Welcome to Week 1 of the 2014 Premier’s Reading Challenge.

By now, your school will have received the PRC Participation Pack which contains:
•    One reading log and bookmark for each participating student
•    Stickers for reading logs (For the first 10 books completed by each student)
•    Student incentives
o    One wristband for each student
o    Tri colour pencils, magic paint pallet sheets and erasers – awarded by teachers to selected students for special achievement or effort during the Challenge
•    Posters - A4 size for each participating class and A3 posters for the library and school notice boards

PRC resources online

You can download any of the great PRC resources listed below anytime you need them from the Resources page.
•    Reading log
•    Extra sheet for reading log
•    Bookmark
•    A3 poster
•    e-certificates – two great designs for students who are making great progress or need that extra bit of encouragement
•    Information for teachers – A practical guide for the PRC in your school
•    Hints for writing a book review

Book reviews

The book reviews are now starting to roll in, which is very exciting! Please keep encouraging your students to continue to submit online book reviews throughout the challenge. Writing an online review is a great way for students to write about books they’ve read and to inspire others to read it.  Children must include a nickname for their book review to ensure that it can be published on the PRC website. Each week, the 6 best reviews will receive a $15 book voucher.

"5 minutes with..." author feature.

We have a new section on the website this year, “5 minutes with…”
A Tasmanian children’s author or illustrator is featured each week of the challenge.
Week one will feature Julie Hunt, author of The Coat, the 2013 The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) picture book of the year winner.

That’s all for this week, please feel free to forward these PRC updates to school staff.  You can find a pdf version here.
If you have any particular questions for the PRC team, please email us direct at prc@education.tas.gov.au
We wish you and your students all the best for the Challenge!

The PRC team

Hi PRC School Coordinators

Here we are in Week 2 of the 2014 Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Message from the Premier Will Hodgman
New on the PRC home page this week is a video message from Premier Will Hodgman, encouraging all Tasmanian students to not only take up the challenge this year, but also complete it! Please encourage your students to have a look at the video message.

School author visit winners
Congratulations to Strahan Primary School and Sacred Heart Catholic School, Ulverstone the lucky winners of a half day visit by award winning Tasmanian author Julie Hunt. Julie will be visiting these two schools in the first week in July.

Book reviews
Congratulations to our 6 winners from Week One, it’s really encouraging to see that reviews are being done by students of all grades.
We are enjoying reading the book reviews as they are submitted, some are very imaginative. So far we have had over 200 submitted!  Unfortunately, we cannot display a review on the website if we are unable to verify that an item exists.   

Featured author for week two                                                                                                                  Another Tasmanian author is featured on our website this week, why not spend 5 minutes with award winning author and illustrator Peter Gouldthorpe? Peter also created the intriguing self-portrait.

Weekly updates online
Remember that to help coordinators and teachers keep in touch with PRC news weekly updates will be made available on the PRC website. Just visit the Weekly Updates page under ‘Quick Links’ on the PRC website http://www.premiersreadingchallenge.tas.gov.au/weekly-updates   
That’s all for this week, please feel free to share these PRC updates with school staff.
If you have any particular questions for the PRC team, please email us direct at prc@education.tas.gov.au

Dear PRC School Coordinators
Week 3 of the 2014 Premier’s Reading Challenge

Book reviews                                                                                                                                   Congratulations to our 6 winners from week two; it’s really encouraging to see that reviews are being done by students of all ages. So far there have been winners from all around the state. The prizes for the winners from week one have been sent and should be arriving soon.
Sometimes we receive reviews for books we are unable to verify, unfortunately if we can’t verify that an item exists we can’t display it on the website.

Featured author for week three                                                                                                           This week our featured author is Ella Watkins , Ella is a young Tasmanian author, who had her first book published at age 12.

Weekly updates online                                                                                                                           To help coordinators and teachers keep in touch with PRC news, the weekly updates will be made available on the PRC website. Just visit the Weekly Updates page under ‘Quick Links’ on the PRC website. Please feel free to share these weekly PRC updates with school staff.
http://www.premiersreadingchallenge.tas.gov.au/weekly-updates   

If you have any particular questions for the PRC team, please email us direct at prc@education.tas.gov.au

From The PRC team

Dear PRC School Coordinators 

Week 5/6 of the 2014 Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Featured illustrator for week six

This week on the website we feature  Tony Flowers, the illustrator of the very popular Saurus Street and the new Billy is a dragon series written by Nick Falk.

Book reviews   

We rely on a team of moderators throughout the state to help read and upload the reviews we receive to the PRC website. We would not be able to manage the reviews without them; they are doing a great job.

So far we have received reviews from all over the state, from both state and independent schools as well as home educated students. We would love to get reviews from every school that has registered for the challenge.

Occasionally, we receive reviews that are unreadable or are judged by our moderators to be inappropriate (very occasionally), these reviews will not be uploaded to the website and are deleted.                                                                                     

Please feel free to share these weekly PRC updates with school staff.

If you have any particular questions for the PRC team, please email us direct at prc@education.tas.gov.au 

From The PRC team

Week 8 of the 2014 Premier’s Reading Challenge.

There are only two more weeks left of reading for the challenge this year! We want as many students to complete the challenge in 2014 as possible.

For those students also participating in the MS Readathon please note that any books read for the Readathon can also be counted towards the Premier’s Reading Challenge, and of course the other way round.
There is no read for students to read twice as many books, unless they want to.  

Featured author for week 8

On the website this week Lian Tanner was our featured author. Lian is a best-selling children's author whose fantasy trilogy, The Keepers is published in Australia, the USA and India, as well as being translated into eight languages.
Remember that the featured authors from previous weeks can be found in the 5 minutes with… section on the website.

Book reviews   

We have received some fantastic reviews this week; it is great to see reviews contributed from so many schools around the state. Please remind your students that there are six book voucher prizes to be won each week during the challenge!
Occasionally, we receive reviews that are unreadable or are judged by our moderators to be inappropriate (very occasionally); these reviews will not be uploaded to the website and are deleted.                                                                                     

Please feel free to share these weekly PRC updates with school staff.

If you have any particular questions for the PRC team, please email us direct at prc@education.tas.gov.au

From The PRC team

 

LINC Tasmania
Department of Education

www.premiersreadingchallenge.tas.gov.au
prc@education.tas.gov.au