Literacy and Numeracy

Children's Book Week

This week we celebrate 80 years of Children's Book Week and the theme is Book An Adventure.  There is no dress-up parade at St James this year however teachers will be exploring many of the nominated books with students in their classrooms.  We look forward to a special performance from Perform Education in Week 7.  In the meantime you can also take the opportunity to share a story with your child. Many of the books will be available for students to borrow from our amazing Library later in the term.

This year's winners include:

Picture Book of the Year:  The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel, Illustrator, Danny Snell

Early Childhood:  The Wobbly Bike by Darren McCallum, Illustrator, Craig Smith

Younger Readers:  Laughter is The Best Ending by Maryam Master, Illustrator, Astred Hicks

Eve Pownall Award:  Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson

Mathematics in Picture Books

As we begin Book Week, we can also celebrate the connection between books and mathematics! Picture books offer a fun and creative way for children to explore concepts such as patterns, shapes, measurement and problem-solving. Through engaging stories and illustrations, students can see how maths is part of their everyday world while also enjoying the magic of reading. Some wonderful picture books that combine storytelling with mathematical thinking include The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Anno’s Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno, How Big Is a Million? by Anna Milbourne, One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre, and Count on Frank by Rod Stewart. I encourage you to take the time read your child this week and see if you can identify the mathematics in the book. You may need to be creative! 

Victorian Premiers' Reading Challenge

There are a couple more weeks to complete reading for the Premiers Reading Challenge. 

To log into the Challenge go to https://vprc.eduweb.vic.gov.au/home

Go to Student login, then VPRC login and follow the prompts.

louise.matthews@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au (Literacy Leader)