21st Century
Learning Space
Library News
VICTORIAN PREMIERS’ READING CHALLENGE
The Certificates of Achievement and Bookmarks for this year’s Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge have been distributed last week. A letter we received from the Premier stated that over 66,000 school students completed the Reading Challenge this year and a remarkable 2.9 million books have been read! The Premier also stated that “supporting children’s reading is one of the most important things we can do to encourage their love of learning – opening a gateway for them to find out more about the world around them.”
Congratulations to everyone who completed the Challenge. I look forward to 2023 for the next Reading Challenge. Well done everyone and keep reading!
STUDENT LIBRARY LOANS
May I please remind students to check their library loans on a regular basis. Everyone can login to the Oliver Library Operating system through Compass. If you have forgotten how to use Oliver please see your teacher or myself as soon as you can.
If you have any enquiries about the books you have on loan please come and see me, so that we can sort it out as soon as possible. Thank you.
Important: Library Book Return dates:
- Students from Foundation to Year 5 need to return their library books to school by Monday 5 December, 2022.
- Students in Year 6 need to return their library books to school by Friday 25 November, 2022.
Also could everyone start looking for any Classroom Readers and novels from Class Sets taken home that have not already been returned to school? It is important that all resources are returned to school as soon as possible. Thank you.
REMEMBRANCE DAY
At 11.00am on the 11th day of the 11th month Australians pause, reflect and honour the service personnel who died or suffered in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. This year is the 75th Anniversary of Australia's involvement in international peacekeeping operations and the 100th Anniversary of Legacy the organisation who support families of Veterans.
Two picture books to note that can help students understand the importance of this day are One Minute’s Silence by David Metzenthen and In Flanders Fields by Norman Jorgensen.
This award winning picture book aimed at older students is a powerful and moving reflection on the meaning of Remembrance Day. The blurb says “in one minute of silence you can imagine a war long gone; you can share what the solders saw and felt as they fought. And if you try, you might be able to imagine the enemy, and see that he is not so different from you…”
This book won the Picture Book of the Year from The Children’s Book Council of Australia many years ago but it is still poignant today. It depicts a young solder looking through a periscope over the top of a trench when he sees a small red robin trapped on the barbed wire. He bravely walks into no man’s land and sets the bird free.
John McCrae (1872 – 1918) wrote a poem titled In Flanders Fields which starts…
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We also have some interesting nonfiction books regarding Remembrance Day in particular a book written by Izzi Howell called Why do we remember? Remembrance Day. This book has simple explanations about the significance of the day and why we stop and remember those who did not return from the wars. The book includes questions like what do you think? How do we know? And it includes photographs and quotes from prominent people. I recommend this book for anyone wanting to understand this significant day.
If you are interested there is some digital content regarding Remembrance Day suitable for primary school aged children that can be found at
https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/stories-service
Lest We Forget.
Jackie Hicks
21st Century Learning Space Manager