Category: Competitions

Recipe for making library magic

Published on by sengawLeave a comment

Here is another one of Cambridge High’s library manager Glenys Bichan’s fantastic initiatives. This time it’s combining a splash of food and a pinch of libraries with a bushell of people in a special concoction to become their inaugural Librarian Master Chef competition.

ch-masterchef-1

Five teams had to cook two courses based on the themes of books they chose. The teams were:

  1. Harry Potter-concocted “Mrs Weasleys Corn Beef” sandwiches.
  2. Percy Jackson, “Greek Burgers” complete with feta and olives.
  3. Alice in Wonderland had food coloured pasta in a dish called “The Chesire Cat”.
  4. Lord of the Rings made “Dragon Eyes” out of eggs
  5. And the winning team Winnie The Pooh made amazing “Poohs Honey Ginger Bread”.

Food preparation took place in the Food Tech Room and the judging panel consisted of the Deputy Principal, a maths teacher who happens to be an ex chef and the school’s head students. The Principal made a point of checking it out. (I imagine to get in on a bit of the taste test action!)

As if this inventive, creative competition isn’t enough in itself, Glenys as usual, is all about the business of people, as we discovered in her inspirational posting about the two Jaimees in her library. She sees events like this as her way of having input into the lives of her students, making memories for them of their time as part of her library team.

And it brings disparate groups together who might not otherwise associate. She witnessed potential head students working alongside autistic kids; beside students with significant illness; beside kids who have gained recognition nationally for their areas of giftedness.  

ch-mc-jaimeeIn her own words: “We have the opportunity to really, positively impact the lives of these students in powerful ways! They loved it, and being the family they are laughed a lot – it was just a bit tricky stopping the year 10 boys tea towel flicking!

The food was stunning and the planning amazing – two weeks they plotted. They did so well.  Jaime the Giraffe, of course came as well, only his team, which included me was disqualified!!”

Thank you from us all, Glenys!

Hope you didn’t experience an “Arbuckle Junction” moment, Sally!

Published on by sengaw1 Comment

I have been following Sally Pewhairangi’s 100 Days of Creativity project with great interest and yesterday was posting 100 of 100!

So Sally …….

Congratulations

 

What an amazing effort and commitment! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your little vignettes.

I totally love Sally’s concept for using Afterliff: The New Dictionary of Things There Should Be Words for by John Lloyd and Jon Canter to inspire creative writing.  As a result of Sally sharing her idea I have purchased a copy of this dictionary for the school library and have shared the concept with our HOF English in the hope this might be a technique the English Department employs in engaging and encouraging boys to think creatively about words and language.

Afterliff

 

I think there are a number of ways this book could be used:

  • Word of the Week 1 – choose a different word each week, display it in the library and invite students to come up with a meaning for it.
  • Word of the Week 2 – alternatively, choose a word, display it with its meaning and invite students to write the funniest, cleverest, or most imaginative sentence.
  • Library Week – either of these could work as a “word for the day” competition during library week celebrations.
  • Class activity – Matching game: Select 50-60 words and type them on playing card-size cards.  Then type the corresponding meanings on another set of cards and put them into sets of 10.  When you have a class booked into the library, you could suggest teachers might like to group their class into teams of 3 or 4, give them a set of cards and challenge them to match the word with the meaning.  If it’s an English class or a junior school class their teacher could then have them write a 100 word short story using one of the words, just like Sally did – 100 times!

I reckon there’s probably other ideas as well.  If you think of one, why not add to this list in the comments below?