LIBRARY NEWS

Welcome to the final library newsletter for Term 2, I can’t believe how fast this term (and year) are going!

Over the next two weeks we will be reading some of my favourite stories in the library to acknowledge Refugee Week and Naidoc Week. Across all stages, students will be enjoying a collection of stories that aim to develop and enhance students’ empathy and understanding of these powerful issues. Stories really do have the ability to bring emotions to life and provide opportunities for developing and practising empathy, a true life skill! I recently bought some new stories for Naidoc Week that are written so beautifully, I’m looking forward to sharing these with your children.

Some of the stories we’ll be reading during library lessons include Grandma’s Treasured Shoes (Coral Vass), 

Library Reading Engagement Conference - Brisbane

I recently was lucky enough to attend a library conference in Brisbane that was postponed last year but went ahead in 2021. The two day conference focused on how libraries and teacher librarians can encourage student engagement in reading, particularly reading for pleasure. Over the two days, I was fortunate to hear from leading teacher librarians and academics about the future of libraries and every session was extremely valuable. It got me thinking about some great ideas to bring to our library which I’m looking forward to implementing soon. 

One idea that particularly resonated with me was the notion of ‘what does a good reader look like?’ We were asked to think about that definition, was it the reader who borrowed the most books, the one who reads the longest books or was it someone who reads a lot? I came to the conclusion that it’s not necessarily any of these, as for me, a win is getting a reluctant reader to read a book that they actually want to read (not a long one or a certain number of them). The most rewarding part of my job is when a student tells me that they’ve finally found a book they’ve enjoyed, particularly if they’re not a usual borrower. As the saying goes, reluctant readers just haven’t found the right thing to read yet and that’s where I can help.

Book Club

Thank you to those families who purchased books through the Term 2 Scholastic Book Club, some boxes arrived late last week and as soon as the remainder are delivered, we’ll get them sorted and out to students.

Kids Lit Quiz 2021

Last Friday, the weather, icy conditions and Zoom didn’t stop three Holy Trinity teams from competing in the New England heat of Kids Lit Quiz. Teams from across the New England were challenged to answer questions based on stories from ten themes. Some of these included castles, cats, Harry Potter, villains and Christmas. While we were outside the top three, our two primary teams and one Year 7 team played well and discovered the importance of having team members who read widely and have different interests. Congratulations to: Ryan Grant, Sasha Bryant, Charlotte Harris, Bethany Pearse, Jonah Moore, Emi Whan, Laura Cameron, Sophie Neppl, Hannah Bourke, Ellie Miller, Elkie Sargeant and Isaac Whan. Well played!

CBCA 2021 Picture Books of the Year 

Another category of books students will be reading from the Books of the Year competition are Picture Books. Entries in this category should be outstanding books of the Picture Book genre in which the author and illustrator achieve artistic and literary unity or, in wordless picture books, where the story, theme or concept is unified through illustrations.

Congratulations to our PRC readers who've finished their challenge and to the secondary HTS Chess team who played Inverell High School in the library.

See you next term, happy reading

Mrs Toni Fraser