Our Foundation friends have been library superstars and an absolute joy to welcome to this special space in Term one. They have loved spending Tuesday afternoons browsing and borrowing as well as listening to stories. Together we read ‘The Wonder of Winsome’ by Kath Murdoch, where they each responded with their own curious question. So many wonderful wonderings!

Years 1 and 2 have been linking in with their current unit of inquiry, How we express ourselves. We have spent some time looking at Jeanie Baker’s stunning illustrations, where she uses a range of materials and collages to share a message. ‘Window’ was a particular favourite! We had a go at creating our own collage with natural materials. It was messy, tricky, and good fun. Their stunning work speaks for itself. Well done, Year 1 and Year 2!

In a whole class read aloud, Years 3 and 4 followed the story of Wandi by Favel Parrett. Wandi is a young cub snatched from his family and home by a giant eagle, then dropped, injured and alone, in a suburban garden. We used inspiration from the text and some whole class research on dingoes to create our own illustrations of Wandi.

Our Homestead students spent much of the term setting up Oliver, our library circulation system, on their iPads. They have been sharpening their research skills and taking part in challenges, as they build on their knowledge of how to effectively operate the system, search for books, reserve and located books in the Minimbah library.

Year 5 students finished off the term reading ‘The All New Must Have Orange 430’, a story about Harvey and his desire to purchase an item that doesn’t do anything. As a lead in to their new unit of inquiry that investigates how businesses function in the marketplace, students have begun designing their own useless objects. Next term, they will turn this design into a prototype and create an advertising campaign to accompany their product. There are some brilliant designs so far, and I cannot wait to see what else they come up with.

Year 6 has been engrossed in a whole class read aloud. ‘Saving Celeste’, a French novel by Timothée de Fombelle. Set in a dystopian future where society is run by and for industrial giants, people live in overcrowded and polluted cities stacked vertically into the sky. We grappled with the idea of making changes to our everyday lives and the impact it can have on individual lives. An overarching concept of change ran throughout the book, which our Year 6 students reflected on as they thought about how their reading was changing as they mature. Their initial perceptions of the books, based on the cover, were not very positive, but as they finished, students were invested in the story, and it shone a light on the way they might select the books to read in the future. Students are currently having fun redesigning the cover.

BRIONY WRIGHT
Librarian