Trevor R Wood Library

DEB SCHINCKEL

Teacher/Librarian

The collection continues to be updated and relevant to the boys’ interests and supports the requirements of the Australian Curriculum. Several new series have enticed the boys to read more, including Fly Guy, Mates and graphic novels for the younger boys and You Choose Adventures, My Life, Spirit Animals, Bear Grylls and Ahn Do.

I have continued my role in supporting teachers in the co-operative planning and resourcing in English, History and Geography. With the endorsement of version 8.0 of the Australian Curriculum, Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) will replace and combine History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship and Economics and Business. This will mean current, accurate and appropriate resources will be required to connect these areas and part of my role is to source these. Resourcing these areas of the curriculum include investigating possible venues for excursions. I have assisted staff in several year levels in planning and supervising excursions to Mudgereebaba Heritage Museum, Light Horse Museum, Commissariat (Brisbane), Eureka Gold Fields (Beenleigh), Local Studies Library and Southport Cemetery, Surfworld, Q1.

FOP chose to support author-illustrator visits this year so we were able have workshops for boys in all year levels. Frances Watts worked with Preschool and Reception boys sharing her stories and introducing songs and dance relating to the themes. Andrew King, engineer come author, worked with the Years 1 and 2 boys. Andrew’s writing comes from a design perspective and his stories of Engibear focus on design and building structures. Frané Lessac workshopped with Years 3 and 4. Frané writes historical Australian fiction and shared her writing process and illustration techniques with the boys. They each produced their own illustration and accompanying text. Mark Greenwood again worked with the Year 5 boys, focusing on his knowledge of Australian history. He engages the boys with his story telling and recount and has them wanting more. Oliver Phommavanh entertained Year 6 with his unique story-writing techniques and stories relating to his Thai background. Trevor Fourmile entertained and informed the Year 2 group with his Dreamtime stories and cultural facts and also workshopped with Year 4 relating to “First Contact” and the effects of colonisation on the Aboriginal population. I sincerely thank FOP for their support in this literacy program. The benefits for the boys are numerous and is a valuable way to promote reading and writing.

In March I took a group of Year 6 boys to the Somerset Celebration of Literacy. The sessions the boys attended included authors Geoffrey McSkimming, James Maloney, Scott Prince and Dave Hartley, AL Tait, Rachel Spratt, Richard Newsome and George Ivanoff. A great day of entertainment, including magic tricks, jokes and writing processes. The boys purchased books from the book store and came away with some great new ideas on reading and knowledge of previously unfamiliar authors.

This year’s Readers Cup involved seven teams from TSS and 12 Year 6 teams from St Hilda’s joining in the competition. The competition was held at St Hilda’s. Due to illness their teacher librarian was unavailable so I took the role of quizmaster. Competitors had to read A horse called Elvis, John Heffernan, Kenzuke’s Kingdom, Michael Morpurgo, Home, Narellle Oliver and the e-comic Justice League. They were then required to answer questions relating to the books. The competition result was very close, with the St Hilda’s team winning overall. Two boys’ teams tied for TSS first place (and runners-up overall), Readers R Us: Dean Tyler-Battaglia, Liam O’Connor, Harry Zdanowicz, Harry Stapleton; and Reada-holics: Herschel Aloysius, Victor Wu, Corbin Parker, Louis Chabert. Trophies were presented to the overall winners and to winning teams from both schools. The competitors then enjoyed afternoon tea supplied by St Hilda’s girls. Next year’s competition will be hosted by TSS.

The Reading Challenge was again taken up by boys in Years 1-6 who were required to read 20 books from the lists of titles taken from our library catalogue, including the boys’ favourite titles and authors, with new releases added to previous year’s lists. The library staff were kept busy suggesting series and titles and assisting boys with book selection. “Books Light up our World” was this year’s Book Week theme. There was a focus on this theme during Term Three displays, book sharing and discussions relating to the CBCA short-listed books. Winners included Early Childhood: Go to Sleep Jessie (Libby Gleeson); Picture Book: Two Blankets (Irena Kobald); Information: A Minute’s Silence (Simon Barnard). The Art Department again focused on the short listed-books with their classes and shared the results of their work for display in the Resource Centre.

We hosted a Book Fair in September where we sold $2500 worth of books to the boys. This provided $400 to be spent on books for the library and a donation of books to a small school in India.

All classes including the Preschool boys have visited for story and borrowing on a weekly basis and we enjoy their enthusiasm and continue to promote a love of books and reading with them. Thank you to Jenny Bramwell, Lyn Hanley and Emily Stibbe for their continued assistance and support. Thank you also to Stephen Robinson for his prompt and efficient assistance with all things ICT as required in the Resource Centre. Thank you also to the volunteers who have covered new reading resources for use in classrooms.

I sincerely thank the leadership team for their ongoing support of all things related to teaching and learning in the Resource Centre and TRW Library.