January School Holiday Activities

During the January school holidays the library are running a range of activities for children, tweens and youth.

Information is now available in-house or via the library wesbite. Look for the heading 'Holiday Activities - Information and Bookings'.

Bookings are essential for all activities and are to be completed online via the link provided on the front page of the library website. Bookings will open Monday 17 December 2012.

Picnic by the Pool

Kids Gardening Workshop @ Camden Town Farm

Storytime Graduation Ceremony

Is your child starting 'big school' next year?

 

Join us at Narellan and Camden Library on the following dates for a small 'graduation ceremony' for those children who will be leaving Storytime to attend 'big school' year:

*Tuesday 27 November @ 11am (Camden)
*Wednesday 28 November @ 11am (Narellan)
*Thursday 29 November @ 11am (Camden)
*Friday 30 November @ 10am and 11am (Narellan)

If your child is starting 'big school' next year please advise the storytime staff to ensure that your child receives an award.

Storytime will cease for the year on Friday 21 December.

Libby Gleeson visits Camden

On Thursday 11th October children's author, Libby Gleeson, came to visit Camden as part of National Year of Reading. 450 students were in attendance for the visit. During the presentation Libby talked about her books and love of reading.

Libby Gleeson (centre) with students from St Paul's Primary and  Teacher Librarian, Chris Jaques (far left).

Libby Gleeson presenting to students.

Speech Pathology Australia - 2012 Book of the Year Awards

The Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards raise awareness of the role speech pathologists play in assisting people of all ages to develop their language and literacy skills.

The awards have selected the best books for language and literacy development.

THE WINNERS ARE:

Young Children

Come Down, Cat! by Sonia Harnett

Lower Primary

The Little Refugee by Anh and Suzanne Do

Upper Primary

The Invisible Hero by Elizabeth Fensham

Indigenous Children

The Snake and the Boy by Azmen Sebastian

NYOR School Ambassadors - St Paul's Primary School

National Year of Reading (NYOR) School Ambassadors

Students featured in this blog post are students that have been selected as NYOR ambassadors from St Paul's Primary School. As ambassadors these students have written about what their favourite book is and why they like reading.

Adrianna Zoric - Year 5

My favourite book is.... Ravens Mountain by Wendy Orr. I really enjoy reading this book because of how deeply it takes you into the story. The whole point of a book is to engage you into the story and I strongly believe that this book achieves this very thoroughly. This book is another of Wendy's wonderful range of books that have amazed all of us through her content and description of characters. I personally recommend this book due to how wonderful and how creative it is.

I enjoy reading because.... you can enter another world with different characters and use your own imagination.

Anisia Zbiljic - Year 5

My favourite book is.... Horse Mad by Kathy Helidioniotis, I like this book because I also love horses and it is written in detail and the main character is about my age. Horse Mad is a serial and I get lost into that book every time I read it, no matter what is going on around me.

I love reading because.... it takes me to a different world. Reading is also relaxing and calming. I love reading because everywhere around you there are words that amaze, distract and  make you wonder. No matter what you do, if you come across a word you HAVE to read it!

Isabelle Borg - Year 5

My favourite book is...... Alice - Miranda in New York. This is my favourite book because Alice - Miranda is so much like me and many others I know. She is quite out there and is always looking to solve a problem. All of the Alice - Miranda series are great but this one really stood out to me. Alice - Miranda makes many bright and interesting friends as well as having a fun time in new york.

I love reading because.... it is very entertaining and you can go into another world.

Photos from the July School Holiday Activities

During the holidays Camden/Narellan Library had some wonderful activities to entertain the children (e.g. Magic Show, Balloon Twisting Workshop and Digging Dinosaurs Workshop). To see some of the great photos taken at the activities check out the albums on 'Camden Council Library Services - Children' facebook page.

NYOR School Ambassadors - Harrington Park Primary School

National Year of Reading (NYOR) School Ambassadors

Students featured in this blog post are students that have been selected as NYOR ambassadors from Harrington Park Primary School. As ambassadors these students have written about what their favourite book is and why they like reading.

Erin Creber - Year 1

                                   

 My favourite book is: “Daisy and the Trouble with Kittens” by Kes Gray.

I like it because it is about kittens. She says the trouble with …  and then goes on to tell a story. Daisy makes lots of new friends when she goes on holiday to Spain. She finds the kitten there. It makes me laugh and it has funny pictures in it.

Why I like reading?

I like to learn from reading information books. Some books can make me feel happy when I am sad. I enjoy reading to other people, my teddy, Grandma, Mum and Dad.

