Genres and Holidays!

It has been a busy time in the Library just lately. Along with all the usual end of year cleaning, sorting and reorganising - we pick now to decide to catalogue all the SOSE and English resources and put them into genres.  I guess it comes under sorting and reorganising!

All of the resources are now catalogued so they can be checked out properly (and we can keep a better track of who has them) and have been placed into genres.  The idea being that if you are looking for poetry or drama for example - you just have to check that area.  We hope it will make it a lot easier for all.

So you will now find all of SOSE and English resources in their special category - Poetry, Drama, Reading, Financial Literacy, Citizenship, Techitracy and so on.  It will be a good way to start 2013.

As this is our last day of term - I would just like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. 

Look forward to doing it all again next year.

New Fiction Books

There has been some new arrivals of Fiction books in the Library in the last week or so, which are all now processed and on the display shelves for loan.

Some of the titles include:

'Vulpi' - Kate Gordon.  

This is the second one in the series and is just as brilliant as the first.  It is all about shapeshifters - Tasmanian tigers and Tasmanian devils along with foxes from England.  Lots of battles, blood and friendships.  Awesome.

'Little Manfred' - Michael Morpurgo

This book tells the story of two prisoners of war and talks about how people could help each other even when they were enemies.  At the end of the story, we move forward in time to 1991 when a dog carved from apple wood was given to the Imperial museum.  This is based on a true story.

Ned Kelly's Secret' - Sophie Masson

Hugo and his father are travelling through Australia, hunting up tales of the gold rush. But when they are ambushed on the road by the notorious outlaw, Harry Power, they decide to chase up stories of bushrangers instead.  
In Benalla, Hugo makes friends with a boy from the bush... a boy who is brave, bold and will do anything for his family... 15 year old Ned Kelly.

Rise of Nine' - Pittacus Lore

When the nine Loriens first arrived on Eaarth, a powerful charm prevented them from being killed out of order by the evil Mogadorians.  However, that all changed once Numbers Four and Six combined forces.  This partnership led to the discovery of more Loriens, Numbers Seven and Nine and in a surprise twist, Number Ten.  The fact that they are working together doesn’t mean that they will survive and it turns out that there is some unfinished business to take care of.

'Inside out and Back again' - Thanhha Lai

Readers should know that this book is written in a series of short verse poems, which are easy to read, fast-paced, descriptive, and poignant. Though it is never preachy or instructional, the short verse poems give much information about life in Vietnam, including the foods, clothing, traditions, the encroaching war, some politics, family structure, and much more. 
Readers will also learn about life as an immigrant as Ha struggles with a new language, eats new foods, meets new kids, deals with attitudes toward Vietnamese immigrants  -- and tries to blend Vietnamese customs with new American customs.

Come and give these a try - or there are plenty more new titles on display.  If there is something in particular that you would like, just ask us and we will do our best to try to find it for you.

Year 7s and Speed Dating with Books

Last week of Library Lessons for Year 7s - and today was Speed Dating with books.

We covered all the tables with a huge selection of books.  This included Fiction across all genres, and a wide range of Non-Fiction.  There were also a number of Picture Books and Graphic Novels for our lower literacy students.

The class was handed a sheet to be filled in with the title of the book, the author and then a rating.  Truly, Madly, Deeply if you REALLY wanted to read this book, Maybe Another Night Darling if it was okay and Sorry, not my type if it didn't interest you.

They had about 3-4 mins to grab a book, check out the cover and read the blurb and then scan a few pages - and make a decision.  Then they moved to another table and another book and continued on. 

At the end of an hour most of them had rated around 20 books and there were lots of comments about the different stories, genres and some of the non-fiction materials. 

A few students wanted to know why we had 'true' stories in the fiction area instead of the non-fiction, so we explained that it was a fiction story based on something that had really happened - so it wasn't ALL true, just some of it.

One little cherub asked 'So how do you tell then Miss - just make a clever guess?' He looked a little shaken when we told him we read them.  'What, ALL of them?' 'Yes' 'Ahh never mind, Miss - bet they have to pay you REAL good for that' 
You have to love Year 7s.

Carrie and I have enjoyed our lessons with the Year 7s and hopefully they will remember some of the basics.  At the very least, we hope to see lots of them in here borrowing books, reading magazines and hanging out.

Library Classes and QR Codes

Well, we are into week 3 of our Library classes and we have had a few successes.

The QR Code Hunt in week 2 was very popular - I'm not sure whether it was the iPads or the QR code hunt itself, but the students got right into it.

