Semester 2 underway!

This semester has really started off with a bang! We have a whole stack of new magazines and the Laser eBooks are ready to go. We've also spent a lot of time selecting a range of different magazines for students to read. The library now has magazines on cooking, gaming, technology, movies, dirt biking, travel and special interest. These magazines are currently unable to be loaned out, but staff and students are more than welcome to come and read them at recess and lunchtimes at their own leisure. At this point the plan is that the eBooks are for staff to borrow out in a single class set. A number of classic novels have already been uploaded. We are more than happy to search for more titles at teachers' requests. Coming soon to the library is the fourth instalment of the "Inheritance Quartet" written by Christopher Paolini and the second book in the "Lorien Legacies" by Pittacus Lore. Also, Isobelle Carmody is releasing the last book of the "Obernewtyn Chronicles" (finally). There are many staff and students that are looking forward to these new arrivals and it will be interesting to see who gets them first. This semester is setting up to be very exciting and fast paced. The library staff are ready and waiting for your requests. Have a good semester two, Barkly College!

Thyla

I’ll be honest – horror is not my usual choice of reading matter but the idea of Tasmanian Tiger shapeshifters caught my attention enough to pick it up – and once past the first chapter I was hooked.  No way was I planning to go to bed until I knew how this ended – and what frustration when I realised that this was the first in a series!

Tessa is found wandering with no memory about her past.  All she knows is her name and that she is strong and brave and does not cry.  Everything else is a blank canvas to be filled in as best she can.

The police officer who finds Tessa takes her under her care.  Connolly has also lost her daughter, Cat, near where Tessa was found and Connolly hopes that maybe once Tessa has her memory back, they will know what happened to Cat.

She places her in the boarding school where Cat had been and Tessa begins to realise that she is in the middle of something huge – something that she is obviously a part of even though she has no memory of it.   Something that has been happening here for at least 160 years.  The long slashes, like stripes, that appear across her back make that very clear. 

And what are the Sarcos and the Diemens?  Where do they fit into this? And who can she trust?  She is in the middle of a shapeshifters war - and it is like walking on quicksand with no real idea of where to turn.

I love the way Tessa starts out as a blank canvas that slowly becomes painted in as we learn more about her, and her history.  This is a story of a girl who is finding out who she is, making friends and maybe even falling in love a little. It is a horror/mystery about Tasmania’s unique animals, as well as the supernatural and convict history, all wrapped up in one book.

As the blurb on the back cover says:   “Thyla is a story of Tasmania, of darkness, of convicts, of devils and tigers and of promises that stay true through the centuries”

It is the story of what happened to Cat – and what Tessa really is”

Last Day of Term 2

Today is the last day.  WooHoo!  Four weeks of peace and quiet in the library, and we are hoping to get a few little projects completed that we haven’t had the chance to do throughout the semester.

The school is running a Drug Awareness Expo today and the Library is hosting all the organisations that came on board to help out.  It is awesome – we have people everywhere at various tables all through the Library.  This includes Legal Aid, Sexual Health, Alcohol Awareness and lots of others. Our school nurse has been busy pulling all of this together and has done a fabulous job.  Thank you, Mel!

 I also set up a few DVD’s for the students to watch concerning the effects of alcohol and ice on the human body along with PowerPoint presentations about the dangers of smoking.

Elsewhere in the school there are sports programs and drama activities along with drumming and Hip Hop events.  The Science department is busy demonstrating the effects of alcohol on the brain by melting polystyrene brains in turpentine much to the delight of the students.

We also have the Grade 5 & 6s visiting from the Primary Campus who are just delightful.  Their manners are fantastic and they are so involved in what is happening - we are looking forward to seeing them here in High School.

Coming up at the start of next semester we will have lots of new ‘stuff’’ to introduce to the staff.  This will include magazines and new technology to use with our students to encourage literacy and reading.

To all staff and students – have a safe and relaxing 4 week break and we will see you all back at the end of July.    

Pats on the Back!

Barkly College Library Staff are pleased to announce that we were asked to write a guest article for the SLA of Victoria's Bright Ideas blog, which is all about the great things happening in schools and school libraries around Australia.  Our article was about how we went about setting up our blog, so that others can get an idea of how easy it was - and on the use of Web 2.0 tools in our library.

It was great to have acknowledgement and so early in our blogging journey!  Thank you.

The link is here - please check out the blog.

http://slav.global2.vic.edu.au/

Library Lessons with year 7s

We have had a couple of great lessons with the year 7s this week, discussing whether or not everything is true on the internet and learning how to evaulate websites.

The first part of the lesson involved the students constructing Al-foil Deflector Beanies (otherwise known as AFDBs) while Library Staff explained that this was to keep them safe from mindcontrol rays.  We had some pretty awesome beanies happening as they decided to make a fashion statement, since they would be wearing it. 

They also had lots of great ideas for saving the endangered Tree Octopus, involving bridges, tunnels and lots of signage. 

