Children's Book Council of Australia Book Week 2024

Next week (Week 5) is Book Week! And right across Australia, people everywhere will be celebrating the joy of reading and the very best of Australian authors and illustrators, plus, the Children’s Book Council of Australia will announce the Books of the Year for each of the six different categories.

This year at St. Josephs', in conjunction with our Grandparent's Liturgy and Morning Tea, we will once again be celebrating with our annual Book Fair and Book Character Parade.

Children’s Book Week celebrates Australian literature and is when the winners of the Children’s Book Council of the Year Awards are announced. As stated previously, the CBCA Book of the Year is broken down into six categories: Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood, Picture Books, The Eve Pownall Award (for documenting factual content) and the CBCA Award for New Illustrator.

This week I would like to draw your attention to the shortlisted books for Older Readers, The Eve Pownall Award and the CBCA Award for New Illustrator.

Book Fair

St Joseph’s annual Book Fair will once again be held in conjunction with our Book Week Celebrations. Our annual Scholastic Book Fair will be held in the hall during Book Week, (Week 5, August 19th to 23rd). The books for sale will be arriving at school on Thursday, August 15th, and students will have the opportunity to browse through them on Thursday, August 15th and Friday, August 16th during their class library time. Once the students have had the opportunity to browse through the books, they will complete a wish list, which they will then take home to share with their family. Should your child wish to purchase a book from the book fair, it may be done in one of three ways –

Make a secure credit card payment online (instructions will be detailed on the back of your child’s wish list)
Send the money into school in a sealed and labelled envelope or zip lock bag on either Monday August 19th, Tuesday August 20th, Wednesday August 21st, Thursday August 22nd or Friday August 23rd for them to purchase their books.
Eftpos available at the Book Fair

Student Wish List and Instructions On How To Pay Online

Please ensure your child’s wish list accompanies the payment receipt or cash when collecting their books from the Book Fair.

The Book Fair will be open for business Monday August 19th, Tuesday August 20th, Wednesday August 21st, Thursday August 22nd during the first and second break times or on Friday August 23rd during first break.

Photos will be taken of the books that are available for purchase and posted on our school Facebook page for your viewing. Should the book your child wishes to purchase sell out, be assured that I am able to place an order for their chosen book, which means they will still receive it but at a later date (usually the following week). By purchasing from the Book Fair, apart from taking home some wonderful stories to share with your family, you help our school earn credits with Scholastic, which enables us to purchase more resources for our school.

If you would like to take a sneak peek at the book fair with a view to making some Christmas/birthday purchases, please email me to arrange a convenient time for you to visit mholley@arm.catholic.edu.au

As always your participation in the Book Fair is entirely voluntary.

Book Character Parade

This year our Book Character Parade will be held on Friday, 23rd August, commencing at 12.00midday. Students may come to school dressed in their costume (please ensure your child knows the name of their book character and which book they are from); however, if your child chooses not to come dressed as a book character, school uniform must be worn. Please ensure that clothing is appropriate for the weather conditions and the school environment and that appropriate footwear is worn (enclosed shoes – no heels or thongs). Students must wear their school hats on the day. If alternate hats and shoes are required to complete your child’s costume, please bring them to school in a separate bag and they may be worn just for the parade. Any props that may prove dangerous, for example swords etc, please secure them in a separate bag and ask your child to hand them to the class teacher for safe keeping.

Our annual Book Character Parade is an exciting and fun way of celebrating books and sharing our love of reading. I am so looking forward to seeing the children bring their favourite book characters to life, I hope to see you there!

NSW Premier's Reading Challenge 2024

The countdown is on for the completion of the 2024 Premier's Reading Challenge with the closing date fast approaching on Friday, 23rd of August, 2024 - just 11 days away! Congratulations to the students who have completed the Challenge so far! Some students have already returned their completed reading logs to school - an achievement they should be extremely proud of! Students who are very close to finishing, that require a few extra books to get them over the line, please let me know and I will do my very best to help you get to the finish line. Please ensure you complete your reading log before August 23rd so that they are able to be validated (this needs to happen so that your certificate can be awarded). Sadly, you will not be able to add books after this date. Don’t forget that many of the Premier’s Reading Challenge books are available on SORA.

Premiers Reading Challenge Books can be found in Collections in folders marked NSW Premiers Reading Challenge K-2, NSW Premiers Reading Challenge 3-4, NSW Premiers Reading Challenge 5-6. The following link may also be of help when navigating SORA https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/x1crca6t1n?videoFoam=true You will need to use your school username and password to access this.

FYI Important Dates for Term

*23rd August 2024 Premier’s Reading Challenge closes

*19th - 23rd August Book Week 2024

*19th - 23rd August St. Joseph’s Book Fair

*Grandparent's Liturgy and Morning Tea Friday 23rd August

*Book Week Character Parade Friday 23rd August

Reading at Home

Don't forget that your child has 24/7 access to reading material through SORA and World Book Online. Please note that your child will need their school login details to access SORA, if they are unsure of their login details please contact the school so we are able to provide them for you. Some recommendations for your perusal.

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:

Step 1: Install 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 - “setup” code is cenetau - then sign in.

Sign into your School – Select your school - ACEN

Step 3: Browse the tab and borrow a book. Your book will open so you can start reading right away.

Step 4: Close the book and go to see all your books (including assignments). 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, see your notes and highlights, and more.

© 2020 OverDrive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

NB 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

What is World Book Online?

Homework help
Read stories, articles, and current events
Complete activities and Webquests
Play educational games
Learn how to do research
Explore pictures and videos
Find reliable information for assignments and projects

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

Encourage Learning Anytime, Anywhere!

Photo Gallery

Fridays at school