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St Mary's Catholic Primary School
156 Rusden Street, Armidale, New South Wales, 2350, AUhttp://stmarysarmidale.catholic.edu.au/smaadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au(02) 6772 4441
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Library News

Ms Tafra

Kid Librarian

This term we have launched a program in the library to support students to create displays of books that align with their interests. The students can decorate the display how they like and I assist them with locating books relevant to their display. 

 

Below are the latest displays from some of the Stage 2 students, and there are many more scheduled in for this term! Any students in the school are welcome to do a display, there are forms in the library or they can speak to me directly about their ideas.

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Jasmine Presents: Dragons
Jasmine Presents: Dragons
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Olivia Presents: Music
Olivia Presents: Music
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Max and Ren Present: Dangerous Things!
Max and Ren Present: Dangerous Things!
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Bentley Presents: War
Bentley Presents: War
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Harper, Heighlee, Olive, Philippa, and Seanna Present: Comedy
Harper, Heighlee, Olive, Philippa, and Seanna Present: Comedy

 

Sorry Day

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Last week we acknowledged Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week during library time and students helped with decorating this display. Thank you to Skylah and Leonardo who designed the beautiful sign for the display - they did this in only 15 minutes with very little preparation and no guidance from me.

 

Some students expressed ideas that The Stolen Generations happened a long time ago, and that children were taken because their families weren't taking good care of them. This highlights how important it is to continue teaching about this shocking chapter of Australian history and discussing misunderstandings like this in a safe environment. I highlighted to students that children were being removed up until the 1970s, and my own parents were born in 1961, and that there are over 17, 000 people alive in Australia today who were taken from their families as children. We also discussed that the policy of taking children from their families was one of assimilation, not because the children were not being cared for by their own families, but because their culture wasn't respected. 

 

I believe fostering deep understanding of what Aboriginal communities have faced since colonisation is crucial on the path to reconciliation. 

 

 

Adventures of The Stroogle

The library has a long-established tradition of sending The Stroogle out on adventures with students who report back through a journal. Here is an entry from Noah who took The Stroogle adventuring a couple of weeks ago!

 

(The Stroogle is a character developed by Cameron Stelzer)

 

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Lesson Spotlight

For this newsletter I'd like to share from our Stage 2 library lessons. We have been reading the shortlisted books for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards in the Picture Book category. Each week I then gather ideas from the students for topics or themes from the book they might be interested in researching more about later in the term. We have also been learning about the Dewey Decimal System and focusing in on the divisions within each class. Below are some of the topic ideas from books we've read so far from each class:

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3 Gold
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3 Blue
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4 Gold
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4 Blue
3 Gold
3 Blue
4 Gold
4 Blue

 

 

 

Premier's Reading Challenge - eBooks

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For students who have access to a device at home I'd like to encourage families to use the Sora app to access eBooks. The great thing about Sora is you can search by PRC lists to find books that you know are in the challenge level your child is reading.

 

 

 

 

1. Go to: https://soraapp.com/home

 

2. Login using student ID and password (that they use to log in to school network).

 

3. Click Explore then select "Collections"

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4. Search "PRC" and choose your challenge level

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5. Choose a book to borrow and read on the same device!

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Library Lesson/Borrowing Days

ES1 - Wednesday

S1 - Thursday

S2 - Wednesday

S3 - Thursday

Library Opening Hours for Students

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