Starting in Kindergarten, if a student reads 20 minutes a day at home, they will hear 1.8 million words per year. They will have read for 851 hours by Year 6 and on standardised tests, they will likely score better than 90% of their peers. 

This is compelling data on the benefits of encouraging your child to read.

So how can we get our children off to a great start in reading? Children need to be surrounded with books, all kinds of books, and given the opportunity to read them everyday. Daily reading helps the brain make connections between the written and spoken word, widening vocabulary in the process. 

Children need to be having conversations about what they are reading. Learning to read begins with talking. It is in the context of engaged conversations that children expand their vocabularies, increase their understanding of the world, learn about themselves, and learn the nuances of the English language. 

Children require abundant demonstrations on the structure and features of texts, how to use texts for different purposes and how to access the information in them. Children's desire to read independently grows out of having been read to by someone; a parent, sibling, grandparent or teacher. Studies have found that reading to children of any age, awakens a number of regions in the left part of the brain. The areas in the brain that become active involve understanding the meaning of words and concepts tied to memory. 

Through daily reading, children are exposed to a world outside their own reality. It expands their know-how, opens their minds and creates the potential for a continuation of ideas and an endless number of possibilities. 

Learning to read takes practise. Loving to read takes enthusiasm!

God bless and take care,

Below you will find information for two useful resources. The first resource is from MultiLit and is a fact sheet of helpful hints when reading a book with your child. The second resource is an online library e-Resource called SORA that our students have access to. You will find information on how to access this library below.

Sora eBooks and Audiobooks

The ACEN (Australian Catholic Education Network) Sora eBook and audiobook service is available for access by students and parents 24/7 from school, home or any location.

Sora includes a large collection of eBooks and audio-books for students of all year levels, as well as adults.  The collection includes fiction, as well as non-fiction titles related to Australian curriculum topics.

Sora Link

Visit the link below to download the free Sora app from the Apple and Google Play stores on a mobile device.

When asked to search for a library, click to search by ‘Name’, not location, and then search for ‘ACEN’. 

Sora may be accessed from any tablet, laptop, mobile phone, desktop computer, or loaded onto eReaders for offline reading. 

The ACEN Sora site is sponsored by a consortium of Catholic dioceses throughout Australia and coordinated by CENet (Catholic Education Network Australia) in conjunction with Softlink International and the Overdrive distributor.

Logging on to Sora

Students are able to log on to Sora using their school computer network login Username and Password.  They have been linked to their CENet membership number for authentication to Sora, so loans will be possible. 

• The CENet login window will appear the first time a user logs in to Overdrive. 
• Type in the student’s computer network username and password.
• The Overdrive site will appear with the student’s own account details. 

Sora Site Features

• Favorite titles will be displayed.  Click on a title icon to borrow it, or use the Search window to find a particular title or author’s books.
• Borrower’s title checkout limits and holds are displayed in your account. 
• Titles are borrowed for 14 days and may be renewed.  Titles disappear following the borrowing period.
• Holds may be put on titles that are currently on loan to other borrowers.
• Titles may be read in the browser, or returned by clicking the Return button.
• After the title is opened on the screen, click at the bottom of the screen near the middle to display icons at the top of the screen and a list of options on the left. 
• Other features are available for searching for particular titles and groups of titles.  Explore Advanced Search.

Title Access Year Levels

Titles in the Sora collection have been given access year level ratings, so students will only be able to borrow titles rated for their level or below.  Students will see all available titles in Sora, but titles not able to be borrowed will be greyed out. Eg. Year 3 students will not be able to borrow Adult level titles.

Title Access Rating Levels:

• Juvenile     (Yr. K-6)
• Young Adult (Yr. 7-8)
• Adult          (Yr. 9–12)

Parental Access to Sora

Parents may access Sora using their child’s computer network Overdrive login details.  The child’s borrowing limit of 3 titles still applies. Unfortunately, parents will not be able to borrow titles that are above their child’s access level.  Eg. If the child is a Year 6 student, parents will not be able to borrow Adult level books, only Juvenile level books.