We had 22 QR codes pinned up around the Library and they used the iPads to read the codes and then answered the questions that came up on the screen.  It was a fun way of them getting to know the layout of the Library and some of the different resources available here.

With all the free QR code generators out there it is so easy to make up your own QR codes with whatever you want the students to learn or revise - and they love it.  The senior students in the Library watched it all happen and are now asking questions about QR codes and checking out the magazines and book trailers using the codes. 

Just to give you a idea of what I am talking about, read the QR code here and send us a comment with the answer to the question.  You can download a free QR code reader onto your iPhone or smart phone - quite handy as most magazines, books etc all provide loads of information via QR codes.

This week has been about research skills and using Boolean operators to refine your search.  I think the highlight there was sticking words to the window - way out of my reach as they are at least as tall than me, and can jump higher -  but hey, whatever works for them.  Obviously they learnt something as well because no-one had a problem with the worksheet.  (And I found a Year 9 student to get all the words off the window for me!)

We have just finished processing a pile of new fiction books which are now on display and ready for borrowing.  So come and take a look.  If there is something particular that you would like, come and talk to us and we will do our best to get hold of it for you.

Have an awesome week.

School Holidays and Stocktake.

Well, we are on school holidays for the next four weeks - actually 3 now as we have spent the first week of the break stocktaking the collection.  This includes everything in the Library, the storeroom and the Bookroom in F block.  (And I just realised we forgot all the resources in Science!) Looks like we are back on Monday to finish the job. 

The job has also meant lots of cleaning, reorganising and some new ideas for displaying said resources.  Everything feels fresher and more inviting, and hopefully the staff and students will feel the same way.

Next task on the agenda is to get the Library and Literacy lessons ready to go for the Year 7s.  We have been updating the program and trying to make it more technology based.  I have been taking part in the Web 2 course provided by Syba Signs so we have lots of new ideas to play around with.  We are looking forward to trying them out with the students.

Hope everyone is enjoying their break.  See you all again in 3 weeks time.

United Nations & Library Lessons

Lots of work has been happening in the Library recently - especially with the end of Semester 1 on the horizon.  Even though 4 weeks break is coming up fast, there is lots still to do and some very busy little bee's working hard.

 After a visit from the UN Youth delegation, the Year 10s have been learning about the United Nations as well as Human Rights issues and have begun to put together a display in the Library. Their task is to have an in depth look at human rights ledgers.

Coming up next semester is a display on the 2012 Olympics, and we are also in the throes of creating a brand new and improved Year seven library lesson program. QR codes, Wordles, the Dewey rap song and playing around with Prezi. Carrie and I are both very excited about things that are coming up in the next couple of months.

We will do our very best to keep this blog updated with the things that are going on. Next week will be a post about stocktake, and a report on how many people we have had to hound to get items back. It would be good to make it a complete return of items with nothing outstanding. We are happy to tag anything and re-issue it next term.  You just have to ask!

Have a great weekend - and week 10 next week.  Bring it on!

Magazines and Newspapers

In the past couple of weeks, we have re-subscribed to all of the magazines that we had last year. The reason for this is because the students love them. However they do not always read the articles; pretty colour pictures can be a real distraction for the students. Think about what you can do with the magazines though.

If the students have a natural instinct to go towards them, develop that. Perfect time to have a bit of pastoral care with them to start with. If they are looking at a magazine about motorbikes, you know that they have some sort of interest in motorbikes and motorbiking. If they are enjoying the pictures, there is a pretty good chance that the article attached to it is going to interest them as well. Perfect literacy teaching opportunity.

Maybe you also need to think about where we live. Being in an isolated location can mean that students tend not to look at current events around Australia and the world.What a surprise, we have a stack of newpapers too. The NT News, Centralian Advocate, Koori Mail, Indigenous Times and Weekend Australian are all available to students and staff to browse though..

I encourage everyone to come and have a look at the magazine collection that we have. It is a great resource that could be utilised a whole lot more than what it is.

National Simultaneous Storytime 2012



Today is the day. The day when the same book is read at the same time to as many people around the country as possible. This years story is 'The Very Cranky Bear', written and illustrated by Nick Bland, who just so happens to be a NT author.  



Shelagh, reading to the masses.



After previewing the book, we decided that the students at the High School were a bit too old for the book, so Shelagh went down to the Child Care Centre to read with the young children there. Such an important job she had to do. Fostering a love of reading is one of our goals, and the younger you can get people to enjoy reading, the more likely they are to read as they get older.

