiration, pupils will imagine they are Wally themselves and describe a new setting that he has found himself in. Each child will receive a postcode where they will be able describe the setting. On the front they can choose to attach a photo or a picture of the scene they have described. You can choose to design your own setting or use one of the scenes displayed in the library.

 

 

Plenty of prizes up for grabs!

One grand prize winner will receive a Where's Wally? book pack, £50 in book vouchers and a winner's certificate. The school of the winning pupil will win an afternoon of storytelling performances and workshops, a collection of £100 worth of Walker Book titles for the library, and a Where's Wally Wall! 10 runners-up will each win a Where's Wally? book pack.

 

The winners will be chosen at random. To be in with a chance of winning, pick up a postcard from the library in January!

December's Issue Of Aquila Magazine

The latest issue of Aquila is now available to read in the library. December's issue has a story telling theme with articles including;

 

- Hans Christian Andersen

- Match of the Century

- Create a Winter Woodland Diorama

- A Christmas to Remember

 

 

This issue is packed with christmas activities, competitions and puzzles.

If there is an article that you are interested in then I am more than happy to photocopy it for you so you can take it home.

Paddington Bear Trail

On Friday our Spinebreakers visited London to take part in the Paddington Bear Trail. More than 50 bears, designed by musicians, politicians, film stars and presenters, have been placed around London to celebrate the release of the new Paddington film and to raise money for the NSPCC.

 

Our Spinebreakers started their search as soon as they boarded bus 23 from Liverpool Street. The first bear was found in front of The Royal Exchange.

 

 

R; G; B

Architect, Zaha Hadid designed this Paddington using bright colours to represent the whirlwind of options available in London.

 

When we departed the bus at Charing Cross Station we headed for Trafalgar Square. As we made our way to Nelson's Column we spotted Paddington on the side of a London bus!

 

 

Bear number two was found just at the top of the steps near the entrance of The National Gallery.

 

 

 

 

The Bear of London

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has designed this Paddington to display a few of London's iconic landmarks and figures.

 

The next place on our map to visit was Leicester Square, where we found bear number 3. This bear was placed just outside the Odeon cinema.

 

 

Blush

Oscar-winning actress, Nicola Kidman, has created this Paddington. She brought him to life with this elegant, luxurious and beautiful design.

 

The next Paddington was located just near Ridley's Believe It or Not, Piccadilly Circus.

 

 

Paddington the Explorer

Natasha Crump, general manager at Ripley's Believe It or Not wanted this Paddington to represent Robert Ripley's love of exploring the world in the search for the 'unbelievable'.

 

The next bear was hidden away in Regent's Streets' Hamleys store.

 

 

 

 

Bearer of Gifts

Author of the Paddington stories, Michael Bond, bought a teddy-bear from Selfridges on Christmas Eve 1956 and gave it to his wife Brenda as a gift. They named the bear Paddington because they lived near Paddington Station. Michael went on to write many stories about Paddington's life.

 

Despite the rain, we carried on our hunt along Regent's Street up to Oxford Street, where we found our last bear. We were surprised to find our bear surrounded by a steelpan band, who were raising money for the children's charity, NSPCC. The music was brilliant, and lifted our spirits after a short down-pour. Ramone and Adam enjoyed themselves as they danced along to the music!

 

 

Bear Humbug

This bear was designed by 'I'm a Celebrity' presenters, Ant and Dec. They used black and white to represent the colours of their favourite football team, Newcastle United.

 

Our search for Paddington is complete! If you would like to see what Paddingtons you can find take a look at the Visit London web page to download the maps. There are four trails in total - The Christmas Trail, Royal Parks Trail, Paddington in Paddington Trail and River and Historical London Trail. There are over 50 bears to find, but they won't be around for long, the bears will be removed and auctioned to raise money for the NPSCC from the 30th December 2014.

Spinebreakers Competitions - An Extra Week To Enter!

Our Spinebreakers are out tomorrow searching for Paddington Bears across London so they are giving you an extra week to take part in their Scarecrows' Wedding competition. They will judge the entries on Thursday 11th December, so make sure you have handed your beautiful creations in by then. They will announce the winners on Friday 12th December. Good luck!