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The Presents have arrived!!!!

I’m delighted to tell you that the latest JoJo Gnome book is now on sale in JoJo’s Easy shop. Everyone in Sound Town is feeling upset, the dragons are roaring, the Fairies are in a flap and the mice have no cheese. Will JoJo Gnome’s home-made presents sort everything out? YES!

This is a story filled with great sounds, rich vocabulary and lots of fun. There is also a wee mouse hiding on every page waiting to be found.

You can buy the book from JoJo’s Etsy shop for £6.50 (free postage and packing for mainland UK). There is a free exclusive JoJo badge for the first 50 books sold. A perfect stocking filler or bedtime story book.

 

Rhyming & Timing

Coming up to National Poetry Day is always a great opportunity to get young people to start writing their own poems and rhymes. I’ve always loved playing with words and when the opportunity came to work with the P1/2 in Fintry Primary I was delighted.

The theme for this year’s National Poetry Day, which is on 4th October, is ‘Change’. So I packed up my poetry ‘changing kit’ and headed off. Most of the rhymes and poetry I’ve been involved with have involved quilts. I know the first thing most people would reach for is paper but not me! Since I first found a beautiful book about story quilts years ago I was hooked. I make up my own with appliqué, drawing on fabric, quilting and beading. I think it’s a pretty special way to share poems with young people.

The quilt I decided to take in was ‘The Burping Frog” quilt. The tale of a rude and wee bit scary frog who eats everything and anything that rhymes. He burps them back up and then eats them again. It’s a great story to play around with as the children can make their own rhymes to fit into the poem. Fintry is a lovely wee school and P1/2 only have 12 pupils in it. They all contributed to the poem and came up with some very inventive ideas “a cheetah near a heater” for e example.

Have a listen to the Rhyme Time podcast (JoJo Gnome Story Podcast #4) . You can also check out below the full poem with their pictures. The Rhyme Time podcast is free to down load and there is another great joining in poem featured, My ABC. Download from the podcast page or on iTunes. I would love to hear from you and see your little one’s pictures of what their rhymes are. You can email me on jojognome@gmail.com. So go on have a go …what you’ll come up with, you never know ( Is that a rhyme…where’s my needle and thread?).

 

Launched! JoJo Gnome’s Story Podcast

Delighted to be able to tell you that JoJo Gnome’s Story Podcast has launched. I had decided some time ago that this was something which I really wanted to do. When I visit schools to do workshops I have book, which I sell at the events. However there are some children who can’t afford the books …so now I have stories, which all of the children will be able to listen to for free and enjoy. The web address can be sent home  – ironically there may be no books in some houses but most folk have a mobile device of some kind. I used to be a radio producer and lifting the spoken word off the page has always a joy and passion of mine.

The target age of the podcast is 3-6 years. The stories are about JoJo and his pals who live at the bottom of my garden in Scotland. However there will also be rhymes, poems and lots of other ways to join in. The stories are packed with sound effects which should help the children build up a picture in their imagination of what’s going on. I also wanted the podcast to be about more than just listening to a story. So I have a ‘story starter’ section. This is where I’ll start off a story and leave it to the children to finish it off in any way that they like. So it could be just telling you what happened or drawing a picture. I would love to be able to find out how your child/children ended the story, so please get in touch at jojognome@gmail.com and let me know.

Each podcast is around the ten minute mark so ideal for listening at bedtime, in the car or even in the classroom or nursery.  If you enjoy the story, each podcast comes complete with it’s own page of great follow on activities. There are also links to lots of interesting ideas on Pinterest,which complement each story.

Here’s a wee preview

Podcast number one is called ‘Joining In Is Fun’. When JoJo Gnome joins in a sporting competition he finds out there is more to it than just winning. This is a lovely story about having a go at things and showing kindness to others. There are of course the sports of mud jumping and berry throwing featured too … soon to be Olympic events no doubt.  There are lots of pictures, videos and follow up activities to do on podcast #1 programme page. You can also subscribe to the podcast from there or visit iTunes. Please leave a rating and a review if you enjoyed it as it helps other to find the podcast. Listen. Enjoy. Subscribe. Share.

The second Podcast will be out near the end of the month. Then you’ll find out what JoJo Gnome got up to on holiday!

 

Thanks so much for your support.

