Author Visit – Dr. Cameron Stelzer, The Story Doctor

‘The Return of The Story Doctor’

Dr. Cameron Stelzer returned to St. Joseph’s last Friday ready to fire the imagination of our students with dynamic hints and ideas in order to uplevel the quality of their writing.

The Student Workshops Consisted Of:

Kindergarten - Stories and More.

The students experienced a big screen reading of one of Dr. Cameron’s Stroogle books and Dr. Cameron showed the students how he created the Stroogle character. The workshop included a guided follow along drawing of a Stroogle.

Stage 1 - Inspirational Ideas Writing Workshop.

In this workshop, Dr. Cameron showcased how creating an imaginary map can help get the creative juices flowing, he also recommended using something that has happened in real life as a starting point for your writing and then bring in your imagination to make it as exciting and extraordinary as you like.

Another of his suggestions was to choose three things you can see around you to help create your characters and/or stories.

Stage 2 - Exciting Descriptive Writing Workshop.

In this workshop the students were presented with different ways to use descriptive language in their writing, with Dr. Cameron encouraging the students to “show don’t tell”. They were challenged to describe a character without naming them.

Stage 3 - Lights, Camera, Action! Writing Workshop.

During this workshop the students experimented with building the tension in their writing by not only having one problem to be solved, but, by creating a problem then adding a second and a third! Dr. Cameron encouraged the students to utilise the five senses to help build the intensity in their writing!

Illustration Workshop - new this year.

Students were given the opportunity to use watercolours to recreate an image from a photograph.

Please take the time to view the photos of this absolutely fabulous day on our Facebook page or in the photo gallery at the end of the newsletter.

NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME

"National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. Now in its 24th successful year, it is a colourful, vibrant, fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children's book that explores age-appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum for Foundation to Year 6”.

This year, National Simultaneous Storytime will be held next Wednesday 22nd of May at 12:00pm, and the children at St. Josephs will get to enjoy Aura Parker’s “BOWERBIRD BLUES”

"I am a collector. Always looking, finding ... and keeping! Bowerbird loves blue. Magnificent cobalt. Brilliant, vibrant blue! But something is missing. What could it be?"

“This picture book from Aura Parker stars a beautiful bowerbird on the search for blue! It's a moving story of longing and connection, that unfolds as the bowerbird's search sends him soaring across the sea, sky and city. He swoops and snatches vibrant treasures for his collection, and soon his bower, a mix of natural and unnatural objects attracts something greater and more fulfilling than he could ever have imagined.”

Damaged Library Books

It is with dismay that I have to remind families that there is a need for borrowed library books to be stored in a safe place, away from little hands, pets, food and water. Quite a number of library books are being returned to school damaged - many with the covers torn, sadly some of these are new books! If borrowed library books are stored safely in the same spot all the time this will also prevent books from being lost! Thank you for your support with this issue!

Reading at Home

Don't forget that your child has 24/7 access to reading material through SORA and World Book Online. See below for some reading suggestions from SORA.

SORA

The students at St Joseph’s are able to access ebooks, audiobooks and magazines through SORA, the Armidale Diocese digital library. SORA has an extensive collection of ebooks, audiobooks and magazines for students of all ages.

Instructions for logging onto SORA are as follows:

Getting started with Sora

Sora - get free ebooks and audiobooks from your school.

Step 1: Install the SORA app from Apple App Store or Google Play Store, or soraapp.com.

Step 2: When in SORA, click on I have a setup code, then sign in.

The “setup” code is cenetau

Sign into your School – Select ACEN from the dropdown box.

Step 3: Browse the explore tab and borrow a book. Your book will open so you can start reading right away.

Step 4: Close the book and go to the shelf to see all your books. From there, you can:

Select Open book or Open audiobook to read or listen to the book.
Select Options to renew or return the book and more.

© 2020 OverDrive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You will need to use your school username and password to access this.

WORLD BOOK ONLINE

Our school has a subscription to World Book Online! This means you have FREE access to this wonderful resource from home or on the go with any internet-connected device. World Book Online may be accessed via the Oliver home page or by visiting the World Book website www.worldbookonline.com

World Book Online is a safe, trusted, 21st-century learning environment for students.

The World Book products our school has access to include:

Kids:

simple navigation
easy to read articles
translations
text to speech (with 10 voices)
educational games and activities
science experiments
a dictionary
an atlas
interactive maps
map outlines
a tool for comparing places or animals.

Student:

expansive reference database
multimedia library
games
behind the headlines
citation builder
research tools

Timelines:

over 650 timelines including Gold Rushes in Australia, Australian Prime Ministers, Cricket World Cup, Star Wars and Harry Potter. Edit or create your own timelines.

User ID: joseph2340

Password: joseph2340

Student Support

Mrs Emily Sullivan