LMS & ANZAC Ceremony

Our Library Management System is STILL out - but we are at least getting phone calls from Darwin now, so hopefully we have reached the top of the action pile.  
The whole of the system is being upgraded in early May, so possibly they don't feel any urgency to get it going - and I can see them getting it operational and then we run into problems with the new one.  GRR.

As I said previously, please be patient when it takes longer than usual in here.  I am in no better a position - and have piles of items and pages of notes, just waiting for everything to come back on line. At least, I now have a spreadsheet that I can put people's names into, and scan the barcode, thanks to Carrie being so tech savvy.  (I really don't like spreadsheets!)

Also, I just wanted to congratulate everyone involved for a beautiful and very moving ANZAC Day ceremony.  I am so glad that we have these activities back on the agenda, and that the students got so involved as well.  

There are a couple of special days coming up in May that I thought you might like to be aware of:
1st May is School Principals Day and also Endangered Species Day
16th May is Biographers Day.

Hoping you all have an awesome week, and lets not forget it is a long weekend coming up.

Welcome back to Term 2

Welcome back to our own little patch of Paradise - looking forward to working together once again over the next 10 weeks.

Here in the Library, we have started back with computer problems - or rather, Virtua problems.  The school changed ISP providers over the break, and that has caused a hiccup with the Library management system, which is run from Darwin.  It is still out, despite all Kate's hard work in trying to get it running again and we are now waiting for the technicians in Darwin to make it behave as it should.  

I know it is a nuisance but please have patience.  I currently have 6 pages of hand written notes and 3 piles of returned books I can't do anything with till the system is back up.  I am no happier than anyone else, I can assure you.

Just for general thought if anyone can use it - April is Poetry Month and May is Reading Month.  Scholastic is running a 'Read more in May' competition which could be worth tapping into.  If you are interested, please see me. 

Also a general reminder that if there is anything that you think I can help you with, please come and talk to me.  I can cover a wide area of crazy bits of probably useless knowledge and I like challenges; (Translation; works well for coffee or chocolate.)

That's all Folks.  Now carry on being awesome!

Interesting Web Links

Below are a few weblinks that may (or may not) be of some use or interest to you.  It could be worth having a quick browse if you get a few minutes to see if they generate any new ideas.

http://www.edutopia.org/article/digital-citizenship-resources

http://www.schrockguide.net/qr-codes-in-the-classroom.html

http://www.bbcactive.com/BBCActiveIdeasandResources/QRcodesineducation.aspx

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/10/5-excellent-videos-to-teach-your.html

http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/home

Have a great weekend.

Latest Books in the Library

Just a quick post to let you know about two new books in the Library this week, already catalogued and ready for loan. 

The first title is a book that has been donated to the school by our Chief Minister and has been written by two local NT Historians who are based in Darwin.  The book is titled  'Battling: Territorians and their War" 
From the blurb on the back of the book:   This is the story of the Territorians war, of how  they battled for their country and then had to battle for the right to come home and rebuild their lives.  Eventually they triumphed and, out of the ashes of war, they created the modern Northern Territory. This book gives all Australians the chance to know and understand the human consequences of what happened to ordinary people during Australia's sternest test.


The other title is one that was requested by a student, and is actually not yet available in Australia.  Yay us!!  It won't even be released for publication here till the beginning of April.

It is number 5, and is the final one in the Virals series, written by Kathy Reichs and is called 'Terminal'.  It concludes the story of Tory and her Virals pack as they battle against another pack - The Trinity - who appear to be stronger than they are and are intent on handing them over to a mysterious government agency.  One Pack, One Territory! Who will win?

Come in, have a look, borrow one - or a few.  Then maybe write me a review that I can post on here.  Easy as!

Vale Terry Pratchett

Sad news today with the passing of one of the best fantasy writers I know.  Sir Terry Pratchett has died following an eight year battle with a rare form of Alzheimers.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-31858156

He has long been one of my favourite authors, especially for his Discworld books with his subtle (or maybe not so subtle) satirical comments on humanity. Possibly his greatest character created was DEATH, who always spoke in capital letters.

Below are a few quotes of Sir Terry's that are favourites of mine;

*   Wisdom comes from experience.  Experience is usually the result of a lack of wisdom.

*   Real stupidity beats artifical intelligence every time.    (Hogfather) 

*   Humanity is a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.  (Witches Abroad)

New Books here

Just to let you know that we have some new books available to be borrowed. 

