Posted CGGS Newsletter 35 - 21 November 2008

As the school year draws to a close, it is timely to reflect on the important role the Library plays in enhancing the learning of our students. This year we have extended the collection to reflect the global focus of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP) by purchasing books in other languages. As new Units of Inquiry are developed, additional resources are also being catalogued that support the six themes of: Who We Are; Where We Are in Place and Time; How We Express Ourselves; How the World Works; How We Organise Ourselves; and Sharing the Planet.

A new initiative is the Parent Section of the collection. It is located in the Teacher Resource Area and contains titles that deal with child development, boy’s education, conflict resolution and books on grief and loss. These are available for parents to borrow through our library management system. Parents are always welcome to come and talk to us about the Library and seek assistance in selecting resources.

Another important role of the Library is in the development of early literacy skills. Each Tuesday and Wednesday, classes from the Early Learning Centre come to the Library. The sessions are carefully planned to develop a love of reading, as well as to provide opportunities to begin the foundations that play an important role in their future reading journeys. These experiences include activities that provide for an exposure to a wide range of books by different authors and in different formats, development of listening skills and an awareness of the conventions of print, using prediction skills and understanding  the components of stories and exploring the visual aspects of print and illustrations and how these work together to give meaning.

We would like to thank the Library Captain, Sydney Smith and all the other students from Year 6 who have volunteered as Library Monitors during the year. These students are rostered for a term at a time to assist during lunchtimes and play an important role in returning loans, shelving, supervising games and computer bookings and assisting with displays and special events. Next week, as a finale to their monitor duties, they will extend their interest in libraries   by going on a ‘behind the scene’ tour of the National Library.

All library books need to be returned by Friday 28 November. Over the next few weeks some students will receive overdue notices for outstanding loans. If you cannot locate the books listed on your child’s overdue notice, please contact us to discuss the matter.  When resources are not able to be found, letters go home to outline the procedure for charging replacement costs to student accounts.

Thank you for your ongoing support for the Library this year. 

Corrie Bennett and Barbara Selleck
Junior School Teacher Librarians

Pictured above is Sydney Smith 2008 Library Captain 

Posted CGGS Newsletter 26 - 5 September 2008

Fuel Your Mind Celebrations

Book Week plays an important role in promoting a life long love of literature. The past two weeks have left the Junior School community with fond memories of imaginative journeys, fairies, super spies, cars, motorbikes and ballet dancers.

The list of activities during this time commenced with the performance of a play by 2M at the National Library based on the short listed book The Night Garden by Elise Hirst. A Book Week Assembly was created around the theme of Fuel Your Mind providing a journey where the task for the audience was to complete a Quest. The reward was a treasure box containing the short listed books for this year. The assembly began with an introduction by Sydney Smith, the Library Captain, and included guest spots by our resident motor bike riders, teachers, Adam Hall and Brett Bacon.  Lydia Heaton and Niki Johnson from Year 6 continued the fuel theme with their performance of Poop, Poop from Wind in the Willows. Year 5 teacher, Sandy McGregor, took on the role of the dragon and was accompanied by some enthusiastic spies – teachers, Helen Shaw and Janet Robertson.  Congratulations to Year 1 teacher, Emma Cox, for her training of the staff Footloose troupe and to Josie Gouvoussis and Julia Hammans from 2M who shared their knowledge on healthy food. Assistant Deputy Principal (ELC – Y2), Darmaris Patterson (a red beetle), and Assistant Deputy Principal (Y3 – Y6), Lee Wilde (one of the fairies), provided information on safety and maintaining good habits. Julie Long represented the Children’s Book Council and read out the winning and honour books for each category.  Renowned ballet dancer Li Cunxin, (Mao’s Last Dancer and The Peasant Prince), rang from Melbourne airport during the assembly to say his plane had unfortunately “run out of fuel”. Luckily he had organised some replacement dancers and a fine performance by ballerinas teachers, David Kemp and Brett Bacon, followed.The finale was their performance of Flashdance (a la Carlton ad) which resulted in tears of laughter streaming down cheeks.

Over these two weeks there were also entertaining and informative author visits by Mark Carthew, Sherryl Clarke, Christina Booth and Kate Forsyth. Jacaranda Educational Supplies also held a Book Fair in the Library, providing a wonderful array of books for purchase. Some Year 6 students represented the School at a Meet the Author afternoon held at Sts Peter and Paul, Garran.

The finale was the ever popular Pyjamarama held on Friday 29 September. We are indeed lucky to have the facilities and resources to celebrate literature in so many exciting ways. This week sees the culmination of the Book Pack Initiative, raising funds to provide literacy materials for remote indigenous communities. We would like to thank Jacaranda Educational Supplies for the generous cash donation to the Back Pack project. The accompanying photos sum up the activities that helped us Fuel Our Minds. (We have it on good authority that some staff members have already started rehearsing for next year’s celebrations).

Corrie Bennett and Barbara Selleck
Teacher Librarians Junior School 

Please click here to return to CGGS Newsletter 26 - 5 September 2008.

Posted CGGS Newsletter 22 - 8 August 2008

Fuel Your Mind – Book Week Activities in the Junior School

Exciting plans are in progress for the up coming Book Week celebrations to be held during Week 5 of this term.  Book Week is a national celebration sponsored by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. This article provides an overview of the planned activities. Students will bring home a note with full details next week.

