Library Report

Over the past 2 weeks we have had a ‘Day of the Dead’ display in the Library. Some of you may ask - what is this celebration? It is a Spanish tradition that our year 7 and 8 students have been learning about and making decorations for the display. It is a happy, colorful celebration where the death is honored and the deceased are remembered and are enticed back to celebrate the joys of life. Throughout Mexico, altars called las ofrendas (“offerings”) are set up in homes to welcome home the souls of the dead.

The Dia de los Muertos (‘Day of the Dea”) tradition extends throughout Latin America, but is most closely identified with Mexico. The native peoples believed that upon death, the individual’s soul did not die, that they continued to live on in Mictlan, a place of rest. In time, this pre-Hispanic celebration merged with the Catholic celebration of All Soul’s Day and has evolve into the present-day Dia de los Muetos celebration. 

Offering, representations and their meanings:

• The Earth - represented by the crop. Souls arefed by the aroma of the harvest. Quail and birds are fed by the scratch and seed on the altar.
• The wind -  represented by a moving object as swift as the wind. Tissue paper (our papel picado) is used to represent the wind.
• Water – placed in a container for the souls to quench their thirst after its long journey to reach their altar.
• Fire – represented by wax candles. Each soul is represented by a lit candle, and an extra one is placed for the forgotten soul.
• Salt – represents purification.
• Copal or incense – burned to guide the souls through the aroma.
• Madigolds (cempasuchitl) flowers – dispersed long the entrance of the house, making a path towards the altar.
• Papel Picado – special paper cut in the shape of butterflies and other symbolic iconography. Represents the wind.
• Butterflies - symbolic icon representing the belief in some areas of Mexico that when the deceased leaves this world and passes to eternal life in the early morning of November 2nd, their soul returns to earth as a butterfly to visit their loved ones.

Why reading is so important for our students learning and how you can support at home? 

A powerful, and sometimes underestimated way to support your child/ren as they are learning to read is to continue to read to them – every day. When you read to your children you: 

• promote and foster a love of reading;
• develop vocabulary and a knowledge of book language and text forms; 
•  develop awareness of the sounds, rhythms, and patterns of language; 
•  engage children in conversations about texts; 
• encourage children to respond imaginatively to a variety of texts; 
• build concentration; 
• promote oral language development; 
• develop skills in listening comprehension and critical thinking;
• provide opportunities for children to visualise aspects of a text; 
• help children to develop effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary and building meaning; 
•  support children who are learning English; 
• create opportunities for retelling and ideas for writing. 

Remember that reading aloud is a performance tasks so ham it up, read with expression and make the book come to life. The children will love it. Don’t worry if you make the odd mistake – just show your child/ren how you fix up any mistakes you make. These become very important lessons in how even the best readers problem solve as they read. 

Consider asking an older sibling to read to the younger members of the family sometimes. This is good practice for the older child/ren and the younger ones will love it. 

Make time to read books that can be enjoyed by multiple ages if you have more than one child. Novels like Roald Dahl’s, The BFG, or EB White’s Charlotte’s Webb, for example can be enjoyed by a range of age, but don’t underestimate picture books. Many have complex stories and these are told by a combination of written words and visual images. 

. . . young children’s brains respond to being read picture books in ways that are different to when they just listen to a story without pictures, or watch an animated story or cartoon. (Kamentez, 2018) Click below to read more.

Returning overdue books before the end of the school year:

We are almost at the end of the school year and returning of any borrowed books is really important to keep our Library collection available for students to borrow. In early December I’ll be sending out overdue reminders to English teachers to follow up, but also any significant overdue notices to families via compass to see if you can located the overdue book at home. Any questions please contact me via email at library@edgarscreeksc.vic.edu.au

Thanks,

Trish Bennett

College Librarian