2014 Book of the Year Short List

CHILDREN'S BOOK COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA and BOOK WEEK

Each year, Term 3 lessons in the library are dedicated to the CBCA short listed book of the year award texts. The children read and have read to them a variety of books from the short listed categories Book of the Year Early Childhood, Picture Book, Information and Young Reader. Lessons focus on text features, themes, visual literacy and appreciation of quality literature.
After reading a book at the beginning of the lesson, the children then take part in ICT lessons based on the book read, using the school computer lab, laptops and ipads. Also, as part of the terms work, the whole school community takes part in the Book Week Parade and Book Fair. Much fun is had by everyone!

This years theme for Children's Book Week is "Connect to Reading." Book Week runs from August 16th to 22nd. During this time the Scholastic Book Fair will be set up in the school library. Children and parents are able to choose and purchase books, posters and a variety of other things.

Visit the CBCA website to view the short listed books. Click the link below. The link can also be found in the Gate21 library virtual classroom.

CBCA Website

 

National Simultaneous Storytime

​National Simultaneous Storytime is an important annual campaign that aims to encourage more young Australians to read and enjoy books. Now in its 14th successful year it is a colourful, vibrant, fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy using an Australian children's book that explores age appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum for Grades F to 6 and the pre-school Early Learning Years Framework.

This year it takes place on Wednesday 21st May at 11am. Kindergarten classes Koalas and Bilbies will be attending the Cessnock City Library to listen to this years story “Too Many Elephants In This  House.” All other classes in the school will be encouraged to have a reading session at this time too.

Library News

It is with excitement that I write my first post for the library for 2014. Mrs Ramage has commenced her maternity leave, with myself now taking over teaching in the library for the remainder of the year. It is a position I am quite familiar with, having relieved for Mrs Ramage during her previous maternity leave and continuing in a job sharing role with her last year.

This first week working in the library has been wonderful. Our school library really is an inviting, vibrant learning space which is refreshing to work in. The children and staff are very lucky here at St Patrick’s. It is terrific to have teaching and learning time with all of the children in the school. Working with each class weekly allows myself to build relationships over the year with every child in the school which is very rewarding. All the children love coming to the library for lessons, to borrow books and to play or be creative during lunch times.

I look forward to keeping the school community informed about any initiatives, coming events or special achievements of the children in the library.

Library Borrowing

Library borrowing is an important part of the school week and all children should be borrowing books to read both at school and at home. Each class has a borrowing day and the children with the help of parents need to remember to bring along their library bag so that they can borrow books for the week. Books can be returned at any time before the next borrowing day by placing them in the boxes that are left on the seats outside the library. If children are away or forget, they can always pop into the library during break times and myself or Mrs Woods are more than happy to let them return books and borrow new ones. With the encouragement of parents and teachers, children have the best chance to foster a love of literature and reading.

Cameron Dilley

Stage 2 Excursion

A bus trip to Sydney and an educational cruise on Sydney Harbour was the adventure for Stage 2 on Wednesday September 4th. Flinders, Burke, Cook and Lawson classes and their teachers had a wonderful time on a beautiful, blue sky day experiencing a cruise aboard a ferry with the Lessons Afloat crew. The children were able to see and listen to commentary about things to do with topics learnt about this year - State and National Parks and British Colonisation.
The ferry departed Circular Quay and then passed famous landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, Farm Cove, Mrs Macquarie's Chair, Garden Island, Barangaroo and Darling Harbour. A walk on Shark Island, a national park, was lots of fun and a great way to stretch the legs.
After lunch at Mrs Macquarie's Chair and some play, a final stop for an ice cream was enjoyed by all on the way home. A wonderful day out was had by teachers and children.

Library Lessons Term 3

Library lessons for the children throughout Term 3 are programmed around the Children's Book Council of Australia Short Listed Books.The Short Listed Books are those which have been nominated in certain categories as the best books for the year. Each category has 6 books.
The children will be exposed to many of the different stories and texts during the term from the Early Childhood book section, Picture Books, Information / Factual books and The Young Readers category.
Some books which the children will be exposed to this term and able to borrow later are shown below.

Athletics Carnival

The school athletics carnvial held on Friday 17th May was a wonderful success.
Teachers, children and parents were treated to a blue sky day and fairly mild weather with just a few blasts of cold wind.
Each of the four sport houses, Eucalypts, Waratahs, Wattles and Bluebells looked fantastic in their colours during the march past and events throughout the day.
The children had great fun competing in 100m age races, 800m and 200m running, long jump and a variety of fun tabloid games set up by the teachers.
Competition was close between sport houses, with Waratahs coming out winners in the end.
A great day was had by all.



 



 

Welcome Back Mrs Ramage

St Patrick's children, staff and school community welcomed back Mrs Ramage from the start of Term 2. Mrs Ramage has been on maternity leave, enjoying her time away from school over the last year with her son Matthew.
Mrs Ramage will teach Monday to Wednesday in the library, with Mr Dilley continuing to take library lessons on a Thursday each week.
As always, the library is a very busy and always fun place of learning at the school. The children and staff love the beautiful environment and terrific computer room.

Mrs Woods during borrowing time with year 1