CBCA Book Week: Symphony of Stories

At my school, the library ran a program of activities for Book Week, featuring competitions with prizes on offer.

Our highlights included:

1. Book, Song or Both - A series of titles was listed, and students had to determine whether each title was a book, a song, or both.
2. Bohemian Rhapsody - Words and phrases from Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen were scrambled, and students had to decode them
3. Favourite Book or Reading Confession - 10 teachers provided either their favourite book or their reading confession, and students had to decide for each teacher if they had a favourite book or confession and then matched either the book or confession.
4. She Needs a New Book - Students were invited to nominate a character from any book and recommend a book to feature that character in, providing reasons for their choice.
5. 1 Star Character Review - It gave students a chance to list why any character from any book deserved a one-star rating.
6. What's in her bag? - Students nominate a character of their choice from any book and list five items that you would find in their bag. 

We also had a Book Week quiz, which concluded the week on the Friday. 

While our activities may not be as extravagant as other schools, it does show that you can still put on a good Book Week program of activities for students. Some of our competitions received a good number of entries, and even a few Year 12 students decided to have a go to let off some steam after the HSC Trial Exams. 

My Reading Goal (Resource)

I created a resource last year that I did not end up using, but based it on my work at the MLC School back in 2014 where I challenged students to set a reading goal for the term ahead as part of wide reading lessons. 

With the school I worked for last year, I had intended to undertake the activity during the first wide reading lesson of each term, collect them and return to them at the end of the term to determine whether or not they had met their set challenge.

The objective of the activity was to encourage students to determine how they could challenge themselves with their reading and work towards attaining that goal. I believe that it would foster better reading habits. 

I have decided to share this resource. Please feel free to download and use or modify as needed. 

If you would like a word.doc of this resource, please email me at either fabian.amuso@syd.catholic.edu.au or famuso.teachlib@gmail.com. 

Some Geography Fun in the Library II

Just before the school holidays in NSW, I had posted a photo that I had taken on the wall in the library, with a lure of a small prize for a correct answer.

I did mention that senior students were "keen" and they got even keener. We had some junior students also give it their shot.

It did not take long for a Year 9 student to take out the prize because they got the mountain range correct and then it led them ultimately to the city - Los Angeles. The mountain range was the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The photo was taken by me in December 2016 from the Observation Deck atop the US Bank tower in central Los Angeles.

My second photo looked like it was going to be hard, but they got New York and Central Park correct. The common reason was that they felt that they saw that location or setting in a film. I took this one in early 2017.

With so many people wanting to take part, I have had requests for when the next photo is being posted on the wall and some students want to submit their own photos. I look forward to what students submit and how they can challenge others in this!!!