LIBRARY NEWS

I would like to begin the newsletter with a huge thank you to our wonderful P&F for their generous donation of new games to the Library. 

Our Primary and Secondary students enjoy playing games during break times each day, and the new additions have already become extremely popular. Students love revisiting classic favourites such as Chess, Connect 4, Uno and Monopoly, while games like Spot It! and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza have quickly become student favourites. 

Students were also given the opportunity to request games they would like added to the collection, and thanks to the generosity of the P&F, those ideas have now become a reality. It has been wonderful to see students connecting, laughing and spending time together through games, and the photos below capture some of our Secondary students enjoying the new games on their very first day in the Library.

Happy Mother's Day

In K–2 last week, students enjoyed celebrating the special mums and grandmothers in their lives through stories and discussions in the Library. We read the beautiful books My Mum's Amazing by Phil Cummings, and What Do You Call Your Grandma? by Ashleigh Barton. Students loved sharing all the amazing things their mums do, and it was especially fun hearing the many different names used for grandmothers in families around our community. We heard about GGs, Mimis, Yayas, Nonnas and even a Gagoo — along with plenty of Nannas and Grannys too! It was a wonderful celebration of the special people who care for us every day.

Reading Roundup

This week, Kindergarten will continue to explore the difference between the imaginary world of Fiction and the factual world of Non-Fiction. By comparing the hilarious antics in Splat the Cat to the informative pages of Pet Cats Up Close, they will have to decide if real cats actually attend school or chat like humans! 

Stage 1 students will be reading Gorgeously Me by Jonathan Van Ness, and I Love Me by Sally Morgan. These beautiful stories celebrate the qualities that make each person special and unique, perfectly complementing our Core Catholic Value of the sacredness of self. After reflecting on their own individual strengths, students will draw three things that make them uniquely themselves. 

Stage 2 students are currently enjoying the hilarious world of Billionaire Boy by David Walliams, a story that has kept everyone laughing during library time. The book follows the journey of a family that becomes unimaginably wealthy after inventing a new type of toilet paper, which is dry on one side and wet on the other. As we listen to the antics of Joe Spud (the richest twelve-year-old in the world), students are discussing whether money can truly buy everything a person needs, especially when it comes to friendship.

Finally, Stage 3 continues to learn how to evaluate websites to determine whether they’re credible, less credible, or fake sources of information. Students are introduced to a ‘Website Evaluation Checklist’ and then given links to websites to determine whether those sites are good sources of information. In addition to learning these information literacy skills, we’re reading another chapter from ‘Brilliant Minds: Thirty Dyslexic Heroes Who Changed Our World’ by Shannon Meyerkort about Muhammad Ali.

SORA eBooks of the Week

To celebrate International Day of Families on Friday, 15th of May, our SORA eBook selection this week features stories that honour the many different ways families grow and thrive together. For help accessing these titles, click here for login instructions.

Quick Bits

• PRC booklists are now available to view in the library
• Check out two of the new magazine subscriptions - I’m sure they’re going to be a hit!
• Some books are so loved that they have to be replaced. Here are just some of the new Skullduggery Pleasant books to enjoy all over again.
• New non-fiction books have arrived as well.
• Amity has started her own reading challenge - to read a book (that’s not part of a series) that comes from each of the 26 letters in the Junior Fiction section. Wow!

Later in the week, I’m off to a library conference in Sydney and am excited to hear from fantastic keynote speakers, such as Sally Rippin and Sami Bayly, and to hear about new developments in reading and books. I can’t wait to bring some fresh ideas back to share with our students. 

Happy reading,

Mrs Toni Fraser