End of School year for 2016.

Just a quick post to wish you all a fantastic end of term break and to thank you all for your support during these last few weeks of term.

For those of you who are moving on, I wish you all the best wherever you may be next year - and everyone else - I'll see you back here next year!

Make sure you have a relaxing break and definitely spend time reading!!  It could be considered a matter of survival! 

Remember - Dinosaurs didn't read and now they're extinct! Coincidence - I think not!!

All jokes aside - have an awesome Christmas and we'll do it all over again next year.  

Hour of Code

The Hour of Code has come and gone this year with barely a notice - at least here anyway. But have a look at the link below.  It doesn't have to be run during the suggested time frame and maybe it is something that could be looked at for next year? 

http://slav.global2.vic.edu.au/2016/11/21/hour-of-code-coming-soon/#.WFHa29V94nQ

In the three years it has been running it has become a global movement reaching  tens of millions of students and spanning 180 countries.  As most of the jobs that will be available in the future are not even dreamed of now, just having the confidence to step into the arena will be a big part of gaining work. 

All of us are literally surrounded by gadgets, devices, gaming, social media and so the list continues. The Hour of Code is a creative activity that works to provide students with an opportunity to be more than an onlooker.  It takes some of the mystery out of digital tech and offers students a world of resources that they can revisit and explore at any time they like. 

What can you learn in just an hour?  You won't become an expert computer programmer in an hour - but you will have fun, learn to have a go - and realising that you CAN do this is a big part of it.

Research and Plagiarism Websites

A few websites that may be of some advantage to you all for next year:

https://library.acadiau.chttps://library.acadiau.ca/research/citation-
This site has some tutorials that could be helpful in explaining plagiarism to students along with searching skills.  Check out 'Search with Success', 'Credible Sources Count', 'Research it Right' and 'You quote it, you note it'.  It's Canadian rather than Australian but still good content.

http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/blogs/libraries-and-learning/15-03/spot-hoax-when-evaluating-web-content

 This site gives pointers on identifying whether or not a site may be a hoax and to what degree students believe that everything on the web is true.  Included are a number of hoax sites to help with evaluating content and some checklists to work though. 

I have used the Tree Octopus one but the rest are new to me.  It could make for an interesting lesson or two.