Ten librarians from five schools gathered on a Saturday 10 September at Groendal Primary in Franschhoek to listen with interest to a presentation – and then demonstration – of the new CBN toolboxes. Their reaction was heart-warming. Plans are afoot to start a network in Franschhoek to use the toolboxes as a team with children […]
Lively Librarians Workshop Report Read More »
Today is the day when the world should be focussing on literacy. We SHOULD be. It is the single best chance for a way forward in a troubled world. One school celebrating out of doors in the crisp Drakensberg air is Goxhill Primary School, which sent us this photograph of Mrs Dlamini reading a Zulu
World Literacy Day Read More »
Franschhoek Toolbox Workshop: 10 September This workshop is an invitation to explore ideas about bringing books to children – and children to books, Background: CBN has had the toolboxes in its sights for three years now, and we have tested all the books and activities during our workshops. What you will see today is the
A workshop for teacher-librarians and readers Read More »
‘It Wasn’t Me!’ by Lesley Beake, Gwendoline van der Merwe, and Alexandria Mackinnon has been published online by Book Dash and is available for download. You can view it here: http://bookdash.org/wasnt-lesley-beake-gwendoline-van-der-merwe-alexandria-mackinnon/ Please share the link online, and tag Book Dash if you like. You can also encourage friends and family to download our Android app
‘It wasn’t me’: Published online! Read More »
CBN workshops encompass a rich mix of story, activity, books, art, books, drama, books, craft, books, puppets, books … whatever it takes. Here is a brief summary of what we have been working on since the beginning of our financial year in March. CHILDREN In the four years we have been in operation, we have
We have many methods of encouraging children writing – something that almost all of them love to do. Those who finish early get on with some quiet reading. Some of these tools are: • Each theme has a set of photographs designed to inspire both writing and artwork and we have had some wonderful results
Toolbox writing ideas – children writing Read More »
Of course, the ultimate aim of toolboxes and workshops is to get children actually reading. Included in the toolboxes will be sixty books and the aim is that each child in a reading group will read each book at least once. These consist of fact books and fun books, poetry, art and music books and
Toolbox books – the ones the children read Read More »
The Super-Books are an integral part of the toolboxes – and sooner or later, we have to fix the titles we will be including. This is hard! In fact it is so hard that arm-wrestling may have to take place. We want the children to have the best of the best – both South African
CBN has created our own super hero – Zeb, Super-Book-Hero! With text by Lesley Beake and illustrations by Vian Oelofsen, Zeb leads the way throughout the themed boxes. Zeb is already a reader – in fact his mother tries to get him to: ‘STOP READING and get some sleep!’ But when Zeb finally sleeps, he
Zeb! Super-Book-Hero Read More »
Spreading the reading word … For some time CBN has been looking for a way to reach more children – to excite more children about books, to make reading cool. The methods we have been using in our workshops (for nearly four years now), work really well. We see a difference. Children come back. They
What is a toolbox? Read More »
The last workshop of the winter workshop season finished in hugs (handshakes went out long ago) and then hugs again as a dedicated group of CBN participants decided that they want a regular book club ‘with badges’. There are always surprising things that children do or say – or need. We have been consistently surprised
Stanford CBN Book Club (Workshop 3 of the Winter Workshops) Read More »
For a change, this workshop report is from the children! Triza, Busiswa, Liko, Ouola and Mpokisen gave feedback on a fun (and funny) morning in Stanford at the Butterfly Centre. We read a funny book, a funny book. About Kubi the Star. We enjoyed it because it was funny. Kubi was clever and he was
Stanford Winter Workshop 2: Grade 5 Having Fun Read More »
Twenty Grade Fours arrived bang on time with our CBN community helper at 10.00 this morning. The Butterfly Centre again hospitably allowed us to use their lovely premises. We began with introductions and discussed how ‘small talk’ is really ‘big talk’ when we first have an opportunity to meet new people. At CBN workshops we
Stanford Winter Workshop 1: 11 July, Who AM I? Read More »
The winter school holidays saw the beginning of what we hope will be a long association with Enlighten at their beautiful premises in Hermanus. Perfectly positioned for the surrounding children, endowed with a wondrous library – the Alex Bury Library – warm and welcoming. CBN has found an excellent place to go further with our
CBN and Enlighten Education Trust: Winter workshops Read More »
Cold but sunny was a good forecast for children who need to let off steam before workshops and during lunch. The third day of CBN’s workshop with Enlighten Education Trust featured lions and big cats, with stories, books and activities in the morning and an exciting mask-making exercise with Alex and Thulani. The morning concluded
Green, green workshops! (Day Three) Read More »
The second day of CBN’s Green, Green Theme workshop at Enlighten Education Trust in Hermanus had all children returning – plus a couple of extra additions. Morning activities followed much the same pattern as on Day One, followed by a break for lunch of hot dogs that were much appreciated. To recap on Day One,
Green, green workshops! (Day Two) Read More »
For the first (but certainly not the last) time CBN worked with Enlighten Trust in Hermanus to bring a workshop with a conservation theme to children from five local schools. After introductions and a short outline of what CBN does, Blaq Pearl took over for a game where everyone had a chance to introduce themselves,
Green, green workshops! (Day One) Read More »
Edition 215 of the Bookchat newsletter.
Bookchat Newsletter 215 Read More »
Books and Stories were the theme – and CBN launched our toolbox of the same name at a lovely festival of story on a sunny winter Saturday in the beautiful main hall of the Centre for the Book. There was a sparkle in the air when the CBN team arrived in Cape Town, an air
CBN Joint workshop with Centre for the Book 4 June 2016 Read More »
On Saturday 28 May a rather huge group of children wanted to join what turned out to be a successful morning for twelve signed up would-be workshoppers. We began with a tour of the Overberg Honey facility where the children were able to see the real life that goes on behind a jar of honey
Bees and Bee Books! Read More »
