Library News

Welcome to Week 10, I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable long weekend. 

This Week’s Reads

Kindergarten -  this week, Kindergarten missed their library lesson on Monday but they can still return their books and borrow more. I will organise a time with both Kindergarten teachers for students to borrow books later in the week.

Stage 1 - still on the Easter theme (sort of), this week we’re reading ‘This is Not an Egg’ by Laura and Philip Bunting. As the blurb states, this is not a book about an egg, but about using your imagination. Bilby goes looking for an egg but can only find egg-shaped objects. Students will also get the chance to design their own egg-shaped creations.

Stage 2 - are reading another Old Tom book by Leigh Hobbs and completing the illustrations they began last week. Students have enjoyed learning how Hobbs creates his characters and his illustrative style.

Stage 3  - Complete their visual literacy in film task this week, where they choose a scene from a favourite movie or show and then analyse the visual literacy techniques used. 

Next week, classes from Year 2 to 6 will spend time exploring and reading on SORA ahead of the holidays.

Choosing a ‘Just Right’ Book to Read

I often get asked how children choose a book that is just right for them. One strategy is the ‘5 Finger Rule’, a quick and simple way to gauge if your child can read a selected book. According to Scholastic Australia, your child should be able to recognise at least 90 per cent of the words independently, as constantly pausing to decipher words beyond this can hinder their ability to grasp the story's overall meaning.  I’ve included a simple poster to explain this strategy. If you’re interested in learning more about some comprehension strategies you can include at home, you can visit the Scholastic link here.

CBCA Books of the Year Shortlist

Each year, the Children’s Book Council of Australia hold their Books of the Year Awards, which runs in conjunction with Book Week across Australia in August. These awards acknowledge the very best of Australian literature released over the last twelve months across six categories including:

• Older readers
• Younger readers
• Early Childhood
• Picture Book
• New Illustrator
• Eve Pownall Award (non-fiction books)

Each week, I’ll preview the Shortlist for each section, beginning this week with the 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. You can read more about these books here.

Bag Tales

Meet Jackson and Remy with the bags they brought to the library. Jackson has a school library bag (available from Alinta), and Remy has a homemade bag featuring one of his favourite things, dinosaurs.

Meet the Readers

Meet Evie in 1E who loves animal books! Violet, Hailee and Stella from 6M also came to collect a class set of the novel, ‘Fish in a Tree’.

New Books!!

Lots of great new books are about to hit the shelves just in time to borrow for the holidays. There’s something for everyone!

Quick Bits

• Book Club orders were dispatched last week; they should arrive soon and will be sent home this week.
• PRC - it’s not too late to join the Premier’s Reading Challenge; it doesn’t end until August 2024. 
• PRC booklists for each year group are available in the library. Students can choose books that we have in the library or read any books from home, the public library or on SORA.

Happy reading,

Mrs Toni Fraser