Then they were introduced to Google MentaPlex and everyone had a go at trying to 'think' their search term at the spiral. 

We then went back, and using a checklist and working as a group, evaluated some websites to see whether they were real or hoax.  This generated a fair bit of discussion as to why people would put up things that are not true and how you can tell if it is a hoax site.  They were very unimpressed that people would provide such wrong information - but were happy to test out various sites to see if they were good or bad. 

They were not all that happy with Carrie and myself either - for 'tricking' them - but hopefully we are back in their good graces now.

Quotes of interest.

I did a bit of hunting around on the Internet for a bunch of quotes to put on the blog. Here they are and I hope that some of them speak to you.

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
Francis Bacon

Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.
Vince Lombardi

If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.
Yogi Berra

They can because they think they can.
Virgil

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.
Vince Lombardi

Everyone has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases.
Jeremy Collier

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure -- which is: Try to please everybody.
Herbert Bayard Swope

Impatience never commanded success.
Edwin H. Chapin

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
William Shakespeare

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt

You can't expect people to look eye to eye with you if you are looking down on them.
Anonymous

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.
Anonymous

How a man plays a game shows something of his character, how he loses shows all of it.
Anonymous

I hope that you enjoy these quotes. I find that if I am having a difficult day, sometimes words of wisdom from someone can help me get through.

Carrie

The Hunger Games

         

The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is a fiction book aimed for the young adult genre, which I found myself unable to put down. Its combination of nerve-racking tension, thrilling action, and engaging love story kept me up at all hours of the night, wondering what will happen next. I was surprised at how completely fascinating the plot was.

When the story begins, North America as we know it has been destroyed and is divided into 12 districts, ruled by a cruel government located at the Capitol. Every year, the Capitol selects one boy and one girl from each district to compete in the terrifying Hunger Games. The Games forces children from ages 12 to 18 against each other in a fight to the death in a giant, hazardous arena. Everything is televised all over the country.

Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl from District 12, takes her younger sister’s place as one of 24“tributes”.

Katniss must not only survive the Games, but deal with a romance between her and another tribute Peeta Mellark from District 12, knowing how heartbroken her best friend Gale is, seeing her every move with Peeta. While finding the strength to kill strangers her own age for her survival and to impress the government is a lot of pressure on Katniss.

The further I got through the book, the more interesting it got. Suzanne Collins described the locations in perfect detail and made me feel like I was in the arena, witnessing everything that Katniss experienced. When it came to the romance of Katniss and Peeta, it was impossible to put the book down. Knowing that the only way to keep your other tribute alive is to show affection and knowing that it killed Gale to see this made Katniss even more desperate to survive.

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish; it left me itching to find out what happens next. If I had to rate it out of ten, I would give it an eleven!

 

by Tori Reid

Year 11 Student

Barkly College Secondary Campus

National Simultaneous Story Time: Our Library Lesson

I like both Ms Carrie and her mum, Ms Shelagh because they are kind and good to us, our Class.

Every Wednesday, Block One we, Year 7 F0 go to the Library for lessons on books. Today Ms Shelagh read a whole book about Feathers for Phoebe. The story was about a bird that was not happy with the way she looked. So she tried her best to try all the colourful wings, crest, tails, chest but nothing worked.

In the end, she fell off a tall tree and landed on another bird. All her beautiful feathers fell off and she was a grey bird again and became what she was like before. Each one of us also made a Book Mark, they were all very colourful, we had to choose the bright colours and they were all bright and awesome!

I think the character, Phoebe was sad in the end. I enjoyed the story very much and I am looking forward to listening to both our good librarians next Wednesday. Thank you very much.

By Jordan Shadforth

Worthless Wisdom # 3

Flamingos get their pink colour from the shrimp they eat.   The more shrimp they eat the deeper pink they become.

Dolphins don't automatically breathe, they have to tell themselves to.

The Australian emu holds the land speed record for birds at about 50 kilometres per hour

The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma in an emergency

The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill about 2,200 people.

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.

A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; a group of geese in the air is a skein.

You would have to drink 100 cups of coffee in four hours to get the lethal dose of caffeine which is 10 grams.

Bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windscreen wipers and laser printers were all invented by women.

Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie

Feb 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

Hope you enjoy this list of trivia and useless information to astound and amaze your friends with.

Have a great weekend.

Year 7 Library Orientation

Library Learning is Awesome!

In Block 2 Tuesday this week, we, Year7 F/1 had a Library Orientation where we learn about the Library and how to use it, find books e.g. Fiction, Non – Fiction, Dictionaries, Dictionaries, Encyclopaedia, Thesaurus, Dewey Book Hunt and many more.

Ms Shelagh is the boss and Ms Carrie is her assistant, they work together well and the boss said that she cannot work without her assistant. We are shown everything we need to know about the Library, we are learning a lot and they are so kind and good. We filled up work sheets about the Titles, Authors, Dewey Decimal Numbers and Fact on different Topics.

We were so busy that the long lesson went too quickly, we really enjoyed the lesson, it was so much fun, interesting and we’re looking forward for more next time.

