Story Dogs Program 

On Monday we welcomed Pen and her dog Frankie from the Story Dogs Program to St Monica’s. They will be visiting the library each Monday morning and reading with 4 students from Year 2. The Story Dog Program is run across Australia and they help 2 865 children each week.  The program makes reading fun, while helping them read through the joy of reading with a friend.  The students loved meeting Frankie a Labradoodle who loves pats and cuddles. The students thought it was a fun way to engage with their reading and a highlight was feeding her Frankie treats and shaking her hand. 

CBCA Sun Project Shadow Judging

Our Year 4 shadow judges have been very busy reading the shortlisted picture books for 2022.  The students have really enjoyed the process though they found it very challenging to select just one book as the winner and as the deadline approached for placing their vote there was intense debate and discussion about the merits of 2 of the books.  The results of the voting will be announced on Storybox on Friday 26 August.  The Book of the Year announcement will be on Friday 19 August and the students are keen to see if they selected the winner.

On Monday the students were able to work in a workshop with Emma Allen, a local author whose books include “The terrible suitcase and Digby and Claude”.  Emma took them through the process of writing a book and helped them work out their creative response to their chosen book.  One student commented that “I liked it because she showed us how she makes her books” and another said “I loved meeting her and how she showed us her books . It was amazing".

CBCA Book Week Events

Author Visits

On Monday 22 August students in Years 3-6 will have the opportunity to meet and work with Harry Laing, a poet, comic performer, creative writing teacher and children’s author. Harry’s books include “Rapperbee”, “Shoctopus” and “Moonfish”.  

On Tuesday local author Amelia McInerney will be visiting the Kindergarten to Year 2 class and sharing her books which include “Who Fed Zed?”, “Bad Crab”, The Chook Book”, “Mary had a little lamb what really happened”  and “My bird Bertie”

Below is information on ordering books before they visit and having them personally signed.  The orders need to be placed by Wednesday 16 August.  A wonderful reminder for students of meeting the author and the wonderful time they enjoyed.

On Thursday 25 August we will be dressing up as a book character.  The theme of the CBCA Book Week this year is “Dreaming with your eyes open”.  It would be great to see students link their character/ costume to the theme.  This is also a wonderful opportunity for students to be creative and make a costume, a time to think about what could be recycled, upcycled or repurposed to the costume.  Our CBCA Book Week dress up day will be a fundraiser for the Story Dogs Program to assist them to continue the great work they are doing. Students will be asked to bring in a gold coin donation.

Library Bags

Recently I have had to remove a number of books from the library collection as they have been returned water damaged.  We understand that accidents happen, but to minimise damage to books we ask that students have a library bag to place the books in when they are putting them in their school bags.  Polly wallets can be purchased at the front office for $10, but a plastic shopping bag will also prevent damage.  Each damaged book costs about $17.00 to replace.  If your child's library book is damaged a donation towards replacement costs through Qkr would be much appreciated.

Thank you for your support and assistance.

Scholastic Book Club

Issue 5 of Scholastic Book Club for 2022 have been handed out  and orders need to be placed by Monday 8 August.  

Place your Issue 5 order on LOOP to select up to 3 FREE BOOKS. To qualify all you have to do is spend over $30 and you can select 1 FREE book, or spend over $50 and you can select 2 FREE books or over $70 and you can select 3 FREE titles from a special online list. The list will display after you create your order and head to the checkout. 

It is easy to order. All orders are placed using  Book Club LOOP platform which allows parents to pay by credit card. Your child’s order is submitted directly to school safe and sound and the books will be delivered to class. You can place your child’s order at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge

The Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge finishes on 19 August. Students are required to give their completed reading records to Veronica Melville by Friday 19 August for verification.