Parents | Western Downs Libraries

Apr, 2020

Storytime at home

By: Renee Rogers | Tags: storytime, storytime at home | Comments: 0

We miss our Storytime families! We love picking out our favourite books and anticipating how much your kids will love it too. We love singing and playing and laughing at Storytime; clapping and cheering as a baby meets a new milestone and we’re so proud when they head off to school. We love fostering a love of books- after all, that’s why we do what we do! If you miss Storytime as much as we do, check out our collection of Storytime at Home kits. All of the fun of […]

Apr, 2020

Kanopy- Free online movies

By: Sarah Stiller | Tags: | Comments: 0

Make sure to check out one of our favourite online resources, Kanopy! Kanopy is a platform that lets you watch movies and TV shows absolutely free with your Western Downs Libraries Card. Watch up to 10 movies a month, or unlimited content from Kanopy Kids. Choose from a huge range of award winning movies, tv shows, documentaries and kids content and watch online for free! Not a Western Downs Libraries member? No worries! It’s free and you can join today. Head to Kanopy now, or check out our other online […]

Mar, 2020

Story Box Library

By: Vanessa Ernst | Tags: | Comments: 0

Storytime at Home Free and Online Story Box Library is an engaging educational resource that inspires reading in kids of all ages, improving language and literacy skills along the way. Story Box Library was created to: Engage children with stories and voices to make personal connections develop vital language and literacy skills combat endless online searching for quality literacy resources; and get kids excited about reading and let imaginations fly! Best of all, it’s free for families via participating public libraries (that’s us)! See and hear your favourite stories come to life, […]

Mar, 2020

The benefits of listening to audiobooks are extensive…

By: Janette Quince | Tags: bell, Chinchilla Library, dalby library, Early Literacy, education, first five forever, Jandowae Library | Comments: 0

Available online for free through BorrowBox or RB Digital Audiobooks are immersive, educational, instructional, entertaining and they’re perfect for the time rich and the time poor. Audiobooks can also change the way we listen, read and learn, improving the literacy of young readers and those for whom English is a second language. There are plenty of benefits to regularly listening to audiobooks, including: Increasing reading accuracy by 52% Increasing reading speed, expanding vocabulary and improving fluency Teaching pronunciation Improving comprehension by 76%; and Increasing test scores by 21% when engaged in multi-modal learning. […]

Mar, 2020

Encyclopedia Britannica free and online

By: Lisa Harth | Tags: | Comments: 0

A one-stop, concise, authoritative, user-friendly source of reference materials is now at your personal disposal – all you need is your Western Downs Libraries membership card. Watch the video to get started.

Jul, 2019

What’s on Trevor’s bookshelf!

By: Janette Quince | Tags: children, dalby, dalby library, Early Literacy, education, first five forever, reading, storytime, storytime for bubs, Storytime for Kids | Comments: 0

How did Trevor get so clever? Well he reads books – lots of books. His favourite non-fiction book is The Big Book of Tricks for the Best Dog Ever by Larry Kay and Chris Perondi and Teach My Dog to do That by Jo-Rosie Haffenden. He also loves the book Lucky Dog Lessons by Brandon McMillan and Dog Training 101 by Kyra Sundance. Trevor also loves picture books and his favourite ones are the Pig the Pug series – yes, he is named after Pig’s best friend. Trevor also loves […]

Feb, 2019

Let’s talk about Conversational Reading

By: dalbywordpress | Tags: books, dalby, dalby library, education, family, first five forever, reading, storytime | Comments: 0

Children are actively involved in conversation reading. Conversational reading goes back-and-forth. The child does not always have to talk in the “conversation”. He can take part by looking and by pointing. Ask your child to respond on three levels – See, Show and Say. Step 1: See – watch your baby’s eyes. Does she look where you point? Name anything your child sees or touches in the book. Say the key word first. Then, point to and name pictures or words your child is not looking at. Point to lots […]

Feb, 2019

Rosie and Don are back

By: dalbywordpress | Tags: Australiana, books, dalby library, education, great reads, New Releases, review | Comments: 0

Lovers of The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect will be happy to see that Graeme Simsion has released a third book The Rosie Result featuring the unlikely couple of Rosie and Don Tillman. Rosie and Don have moved back to Melbourne after a decade in New York and their son Hudson is now 11 years old. Hudson is struggling at school: he’s socially awkward, not fitting in and his parents suspect he has Autism. Don, having spent a lifetime trying to fit in and manage his own idiosyncrasies, embarks on The Hudson Project in […]

Aug, 2018

Solving problems through books: Bibliotherapy

By: dalbywordpress | Tags: books, dalby library, Early Literacy, education, family, first five forever, reading, storytime, Storytime for Toddlers | Comments: 0

Reading can and often does serve as a tool for personal growth and adjustment. Reading frequently helps the reader to accept himself for what he is, to obtain insights into his own problems, and to evaluate his own strengths and weaknesses. Almost everyone has to face some personal problems. These range from the trivial distress caused by straight or unkept hair to the tragic loss of hearing or eyesight. There are a myriad of problems that may be an issue for your child. Perhaps through reading about problems that children […]

Aug, 2017

What is marginalia?

By: dalbywordpress | Tags: bell, bell library, books, Chinchilla Library, dalby, dalby library, first five forever, friends, storytime, storytime for bubs | Comments: 0

For centuries, readers have inscribed books with handwritten marginal notes, or marginalia. These annotations can serve as ownership indicators, inscriptions, study notes, summaries, or they can facilitate what has been described as social reading in which two or more readers discuss the book’s contents in a margin-based conversation. Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined the term marginalia to encompass all such annotations, but the practice is as old as the printed book and even older: marginalia have been found in scrolls painstakingly copied down by medieval monks. Marginalia can serve […]