Author Visit – Dr Cameron Stelzer, The Story Doctor

It is with immense excitement that I inform you that on Friday 17 May (Term 2 Week 3), we have a special visit from Author and Illustrator Dr Cameron Stelzer to St Joseph’s Primary School. Many families will remember Cameron’s very popular visit from last year. Cameron is visiting again this year to extend our students further through a variety of creative writing and illustration workshops.

Kinder students will enjoy an interactive Big Screen Book Reading and follow-along drawing activity with Cameron. Stage 1 students will participate in a writing workshop focusing on idea formation and inspirations for narratives. Cameron will be engaging Stage 2 students in a workshop exploring exciting and descriptive writing. Stage 3 students will be exploring techniques to create blockbuster action stories – think gripping suspense scenes, epic action encounters and hold-on-to-your-seat cliff-hangers. Students and teachers are looking forward to a great day!

In conjunction with the Author Visit, St Joseph’s Primary School families have a special opportunity to purchase signed and personalised copies of Cameron’s books at special prices. Individual books are $10-$15 each and there are also exclusive book sets available. Students will receive an order form prior to the workshop day (payment is via the online payment portal listed on the form; no cash). Forms can be returned by Thursday 16th May (the day before Dr Cameron’s visit) to the Office.

International Children's Book Day

Today is International Children’s Book Day. Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, 2 April, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books. If we didn’t already have a good enough excuse to read children’s books, this day is for sure one! This year’s theme for International Children’s Book Day is “The Small is Big in a Book”. Children’s books are small, but they make big impacts. From critical thinking skills to developing empathy and acceptance, books give children the opportunity to become aware of their thoughts and allows them to explore the world. Let's celebrate International Children's Book Day and read a book!

The Importance of Reading Books in the Digital Age

An excerpt from Access www.learningspace.com states "(25 Jul 2022) An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study across approximately 30 countries found that teens who said they most often read paper books scored considerably higher on a 2018 reading test taken by 15-year-olds compared to teens who said they rarely or never read books. Even among students of similar socioeconomic backgrounds, those who read books in a paper format scored a whopping 49 points higher on the Program for International Student Assessment, known as PISA. That’s equal to almost 2.5 years of learning. By comparison, students who tended to read books more often on digital devices scored only 15 points higher than students who rarely read – a difference of less than a year’s worth of learning."

Reading, in any form, but especially print books, has a positive impact on children's long term learning outcomes. So, the earlier children start to enjoy books the better for their long term academic success. The forthcoming holiday period would be the ideal time to become engrossed in a good book!

2024 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards - Shortlisted Books

The Book of the Year Awards Shortlist 2024 is a cut down version of the 2024 Notable Australian Children's Books. Compiled from critiques submitted by expert judges, this document can aid the discovery of good stories to read, a reported reason given for not reading. So share it, discuss it, and let’s continue to grow a reading culture! If you would like to take a peek at this year's Shortlisted books, you can visit the CBCA website https://cbca.org.au/shortlist-2024

The six categories for Books of the Year are:

CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers

Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for readers in their secondary years of schooling. Ages 13-18 years.

CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers

Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for readers from the middle to upper primary years. Ages 7-12 years.

CBCA Book of the Year: Early Childhood

Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for children who are at pre-reading or early stages of reading. Ages 0-6 years

CBCA Picture Book of the Year

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. Ages 0-18 years.

Eve Pownall Award (Non-Fiction)

Entries in this category should be books which have the prime intention of documenting factual material with consideration given to imaginative presentation, interpretation and variation of style. Ages 0-18 years.

CBCA Award for New Illustrator

Entries in this category are for books where the illustrator is emerging or new to the field of children’s book illustration. The entry must be the illustrator’s first children’s illustrated book published where illustrations form a significant part of the book’s narrative or information content. Ages 0-18 years.

Reading at Home

Don't forget that your child has 24/7 access to reading material through SORA and World Book Online.

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

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