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.