After reading it a number of times to the children at the Child Care Centre, Shelagh had to head back to the library here to continue working. She promises to be back at the Child Care Centre every Friday for afternoon story time.

There is a sequel to this book, 'The Very Hungry Bear'. Now if Bear was cranky in the first book because of lack of sleep, imagine what he would be like with lack of food. Looking forward to reading that one.

I must say too, before I post this, the flow of the book was brilliant. It was easy to read aloud and the rhyming sucked the kids in straight away. Definately a book to have at home for your young kids or grandchildren. Shelagh is already looking for prices so that she can get some to send to her Grand kids that are spread out across the country.

Book review: The Sending (Obernewtyn Chronicles Book 7)

“It came to me then, like a chilly draught from an unseen gap, that I had always known in my deepest heart that it would be like this, a slipping away from a life full of people I had come to love, in a place I had helped to shape, in a land I had helped to free.”

The time has come at last for Elspeth Gordie to leave the Land on her quest to find and stop the computermachine Sentinel from unleashing the deadly Balance of Terror arsenal. But before she can embark on her journey, she must find a lost key. And although she has long prepared for this day, nothing is as she anticipated.
Elspeth’s search will take her where she never thought to go, and bestow upon her stranger companions than any she ever imagined. It will lead her far from her destination to those she believed lost forever.
And it will test her, as she has never been tested before . . .

Ohh, this little bit of intro into the next book in the Obernewtyn series by Isobelle Carmody got me excited. I remember the first book in the chronicles (Obernewtyn) coming out when I was still in primary school here in Tennant Creek. I even have a vague recollection of someone coming to my school to do a reading of it (perhaps Isobelle herself). As a young teen I was very excited to pick it up and read it. Stories of people talking to animals and having special mental abilities was something a 12 or 13 year old like me wished I had. Sad to say, I did not like the book!

Like the beginning of many of the books in this series, they start out slow. Developing the characters is very important and at that age, I struggled to understand the benefits of this. It was only in later life (that is to say in my mid 20's) that I tried again to read it and loved it straight away.

In my mind, from the descriptive writing of Isobelle Carmody, The Land is a real place, Obernewtyn is a magnificent big old castle with green farmland behind it where I can see the humans and animals working together for common goals. My imagination travelled with them to the country of Sador, where there are shifting sands and a great earth temple, made of sandstone and perched on top a stony hill. The people there have dark skin and they travel nomadically, from waterhole to waterhole, a little like the indigenous people of the land up here did, hundreds of years ago.

In my minds eye I have watched this world grow and the characters develop, change and sometimes even die.

This new book is taking me to a new place, the mountains behind Obernewtyn. Elspeth is finally on her way to finding Cassandras key, the last clue that she needs to defeat the Sentinal, a machine that is supposed to be able to create an apocalyptic event.

The idea that we are getting to the end of her adventure is both exciting and sad. At the beginning of this book she finally ends up with the kind of relationship with Rushton that all followers of the books were looking for. Almost after this happens though, she is pulled away from everyone and everything that she knows and loves and is told that things for her will never be like they were before. The journey into the mountains begins.

Now I know that I cannot give you any spoiler because I myself have not finished reading this book yet. There are a few things that I really am looking forward to though. When will Elspeth meet up with my favourite character Dameon? The blind empath has been missing for the most part in the last few books and I really have been missing him. He has a calming effect on Elspeth and I feel as though her whole world, although not falling apart, is a little off kilter and Dameon is the only one that can fix it.

The second thing that intrigues me is where the hell is Dragon? That beautiful young wild girl with the flame red hair? We know now that she is the Red Queens daughter and her destiny calls her eventually across the seas so that she can take her place on the throne in the Red Land; a place off the coast of The Land.

And last but not least, when is the leader of the gypsies going to re-enter the story to help Elspeth? Swallow is another of my favourite characters, his no nonsense approach to things (which no one understands of course) is a refreshing change to the turmoil that sometimes filters its way into the book. Oh and did I mention that Swallow is a direct descendant of Cassandra? The person who originally made the key that Elspeth needs to find? Very excited to see him again.

The reason why at the beginning of the post I talk about the fact that I could not read these books at a younger age is because I struggled through a big chunk of this new book. The beginning of the book is fantastic, Elspeth and Rushtons' relationship blossoms and we know that Dameon is finally coming home. Her whole world is stripped from her when she leaves with her animal companions: Maruman the cat, Darga the dog and Galtha the big black stallion. After that they head for, and through the mountains. Then they are heading through the mountains, and again, heading through the mountains.

