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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

A new addition to the Library

Library Cats
It is a tradition that libraries have cats. Recently I was browsing on e-bay when I found the perfect cat for our library. It is now a part of our library.

There is a website dedicated to library cats around the world. Eventually I would like our cat to be a part of this website.



The idea is that this term the cat will be stimulus to generate interest in the library. It is a way for me to involve teachers in the library and to demonstrate that a teacher-librarian can do more than keep reinforcing the Dewey system and the location of resources in a library. After I explained the plan the teachers have been quite enthusiastic about the idea. One teacher has even changed her focus for the term to be Pets which was not her original plan, so that is a positive step.

This term we will be exploring the literature about cats from T.S. Elliot to fables, stories and nursery rhymes. We will look at Matthew Flinders’ cat – Trim and other famous cats in history.

As yet the library cat is unmanned and has no history. The task for the children this term is to write a story about the previous lives of this cat and to give it a name. The children could do anything really on the cat theme, from care of cats, cat poetry, cat illustrations – the ideas are endless. We will be entering into our local story writing competition with the culmination and awards in Book Week in August.

Each term I will use the cat as a stimulus and reward for good borrowers, helpers etc. and the cat can go home with a student for the holidays.

This term I am also working with the students in the computer lab – another positive step, as I did not have access to the lab last term, but with a bit of class timetable rearrangements I am able to use the lab for some research topics now. I have put together a small website for this terms activities, and some links that I will use for Cats and their Adventures.
Cat Stuff Library
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T S. Elliott
Trim the cat - the story of his voyage
Trim the remarkable cat
More on Trim

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