For the children at your school who can’t get enough of the continuing adventures of the Samurai Kids the series  web space will help pass the time as they await the newest book.  There are lots of activities for teachers to use in the classroom and students to access for fun, such as the “Samurai Kids” Forum and quizzes.

The Teacher Resources include a newsletter, a one act play and classroom ideas sheet to use with the books. The first two books were on the 2009 Primary Focus list. Information about these books can be found at the following links on the CMIS Resource Bank –
White Crane and Owl Ninja

A couple of charming books which have crossed my desk this week would be very suitable for Children’s book Week “Book Safari” activities.

The bus to the zoo from Omnibus Books, by Mary Murphy and delightfully illustrated by Josh Lee, has a bit of a Who sank the boat? feel as the bus in the story picks up more and more passengers on the way to the zoo. Younger readers will enjoy exploring the detailed illustrations to discover the myriad of quirky creatures hiding in the crowd. There are lots of mathematical concepts included and as an added bonus the end papers provide locations of origin of the animals.

The other book – also a picture book,  comes from the winners of the 1988 Kate Greenaway Medal, Mwenye Hadathi and Adrienne Kennaway, titled Laughing Giraffe.  This is one of the African Animal Tales Collection which includes other titles such as the Crafty Chameleon, Greedy Zebra and Lazy Lion. This story proves to the reader that you don’t have to have the loudest voice to be heard.

It seems laughing giraffes are a popular topic. Another title, published in 2008 by Fremantle Press  is Have you ever heard a giraffe laugh? from local author Jamie Edis. This is proving  a favourite with a couple of little people I know.

To complement junior school activities for Book Week , Issue 5 of  Classroom Focus is dedicated to Book Safari.

If you are still looking for ideas and book titles,  have  alook at the Book Week page on the CMIS website.

Don’t forget to check the page out on August 21 to discover the winners!

Geraldine Giraffe on a “Book Safari”

To help celebrate Children’s Book Week this year the team here at CMIS Evaluation- (really it was clever Jean),  decided to decorate a book trolley so we can enter a competition in the USA held through Unshelved, the Library Comic Strip website. We plan to take our trolley – “Geraldine Giraffe” on Safari through our building to promote Book Week.

Why don’t you “Dress up Your Book Trolley” and let us know about it – a great T&E exercise and book promotion at the same time. With the help of a post tube, some sponge packaging and some animal print material – Geraldine was created. We have thought about an elephant too – it may yet eventuate.

We’ve uploaded Geraldine onto the CMIS Eval Flickr page where there are other photos available to view and use.

On the CMIS Evaluation page there’s information about how you can really make an impact during Book Week.

International Children’s Book Day – April 2nd

The International Board on Books for Young People initiated Children’s International Book day in 1967 and chose the date of the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen – one of the world’s best loved classic children’s authors. Each year an international section is chosen to sponsor the event and for 2009 it is Egypt.

For information about the poster and this years’ message from Hani D. El-Masri, follow this link
EBBY(Egypt)

This year’s poster (above) is available from the section office.  email: s.magoud@gmail.com

Teachers can access the CMIS Resource Bank to discover books suitable for young students.

Image used with permission

Pete the Sheep is this year’s story.

It’s time now for your school to register this year’s storytime event.

Put the date in your diary – May 27th @ 11am. At the ALIA website you will find ideas for fun activities in the lead up to the day.

Written by popular childrens’ author,  Jackie French, Pete the sheep was first published in 2004. Bruce Whatley’s expressive illustrations give the book a larrikin flavour which appeals to younger readers.

The book tells the story of Sean the shearer who instead of a sheepdog to help him, he has a ’sheep sheep’ called Pete. After being rejected by the other shearers and their dogs, Sean and Pete set up a sheep salon in town and sheep from everywhere arrive to have their wool shorn in the latest style.

Teachers can utilise this book as part of a farming topic. The CMIS database has other books to add to the topic.

The book was a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Picture Book in 2005.

There are often queries re weeding the school library, especially at the end of the year, at which time many school libraries engage in this activity. Some library staff members operate on the principle of weeding a section at a time over the course of the whole year. You could establish your own schedule or use one ready-made such as the Heinemann Raintree (USA) Weed of the Month. Each month a section is designated for weeding, along with criteria to be considered to assist in the weeding. Replacement titles are suggested, and though these are biased towards Heinemann-Raintree Library titles, other publishers do get a small look-in. You can join the emailing list if you wish to be notified as each new weed comes around. It’s worth considering.

CMIS Cataloguing and CMIS Evaluation have a page about Weeding on their School Library Support website.

It’s not too late to register your school for National Reading Day on September 3rd. This is just one of the Literacy & Numeracy Week activities. National Literacy & Numeracy Week runs from 1 -7 Sept and information and suitable activities can be accessed from the official website.

Reach for the Stars covers the numeracy angle for the week.  ‘Reach for the Stars’ activities allow students to practice ‘real-life’ mathematics.   Both the Reading and Mathematics websites have lots of practical ideas for classroom activities across all phases of development.

Along with the government initiated  week of activities,  teachers and students can also be involved with Indigenous Literacy Day which also takes place on 3rd Sept . Information about school registration, participation and activities can be found on the website.  On ILD, part of the Indigenous Literacy Project all Australians are invited to join together to raise funds to address literacy needs in remote Indigenous communities.

As part of the ILD in WA there is a morning of storytelling to be held at the State Library of Western Australia at 10.30 am on Wednesday Sep 3rd. Participants include author Sally Morgan and former Fremantle Football Club player Troy Cook.

The CMIS Evaluation Aboriginal Literacy Strategy page gives more ideas on books to use in the classroom.

All of these events are precursors to the United Nations International Literacy Day on September 8th. This year marks the middle of the UN Literacy Decade which aims to extend the use of literacy to those who do not currently have access to it.  Universal Eucation and literacy is a key aspect of the millenium Development Goals.

Staff members can become involved in a “Staff Reading” –  Perhaps a whole school assembly with different people reading a favourite book or using the school PA system.

The annual Books Alive promotion of “50 books you can’t put down” is now on. The titles are a mix of old and new, for adults and children, fiction and nonfiction. You can download the full list and promotional information from the website. Some of the children’s titles are also on this year’s Children’s Book Council Shortlists, with winners to be announced next week. Our CMIS Book Week page contains details.

The Books Alive promotion includes a number of events in WA and ends on 31 August.