Library News
This term has been a very strange one for all our lovely staff in the Library. While Mrs Pearson and Ms McQueen worked from home, Ms Yu returned to work three days a week and was kept busy preparing new books for borrowing, handling orders and mail, and preparing many signs for use around the school. She also handled some translation work.
The Teacher Librarians were kept on their toes with constant requests for the new Edupass credentials for students accessing ClickView and the Adobe programs. ‘Teams’ made it very easy to keep in touch with our staff and to lend a collegiate feel to the whole adventure of remote teaching and learning from home. Teachers were definitely learning too as they juggled demands of new technology for sharing lessons and meetings. No doubt we are all Zoom experts now!
We were able to upload lots of information about using the Library resources, accessing eBooks and audiobooks, ClickView, and the databases for students like Gale Resources and Echo. Lots of publishers were providing links to free online resources at this time so we passed these on to teachers and students, hopefully to make their #stayathome lives a bit easier. There were also links to free audiobooks and resources like ABC Education that we added to our Library webpage. Year 7s were busy completing their Night of Notables projects at home so some of our time was spent helping students negotiate the web and providing pertinent resources, as we would normally do at school.
What's Coming up - Term 2 and Beyond
Cancer Fight Goes by the Book
For the first time ever, Box Hill High School will participate in Write a Book in a Day competition on Friday 28th August.
This annual national competition run by national charity, The Kids’ Cancer Project is a fun and creative team writing competition where students plan, write and illustrate a book all within a 12 hour period. Each story is created from a unique set of parameters that are given to each writing team on the morning of the event and the finished book is then donated as an e-book for children undergoing treatment in hospitals around Australia.
We are excited to be involved in this event in 2020 because it not only encourages collaboration and community spirit but also enables students to develop their leadership skills, engage in teamwork and creative problem solving while supporting a really relevant cause. Last year 440 schools from around the country participated and raised $475,000 for childhood cancer research and we want to be part of this.
There is a $15 fee per student. This covers a mandatory donation to the Kids Cancer Project which provides funding for scientific research into childhood cancers. To be eligible for judging and prizes each team must raise $240 collectively. But to break it down, if a team has the minimum of five members then each member would need to raise $48 to meet this requirement.
All sponsorship funds raised go toward scientific research to discover better treatments and ultimately a cure for children with cancer. Every student that registers will be given an online sponsorship page which they can share with their network (family, friends etc.) to support their fundraising effort.
While some students have already began sorting out teams, we have had lots of interest from individual students as both writers and illustrators. So, if you want to be involved please see Mrs Pearson in the library.
CBCA Shadow Judging Pilot Program
Last week we received the exciting news that we had been accepted to participate in the pilot program where students will shadow judge the 6 books nominated for the Children’s Book Council Awards (CBCA) in the Older Readers Category.
Students from Year 7 to Year 10 who have registered to take part in the program will read and apply the CBCA judging criteria to critique and creatively respond to each of the six titles from the Older Readers Category. These critiques will form a collaborative response from the group and will be shared on the CBCA Victorian website.
Then, before the official CBCA Book of the Year is announced on 16th October we will meet to debate and decide on a rank order and ultimately which book we believe should be crowned the 2020 CBCA Older Readers TOP BOOK. This decision-making process will be filmed and shared on the CBCA Victorian website.
As part of this incredible pilot program, students will be attending an online presentation from author and journalist, Eleni Hale before the end of Term 2.
ClickView Competition
Love reading? Want to win $200 to hold a class party?
ClickView is supporting the Premiers Reading Challenge so that students can share their love of all things literature. This amazing competition has four categories where students can win $200 that they can put towards a class party. All entries are due by 21st August 2020.
CHALLENGE
There are four different competitions where you can create a response on your favourite book that is listed on the Premiers Reading Challenge. Check out all the details here
DIRECTORS CHALLENGE: The first is to create a 90 second Book Trailer that captures the essence of the book. Think intrigue rather that recount. Your video should entice the audience to hunt down the book and read it.
ACTORS CHALLENGE: Dramatic Reading: breathe life into a key passage or scene from the page by reading it aloud on camera. You can either refer to the pages or learn it off by heart. Keep it under 90 seconds.
CRITICS CHALLENGE: Book Review: Film your review of the best or the worst book you’ve read for the challenge this year. Whatever you choose, you must be constructive and fair in your criticism.
CREATIVE CHALLENGE: Think outside the Box: If you have another idea that you’re just burning to create and share. Provide a brief description of your idea at the start and keep the film entry to under 90 seconds.
What is the Premiers Reading Challenge? The Premiers Reading Challenge is not a competition but a challenge encouraging students to read, to read more and to read more widely. It aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students and to enable them to experience quality literature.
Students can register to complete the Premiers Reading Challenge and log the books that they read online. By the end of the challenge students in Year 7-9 must have read 15 books in total which includes 10 books that are listed in the Challenge List and 5 of their own choice and in Year 10, students need to have read 15 books in total, including 5 from the Challenge List and 10 of their own choice.
Check out the list here
If you are interested in either taking part in the Premiers Reading Challenge or taking part in this competition, please come and see either Mrs Pearson or Ms McQueen in the library.