I hope you all had a relaxing long weekend and were able to spend some time catching up on a little reading!

2022 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) holds Book Week in August each year. Book Week celebrates the importance of reading and the joy reading brings. The theme for Book Week 2022 is ‘Dreaming with eyes open …’ and this year’s poster was created by Jasmine Seymour.

Jasmine Seymour is a Dharug woman and descendant of Maria Lock, who was the daughter of Yarramundi, the Boorooberongal elder who had met Governor Phillip on the banks of the Hawkesbury River in 1791. Maria was the first Aboriginal woman to be educated by the Blacktown Native Institute. She was married to carpenter and convict, Robert Lock and their union resulted in thousands of descendants who can all trace their Dharug heritage back past Yarramundi. Jasmine is a member of the Dharug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation.

It is Jasmine’s wish that through her books, everyone will know that the Dharug mob are still here, still strong. Jasmine is a primary school teacher in the Hawkesbury area of NSW.

CBCA Book Week also recognises the winners of the Children’s Book Council of the Year Awards. As stated previously, the CBCA Book of the Year is broken down into six categories: Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood, Picture Books, The Eve Pownall Award (for documenting factual content) and the CBCA Award for New Illustrator.

Shortlisted books for these prestigious awards have been announced and we are fortunate to have many of these titles already in our library.

This week I would like to draw your attention to the shortlisted books in the Early Childhood Section.

You can find more information about the CBCA shortlisted books on the CBCA website here

Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) 2022

A reminder that the PRC is still open and will conclude on August 19th, 2022.

Students in Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 are able to keep a written log of the books they have read and this information will be entered once the reading log is returned to school. However, if parents of K-2 students wish to input their child’s books to the PRC website it will be greatly appreciated. Primary students are encouraged to upload their own data to the PRC website. There is still time to complete the challenge so keep reading!

Don’t forget that books listed for the PRC can be found in our school library or in SORA!

Some Quick Reminders

Library Borrowing/Library Bags - borrowing for all students continues to occur on Fridays. Don’t forget that Library bags are a must to ensure the safe transportation of books to and from school.
Overdue Books – there has been a steady stream of overdue library books being returned to school, thank you to those families who have located them and sent them in to school, however, there are still many overdue books outstanding. Please continue to keep looking for any overdue library books you know you have at home!

eReading – SORA and World Book Online

SORA

Download the free App to access this online reading resource provided for us by the Catholic Schools Office. Your family will have access to thousands of books 24/7.

UPDATED - SORA - easy access guide

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, then sign in.

The “setup” code is cenetau

Sign into your School – Select ACEN from the dropdown box

Step 3: Browse the explore tab and borrow a book. Your book will open so you can start reading right away.

Step 4: Close the book and go to the shelf to see all your books. 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 and more.

© 2020 OverDrive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You will need to use your school username and password to access this.

For students wishing to complete the PRC, many of the books you are required to read may be found on SORA. Premiers Reading Challenge Books can be found in Collections in folders marked NSW Premiers Reading Challenge K-2, NSW Premiers Reading Challenge 3-4, and NSW Premiers Reading Challenge 5-6.

The following link may also be of help when navigating SORA

https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/x1crca6t1n?videoFoam=true

World Book Online

World Book Online is a safe, trusted, 21st-century learning environment for students.

St Joseph’s has a subscription to World Book Online! This means that our students have access to this wonderful resource free of charge with any internet connected device via the Oliver home page or by visiting the World Book website www.worldbookonline.com

The World Book products our school has access to include:

Kids: simple navigation, easy to read articles, translations and text to speech (with 10 voices). It includes educational games, activities, science experiments, a dictionary, an atlas, interactive maps, map outlines and a tool for comparing places or animals.

Student: expansive reference database and multimedia library. It includes games, behind the headlines, citation builder and 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.

Our User ID: joseph2340

Password: joseph2340

I strongly encourage you and your child to take the opportunity to browse World Book Online!

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