Tuesday 25 March 2014

Salford Children's Book Award: Winner of Winners

On Friday 21st March 17 pupils went on a trip to the Lowry Theatre to attend the Salford Children's Book Award: Winner of Winners ceremony. All of the pupils had taken part in either our WOW club or our ROFL club. We wanted to celebrate the dedication and talent these pupils have shown to reading and original writing.

 
The shortlisted books had been chosen over the last 10 years as the winners of the SCBA, this year was the winner of winners!
 
The Shortlist
 
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
Breathe by Cliff McNish
The Recruit by Robert Muchamore
Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls
Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism by Georgia Byng
Magyk by Angie Sage
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis
Escape by Paul Adam
Shadow by Michael Morpurgo
 
Pupils have been reading these during ROFL club on Wednesday evenings and using them as inspiration during WOW club.
 
The ceremony started at 10am with Alan Gibbons as our regular compare. We listened to pupils from various schools who had prepared presentations about each of the nominated books. My personal favourite was the Molly Moon presentation as the pupils spent a great deal of time trying to hypnotise the audience into voting for their book choice. We then spent a further hour listening to the authors answer questions about how they became authors and what inspired their books. Finally, the winner was announced and it was no surprise that Michael Morpurgo picked up the WOW award.
 
 
In accepting his Award he told a story of a conversation with ex-Poet Laureate Ted Hughes who said:
“When you are a prize winner it’s not good for you; when you don’t win you are sad and that’s not good for you. So, should there be prizes?”
Michael Morpurgo decided it was a good thing to have prizes and said he was delighted with his accolade. He told the audience that Salford was a very special to him. He loved the area and had got to know the city well during the staging of War Horse at the Lowry. He also said that he hoped winning book Shadow might also make the transition to the film and stage following the path of War Horse and Private Peaceful.
“Books are the best, but plays and movies shed new light on the writing.”
(Taken from the Michael Morpurgo website.) 
 
After the ceremony came to a close, the pupils were invited downstairs to meet the authors and get their newly purchased books signed. It was wonderful to see so many pupils from various schools feeling excited about meeting their favourite authors. I hope the day has inspired all to continue to read for pleasure and write their own books in the future.

Thank you to all that came, you behaved beautifully and were a credit to the school

Miss Martyniuk & Miss Haydock.





 


Monday 3 February 2014

Wicked Entries

The deadline for the Wicked Young Writers competition is not far away. If you have an entry you would like to send in, please type it up and email it to Miss Haydock on haydocka@walkden.uk.com.

:-)

The Chocolate Factory

Last week in WOW club, we decided to write poems about a chocolate factory.
Here are some of them.

Confectionary

Chocolate
Happiness is chocolate
Orange
Chocolate
Love it
A lot of it
Tasty chocolate
Eat it all!

Chocolate
By Holly Dean

Chocolate is so sweet
Hot Chocolate is the best
On the day, in the heat
Chocolate is smooth
Once it touches your lips
Life will be in fits
A bit of chocolate is not a pest
Lovely as it is
Aswell it is fattening
Time to get to the gym
Everyday is fasting
The day you will to be lost
A day has gone by without any chocolate
You can't take it, its time to have another bite
or you feel hungry
Read the label it may have nuts
You might puff up if not then you're fine.

In my factory
By Luke Anderson

In my factory, there are chocolate treats,
But a secret lies beneath its feet,
Different children from all about,
Many come in, but none come out.
They die in my building, after they have played,
How do you think dark chocolate is made?
Indian, Hispanic, French I don't care, 
All step into my lovely chocolate lair,
Chocolate balls are chocolate toes,
These are the ideas we have chose,
From the girls we make chocolate guts,
From the boys we make chocolate nuts,
And you're all children, lets follow the beats,
I need more ingredients to make my treats,
In my factory, there are chocolate treats,
No secret lies beneath its feet.

The Chocolate Factory

As I step into the factory of sweet,
Sixteen Oompa Loompas we do meet,
They show us the way to the chocolate fountain,
and a pile of gobstoppers made into a mountain.

As we walk through rooms full of strawberry lace,
The Oopma Loompa's pick up the pace,
They want to show us the wonderous delights
that they have been working on for umpteen nights.

I stand in a room with a big, shaking machine,
I wash my hands, making sure they are clean,
I roll up my sleeves and dive right in, 
The swirling vanilla pulls me in.

Splish and splash goes the creamy mixture
Until the choc's in, its not a permanent fixture,
Rows and rows of different flavours,
Each an amazing taste tingling savour.