On Friday 15 August, students in 2M will participate in the Children’s Book Council of Australia function at the National Library of Australia. They will perform a play based on the short listed Early Childhood book, The Night Garden, by Elise Hurst. The winning and honour books from the 2008 shortlist will be announced at this ceremony.  2M will also perform their play for some of the ELC groups during the following week.  Details of the short list can be found at: http://cbca.org.au/awards.htm

On Monday 18 August, Book Week will be officially launched in the Junior School with a dress up assembly. Students are encouraged to dress up as a book character that has ‘fuelled their lives’ - someone from a book that they can relate to, who has energised their lives through excitement, warmth and imagination.

A Book Fair will be held in the Library during this week with books provided by Jacaranda Educational Supplies. Details of opening times will be provided in the student note at the end of next week.  Times may vary on certain days but there will be before school, lunchtime and afternoon sessions.

Classes will have author visits and special activities during this week. Some Year 6 students will represent the School at an author seminar on Thursday 21 August.

The Pyjamarama will be held at the end of the following week on Friday 29 August. This is an evening function when students (and parents) in the Junior Primary and Primary classes can don their pyjamas and read together in the Junior School Library between 6.30pm and 8pm. Bookings will be essential. Further details on how to book, for this event, will be sent out soon.

We look forward to sharing the process of ‘fuelling our minds with you all during this time.

Corrie Bennett and Barbara Selleck
Teacher Librarians - Junior School

Please click here to return to CGGs Newsletter 22 - 8 August 2008

Posted CGGS Newsletter No. 16 - 6 June 2008

Author visits provide an excellent avenue for connecting students with books. Recent visits have been made by author/ illustrator David Miller and historical author Kirsty Murray. David shared his expertise in creating 3D artworks with students in Year 3 and 4. Kirsty described how she approached her writing though intensive research with students in Year 5 and 6.

During May, Junior Primary and ELC students participated in National Simultaneous Storytime. This is an annual event sponsored by the Australian Library and Information Association where schools and public libraries around Australia promote the value of reading and literacy.  Last year 70,000 children in 880 locations participated in this activity. The book selected for this year was Arthur written by Amanda Graham and illustrated by Donna Gynell.

Plans are already in progress for events in Book Week. This will be held in Week 5 of Term 3 from Monday 18 August to Friday 22 August and will be organised around the Children’s Book Council theme of Fuel Your Mind.  Jacaranda will be holding a Book Fair in the Library during that week. Other events will include a special assembly to launch the week followed by author visits and class activities promoting children’s literature. Please note that the date for the Pyjamarama will be Friday 29 August.

Recent acquisitions to the collection have included a range of audio books and Aboriginal language texts for the multi-lingual section.

Library monitors for this term are: Elise Coorey, Lydia Heaton, Courtney Thoo, Caitlin Johnson, Mikaela Gavin, Keanne Mackey, Grace Wooton, Holly Williamson and Eden Milne.

Corrie Bennett and Barbara Selleck
Teacher Librarians

Please click here to return to CGGS Newsletter No. 16 - 6 June 2008

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Posted CGGS Newsletter No. 13 - 16 May 2008

Visit by Author Kirsty Murray

We were delighted to have award winning author Kirsty Murray visit the Junior School Library this week. Students in Year 5 and Year 6 learnt about the importance of everyday experiences as a base for crafting stories. Kirsty introduced the students to the cyclical symbol of ‘uroboru’s as a formula for writing, where she encouraged them to return to the beginning of a story in order to write the ending. ‘Uroborus’ is a serpent biting its own tail and represents the circle of life. Kirsty discussed techniques for creating realistic characters and how she finds names for these characters in her novels. She also emphasised the importance of research as an essential step in the writing of her historical fiction. This research might take many months delving in libraries and archives or living in countries where the novels are set.  With Year 5 students having studied micro-organisms in Term 1, Kirsty discussed how she was commissioned to write a biography of Howard Florey and shared some of the difficulties and joys of this genre. We are grateful to the May Gibbs Fellowship Trust Program for providing opportunities so that authors and illustrators of this calibre can spend time in Canberra and contribute to the literary experience of our students.

Please click here to return to CGGS Newsletter No. 13 - 16 May 2008

Each term Year 6 students are invited to apply for a position as Library Monitor to assist in the Library during lunchtimes. The Monitors have a special responsibility for maintaining the picture book area. They also attend to queries from students and assist in circulation. Their assistance is much appreciated by the staff. Thanks to Sydney Smith – Captain, Alex Mathewson, Crystal Murphy, Rachael Hi, Iona Claringbold, Emily Hosie, Tessa Welch, Niki Johnson, Lauren Sandeman, Bianca Mulach and Rowena Pang.

In line with the development of Primary Years Program (PYP) in the school, a collection of bi-lingual texts is being developed. Currently there are books available in Vietnamese, Arabic, French, Hindi, Chinese, Korean, Greek Italian, Hebrew and Japanese.

A collection of audio books is also being developed – these are available for students to borrow.

This week Year 3 and Year 4 students enjoyed a session with illustrator, David Miller. David specialises in creating intricate paper sculptures that are used to illustrate books. The books range from animal stories to bushfires. His latest is Lofty’s Mission written by Krista Bell – a moving story about the use of carrier pigeons in PNG during WW2. The students were amazed at his technical abilities and enchanted by his artistic skills.

Corrie Bennett
Teacher Librarian