To All My Friends at Queensferry Primary School - 

I'm wishing you a fabulous, terrific, totally-super holiday that's

full

of

BOOKS!

Looking forward to seeing you again in 2016 - 

all good wishes from your Patron of Reading - 

cheers, JoanLennon.

Slightly Jones and P6C

Look at what fabulous work P6C has been doing on The Slightly Jones Mysteries!

And here I am with some of you and the books you've been reading and drawing and writing about -

Slightly Jones and the Case of the Sensational P6s!

P3M - When Spells Go Wrong!

Not only did P3M create catastrophic spells, with ingredients ranging from poo to glitter - they illustrated them as well!

Enjoy!

Owls for P2L

This was your question -

At the moment we are really enjoying reading The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson, as part of our 'Sun, Moon and Stars' topic. It was one of Mrs Law's favourite stories when she was wee. We wanted to know if you have read the story too and if any owls feature in any of your books?

And here's my answer -

I LOVE OWLS!

Yes, I like the Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark - I also love Owl in the Winnie the Pooh books - 

Please meet my owl friends -

Aren't they beautiful?  I haven't written a story about an owl yet, but maybe you could! 

Talk soon!

My November Visit to You

Did you notice a whirlwind at school last Wednesday?  That was me!

First I was with P3M and P3A/W reading from The Mucker's Tale and wondering what might happen if you said Abracadabra backwards, which is, of course ...

ARBADACARBA!

(The answer is Spells That Go Wrong! and you wrote some crackers!)

Then on to P4W/B and then P5B and then P5W and then P4Mc where we talked about what might happen if we put a character into a situation that made them feel worried and anxious and what we got were ... 

SOME REALLY SCARY SCENES! 

And in-between there somewhere I told the story of Ribburta and the Run-ragged Babysitting Adventure to the P1s and read some of the other classes' work and answered questions and asked questions and had my photo taken with some P6s and was amazed all over again at ...

WHAT A GREAT SCHOOL QUEENSFERRY PRIMARY IS!

Thanks for having me and, till I see you next -

KEEP READING!

and

KEEP WRITING!

Reading Recommendations - I Need More!

Your summer reading suggestions were great!  Out of them, my absolute top favourites were:

and

Thank you very much for suggesting them all!  And now, I'm ready for a new batch of book recommendations.  I can't wait to see what you think I should read next!

Also - 

Huge Congratulations ...

... on doing so well on the Summer Reading Challenge - I'm very proud of you!

P6 and P7 - Spot Yourself among the Writers!

I had a great time doing writing workshops with the P6s and P7s - now, can you find yourself in the pictures?  It's like Where's Wally, without the stripey sweater! 

(And, just in case you were wondering, the people who are hiding their eyes are doing that to help them see the scene they're about to write in their minds ... not because they've all suddenly got headaches!)

P2 Meets Ribburta the Frog!

HOP HOP HURRAH!

Introducing My New Boys!

Shh! They're sleeping ...

Meet Toby (the brown one) and Mal (the gray one).  They're my new kittens and I love them to bits!  I don't have many pictures of them awake, though, except for blurry ones, because these guys are crazy fast!

So, new kittens and a new year as your Patron of Reading - AND I'm coming to visit you again very soon - how lucky am I!

See you then - 

Happy Summer to Everybody at QPS!

Monday 15 June - now that's what I call a fab day!

A Special Assembly with Nicola the Librarian introducing 

THE SUMMER READING CHALLENGE!*

The chance to see P3M and P3H/W's excellent 

ROALD DAHL DIORAMAS!

Getting to share P1B and P1C/S's fantabulous

BOOKS!

Visiting with P4Mc and P4B, hearing some of their super writing and answering loads of really great

QUESTIONS!

(All of the classes had really great questions - we had fun conversations about books and writing - even when I couldn't think of an answer!  Remember, you can get your teacher to send me more questions or put them on the blog or on the Ask Joan! sheet in the school library.  Or you can always just save them till we meet again!)

And, to read on the train home, I had a gorgeous Treasure Chest of Stories from P1C/S - some terrific tales from P1B - some illustrated character stories from P2K (they wrote their names backwards and their characters just took off!  Wonderful!).  The miles flew by.

Thank you for having me - I love to visit QPS (aka** the best school in the world) -

So, have a wonderful summer break, and

SEE YOU NEXT TERM!

*And don't forget Nicola's Ambition - for every single pupil from QPS to have their own library card!

**aka - find out what that means.

  

Photos from the Mystery Assembly!

Here they are - photos from my very first day as your Patron of Reading! Can you find yourself in there?  

A Room Full of Champions!

Look closely - can you find yourself in this Whole Heap of Heroes and Heroines?  Leif Frond would be proud of you!

Writers at Work!

On Tuesday 12 May I had another amazing day at Queensferry Primary School!  

There were 2 lightning visits with the P3 classes, where I got to see their excellent newspaper reports, book reviews and art work - I tell you, I felt 10 foot tall leaving the classrooms after hearing and seeing all that quality work - THANK YOU!

And there were creative writing workshops with the P7 and P6 classes - we were writing flash fiction story starters.  It was really exciting stuff - no two stories the same, and hearing the writers read out afterwards was a highlight for me!  And here are just a few quick photos of just some of the Writers at Work - can you name them?  (If only everybody had transparent heads, you'd be able to see the amazing stories inside!)

So much concentration - so much creativity!  I salute you, P6s and P7s!

And I'm coming back!!!!!  I'll be telling you more about my next visit closer to the time.  Can't wait!

P.S.  Photos from the Mystery Assembly are on their way - come back to the blog soon and you'll get to see them!