To those of us who love to read, it is not news that libraries are magical places. Our LIS library is no exception. If you have never been by to peruse the heart of the school, make it a priority and you might just be lucky enough to encounter something magical happening there.
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This advent season two literary-minded CAS (Creativity Activity Service – see below) students have created an absolutely charming daily ritual for the primary children. These two girls have written a story called “An Evergreen Tale”. The story is divided into pages and each page is hung on a tree in the library. At lunch time every day a group of primary students gather to pluck the day’s page from the tree and take a step further in the story.
The older girls take turns to read the story out loud and engage the younger students in discussions about solutions to dilemmas in the narrative or where they think the story might be headed as well as asking questions about particular parts of the plot. Watching these interactions happen, this lived literacy and the spell bound faces of the young girls and boys is really incredible.
The authors of the story add the day’s page to folders that are left in the library for students who may have missed a day to read and catch up before the next reading. Students learning from and with one another, not to mention passing on a love and critical interaction with literature and narratives is another shining example of the wonderful things that happen at LIS on a daily basis.
To add to the magical setting, Grade 5 students who volunteer as library assistants in their morning break once a week have built and decorated a beautiful book tree out of old books that are being phased out of the collection. Complete with fairy lights, this lovely installation adds even more charm to this communal, creative, inviting shared space.
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