KWPS Library

The stocktake has started and we are in the process of wanding all the books, Then we have to find all the missing books, which is very time consuming! Students have been given notes about overdue books and next week there will be notes sent home to parents about replacement cost. Please help your child find any missing books.

The Library lessons for the next couple of weeks are being taken by Mrs Bates while the stocktake is taking place. Students will still be doing lunchtime activities, including listening to Christmas stories and making Christmas craft.

Stocktake in the Library starts next week, so it is time to start looking for all those overdue books! Reminder notices are being sent to classrooms then students will be given individual slips with the title of the overdue book, then a letter home about the missing books and their cost. It is all a very time-consuming process for me, so I would be grateful if you could try to return the books before there is a need for letters home. Thank you for your help in finding the books- please could you also remind your children to actually bring the books back to the Library and not keep carrying them to and from school in their bags for days, which is often the case!  While I am working on the stocktake,   Library lessons will be taken by Mrs Bates.

In the Library last Friday, students from 3-6P took part in a project which was organised by the ABC. We took a photo of the class at 11.11am on 11/11/11, to be added to a visual time capsule of events around Australia at that exact time. The time capsule will then become part of the National Archives. We were working on a website that had a virtual ATM, using the interactive whiteboard. It would be interesting to see if these technologies are still in use in the future!

Reading Club- already there are a few students turning up each morning to read in the Library as part of our Reading Club. They are enjoying being able to read quietly and at the same time they are working towards receiving a free book. They will also be improving their reading skills, I hope to see more and more students turning up.

Research Competition- prizes will be presented at Friday’s assembly. It was good to see a few students trying out new technology and creating Glogs to present their work, as well as the more traditional approaches. Well done to all students who entered.

3-6H made this digital story today:
The Animals Have a Picnic by 3-6H on PhotoPeach

Congratulations to the students who entered the research competition- I’m judging them this week and prizes will be presented at next week’s assembly.

I’m running a Reading Club before school this term, students are encouraged to come up to the Library and read when they get to school. After they have attended for 10 mornings they will receive a free book from the Library. They can also use this opportunity to borrow and for me to help them choose books or to listen to them read if they wish. It could also help to develop skills in reading  and to explore the work of different authors. Next year is the National Year of Reading and we are also planning to take part in the Premier’s Reading Challenge. We entered this a few years ago, but stopped because of  issues entering data. This problem has now been solved, so we are entering it again. I’ll be showing students what to do in their Library lessons early next year and looking forward to seeing lots of students complete the Challenge.

Thank you to everyone who helped me with the Craft Stall at the fete last Friday- the people who made things to sell on the stall, Bev and Shontel who worked on the stall with me and Jaymie who helped me price things. We had a very successful stall and the students all enjoyed the afternoon.

Reminder- the research competition about Life in Freshwater closes on Friday. There are several entries on display so far and I know a few students are working on the computer to produce entries. There is a display of books about freshwater creatures and also the Museum in a Box display, so there is plenty of information available to use. The Library is open before school each day so students can use the computers and books and have some help with their work.

In the Library at lunchtime  this week: Monday- jigsaws and games; Tuesday (Infants Storytime)- stories about frogs and fish; Wednesday (Craft)-water spiders; Thursday- movie; Friday (colouring in) frog pictures

This week students are very interested in the Australian Museum display about Freshwater and are finding out about lots of different creatures. Several students have already handed in entries for the research competition, which closes next Friday. I look forward to reading them all. Stage 2 and 3 classes have been looking at how to take notes about frogs, yabbies, spoonbills, herons etc and how to put those notes in their own words. Next week they will be writing their own information reports. Infants students have been doing activities involving making up questions and sorting different creatures into categories such as insects, birds, fish etc.

Also this term, students in early Stage 1 and Stage 1 are looking at stories which are illustrated by Ron Brooks, such as several stories by Margaret Wild. Students in Stage 2 are reading stories by Andy Griffiths and Stage 3 are looking at stories by Jackie French.

Welcome back to Term 4.

We start the term with a Museum in a Box display from the Australian Museum “Life in Freshwater” and students will be learning from this display for the next 3 weeks. It’s a great opportunity for students to see museum resources that they might not otherwise be able to access. As usual I will be running a competition based on the display, entries due in at the end of Week 3. I am asking students to complete a piece of research about one creature that lives in or beside a creek, river, pond etc. The finished piece of research can be handed in as an information report, model. report done on the computer (perhaps using some of the Web 2.0 tools we looked at last term), Younger students could draw a picture and label it or write a few sentences. I look forward to seeing lots of entries an as usual there will be prizes for entries.

Overdue books- hopefully any overdue books still outstanding will have been found during the holidays- please return as soon as possible.

Fete: Craft Stall- I’ll be running the Craft Stall at the school fete in 10 days time and as yet have had very few items sent in to sell. I’m looking for donations of jewellery, items that have been knitted, sewn, crocheted, hand-made cards, woodwork, soft toys,items for the home, Library bags, clothing, baby clothes, anything at all that can be sold on the Craft stall. If you can make playdough, I also need bags of playdough to sell. I hope to see lots of donations next week! Please send any items up to the Library.

As it is the last week of term, students have been given overdue slips, with the cost of the overdue book written on them. Please help your child to find the book or organise to pay the cost for it’s replacement. As you can appreciate, if a Stage 3 student has 3 books overdue, this can add up to a substantial amount of money when most picture books cost $20-$25 and most paperbacks $12-$18. The Library budget does not cover the cost for replacement books.

Students who have no overdue books may borrow for the holidays. There are lists fastened up just inside the Library, with details about the books that each student has borrowed, so they can check themselves and see if they have overdue books. Hopefully they will also be learning to be responsible and look after their own books. I keep telling them that they borrow the books and are responsible for their return- and not to blame mum for not putting it in their bag! Thank you for your support.

Craft items for the fete- please try to make something to sell on the Craft Stall or send in something that we can put in one of our small baskets. If anyone can make playdough, I need some making to sell. Also jewellery, soft toys, any sort of hand made items. Thanks