Year 6 Readers Cup: On Wednesday 23 May our Year 6 Readers Cup team competed at the Sunshine Coast Regional Readers Cup Competition at Immanuel Lutheran College. The Readers Cup is organised by the Qld Branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia and is a statewide competition for young readers. Teacher Librarians select five to six books and prepare questions based on each title for the competition. Teams of four students plus a reserve read the set texts and compete against other teams to answer five quiz questions from each title during a heat round. The four top scoring teams then proceed to the finals for another round of five quiz questions per title.

This year 29 teams from across the Sunshine Coast participated in the Year 6 competition. Our team including Dominique Doolan, Brianna Albrand, Amelie Bartlett, Keira Lerch, and Ebonee Kroger came third in their heat and are to be commended for their effort and dedication to reading the chosen texts over the past eight weeks. Following the heats, the girls enjoyed hearing guest author Aleesah Darlinson, author of Stripes in the Forest, speak about her passion for writing. The team stayed to watch the finals which included a tie-breaker question to split the two top teams.

At GCC the opportunity to be involved in the Readers Cup is offered in Year 6, 7, 8 & 9. The competition challenges students to read widely, work collaboratively in a team and continue developing a love of reading. It’s a wonderful opportunity to compete at a regional and state level similar to sporting competitions and to meet other students with an equal passion for books. Those interested in future competitions are encouraged to look out for details in the daily notices.

  

Library Information Week

Library Information Week at GCC celebrated and showcased the range of services and programs available at our library. From Research lessons, Literature Circles, database tutorials to dramatic presentations of stories, our students are involved in activities that prepare them for understanding, using and creating a pathway through the information in their world.

National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS)

Hickory Dickory Dash written by Tony Wilson and illustrated by Laura Wood was the feature story for this year’s NSS held during Library Information Week (21 – 27 May).

Last Wednesday at 11am ‘Hickory Dickory Dash’ was shared in schools and libraries across Australia and New Zealand with over 900,000 participants! At GCC the story was presented in the library and students could view the book on the large screen – enlarging the impact of the illustrations and clever text.

For some of our primary students, the story came alive earlier in the week with the Year 9 Drama class stepping into role and entertaining an enthusiastic audience with their clever mime and action. Students were captivated by the drama in the story and had lots of questions for our Year 9 actors!

One Year 6 student summed up the event, “I think the Year 9’s did a great job! When it’s acted out the younger students can see the meaning and understand it more.” Madeleine. Our Year 9s enjoyed creating the actions, mime and sounds to accompany the narration of the story. Performing in front of a live audience might bring a few nerves to the surface, but the obvious enjoyment and appreciation from the younger students made it so worthwhile!

Congratulations to our Year 9 Drama students for collaborating, creating and sharing their talents and skills and thank you Mrs Kadel for supporting them in their creative endeavours. We would love to make this an annual event!

      

See you in the library.

Vanessa McKellar and Beryl Morris, Teacher Librarians