Tag: Book Week (Page 2 of 5)

Book Week: Wrap up 2021

August 28, 2021 / Madison Dearnaley / 0 Comments

Book Week – Wrap Up 2021

Well, as I write this, I can hardly believe that Book Week is over. At the same time, I feel so tired it might as well be the end of the year.

I love Book Week. Love the buzz it brings to my school and library. Love the excitement it generates online. Love how it gives libraries, books and reading the spotlight they deserve. Love how my school’s marketing team suddenly want to talk about what’s happening in the Library because the Book Week tag is good for their SEO. But this year, Book Week kind of took a back seat for me.

In previous years, in previous roles, I’d shape my whole planning around Book Week, the theme and the activities I had planned for the year. My new role and the tasks I’ve taken on this year, along with the climate of sudden lockdowns and online learning challenged me to look at Book Week in a different light and to reevaluate my planning and approach to this very special week.

Not top priority this year

Book Week: Easy costume ideas you can make with things around the house

August 22, 2021 / Madison Dearnaley / 0 Comments

Book Week – Easy costume ideas you can make with things around the house

Book Week, one of the biggest literary events in the calendar. The feature of many a Book Week celebration is a book character dress-up parade. But finding a costume, especially at the last minute, isn’t always easy. Book Week, especially the costume parades, can be particularly stressful for parents, students and staff. It seems there is always a last minute rush for costume ideas. It’s a busy time of the year and having a costume you can pull together with things you’ll find around the house is handy.

Here are some simple costume ideas you can make with things around the house.

Book Week: Easy costume ideas from things in your wardrobe

August 1, 2021 / Madison Dearnaley / 3 Comments

Book Week – Easy costume ideas from things in your wardrobe

I love Book Week. Maybe as a teacher librarian that would be obvious but I also know it’s a high-stress and very busy time. Book Week is all about celebrating reading, Australian literature and libraries. However, I have seen first hand when the stress and requirements of the big events can overwhelm the joy.

I personally and strongly believe that Book Week should be fun for everyone. But I know that might not always be the case. Time and time again I have seen that the most stressful element of Book Week celebrations are often the character dress-ups. On the other hand, these character parades are often the highlight of Book Week celebrations. The joy of seeing the children and teen’s faces as they celebrate all things books and reading is so worth it. If we can make costumes easier, hopefully Book Week will be easier for parents, students and staff.

Book Week 2021: Useful Links

March 6, 2021 / Madison Dearnaley / 0 Comments

Book Week 2021 – Useful Links

I love Book Week. Working across a few libraries in the past few years, I have found that despite the different cultures and focus of each library, Book Week remained the highlight of the library calendar. Yet, despite the fun, it does take a lot of work and a lot of planning. Fortunately, there are lots of resources available to help.

The theme for Book Week 2021 is Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds. #OWNWOW

When pulling together a plan for Book Week, it can be a little overwhelming, so I am sharing a few helpful links I’ve come across.

Book Week: Announcing a New Pinterest Board

February 15, 2021 / Madison Dearnaley / 0 Comments

Book Week – Announcing a New Pinterest Board

A few months ago I launched a new Facebook group, where school library enthusiasts could connect chat about their plans for Book Week. If you would like to join our growing group, please find us under Aussie Book Week: Displays, Events, Activities and Planning

However, I realise that Facebook isn’t everyone’s thing (it’s not really my thing either, if I am honest) so I also created a shared Pinterest Board. https://www.pinterest.com.au/madisonslibrary/aussie-book-week/ Hopefully this board will give the team on Facebook as well as those who do not wish to use Facebook a place to join and share ideas about Book Week.

Just request to join the board and start pinning.

Please leave any suggestions for the Group or Board, comments or ideas and feedback below. This is an experiment that I hopes help us coordinate a massive event and makes it a little easier for library staff. All feedback welcomed.

Book Week: Announcing a New Facebook Group

January 3, 2021 / Madison Dearnaley / 1 Comment

Book Week – Announcing a New Facebook Group

As a school librarian, I’ve always wanted a place to connect with other library staff and chat about plans for Book Week. How were they interpreting the theme? Did they run a Book Fair every Book Week? What sort of activities did they run each year?

