Book Week’s Curious Creatures
From author talks via Zoom, to book writing workshops, our talented librarians organised lots of fun activities for CBCA Book Week, celebrating Curious Creatures and Wild Minds everywhere.
Head of Library and Information Services, Ms Stevenson, and her talented Library team, have made CBCA Book Week one of the highlights of the year for Wenona’s Junior School students and staff. And despite a still-unfolding global pandemic, Book Week 2020 was no exception!
Ms Stevenson said, “This time last week, the Junior School was awash with curious creatures and wild minds celebrating the Children’s Book Council Awards, Book Week 2020. The thought and effort that went into the costumes was amazing. Thank you to parents for your support in helping students fully immerse themselves in this activity!
This year, our visiting author, Sue Whiting ‘Zoomed in’ to speak about her novels, The Book of Chance and Missing, and her picture books, Beware, the deep dark forest, Good Question and Platypus. Sue entertained everyone with her tales about the writing process and her travels to the Antarctic, and patiently answered many questions the students had about her books and life.
Over the course of the day, students participated in a variety of creative endeavours. Kindy, Year 1 and Year 2 drew a curious creature and wrote a story about a wild adventure their creature went on.
Year 3 and Year 4 participated in a concertina book-making workshop with Sydney-based illustrator Freda Chiu. By the end of the day, they had produced a metre-long, fold-out book that detailed a quirky story and a weird and wonderful creature.
Graphic novels were the order of the day with Year 5 and Year 6. Working in pairs, girls wrote a story about an inventor. Storyboarding and using StripDesigner App students created a visual story, complete with speech bubbles and cartoon-esque expressions!
To wrap up our activities, Woodstock students paraded around the Undercroft, delighting in each other’s costumes. This inevitably turned into a mini dance party. What a joy to see students, dressed up as their favourite book characters, dance the afternoon away,” said Ms Stevenson.
What a fantastic and rich reading tradition we have here at Wenona, where our whole Junior School community enthusiastically celebrate our love of books, as well as our parents’ legendary ability to pull together incredible outfits – often the night before!
A huge thank you to our Library staff who seem to ‘up the ante’ each year.
And to all our staff, who quite obviously relish any opportunity to dress up - just check out our Where’s Wally Woodstock staff!
And of course, thank you, thank you, thank you to all our parents whose creativity, craftwork and sewing skills are second to none! So much glitter! So much glue! So many nights spent googling your daughter’s favourite book and helping her come up with an outfit. We salute you!