Breanna Craig - Year 4

My first real favourite book is:  “Treasure Island” by R.L.Stevenson

I like it because it was adventurous, descriptive and interesting. You never knew what was going to happen next. It has lots of events that go quickly and keep you interested.

Why I like reading?

It improves my vocabulary and my mind. I like how it puts you in another place. I like each book I read because it is really different.

Mitchell Oyston - Year 6

My favourite book is: "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini

 

I’ve read it over and over and I never get bored. It’s full of mystical dragons and a love story is in there too. There are lots of different mysteries that find the answers to which present more mysteries to solve. I really like that.

The Eragon series is about a poor, young, farm boy in the mountains who finds an egg and the story links him with Brom, the storyteller of their village.

Why I like reading?

I like reading because I can picture whatever story I’m reading in my head like I’m watching TV. I like reading also because it is really easy to find information in factual books and I can read almost every word fluently. Reading helps me pass the time and allows me to block out outside distractions. The more I read the easier it gets! Reading also allows me to write stories with more description and detail.

NYOR School Ambassadors

This year is National Year of Reading (NYOR). The NYOR 2012 is about children learning to read and keen readers finding new sources of inspiration. It's about supporting reading initiatives while respecting the oral tradition of storytelling. It's about helping people discover and rediscover the magic of books. And most of all, it's about Australians becoming a nation of readers.

As part of NYOR we have chosen students from local schools to be ambassadors. Those who have been nominated will feature in our blog and other library material. In their role as amabassador students have been asked to write about what their favourite book is and why they love to read.

The first school to feature in our blog will be Harrington Park Primary School.

July School Holiday Activities

The new program for the July school holiday activities has been released. These holidays we have lots of exciting activities for all ages 5 to 18 years. For full details of activities view the attached brochure.

Bookings will start Monday 25th June. All bookings and/payments are completed online via the library website . Look for the heading 'Holiday and Bookings - Information & Bookings'.

"School A to Z" website

School A to Z is a new website that has been produced by the NSW Department of Education and Communities

This website aims to create an online community with comprehensive homework and ‘school life' support for parents that is easy to use, relevant and engaging.

This website is a great tool for parents of school aged children!

Tumblebooks is now available on the iPad

Tumblebooks Library have begun a project which will allow you to access the TumbleBooks picture book collection on the iPad and iPhone 4.

TumbleBooks are created using flash animation and because Apple do not include flash in their iPads and iPhones you are not able to view Tumblebooks on Apple appliances. Therefore, Tumblebooks have made non flash videos especially for the iPad.

You can check out the first batch of iPad-compatible TumbleBooks by signing into TumbleBookLibrary via the library website (Children's Services --> Online Resources & websites for Children --> Online Resources/Databases --> Tumblebooks) on your iPad and going to the Story Books section. There are currently 44 iPad books to choose from!

Just below the "Story Books" heading, there is a link called "Click here for iPad-compatible titles". Click on this link, and the iPad books will be sorted for you. Now, simply click on the "iPad" button to launch the book of your choice! The book will appear in a small window at first, but to expand, simply click on the "full screen" button.

Holiday activity photos - January 2012

The photos from the holiday activities have been uploaded to the Children's library facebook page. Click here to check out the great photos.

Safer Internet Day, 2012.

On Tuesday 7th February it is Safer Internet Day. This is an initiative developed from the government to promote cyber safety. The theme for the day is ‘Connecting generations and educating each other.’

Please use the links provided to find more information about cyber safety (actions for families and actions for grandparents).

Top Ten Tips for Starting School

Is your child starting school this year?

If you have answered yes, then check out the blog post by The Little Big Book Club titled "Our Top Ten Tips for Starting School".

This blog post provides parents with some handy hints to help prepare their child for their first big day at school.

January holiday activities 2012

The January holiday activities are filling up fast. Some activities have already booked out (e.g. "Cartoon Workshop" and "Slime, Sherbert and Bubbles".

For more details on the activities and booking procedures visit the front page of the library website.

BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL!

Storytime and BIBs 2012

Storytime and BIBs session will resume at Camden and Narellan Library in the week beginning the 16th January.

Sessions are as follows:

• Tuesday 17th January, 11am: Storytime (Camden)


• Wednesday 18th January, 10am: BIBs (Narellan)


• Wednesday 18th January, 11am: Storytime (Narellan)


• Thursday 19th January, 10am: BIBs (Camden)


• Thursday 19th January, 11am: Storytime (Camden)


• Friday 20th January, 10am: Storytime (Narellan)


• Friday 20th January, 11am: Storytime (Narellan)