Library News | Junior School
New book
The Library staff enjoy the opportunity to look at new books when they arrive in approval boxes from bookshops or when we spend time looking at wonderful books in a bookshop.
Last week a new book arrived that sparked a curiosity for the teaching staff and the boys alike.
The Great Southern Reef by Paul Venzo and Prue Francis explores the coast from northern New South Wales through to Western Australia. When I think of the reefs surrounding Australia, this is not one that I was aware of. Normally, reefs tend to be associated with tropical waters and colourful fish. The Great Southern Reef is temperate; a marine ecosystem found in cool waters between the tropics and the poles. It is home to giant kelp forests and fascinating animals such as rock lobsters, sea snails and sponges.
The Great Southern Reef was published by the CSIRO and raises awareness about this unique ecosystem. Year 3’s Unit of Inquiry; Interactions with our natural world is a perfect platform for discovering more over the coming weeks. Information about The Great Southern Reef can be found at this website https://greatsouthernreef.com/about.
Autumn Provocation
With the leaves well and truly falling at the moment, I arranged some picture and information books in the Library about Autumn. K-2 students were then asked why they thought the leaves fell in Autumn. Below are some of their responses.
Student learning
Before we read the book Scribbly Gum Secrets by Dannika Patterson, Year 3 answered the question on a white board “Have you ever been on a bush walk?” Not all boys have. I then took them on a virtual two minute bushwalk of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains on our large television, while the boys either drew or wrote what they saw on their whiteboards. After a shared discussion about the students’ observations, we read the book about a mother taking her four children for a walk in the bush. We discussed the different ways being in the bush can have a positive impact on us and linked the unit of inquiry’s key concepts of form, causation and responsibility to our questions. What do you notice about being in the bush? (form); How can being in nature change our mind, thoughts and feelings? (causation) and what does it mean to be responsible in and of the bush? (responsibility)
Mrs Nikki Bowden | Teaching and Learning Librarian
