Welcome Back Everyone!

Welcome to a new school year, an exciting time as our students start or return to their school journey and another fabulous year of book borrowing, library events and activities and lots and lots of visits to the library. I hope that Santa delivered some wonderful books to you and that you were able to take the opportunity to relax and enjoy one of them. A special welcome to our new St. Joseph’s families, it would be wonderful to get to know you in the forthcoming year.

As the year unfolds there will be fortnightly updates and reminders in the newsletter about what is happening in the library. This year the library will continue to endorse and promote our usual big events such as Book Week, Book Fair, Premier’s Reading Challenge, Simultaneous Storytime and the return visit of author/illustrator Dr. Cameron Stelzer, as well as weekly library lessons and break time activities. Please take the time to check the newsletter to find out what is happening in the wonderful world of books, authors and illustrators.

General Information - Library Borrowing

Developing a life-long love of reading is paramount to everything we do in the library - when our students read and/or listen to the enchanting books we have in our library collection they are, hopefully, on their way to achieving this goal. As well as academic benefits, reading for pleasure provides social and emotional gains including: an increase in empathy and social skills, improvement of health and wellbeing and enjoyment and stimulation of the imagination.

This year each class will have their 30 minute library lesson on either THURSDAY or FRIDAY. Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten), Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2) and Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) will have their library lesson on FRIDAY, whilst Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6) will have their library lesson on THURSDAY.

During the library lesson we will read great books just for the fun of it, we will also focus on literature appreciation (why a book is a good book), information literacy (where to find the information resources in the library and what to do with them) and best of all, the students get to borrow great books to take home and read for free! A reminder that home reading with a changing variety of books is imperative to reading development!

Borrowed books may be kept at home for up to two weeks before they are required to be returned to school where they can be exchanged for new ones.

Term 1 Borrowing Limits

Early Stage 1 – two books each visit return weekly (increase to three books in Term 2)

Stage 1 – three books each visit return weekly

Stage 2 – four books each visit return fortnightly

Stage 3 – four books each visit return fortnightly

Library Bags

It is essential that every student has a library bag to ensure the safe transportation of library books between school and home. A library bag protects the books from drink bottle leaks, uneaten food scraps and dirty sports equipment! Anything that gives the library books some protection on their way between home and school, and is practical for school is great. Please ensure your child has their library bag on their library day and that their name is clearly marked on it.

Lunch Time in the Library

This year the library will be open every day during the second break for those students who wish to come in to listen to a story, read a story, colour a picture, draw a picture, play a board game, have a chat, complete a jigsaw or construct something amazing with the construction equipment. You are most welcome to join us, we would love to see you there!

Premier’s Reading Challenge 2024

Oh yes - it’s on again and will soon be upon us! Once again the students at St Joseph’s will have the opportunity to participate in the 2024 NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge. The Premier’s Reading Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) is open to all NSW students in Kindergarten to Year 10. To complete the Challenge you must read a certain number of books in an allocated time frame. To find out what books you will need to read you can access an age appropriate list

of recommended books on the 2024 Premier's Reading Challenge website https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

Further information will be sent home in the coming weeks and there will be further updates provided in forthcoming newsletters. The Challenge opens on Monday 26th February 2024 and closes on Friday 23 August 2024. Don't forget that any books that you are currently reading or that you have read since the completion of last year's challenge may be included in this year's list.

Scholastic Book Club provides the families of St Joseph’s with the opportunity to purchase books at reduced prices. Brochures are sent home with your child 8 times a year. The books offered on each brochure are selected for their appeal to the age group identified on the brochure. Once again, St Joseph’s will be offering this service throughout 2024. There is absolutely no obligation for families to buy, however, should you wish to purchase a book through Book Club you may send the completed order form into school, together with correct money in an envelope or zip lock bag, clearly marked with Book Club and your child’s name and class. There is also an option for ordering online via Scholastic’s cashless ordering system (LOOP); information about LOOP may be found on the Book Club catalogue. Books purchased through Book Club enable our school to receive credit points with Scholastic, which the school is then able to use to purchase books and classroom resources. Should you wish to purchase a book through Book Club as a gift for your child, please notify the school and when it arrives we will hold it for you and notify you by phone or email so that you are able to collect it from the office. Once the Book Club window closes all orders will be filled and sent to the school ready for distribution.

The first Book Club for 2024 will be distributed this week and orders will close on the 16th February, 2024. Unfortunately, late orders are unable to be processed.

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.

Our User ID: joseph2340

Password: joseph2340

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