Book Week 2009

A READING SAFARI CHALLENGE...

Developed and Written by Mandie Gardiner Teacher Librarian - St Michael's College

TASK:

This Reading Safari will take you on a tour of some of Australia’s most famous tourist destinations. Your task is to collect the letters required to spell out a secret message. You will complete a book related activity at each destination as well as a small research task and this will earn you the letters you need to spell out the message. Once you think you have the correct message, you must email your answer to Mrs Gardiner. If you are correct you will receive your Certificate of Completion.

PROCEDURE:

You must visit the following destinations. Once there, complete one of the book related activities and then use the links provided to locate ONE interesting fact about an animal or animals that live in that destination to record on your Safari Sheet. Once you have completed these tasks you will receive a set of letters. These need to be kept safely in the envelope provided.  

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BOOK ACTIVITIES:

Choose ONE book activity for each destination you visit. You should have completed 8 different activities by the time you have been to all the destinations.

1.  Choose one of the shortlisted Picture Book titles. Using the OPAC, search for the illustrators name and list other titles we have in the Library by this person. Locate one of these titles and read it. Are the images and topics similar to the shortlisted title? Share your findings with the class.

2. Design an A4 poster for display in the Library using one of the shortlisted authors or illustrators as the focus. You should include a variety of their texts on the poster as well as a short biography. This may be created on the computer.

3. Create a Wordle using the text from one of the shortlisted EC books. Type the text, including the name of the author and the illustrator into a Word document, then copy it into Wordle. Change the design and colour to suit the feel of the book. Make sure you include 'all the common words' from the Language menu. Print the Wordle for display in the Library.

4. Write a review of one of the shortlisted titles. Use the review sheet linked here to help you plan your writing.

5. *Be an Art Critic. Select one of the Early Childhood or Picture Books and complete the worksheet attached here.

6. Using your Library OPAC and the knowledge you have of the books in the school collection, complete a Book Alphabet Chart. Using a piece of A4 paper or by creating a document in Word, list all the letters in the alphabet and then locate one book that starts with each of the letters. A sample Alphabet Chart is linked here.

(You will get bonus letters if more than half the list are present and/or past years shortlisted titles)

7. Design a Bookmark using Word or Publisher to celebrate this year's Book Week using the theme Reading Safari. Print the Bookmarks onto card and distribute to your class.

8. *Imagine you have won the Book of the Year. Your local newspaper wants to know all about you, so write a short article about yourself as well as something about the book you have written. Remember to include a picture of yourself.

9. *Think about the importance of a cover. Examine the shortlisted books to see what is included on a cover. eg: title and author/illustrator as well as an eye catching image. Choose one of the shortlist titles and design a new cover for it. This activity may be done using Paint, Word or Publisher.

10/11. Prepare a digital story using Photostory and Audacity. Record the *Going on a Book Hunt song attached here, using Audacity, or another recording program. Locate images from clip art that suit the song and save them together into a folder. Import the sound file from Audacity as a .wav and then upload the images into Photostory.  Using the editing options in Photostory create your story. You will need to match the timings of the song to the pictures.

(As this is a large task, teachers may choose to let this count for 2 completed activities.)

12. Link to the slideshow creator at slide.com to create a slideshow celebrating Book Week similar to the one at the top of this page. Once created, the slideshow needs to be embedded into a website or Wiki such as this. Your teacher will be able to help you with this.

(If you have trouble finding somewhere to host your slideshow, email me and I will give you some suggestions.)

*ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: 

Campbell, J (2004). Best Books 2004. Sydney: Scholastic.

Sheahan-Bright, R (2002). Book Week. Sydney: Scholastic.

Witheyman-Crump, & Stubbs (ed), (2009) Book Safari. Ipswich: Ipswich District Teacher-Librarian Network

RESEARCH LINKS:

Use the links below to locate ONE interesting new fact about an animal from each destination you visit.

INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS: 

Documents that you and your students will need to complete the Challenge are linked below. The jumbled letters document has been password protected so please email me for this.

Teachers should print one jumbled letters list per participating student and hand out letters on the completion of each book activity.

There are 8 activities and 27 letters. A recommended system of letters would be 3-3-3-3-3-4-4-4.

Reading Safari Map         Jumbled Letters           Reading Safari Destination Facts          Reading Safari Certificate