What is Atlas?
Do you have an enthusiastic writer, or a writer that needs a little inspiration? How about a child that loves art, or books? Have you heard about the Atlas program run through the NSW State Library? It is free to join, and gives your young learner access to three different clubs.
- Young Writers Club
- Art Club
- Book Lovers Club
Let’s take a look at each club in the Atlas program.
Young Writers Club
The Young Writers Club runs fortnightly during term time. At the moment, it’s on a Wednesday at 4pm and goes for an hour. Children can’t see or hear each other during the live session, but they can interact with the hosts through the Zoom chat function. It is fantastic, and I’m so thankful that the NSW State Library takes the time to offer this to kids around Australia. The two friendly hosts walk the children through creating a detailed and interesting story. This term has been all about time travel!
Here are some snippets of the printables sent out each fortnight ~
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As you can see, children are encouraged to make their writing more exciting through sensory writing prompts, and by imagining the emotions the characters would be feeling as they move through the scenes of the story. These prompts really get the kids thinking, and we sometimes have great fun as a family imagining weird and wacky twists in the story together.
After each Young Writers Club session, children can upload their writing on an online platform to be displayed on the Atlas website. Aspiring little authors actually get to experience their writing being published! So good!
It gets even better for those of you who live in New South Wales. If you have a NSW postcode, the State Library will mail you a starter pack for Young Writers Club in the mail. I don’t know what’s in there, because we are Brisbane based, but I’m sure it’s fun for the kids to receive. Also, they run in person events at the library exclusively for Atlas members. There is an Atlas Extravaganza coming up in October that looks fantastic. I considered flying down for the day from Brisbane to attend the full-day event, because hey, we’re homeschoolers with a flexible schedule, so why not? Alas, no flight tickets on sale for October though. Maybe next time.
The Young Writers Club advertises itself as suitable for 5-15 year olds. I have to say that I don’t think many, if any, five year olds would be able to keep up with the pace of the online club, or the plot lines. Grades three and up should be okay, but if you have a younger child that loves writing and doesn’t mind a challenge, why not give it a try?
Art Club
Next up, is Art Club. This club only runs monthly, so twice a term. Currently, it meets on Thursdays at 4pm and runs for an hour. Andrea, the lady who runs this club puts in a massive amount of effort, and her passion for art, and the children she’s working with really shows. Again, cameras and mics are off during the live club, but the children can interact with the host through the Zoom chat function. At the start of each club, all the art works the children have sent in throughout the month are shown to everybody else. It’s nice for the kids who have made the effort to see their work on display. The host might show some interesting pieces from the library collection and discuss them, if they are related to the art work.
This term, the theme has been families. The children have used black and white photos to create a unique family photo art. They also made memory boxes from paper to store treasures in. Afterwards, Andrea sends an e-mail reminding the children about what they looked at in Art Club, and may give an extra drawing activity using the mug challenge. What is the mug challenge? I’ll keep this very cool idea a surprise! It has been great fun.
The Art Club is aimed at primary school-aged children. I think most kids could keep up in Art Club. If not, they can always participate and do the actual art work with an older helper afterwards.
The Book Lovers Club
We haven’t joined this club in Atlas yet. It looks wonderful for kids who are interested in interacting with real life published authors. They have the opportunity to ask a special guest author all about their books, and hear a little about what is involved in a writing career. It runs twice a term.
To access these clubs, you first need to sign up for Atlas and decide which clubs you would like to join. After that, you will receive an e-mail each morning the club is running with instructions and any necessary printables. This e-mail will also contain the Zoom link and password for you to login to the club when it starts. If you have a young learner that might be interested in joining Atlas, you can find more about the program and register here – https://atlas.sl.nsw.gov.au/
God bless!