I believe that I have just finished that part, wolves have approached her and Elspeth is at a point where she needs to convince the wolf pack to help her find Cassandras key. I know with past experiences that these books always finish on a mini cliff hanger and I wonder where Elspeth is going to end up.

I am starting that end of a series thinking and I have some hopes and dreams for Elspeth. I want her happy and amongst loved ones at the end. She and Rushton need to be together. Dameon needs to retake his place as leader of the Empath guild. And I hope that Matthew sees Dragons beauty and they end up together in the red land, ruling together.

All in all the series is a fantastic one by an award winning author. The complete set is available in the library and I promise that I will bring back The Sending as soon as I finish it! If you would like to borrow these books or any other books in the library, please come and see either myself or Shelagh. The fact that we would love to have a bit of a chat about our favourite authors in my mind is a bonus as well. Remember that this year is the National Year of Reading. Why not come and see what is in the library? It won't kill you and you may even learn something. Isobelle Carmody, I salute you. What an amazing and talented author.

Physical books still needed?

Check this link out - and really, need we say more?

http://lcgshub.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/why-are-physical-books-still-needed/

Let us know what you think.

What we can do for you!

We have had a few questions from staff about how our Library works, and what we offer, so we decided to put it up on the blog for everyone to read.

Yes - we do loan books out.  We LOVE to loan books out.  Loaning books out is our whole rationale.  (And not just books, either)

• Looking for a particular book?  Come and talk to us. We can organise an Inter-library-Loan or help you find where to purchase it.
• Resources:  Books, DVDs, Magazines and Newspapers, iPad sets, eBook Readers, Digital Cameras, Video Recorders, Computer Mice sets, Data Projectors, Teacher Reference, Kits........
• IWB area and a bank of computers and laptops that are available to be booked for classes.  This laptop trolley is only to be used in the Library area, however.
• Need a hand to download material from cameras or recorders?  Talk to us - or maybe it would be safer to talk to Carrie about that!  (Trust me, I am not the right person for that job!)
• Help with research, proofreading of assignments, suggestions for books to read - we are your people.
• Anything else?  Just ask us, we are AWESOME!  (And obviously very modest as well!)

Students have a 2 week borrowing period while staff have a month.  For most of the resources, we can adjust the loaning period for whatever is needed - at least till the end of term. However, this doesn't include the AV materials - that is a 1 week loan period only.

If you want to bring your class in to borrow - fantastic.  Give us a quick heads up so we can be ready to zap barcodes and it is all good.

Just let us know what we can do for you.

Do you have a PLN?

Of course you do - we all do. Everyone has a Personal Learning Network - although most of us don't realise that is what it is.

A PLN is made up of the resources that you go to in order to learn something - such as solving a problem or learning a new skill.  These would probably include things like Wikipedia or Google - it may even include books.  However, your resources will more than likely include people as part of your network.  Friends, colleagues, supervisors - anyone who can help with what you need at the time - and if they turn out to be really good resources, you will go back again and again.
Check out the links below for some more thoughts and links about educators and PLNs. 

http://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/pln-your-personal-learning-network-made-easy/

http://online.illawarra.tafensw.edu.au/GetFlexible/stepup/docs/poster_pln.pdf

http://digin4ed.bridgecrew.net/?p=37     
 
Then come and let us know how the Library staff can become an integral part of your PLN.

Research Project for iPads

A request was published on the teacher Librarians list-serv today, asking for anyone who has the time, to take part in a quick 10 minute survey examining teachers' use of touch technologies in education, including professional learning habits aas well as suggestions and tips for the effective use of iPads in education.

This is part of the TIPS2012 iPad research happening in West Australia.  You can find out more about the project as well as check out some great iPad resources by following this link:

http://tips2012.edublogs.org

If you have a few minutes to spare, and you are interested in contributing, you may like to take part in the teacher survey on the link below:

http://tips2012.edublogs.org/2012/04/07/contribute-to-ipad-research/

iPads and Scoop-it, Oh my!

Term 3, last year we posted links to various websites that we thought may be useful to teachers either in class or personally.

One of those links was to the scoop-it website. Scoop-it lets you be the curator of your favourite topic and enables people to follow topics, not people. It can also bring you content on topics that you have decided to follow. As the blurb says – what gathers people together are their passions.

Below is a list of scoop-it topics that may be of interest to staff members.