Monday 4 November 2013

Wicked Young Writers competition

Wicked the Musical is holding a competition for young writers to enter. The prize includes 5 tickets to go and see Wicked the musical in London, a meet and greet with the cast and prize winning writer Michael Morpurgo, aswell as having your story published! To enter the competition you need to submit either a story, play or poem about looking at life a different way. For example Wicked looks at the life of the Wicked Witch of the West before she was deemed Wicked. If you are interested in taking part please come and see me (Miss Haydock) or Miss Martyniuk and we will explain all the rules for entering. Also come to WOW club on a Monday after school to gain ideas, help with writing your story or listen to other peoples ideas. 
Here is one entry by Luke Anderson in Year 10. 

This Town
( A Mum's point of view)
Minding the kids, 
Popping to the shops,
On a hot day, have an occasional ice pop.
Buying around this town.

Dashing through the market,
Paying for some food,
"I think i'l have a curry, I feel in the mood."
Walking around this town.

(A Dad's point of view)
Being a professor, 
Stopping off at the pub,
"See you tomorrow, at the Country Club."
Talking around this town

Pay this, Pay that
Pay the mortgage, feed the cat.
Paying around this town.

(A child's point of view)
Learn about shapes,
Writing the letter one,
Letters and numbers, I've only just begun.
Learning around this town.

First the swing,
Then the round - about,
See-saw, slide, I'm never in doubt.
Playing around this town.

NO.....

What were your ideas of these people. A family? Why? Everything happy? Wait.............
 
(A mum's point of view)
Minding the adopted kids,
Getting funny looks as she keeps popping to the shops,
On a hot day, have an occasional ice pop.
Upset around this town.

Dashing through the market running from people trying to beat her,
Paying for her and her girlfriend, some food.
"I think i'll have a curry, I feel in the mood."
Distraught around this town.

(A dad's point of view)
Being a black professor, 
Stopping off at the Black pub,
"See you tomorrow, at the Country Club"
Labelled around this town.

"You're black, you have money, pay this,
'Blackie' pay that,"
Pay the mortgage, Feed the cat.
Stereotyped around this town.

(A child's point of view)
Learn about shapes, smacked if wrong,
Writing timidly the letter one, 
Letters and numbers, I've only just begun.
Scared around this town.

Whacked, first with the swing,
Then, the roundabout,
See-saw, slide, I'm never in doubt.
Hurt around this town.

NO.........

Why think the way society wants us to?
Why think they have different views?
You will never know the full person.

Sexuality, ethnicity, size.
Think before you hurt.
Be Wise.

Short story using specific words

The task was to write a short story making sure that specific words are used.

The words were: breakfast, newspaper, basket, truck, sea, paradise, string, tears.

Here is Georgina Deignan's story (Year 10)

There was a family; the Johnson family to be exact. They were just an ordinary family; they eat breaksfast, dinner and tea together. Mr Johnson reads his newspaper then goes to work. One day Jessie Johnson had a basket that his mum had given him. She told him to put it in the truck with the rest of the baskets. She said to him "now Jessie, I don't want you to look in the basket". Jessie said back "OK mum".
When Jessie got outside he looked across the road and saw the sea. Jessie loved the sea. He always found it interesting, mysterious and inviting. He always thought of what it would be like to go out at sea and find his paradise. Jessie then remembered what he was meant to be doing and opened the back of the truck to see something hanging on a piece of string. It appeared to be some unknown meat. Then curiosity took over him and he looked in the basket and saw his little sister's head. He screamed and started to cry, tears gushed rapidly down his face. His sister dies two days ago but he didn't know how she died. He does now. Jessie shut the doors to the truck and turned around to see his mum running towards him, what he didn't know was he was her next victim.

Do you think you could create a story using the following words?
Pen, Bowling, Dice, Hamburger, Cliff, Aisle, Glass, Window.

Can you finish the story....

Can anyone finish this story? 5 achievement points for anyone who has a go, 10 achievement points for the winning story!!

It was a bustling Tuesday in the City of New York. Everybody was going about their daily business. Hailing a cab to the office, rushing down the sidewalk with their frothy latte's. Clip clop of feet as the office women rush about in their 6 inch tall Monolo Blahniks. A man bumping into a woman with a trolley and his briefcase going flying as he was too busy talking on his cell phone to watch where he was going. It was just a normal Tuesday morning in Manhattan until....................

Children's book week poem

Spongebob?
Where's Wally?
A bumble bee?
What can I be for this fancy dress party?

What can I be?
How do I do it?
This will be a mess up!
What can I do for this party dress up?

I have to go in my own clothes,
It's really unfair,
I can't get a costume,
My mum doesn't care! 

Anyway, I went,
Walked to their house,
As I rang the doorbell, filled with sorrow,
They opened the door but said "Its tomorrow"

By Luke Anderson Year 10