This year, I decided to try a Facebook Group, thanks to a comment someone shared about having a collaborative space to share ideas. I have created this Group for like-minded library staff and teachers and book professionals to share ideas, inspiration and other details about Book Week. You will find it under Aussie Book Week: Displays, Events, Activities and Planning

You can request to join the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/aussiebookweek

Please leave any suggestions for the Group, comments or ideas and feedback below. This is an experiment that I hopes help us coordinate a massive event and makes it a little easier for library staff. All feedback welcomed. And if Facebook isn’t your thing (coz it’s really, really not my thing), let me know if another platform might suit you – perhaps we could create a collaborative Pinterest board?

Book Week 2021: Theme Announcement

November 6, 2020 / Madison Dearnaley / 6 Comments

Book Week 2021

Ready or not, here it comes. Are you ready for Book Week 2021? No one could have predicted everything that 2020 threw at us. Let’s hope 2021 is a little more predictable – in a good way. And there is nothing better than locking in Book Week and marking it in big, bright letters on your calendar. Book Week 2021 has returned to it’s usual late August date. And the theme for Book Week 2021 has already been announced –

Book Week 2021 will run from the 21st to the 27th of August 2021. See the official theme announcement here.

Book Week 2020: Activity Ideas

October 14, 2020 / Madison Dearnaley / 0 Comments

Book Week 2020 – Activity Ideas

I don’t know about you, but Book Week has kind of snuck up on me this year. I went from super organised to, oh, it’s not happening until October, I’ll prepare later. The new dates means Book Week is being celebrated in the three schools I am working in this year from 17th to the 23rd of October.

More details are available on the CBCA website.

Here are some of the ideas for activities during, before (and maybe even after) Book Week this year. Most of them are pretty easy to throw together, especially if you are in a rush like I was.

Display Ideas

Story Box Library Activity Pack

God bless the team at Story Box Library. They send out a link to the most AMAZING teacher resource kit for Book Week. Download it here. It is chock full of amazing activity ideas. I have done the Solve A Curious Message in two of my schools. The students are LOVING it. They might be going a little crazing trying to solve them all! I cut out the 11 clues and stuck them up around the library, so the students must first find and then solve each of the 11 puzzles. And they are not easy. The students have been reading the shortlist books to find the answers, teaming up and generally having lots of fun.

The kit also includes a digital escape room plan, a letter template for writing to a curious creature, and so much more.

Ramblings: Exciting Term 4 2020 Updates

October 13, 2020 / Madison Dearnaley / 0 Comments

Exciting Term 4, 2020 Updates

I know 2020 has been a massive, scary, horrible year for many. I have been blessed to ride through 2020 pretty smoothly, thanks to some wonderful employers and a great country in which to live.

Term 4, 2020 is set to be massive for those of us in Australia (and for many around the world, no doubt). I am so pleased to say that I have taken on a Teacher Librarian contract for Term 4, working in the most beautiful junior school library. This means I am working across 3 schools during Term 4, 4 days a week as teacher librarian and 1 as a library aide. It’s going to be a very busy, but very exciting term.

Here are just a few of the exciting things that are happening in Term 4 to get involved with.

CBCA Book Week

Book Week 2020: Display Ideas

June 10, 2020 / Madison Dearnaley / 0 Comments

Book Week 2020 – Display Ideas

The theme for Book Week 2020 has been announced – Curious Creatures, Wild Minds. Due to COVID-19, the usual date of late August has been changed. Book Week will be celebrated from the 17th to the 23rd of October.

More details are available on the CBCA website.

The delayed date will allow us to hopefully bring students together again to celebrate. It will be lovely after the experiences of COVID-19. Whether you plan to celebrate Book Week at the original August date, the new October date or another week completely, here are a few ideas for starting your display planning.

Display Ideas

Welcome to the Jungle

The theme this year lends itself very well to all things jungle and wild animals.

I created this Jungle themed display a few years ago. The lettering was a combinator of various styles from Instant Display. I cut the green leaves from paper (hand cutting back then, before we got our library Cricut machine) and made the vines with scrunched up green tissue paper and stapled on leaf cutouts. Hidden amongst the leaves is an animal alphabet I found in the school secondhand stall and some student-made animal creations.

Tag: Book Week (Page 2 of 5)

Book Week: Wrap up 2021