Lastly, both Year 7 Classes would like to thank Ms Shelagh and Ms Carrie for a wonderful lesson and their great help!  

Worthless Wisdom for the Week

Emus cannot walk backwards. Neither can Kangaroos – which is why we use them on our coat of arms.

The average life span of a single red blood cell is 120 days

One out of every 20 people have an extra rib.
A giraffe can go longer without water than a camel.
Studies have shown that classical music helps cows produce more milk.

A chameleon can move its eyes in two directions at the same time.

Human saliva contains ten million bacteria per cubic centimeter.

Giraffes have no voice.

Armadillos sleep for around 18.5 hours a day.

Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper.

A koala’s finger prints are almost identical to those of a human.

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps to squirt blood 30 feet.

A tarantula can live up to two years without food.

More human deaths have been attributed to fleas than all the wars ever fought.

Cockroaches have a high tolerance to radiation and are the most likely creature to survive a nuclear war.

Bulls are colour blind.

Enjoy the above post - just for the fun of it.  Have a great weekend.

Shelagh

Tomorrow When the War Began

The movie has been out for a while, and before I watched it, I re-read the book. The Tomorrow Series by John Marsden has always fascinated me. I first read Tomorrow when the War Began in year ten as a class text. My teacher at the time had planned for the assignment after to be about writing the first chapter of the second book, I quite proudly raised my hand and stated that I had already finished the second book and I would be finished the third in a couple of days. I was suprised by this as I have tried to read other books by John Marsden and haven't liked them at all. As always the book is better that the movie and although the movie followed the book very closely, the descriptive writing in the book made the images in my head easy to come by. I love the fact that the eight teenagers in the story have no idea what they are doing and even though there are no soldier skills to speak of in the group, they do massive damage to the enemy. The story isn't so much about a war, but how the teenagers cope with a war in their very own backyard. The nationality of the enemy is not known, which makes them all the more frightening. The fact that they speak another language and they don't understand English very well, adds to this fear. The main character Ellie is probably my favourite; the group votes her in the be the person who writes down their journal as to what is happening to all of them. The description of what is happening is so vivid, you can close your eyes and envisage yourself right there with them. Ellie is the first of the group to kill one of the enemies and she has to deal with all of the emotions that happen after - she does get a little nasty too. The one thing that I was dissapointed about in the movie was that they decided to leave out the story that is told about the hermit that lived in the same place that the teenagers are living in now. A place called Hell. All in all, this book is the complete package - action packed and with a little bit of mystery and love mixed in. The book first book makes you want to read the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. If you do happen to make your way through all of these books, after then come the Ellie Chronicles. The Ellie Chronicles basically is the story of what happens, post war. There are some really bloody moments through all of the books so anyone who loves a bit of gore should definately give these books a go! As I said, the first of these book is Tomorrow when the War Began - and it is at the secondary school library now! Happy reading! Carrie

Wonderful Websites

Every so often here in the Library, we come across little gems of websites that we collect on the off-chance that someone will want to play with them.
The thought occurred today that maybe, just maybe, if we put them all in one place, they are there for everyone - staff and/or students to access.  So using that theory - check out the links below.  They range from search engines through to sites on all sorts of things.
If you come across any dead links, please let us know so that we can delete them - and if you know of any awesome ones that we haven't come across, please let us know that also.  It is all about sharing after all.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/games/       -  online games about science
http://www.iwb.org.uk/     -  collection of tools & resources for IWBs
http://www.teachablemoment.org/elementary.html   - activities/ideas for teaching social responsibility
http://www.snopes.com/     -  site for checking out urban myths & legends
http://www.abc.net.au/beasts/fossilfun/skeletal_jigsaws/default.htm   activities/games re fossils
http://www.swlauriersb.qc.ca/Schools/recit/wq022200.htm  - about Webquests with ideas
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/launch_gms_viking_quest.shtml   -  Vikings & History
http://kidshealth.org/kid/closet/index.html     -  online games for kids health
http://freerice.com/category  -  Play maths & literacy games - help with world hunger
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/interactive.htm   - IWB maths games
http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm  - Maths games for IWBs
http://www.slasa.asn.au/org/  -  citation maker
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/  -  Maths/Word search puzzles to make
http://www.cyberbee.com/ - lessons, projects and Internet resources

Search Engines:

Google's Wonder Wheel - unique wheel format - like a mind map.  Visual style
http://www.spezify.com/  -  very visual search engine - check before using with students
http://quinturakids.com/   -  cloud type search engine
http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/schooled/SchoolsTopics  -  teachers resources/topics
http://www.sweetsearch.com/   - search engine designed for students.

Hope you enjoy these and we will share any others we come across as well.  There will be a new book review up tomorrow and hopefully we will have some reviews written by students to go up soon.

*Edit: *  A comment was made concerning the fact that I had not given any indication as to what the sites were about - and I had to admit the validity of the argument.  So .... please find my revised post with apologies.  I hope this is of better use.