Book Week 2015: Books Light Up Our World

How darned great is this year’s Book Week theme?! Jackie, Best Teaching Partner Ever (BTPE) and makerspace aficionado, is rather excited about the electronic circuity possibilities and envisages very many lightbulb activities, she is also working on a rotational activity using Scratch and Scratch Jnr to code some exploding fireworks (could we explode books too J?!) and my mum has made several artists books lamps for her library – which I really think she should share with me.

Every year for as long as I can remember the Ipswich District Teacher Librarian Network (IDTLN) has written and published their much-adored Book Week book – used by classroom teachers and TL’s throughout Australia, and increasingly, internationally. I’ve been a contributor to the book for many years now, and this year I was asked to join the editing team. Did they not KNOW about my apostrophe issues?! Of course I said YES, because clearly I need more things to do in my life and because, in all seriousness the IDTLN is THE BEST, the most innovative and most active TL network in Australia – lead by Jenny Stubbs, who clearly never turns off that brain of hers.

I would not be the TL that I am today, nor would I adore my job quite so much, without my mentors in this profession: my art teacher turned TL mum (she doesn’t overly love being called ‘mum’ on here nor at conferences where I apparently yell ‘muuuuuuuum’ when I lose her – her name is Robyn Dean and she is one fine TL); XYZ who also was BTPE’s mentor; and the members of IDTLN,  especially ‘fearless leader’ Jenny Stubbs.

Over the next few months you will be seeing the Story Arts Festival Ipswich (SAFI) mentioned on here quite a bit – we members of the IDTLN run this festival biannually, using funds we raise from the publication of our yearly book. SAFI is one of the best (I think the best) children’s lit festivals in the country.

But for today- it’s all about Book Week. I’ve got a few ‘teasers’ below of what is inside the IDTLN Book Week publication this year. This is not a sponsored post in the slightest – helllloooo voluntary work! It was ridiculously hard to share just a few activities from this years’ book – I really wanted to share the ‘Two Wolves’ ones and all the ‘Book Hooks’ that have been done for the OR category. If you have not already ordered your copy, you can do that here.

Books Light up Our World Lighthouses – makerspace activity. Full instructions for this circuity activity are in the book, the examples below I made with my own children (3 and 7 years old) and some random children (9 – 11 years old) I found wandering around last holidays.

Books Light up Our World Artists Books – makerspace activity. Full instructions for mum’s artists book inspired lamps are in the book – as well as photographs of her library tech’s display for Book Week this year.

My own personal favourite book in the early childhood category this year is ‘The Cleo Stories: The Necklace and The Present’ by Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood, and not just because PudStar is pretty much Cleo. There are a number of great activities in the IDTL book this year around this book. PudStar and ChickPea are rather desperate for tattoos (thank you Eden Riley!) but they have been appeased with this temporary tattoo activity, and the designing of necklaces activity (creating a necklace on a photograph of themselves). By Book Week I think PudStar will have an entire collection, ready for fashion week. If I were a fashion blogger I would know when fashion week is, but I’m a TL and I only know when Book Week is.

‘Pig the Pug’ by Aaron Blabley – well duh, CLEARLY with ‘Pig the Pug’ being on the shortlist this year every TL in the country will be sharing their secret love of Pugs with their school community. Typo is awash with pug projects at the moment and I may or may not have made several trips there recently to purchase one or two pug products – I’ve been sharing all my photographs on Instagram and Facebook. The pug bookmarks below are a BLM in the IDTLN book and so far I’ve made them with our Prep –Year Three students, but the Year Six classes have bribed me into letting them make some this coming week.

‘A house of Her Own’ by Jenny Hughes and Jonathan Bentley– PudStar absolutely loved designing her own treehouse – this BLM is in the book. I think Pud has done three versions now and I reckon she’ll have done five by the time we get to Book Week.

‘The Stone Lion’ by Ritva Voutila and Margaret Wild– oh my glory how I love the activities for this book – just look at those little lion faces! Actually…I can’t show you the photographs as I lost the SD card – seriously they are such tiny things, and I am so hopeless with tiny things!  Photos in the book. Sorry!

Get on it. Buy the IDTLN book here. Bossy aren’t I?