The Power of Reading in Term Two

The Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Premier’s Reading Challenge began on March 6th and will close on Friday August 27th. The challenge is best explained in the following words from the PRC website:

The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.

The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is available for all NSW students in Kindergarten to Year 9, in government, independent, Catholic and home schools.

National Simultaneous Storytime

The students of Cromer School will participate in National Simultaneous Storytime on Wednesday May 22nd.  This event aims to encourage more young Australians to read and enjoy books. The Australian Library and Information Association tells us that:

Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. By facilitating National Simultaneous Storytime, we aim to:

•promote the value of reading and literacy;

•promote the value and fun of books;

•promote an Australian writer and publisher.

•promote storytime activities in public libraries and communities around the country.

•provide opportunities to involve parents, grandparents, the media and others to participate in and enjoy the occasion.

•NSS receives positive media coverage, generates a great deal of community interest and is held annually as part of Library and Information Week.

This year the story that will be read is Alpacas with Maracas by Matt Cosgrove.

The Reading Adventures

Kindergarten

The students will undertake an author study of the work of Pamela Allen. She is an award-winning author who has enchanted children for over thirty years. Her books are full of the music of language and are designed to be read aloud and shared.

Author studies enable teachers to share quality literature with their students. As the students share the excitement of exposure to engaging literature the skills of comprehension and communication emerge. The students gain a deeper attachment to books and critical thinking skills, reading skills and writing skills develop and improve.

Year One

Babette Cole was the author/illustrator of over 150 popular books for children. She won multiple awards with her witty, thought provoking and often irreverent picture books. Her writing demonstrates her love of the absurd and her zany sense of humour. The children will study ten popular books in our Babette Cole collection and reading her work should be a source of laughter, entertainment and all round good fun. Also, many of her books have a message for us to discuss and ponder upon.

Year Two

Jackie French was the Australian Children's Laureate in 2014/15 and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year.  She is an historian, a very passionate ecologist and, as a sufferer of dyslexia, she is dedicated to her work of ensuring that all children can learn to read and appreciate the power of literature.

The students in Year 2 will study ten of her picture books which are filled with the benefits of her personal experiences of life in the country, her detailed research into historical events and her love of nature. In her own words:

Every adult has the right to know the children of this planet are being given the tools of literacy and the power of books to change the world and ensure our future.

Stage Two ( Years 3 and 4)

The students will undertake a Roald Dahl author study. A different book will be showcased at each lesson and activities in response to the extracts read will be undertaken.

This is not an in-depth study of the texts. It is a journey to discover the influences of childhood that affected Dahl's writing and his journey as an author. We aim to gain inspiration for our own writing from the work of this great author.

Many authors state that the source of inspiration for their writing is the varied content that they read. Roald Dahl is a master of character creation and is known for his dark humour and unexpected endings. His books never fail to capture the imagination and his work and life provide a huge writing inspiration for us all.

Stage Three (Years 5 and 6)

The students in stage three will study a number of quality pieces of literature which have been shortlisted by the Australian Children’s Book Council in past years. The purpose of the study is to enable the students to engage closely with works of literature and provide them with the tools to make judgements of value and quality in relation to the works and develop their skills of contextual analysis. It is hoped that the texts studied will challenge, stimulate and inspire their abilities as informed and critical readers and writers.