JoJo Gnome’s Story Podcast Coming Soon

So excited to tell you that I will be launching a JoJo Gnome story podcast in mid August when the Scottish schools go back at the end of the summer holidays. Each podcast will have a story about JoJo Gnome and his friends. Excitingly I will be encouraging your wee ones to build their story telling skills too, to as each episode of the podcast will have a ‘Story Starter’ included. These story starters will allow youngsters to tell you, and hopefully share with me, how they think a story might end. This isn’t about writing, spelling or getting things correct …there is no ‘right way’ to do this. Stories can be finished in any way you like …drawing a picture, in words, in comic form – anything goes! The ideal age group for this podcast is 3-6 years ….but I suspect there will be some older ones who’ll love it too. These podcasts are free to download.

The first podcast will be all about how it is fun to join in and try new things.

Each podcast will have an information page attached which have pictures, animations,colouring pages, films and a link to lots of further fun ideas to join in with.It will also have links to JoJo Gnome’s Pinterest board with lots of ideas which tie in with the story.

Please subscribe to make sure you don’t miss an episode and get in touch and tell me what you think.

If you area nursery or primary teacher based in Scotland you can have a JoJo Gnome literacy workshop in your school, details here. If you are further away why not think about having a Twitter Tales workshop where a class works remotely with me to make a story together.

Although it is quite far away (really!) I will be taking booking for JoJo Gnome’s Christmas Story Workshop in schools. More information on that soon.

If you want to enjoy other JoJo Gnome stories you can buy JoJo Gnome books on Etsy at All things JoJo Gnome.

Christmas Story Fun at Mugdock 2017

 

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We have had such great fun with the children and their families who attended JoJo Gnome’s Christmas Story Fun at Mugdock Park. We did quizzes and listened to JoJo Gnome stories. We also made Christmas cup cake puppets and had them dance in the snow. Check out the wee films below.

 


I hope you all have a lovely Christmas.

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You can find JoJo Gnome’s latest book’ JoJo Gnome & the Cake Contest’ here.

 

JoJo Gnome visits Inchinnan Nursery

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JoJo Gnome and I had a brilliant time with the children at Inchinnan Primary School at JoJo Gnome’s Winter Story Fun Workshop. Most of the children were wearing jolly Christmas jumpers. The children were fantastic at the quizzes we tried and their dancing was amazing. Check out their dancing cup cake film. I hope you all have a great Christmas.

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JoJo Gnome’s latest book JoJo Gnome and the Cake contest is available here.

JoJo Gnome visits Stoneyburn Primary

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There was lots of Christmas fun happening at Stoneyburn Primary. However P1/2 had lots of fun joining in with JoJo Gnome’s Christmas Story Workshop. We guessed sounds, danced with bell ringing dinosaurs and made cupcakes dance. Check out the great wee film they made below.

JoJo Gnome visits Greenrigg Primary

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It was a very icy morning when Jojo Gnome and I visited Greenrigg Primary School but the welcome we received was very warm. We had so much fun with the nursery class and Primary 1. They both made lovely films with me. Check out their dancing cup cakes.

JoJo Gnome goes to Gorebridge Nursery

IMG_2225 (1)JoJo Gnome and I had never been to Gorebridge nursery before, but last week we were given a lovely welcome by the children and the staff there. They are having a very full and active festive season which includes African drumming and their Nativity play. However they managed to find time to enjoy JoJo Gnome’s Winter Story Fun complete with a trip to ‘Sound Town’ and some dancing with dinosaurs. Both morning and afternoon classes had coloured in some christmas cupcakes before we came and drawn some lovely wintery backgrounds. When we had finished our storytelling they did some fantastic film making. Check out their films below.


At the workshop we also read the new JoJo Gnome book – JoJo Gnome and the Cale Contest which is on sale now for Christmas. Thanks for having is Gorebridge!

 

You can find more JoJo Gnome films on You Tube.

JoJo Gnome & the Cake Contest – Book Launch

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We had a terrific time at my old primary school in Mosspark at the launch of JoJo Gnome’s new book ‘JoJo Gnome & the Cake Contest’. It’s a lovely wee story about when JoJo and his Aunty Molly enter a baking contest with some very interesting results. The book even has a yummy recipe that you can try at home. The pupils were amazing ...and Vaila and I got our picture in the papers in our hats!

I had some lovely feedback from Mr Feist who runs the school’s twitter account.

Twitter @MrFeist (Nov 16th 2017) – Great to see  again today – first met her when she worked with the infants in  and now that I’ve moved to , I got to see her again! If you want an enthusiastic & inspirational author to visit your wee ones,  is the person!

A good day all round.

You can buy the book here.