Library News
Welcome to week 3 in the library, I hope your family had a relaxing and special Mother’s Day.
This Week’s Reads
This week in Kindergarten, students are learning that books can be about real or not real things which leads us into introducing the terms fiction and non-fiction over the coming weeks. We read ‘Zog’ by Julia Donaldson and spent time looking for clues that would tell us if it was a made-up story or about real things. Thankfully, no one had seen a flying, fire-breathing dragon in real life so we decided it was a made-up story! Students also toured the non-fiction section for the first time and can now borrow an additional book from here each week. I can’t wait to hear about all the amazing facts you’ll be learning!
Stage 1 will be revising what they know about fiction and non-fiction and then spending time exploring how these books are organised in the library. This week, we start with fiction and learn that these books are ordered in alphabetical order by the author’s surname. Students will sort books into the correct location and also enjoy reading one of my favourite friendship stories, ‘Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley’ by Aaron Blabey.
After labelling all the sections of the library on a map last week, this week, Stage 2 is learning how we use call labels to tell us where each book lives. Across the primary and secondary sections, we have different call labels that inform us if a book belongs in the Infants, Easy Reader, Junior Non-Fiction, Junior Fiction, Junior Graphic Novels, Secondary Fiction, Secondary Non-Fiction or Secondary Graphic Novels section. These don’t even include our special collections such as Christmas, fairytales, Aboriginal, spooky or horse stories. There are a lot! We will also read another chapter of a David Walliams favourite, ‘Spaceboy’.
Finally, Stage 3 is enjoying learning about Jessica Watson, the youngest person to sail solo around the world, and who also features in ‘Brilliant Minds: 30 Dyslexic Heroes Who Changed the World’ by Shannon Meyerkort. We’re learning about Jessica’s incredible feats at the young age of 16 and how having dyslexia didn't hold her back from following her dreams. This week, students are continuing their biography research assignment on a character from this book, alongside receiving tips on website evaluation techniques. Did you know that a website’s domain name offers insight into its credibility? Students are discovering that domain extensions like .com, .org, .gov, and .net reveal the site's developer and which ones are preferable for reliable information.
2024 CBCA Book of the Year Awards
Every year in August (Term 3), we celebrate the winners of the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards during Book Week. Regarded as Australia’s most prestigious children’s literature award, the CBCA Book of the Year is presented in six categories: Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood, Picture Books, the Eve Pownall Award and the CBCA Award for New Illustrator. Before the announcement of the awards in August, a shortlist of the best books in each category that have been published in the previous twelve months is released.
Last term, I previewed shortlisted books in the Older and Younger Readers categories and this week it is the Early Childhood Books of the Year. Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for children who are at pre-reading or early stages of reading (ages 0-6 years).
For more information about each of these books, you can read about them here.
Coming Soon - National Simultaneous Storytime Day. Wednesday, 22nd May at 12 pm.
Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, family day cares, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. Now in its 24th successful year, it is a colourful, vibrant, fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children's book that explores age-appropriate themes and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum for Kindergarten to Year 6.
Last year over 2.3 million people joined in this event and HTS looks forward to participating once again. Next week, I’ll be able to share a link to a live reading on YouTube by the author, Aura Parker, that families may like to watch at home.
Bag Tales
Meet the super As - Ayda, Archie and Ashton who all used their library bags last week. I’ll have to work harder at convincing Ashton he needs a new team though!
Meet the Reader
Meet Millie who was drawn to one of our new books, ‘Millie: The Cutest Puppy in the World’ by Cate Whittle.
Happy reading,
Mrs Toni Fraser