Library News

Welcome to another week in the library; I hope you can stay warm and enjoy a great book!

This Week’s Reads

Kindergarten - Despite the cold yesterday, Kindy imagined themselves at the beach when we read ‘Jetty Jumping’ by Andrea Rowe. This story won the 2022 Early Childhood Book of the Year, and for good reason. It has wonderful illustrations and uses the most interesting words (adjectives) to describe how a group of children jump off a jetty. There are pin drops, bombs, teapots, backflips and even belly flops! After listening to the story, students then write and draw about what they like to do at the beach. I’m amazed at how far Kinder has come in their writing this year!

Stage 1 - This week, students will read one of my favourite stories from the 2020 Picture Books of the Year called ‘Three’ by Michael Stephen King. It’s the most beautiful story of a three-legged stray dog who describes the creatures around him by how many legs they have and how they move. Three finds himself on a farm and stumbles across a new friend, Fern, who welcomes him into their home. Students always love this story, and who wouldn’t? There’s a cute dog, a small child and a happy ending. Students will have fun drawing animals with different legs and writing about what makes Three unique.

Stage 2—For the remainder of the term, Stage 2 will complete a mini-research task based on Kylie Howarth's book ‘Fish Kid and the Lizard Ninja’. This book (part one of three) introduces us to Bodhi, who travels with his marine biologist parents to the Galapagos Islands, where he goes on an incredible adventure with his new friend, a marine iguana called Lizard Ninja. Apart from learning about different ocean species throughout the book with ‘Fish Kid Facts’ pages, students will also be using World Book Web to research a marine animal and then present their findings on a poster in Canva.

Stage 3—We’re coming to the end of our ‘Brilliant Minds: 30 Dyslexic Heroes Who Changed the World’ research task, where students are now organising information about their chosen famous person with dyslexia. One part of information literacy is learning how to organise researched information into a coherent presentation and develop presentation skills for effective communication. Students use Canva to create a profile about their individual and will share these with their class in the final two weeks of the term. 

This week, we will also read the chapter about Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock (an astrophysicist); what an inspiring journey!

Kids Book Recommendation Sites

When deciding what books to purchase for the library, I regularly visit a few websites and Facebook pages that families may like to use. My first point of call is ‘Children’s Books Daily’ from Teacher Librarian Megan Daley. Daley has excellent lists of ‘must reads’ for all ages and links to her podcast ‘Your Kids Next Read’ with Alison Tait (a children’s author). They also have a really good Facebook page that’s open to everyone.

Another useful site is the  ‘Kid’s Book Review’ website, which reviews a wide range of books for all ages and interviews Australian authors and illustrators. I also follow several book publishers on Instagram who have great recommendations. These pages include: toppsta, Random House Kids, Harperkidsau, and Paperbird_books.

SORA Books of the Week

This week, SORA presents a collection of refugee stories in recognition of World Refugee Day on the 20th of June.

To log into SORA, follow these instructions. Your child will need their school username and password, which is available from their classroom teacher.

Quick Bits

• Thank you to the families who supported this term’s Book Club. The school really appreciates it, and I was able to use the credit we receive from these orders to purchase new books for students to enjoy. Please note that books can take up to two weeks to arrive at school.
• The end of term is approaching, so we would appreciate it if you could please help your child return any overdue books.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

This year, I’ve introduced a PRC Reading Star wall where students who have completed the Challenge can add their names to be recognised for their terrific reading efforts. This week, Zahlia in 1M was excited to add her star. Congratulations! 

Meet the Readers

Meet Jack in KD, who was the excited first borrower of our new picture book, ‘Glow’ by Ross Morgan. 

Meet Ayda, the first borrower of Danny Snell's ‘My Teeth’ book. If you look very closely, you may see why she needs a new one. It’s never a dull moment in the library!

Last week, Stage 1 worked hard decorating their Reconciliation Candles and colouring in for Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week.

Happy reading - borrow lots!

Mrs Fraser