Learning & Teaching

BOOK WEEK! 

Introducing Book Week for 2024!!

What is book week? 

Book Week in Australia is an annual event organised by the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) to celebrate children's literature and promote reading among young people. It usually takes place in August, with schools, libraries, and communities across the country participating in a week-long series of activities focused on books and reading.

The event often features:

• Book-themed activities: Schools and libraries organize various activities like storytelling sessions, book fairs, reading challenges, and creative writing workshops.
• Book Character Dress-Up Day: One of the highlights is when children and teachers dress up as their favorite book characters, often with parades and competitions.
• CBCA Book of the Year Awards: During Book Week, the CBCA announces the winners of its prestigious Book of the Year awards, which recognise outstanding Australian children's books in different categories.

The theme for Book Week changes each year, encouraging creativity and engagement with literature. It's a time for students to explore new books, authors, and genres while fostering a love of reading.

What does dressing up for book week look like? 

Dressing up is a fun way to celebrate the joy of reading, so start planning your costumes now. Whether you're inspired by classic tales or modern favorites, we can't wait to see the creativity on display. We’re excited to see students bring their favorite literary characters to life. 

When your child dresses up they will be involved in our WHOLE SCHOOL BOOK WEEK PARADE starting at 9:00am sharp. If you have trouble sourcing your child a costume please contact their classroom teacher. We love to have all of our students feel included and celebrated on these days. In the past we have had some absolute cracking costumes on display: 

What is the MAYBE A MIRACLE performance? 

This book week we are lucky to have a performance from Perform Education titled: MAYBE A MIRACLE. Our friends from across the pond Tongala Primary will be joining us for the performance. We are super excited to be hosting them and celebrating book week together. Want to learn more about the Maybe a Miracle performance… 

Charlie is feeling just a bit overwhelmed. He does his best but sometimes his best doesn’t seem good enough, especially when he compares himself to other kids who seem to make difficult tasks look so easy. And then there are chores, and his little sister to contend with at home. Like any other kid Charlie has dreams – to be a rock star, explore different places, be a scientist that solves the problems of the world – but they seem to get further away every day. To be honest he’d be happy if he could find the space to have just a bit more fun now and then. Charlie wonders that maybe a miracle is what he needs to change things for the better. However when something totally unexpected reveals that there are miracles happening all around him, he needs to figure out what to do with them.

Will some of the books that Charlie recently discovered provide a clue?

MAYBE A MIRACLE! is a new educational musical adventure from Perform Education and touring schools in partnership with The Children’s Book Council of Australia, to celebrate Children’s Book Week® 2024 and the theme Reading is Magic.

A highly interactive musical exploration of making the most of even the most ordinary situations and a celebration of the power of positive thinking. MAYBE A MIRACLE! is a joyful leap into the world of imagination that books inspire every individual to be part of, while featuring a selection of the 2024 CBCA Short Listed books to help point the way.

What are the activities that the students do during book week? 

During Book Week, students participate in a variety of engaging activities that celebrate reading and literature. At St Patrick’s each classroom teacher picks one of the short-listed books from ‘Picture Book of the Year’ category. After splitting off into multi-age groups the students will head to each classroom and listen to the teacher read their story and then complete an activity to match their story. To create a love of reading and excitement around Book Week our teachers try to pick a hands-on activity that connects to the tale of their storybook. We can’t wait to see what the teachers have in store for this book week upcoming in Week 6. 

We thank you for your help and support in encouraging our students to love to read!! We could not do it without you. 

Asking your child about their learning at school is a great way to show interest in their education and to support their academic growth. By asking about what they are learning and getting them to share it allows for their knowledge to strengthen. If you are looking for some questions to speak to your child about to talk more about school try a couple of these at the dinner table: 

Home Reading! 

We’re back into the swing of school life for Semester 2 and here are some timely reminders moving into Term 3. 

Classroom teachers will be sitting outside on Tuesday and Thursday mornings between 8:30 and 9:00am. This will give every student at our school the opportunity to read twice a week in the mornings at school with an adult. All classroom teachers will be outside ready to go to mark off reader diaries and we encourage any parents that would like to get involved to pop in at this time and listen to any of our awesome children read! 

While it's super exciting that morning reading is back we still need to ensure we are encouraging students to complete their nightly reading at home. To see the benefits of nightly reading at home please see visual below: 

It’s important that when you complete nightly reading with your children that you fill out their reader diaries. Not only is this a great way to help get your child a reading certificate at our whole-school assemblies but it’s also an excellent opportunity for the classroom teacher to identify if they’re practicing reading at home or just at school. Listening to your child read at home is such a great opportunity to be involved in their learning. When listening to your child read it’s important to: 

• Create a positive environment 
• Be patient
• Offer encouragement
• Ask questions about the text
• Celebrate progress 

Our reading diaries look a little different and are different in the junior and senior ends of the school. To learn or refresh your memory on how to fill out your reader diary please see visual below:

Filling out the F-2 reading diary: 

Filling out the 3-6 reading diary: 

Every second week the classroom teachers will collect all reader diaries and count how many nights each student has read to see whether they will be rewarded a reading certificate at assembly. Students will receive a reading certificate when they have read 25, 50, 75, 100, 150 and 200 nights! 

It’s important for students to bring their green reader bag to school every day as they will partake in reading throughout the classroom, change their books, get their reading nights counted, and put important notes/correspondence that needs to go home in it. 

When we create a love of reading, there are positive effects on all children’s cognitive, emotional, and social development. It lays the foundation for a lifetime of learning, curiosity, and personal growth! Thanks for helping our school and our students to be the best readers they can be.