Library

Library Borrowing Term 4

Borrowing for 2024 has now concluded and it has been wonderful to see so many library bags arriving at school with books to be returned, thank you! Please keep them coming! I strongly encourage you to make sure that your child/children have returned ALL outstanding library books by the end of this week. Your support in locating ALL library books is vitally important in maintaining our current library collection. Don’t forget that all students will still be able to access reading material via SORA, the online platform.

Overdue Books

Unfortunately, there are still a number of students who have overdue books. Please ask your children to look for their overdue library books at home and return them to school ASAP. Overdue notices will be sent home this coming Thursday. If there is any confusion about whether a book has been returned or not, please ask your child/children to come and see me in the library so that we can resolve the situation. If your child/children has books that simply cannot be found or are damaged please contact me via email mholley@arm.catholic.edu.au so that we can organise for it to be replaced. Your assistance in following up overdue, lost or damaged books is greatly appreciated. 

2024 NSW Premier's Reading Challenge

The 2024 NSW Premier's Reading Challenge is well and truly done and dusted. As the school year draws to a close I would like to take this opportunity to share some information provided by the PRC team. 

"431,383 students across NSW took part in the PRC this year, with a record 323,328 students completing the Challenge. Students read a combined total of 9,115,211 books - with this year's most read book being Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker. The 2024 National Simultaneous Storytime book was read around the country on 22 May as part of ALIA's goal to promote the value of reading and literacy - and the students of NSW certainly did their part, with 97,609 students adding this to their 2024 reading records! Ongoing participation in the NSW PRC has increased, with the highest number of Gold and Platinum certificates and second highest number of PRC Medals in the Challenge's history being awarded this year." 

The St Joseph's students who completed the challenge will receive their official PRC certificates in the coming weeks. Don't forget any books that you have read since the conclusion of the 2024 Challenge can be included in the 2025 PRC Challenge, so start logging your books now.

Book Club

Delivery of orders from Book Club Issue 7 are due to arrive this week. I appreciate your patience during this frustrating time. Orders for Issue 8 have now closed. 

Once again I offer a special "thank you" to all those families who have supported this service offered by Scholastic Australia throughout the year. Your purchases, just like our Book Fair, enable us to accrue credit points which we are then able to convert into resources for our school. I hope you’ve loved the stories your children have brought home this year and look forward to the next Book Club in Term 1, 2025.

Christmas Gift Ideas

Maybe the 'something they need' could be a library bag! 

One that is large enough to hold and protect all the books in our library collection. 

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.   

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. This weeks' recommendations from SORA are:

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!