From the Library

Libraries are a wonderful place to spend time. In this day and age, we don’t have to physically go to a library to access its resources. Hawker School Community Library is very fortunate to be a part of the One Place Network of Libraries SA, which allows us, a very small library in a very small town, to borrow books, magazines, audiobooks, ebooks, DVDs and CDs from right across the state. These can be physical, hard copy items, that travel from different libraries in a black box, finally arriving on our doorstep for you to borrow. Or, they can be in digital form, accessible on a tablet, smart phone or computer. We are very privileged to the technology that enables this to occur. The link below provides more information on how to access what is offered by Libraries SA online.

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During the school holidays, the Hawker School Community Library will be open at the normal school holiday times.

Library and Information Week 

As part of Library and Information Week this year, we joined with over 1 million children from around Australia and New Zealand and other parts of the world in a virtual storytime to listen to Lucinda Gifford read her book, Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas. When she finished reading, Lucinda showed us how to draw a chicken step by step. Check out the artwork some of the students created.

Premiers Reading Challenge 2020

As mentioned earlier in the year, the Premier’s Reading Challenge is happening again in 2020. Well done to those students who have already completed the challenge for the year and handed their forms in to me. The Challenge for this year concludes on Friday September 4 (Week 7, Term 3) and all Reading Records need to be handed to the library by then.

Our Year F-5 students have been involved in the STEM Reading and Design Challenge, which is part of the Premier’s Reading Challenge. The F-2 students had to draw a picture in response to one of the PRC STEM books we read and the 3-5 students had to plan an invention. They did this using Maker’s Empire, an app on the iPad that allows them to create 3D models. The students’ work will be forwarded to the PRC Department before the end of term and all students will receive a certificate of participation. I’m excited that our students can be involved in activities that students from other schools are also involved in.

Visual Arts 

Austrian-born artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser designed some amazing buildings, including Waldspirale in Damstadt Germany. This U-shaped building of 105 apartments has over 1,000 windows, each a unique shape. Through studying the work of Hundertwasser, the F-5 students have been observing how line, shape and form (Elements of Art) can be used to create artworks. They are finishing off the term’s work by creating their own 3-D buildings. 

Students in Years 6-9 have been looking at how the Elements of Art (line, colour, value, shape and texture) help create Balance (one of the Principles of Design in Visual Arts) in their artworks and the artworks of other artists. Understanding how the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design work together when creating an artwork gives students greater confidence when producing their own designs.

Digital Literacy

The Year 3-5 students have continued looking at the topic Migration: People on the Move. We are looking at this topic more personally now as the students have started planning to produce a Stop Motion Animation movie about the ‘migration’ experience of themselves or someone they know. They have begun creating their character by making a wire armature over which they are placing alfoil and masking tape before adding Claydough for the head and extremities and clothing for the body. If you want to know what Stop Motion Animation is, think of Shaun the Sheep or Wallace and Gromit. Creating these productions is no mean feat. A 30 sec video needs around 160 photos. Each photo needs to show a slight change in the movement of the character(s) in order to provide a smooth looking video. It’s exciting stuff.