Library

Book Week in 2020 included a variety of amazing and exciting events. In a nutshell, prominent children’s author and illustrator Gus Gordon paid a visit to the Junior School and we had a dress-up day. In addition to that, a scavenger hunt was held in the playground and there was an extended morning tea outside on the Main Oval!

Gus Gordon is an author and illustrator. He is a household name through his entertaining stories which have been translated into many different languages and brought joy to people from all four corners of the Earth. At Book Week, he shared tips and guidelines he often uses to write his books. He demonstrated his flair for drawing by sketching sloths and dogs on the whiteboard, and read to us from some of his books, like Herman and Rosie, Wendy and Somewhere Else. Another adventure in the Junior School was when Mrs Itzcovitz hosted a scavenger hunt in the valley playground. It focused on the theme of books, their characters, symbols that indicate parts of a book, and props that were used. The girls who participated were given an award – a bookmark. No matter if they completed the challenge or not, they were awarded with the bookmark, which was centred on the book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. As always, Junior School held a Book Week-themed mufti day. Girls came in all shapes, colours and costumes from chipmunks to wizards and witches! The theme was ‘Curious creatures, wild minds’, and true to this idea, most costumes were original and handmade, not bought!

Peita Christofis, Year 5

I am immensely thankful to the teachers who put time and effort into making sure that this event could still take place during this turbulent year of Coronavirus. The experience was a joyful event which we all looked forward to.

Angela Tao, Year 5

Nikita Orena Barlin, Year 3

In Term 3, every student in Years 5 and 6 had the chance to apply for the Write a Book in a Day project and submit a paper which explained why she wanted to participate in this activity. We wanted to be a part of this so we could become better writers, we could learn how to co-operate better with other students and raise money for kids in hospital.

Back Row: Annabel Lewthwaite, Lara Waterhouse, Mia Chen, Eden Orena Barlin, Emily Chiang, Mrs Bernadette Pratt Second Row: Isabella Woodall, Varada Vinay, Saskia Nicholson Front Row: Georgia Yuen, Year 5

Unexpectedly, we were some of the fortunate girls chosen to participate in this writing competition. The event was a long but extremely fun day packed with drawing, talking, storytelling, writing, and stuffing our faces with junk (which was definitely a highlight because food is key) to keep us motivated – KitKats, Skittles and the bag of Starbursts that we kept nicking from Mrs Giles when she had her back turned all definitely helped. Each team had different guidelines and parameters to help them plan and write their story. This was challenging and much more difficult than you would have thought, because some things that were listed on our sheet were extremely random and did not really relate to each other in any way and we had to come up with a good plot and storyline that would somehow include all these specifications and that would make sense to our readers.

Before the competition, friends and family could sponsor us and all the money we raised would get donated to the Kids’ Cancer Project and the book that we’d written and illustrated would get given to the kids in hospital. This was a great opportunity to create a picture book that could have an amazing impact as we, Writer’s Delight, raised $6,471 as a team!

Overall, this was an incredible experience and it taught us how to work productively, efficiently, and innovatively under a time limit and as a team to creatively write a book together! Jemma Hung and Stella Sharp, Year 5

Author Tim Harris Visit

Write a Book in a Day is a competition and fundraiser for students to fully write, illustrate and edit a picture book in under 12 hours. We had four teams in the Junior School, consisting of two teams from both Year 5 and Year 6. Students volunteered to participate, then Mrs Itzcovitz selected ten students for each team.

The book must cover the criteria given on the competition day, everything else is the team’s creative ideas. Every team must work together to write and illustrate a children's book that will be given to children in hospitals to read. The competition is held from 7.30am to 5.00pm and the four teams worked carefully to design their book, with two breaks in between for recess and lunch.

Write a Book in a Day is an opportunity for keen writers and illustrators to work collaboratively and create a book. The entire day was filled with fun, laughter and learning. Every member of the team is given a copy of the book they have helped to make as a treasure to keep. Write a Book in a Day was an enjoyable and rewarding experience that will be treasured as a memory. Jilan Zhang and Sarah Tian, Year 6

Alice Mao, Alissa Xue, Nikita Srivastava, Jilan Zhang, Angela Zhang, Annalise Chow, Jenny Xu, Imogen Wu, Sehjal Baveja and Mahika Swamy, Year 6 with Mrs Matha Itzcovitz (Teacher Librarian)