Take a look and see what you think.

http://www.scoop.it/t/all-things-ipad

http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-citizenship-in-schools

http://www.scoop.it/t/student-learning-through-school-libraries

http://www.scoop.it/t/social-networking-for-information-professionals

The link to the website is:

 http://www.scoop.it/

Have a great weekend.

Play games to feed the hungry

www.freerice.com

 Check out the link above to the Freerice website. Freerice is a website where the users play a variety of educational multiple-choice games and help to fight world hunger while doing so. For each question that you answer correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated.  The categories include English vocabulary, multiplication tables, chemical symbols, English grammar, geography, art and literature.

As you answer questions, your total score is displayed as a mound of rice and the amount.

I think that one of the best parts of the game is that it is self-levelling so everyone has an even playing field. If you get a series of questions right, you will move up a level, get them wrong and move down a level.  It doesn’t change the scores you can get, or the amount of rice that is donated according to your score.  It just provides you with questions at a level that suits you and as your knowledge improves, up the levels go.

This would be a good game to play in class – whether Maths, English, Science or SOSE. Divide the class into groups and have a challenge to see who can donate the most rice – maybe have a small prize for the winning team as an extra incentive?  I have run this in the Library for classes and challenged them to beat my score.  Once they realised that the levels adjusted to suit them – it was ON!  And yes – by the end of 20 mins, I was soundly beaten – it was brilliant to watch.

Check out the FAQ on the Freerice website to get an idea of how much is donated each year/day and where it all goes.

The game does come with a warning on the website that people should read and is something to be aware of.  It says........

WARNING:  This game may make you smarter.  It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, and your grades.

Of course the question may arise as to how true this is – does rice REALLY get donated to people who need it just by playing a game on the web?

Check out the following link.  Snopes is a type of ‘mythbuster’ for the Internet and ferrets out the truth from the fiction in all the ‘stuff’ that is out there.  This could be a good site to introduce to the students so that they can check and evaluate websites and information.

http://www.snopes.com

Have a play with these sites and see what you think.

A New Year Dawns

Welcome back to the start of the school year for 2012 – and the National Year of Reading. Lots of ideas have been floated on how to celebrate this event and the Library Staff are hoping that we can get some of them up and running here at the Barkly College.

The National Year of Reading (NYR) will be launched on 14^th February and will run all year with various programs and events. Why a National Year of Reading? Here in Australia, nearly half the population struggles without having the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work. 46% of Australians cannot read newspapers, follow a recipe or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.
Considering that most newspapers are supposedly written for a 12year old level – this is scary!

One of the suggestions was to spend 2012 seconds each week – or each month - reading as a class, either silently or out loud. 2012 seconds equals about 33 mins so that would be a small part of a class block. Maybe we could get people from the community top come in and read to the classes? Have staff reading to classes that they don’t usually teach? Project the stories up on the IWB and read from there? The Library has e-books and iPads available for class use so maybe that would a ‘techy’ way to promote and run this.

Something else that could be incorporated is “Are we there yet?” This is a fun, educational activity for under 12s and their families, which is based on Alison Lester’s book, which tells the story of her family’s journey around Australia in a camper van. The idea is that you get to write in to tell NYR about your home town – or a special place that you have visited in Australia. By sending in a short story/letter/drawing of your favourite place, you could win a fabulous prize. Ask your teacher or parents to help. This competition will move around Australia on a month-by-month basis – starting here in the Northern Territory on the 14^th February and ending in Victoria.

Teachers, this is something that could be included as part of reading and literacy skills. Read the book to them, ask the questions and write about the places. Although this is aimed at Primary school – we can do a display in the Library of the stories and drawings.

Another activity that will be happening August 25th is the Read Hour. This is to promote the idea that EVERYONE would benefit from reading for at least an hour a week. Some ideas are as simple as:

· Sharing a book with your child for 10 mins a day

· Getting together with friends to read and talk about your favourite books

· Get some of that work/life balance by reading a book during breaks

· Including a reading hour in the school week.

The link for the NYR website is included below. Check it out for more ideas and programs. Any ideas about things we could run across both schools, please contact Library Staff. We would LOVE to help out.
http://www.love2read.org.au/index.cfm

Wishing you all a wonderful start back at school and we will be back with more ideas and news. If you have anything you would like up on the blog from your class or if you have any questions or ideas, please talk to us.

Remember this blog is to promote what is going on in the library and our schools. It can also be used for interesting ideas, to put them out and get some talking going on amongst colleagues, friends and families across the world. Not just in our little town.

All the best for 2012. Let’s make it a great year for learning