Library News | Junior School
Book Week 2022
It was a fun week of celebrating great stories with author visits,a K-6 Book Parade and the Book Fair. The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) also announced their winning books for 2022.
Author Visits
Oliver Phommovanh
On Monday 15th August, Years 4-6 got one hour each with the book writer, Oliver Phommovanh. Oliver’s most famous book is called Thai-riffic. This is an uplifting book about a boy who is treated differently because of the way he looks and behaves. Oliver is an enthusiastic book writer and he gave us many tips on how to improve our writing. My favourite thing he did was a small role play with his belongings all around him. Oliver told us that when he writes, he gets inspiration from everywhere, but he mostly writes about his life growing up. He gave a presentation on how he was born and raised in Western Sydney. Oliver’s books describe his life with him as the main character in the story. I think all the boys loved his visit.
Lachlan Davies | Year 6
Belinda Murrell
Belinda Murell’s childhood was filled with books and stories, so she wanted to write her own books because she loved to read. Belinda Murell is an author and she has two boys and a daughter. Belinda Murell wrote Lulu Bell, The Golden Tower, The Silver Sea, Aussie Kids and Pippa’s Island. She wrote these books because her kids liked to read books. So she wanted to write a book for her kids and named her first book Sun Sword. Belinda’s kids like books about adventure and quests. Nick, Emily and Lachlan said to Belinda “that’s great Mum, do you mind if I keep this for a while and give it to my friends”. Belinda Murell was so excited because her kids’ friends also said “that’s awesome”. When she finally decided to publish her book they said, “Everybody is going to love it”. So she wanted to write more books. Now she has written 44 books. Belinda Murell went travelling over the world for two years with her kids and Nick, Emily and Lachlan dropped out of school for two years. Belinda is an award winning, internationally published author with a history of writing in her family that spans for 200 years. For younger readers (aged 6 to 9) Belinda has the popular Lulu Bell series about friends, family and animal adventures growing up in a vet hospital. Belinda Murell wanted to write books because she loved to get letters from children and she also said that she was lucky because she became a mad reading family.
Marcus Tsia and Mason Shi | 3B
Book Parade
Firstly, in the morning when all the boys arrived it was so fun to watch and see everyone dressed up. We all tried to guess what character everyone was. There were so many different characters there were a few Harry Potters; a Tinman from The Wizard of Oz; and Oliver Twist. It was different for Year 2 because we all dressed up as a crew of pirates. 6J dressed up as a group of Minions. Walking around the Sports Centre was the best because we could see our parents smiling and watching us. We were amazed how hard everyone tried to be a book or movie character and the music was exciting. Also, in the background were our scarecrows and they were awesome! It will be good to see them in the garden next week to scare away any creatures that eat our crops.
Raphael and Gabriel Karlos and Raphael Mesiti | 2R
Boys in 5B responded to the Book Week parade by using the app Pages on their iPads.
See this link for some video book reviews.
Winning CBCA books 2022
The Children’s Book Council of Australia announced their winning books for 2022 on the 19th of August. These books are pictured above. These books, and all the other short listed book are available for borrowing in the Library.
Learning in the Library
Year Two looked at the role of machines for space travel last week during Library time. We read James Foley’s short-listed best picture book, Stellarphant as our provocation. We used the digital platform, StoryBox Library for a reading of the book. This resource can be found on your son’s canvas page if families are keen to watch. We discussed the importance of equity and opportunity to be involved in things such as space travel. Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test to send Orion around the Moon and back to Earth over a six-week mission to check out systems before crew fly aboard on Artemis II. Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone to send astronauts to Mars. Information about this can be found at https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1. Boys had many questions and ‘wonderings’ about this mission to the moon, and we will be continuing this inquiry into next week’s lesson.
Nikki Bowden | Teaching and Learning Librarian