One is called 'Tracy Tales' and is about the Darwin Business Community and how they survived the Great Cyclone. 

Also available for staff is a copy of 'Digital Photography Projects for the Classroom'.  This will be kept with the Teacher Resource materials in my office, if anyone is looking for it.

Following a request from a student, we now have the 'Maze Runner' trilogy here and ready for loan.  Apparently there is a fourth book in the series now as well so I will be looking for that as well. 

Also, just to let you know, the DVD of the 'Maze Runner' is also available for loan across at the Public Library along with loads of other titles, so it could be worth checking out what else they have to offer.  Drop in and say Hi to Kylie and Pam.

Clontarf and Cupcakes

I have just been lucky enough to receive a beautiful made-from-scratch cupcake, made by some of the Clontarf fellas and delivered with huge smiles, along with Happy Valentines day wishes. Looked good, tasted even better!

Thanks guys!  Awesome job.

World Read Aloud Day

http://www.readaloud.org/why.html

http://www.busylibrarian.com/2015/02/world-read-aloud-day-2015.html

World Read Aloud Day is Wednesday, March 4th, 2015. Last year over one million people in more than 80 countries celebrated this day of joy.

"World Read Aloud Day is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology.
By raising our voices together on this day we show the world’s children that we support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world."

Maybe 15-20 minutes spent reading aloud with your class is a good way of celebrating this day - whether you are reading, or you and your class are reading, it is all good.  Maybe we can have someone come in and read? To try and help get the students involved, we should all be modelling what we keep telling them to do - READ!

Any suggestions or ideas?  Maybe a brief entry on this blog about book choices, genres, etc. could get people interested? Share it with the students as well - this blog is for them as much as for the staff.

QR Codes with year 7s.

As some of you know, I have a fascination for QR codes, and using them for learning activities with students.  I think they could be used for most classes...well, I am still trying to apply them to Maths, but I am working on that one.

The last couple of weeks I have had 2 of the year 7 classes come in for a Library Orientation lesson, using QR codes to learn about each area of the Library and it seemed to go well.  At the end of the lesson, in most cases, they could show me all the various areas, and talk about the Library rules and why we have them. 
(I got a lovely thank you card from Mr. Lutwyche's class, which was awesome. Never had that before.) 

Congratulations to Flynn on winning the Swimming Carnival.  Well done!

Currently we have a display up in the Library with a Twitter theme - lots of birds and very short book reviews.  All the books to match are on the display shelf and ready for loan so come borrow a few, or more.  If anyone would like to get their class involved with writing short book reviews to be added to the display, that would be great. 

Also, if anyone would like to have class work displayed here in the Library, please come and see me - I would love it.  (Displays are not my forte, I must admit)

Library Display and Swimming Carnival

There is a display up in the Library with a selection of books to match, so come in, have a browse - maybe even borrow one, or a few. 
Many, many thanks to Carrie and Coralie for their help with this - you are both awesome!

Swimming carnival was the go for today - lots of red, green and blue happening everywhere. Wishing everyone good luck in being the winning team....though we all know it will be Stuart, of course.

Have a great weekend folks!

Games and Computer coding skills

With computer coding now being regarded as a 21st century skill, there are lots of sites, activities and so on to teach and enhance understanding of coding. Some of these are aimed at students as young as 5!

Below are a couple of links to go back even further than using a computer to develop these skills - using no-tech board games.  Check it out and see for yourself.  Couple of games that have scored high on the reviews are: Code Monkey Island and Robot Turtles.

http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/03/12-games-that-teach-kids-to-code/

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/01/no-tech-board-games-that-teach-coding-skills-to-young-children

The site I took the second one from is called MindShift, and is one that I have linked on the blogroll on the right-hand side, and it is all about different ideas and thoughts on lots of subjects for teaching our students, not just computer coding. 

Also, just thought I would point out that March 5th is World Read Aloud Day.  Probably something worth celebrating, even a little, in your classrooms.  And February 14th is Library Lovers Day - just saying!

2015 - and a new school year.

Welcome back to everyone for 2015.  I hope you all had a nice relaxing break with lots of time spent with family and friends and are all refreshed and ready to go. And a big welcome to all our new staff as well - looking forward to getting to know you all.

Well, here we go - the start of 2015 and a whole new year of opportunities for books, and reading. How awesome is that? 

For the new staff - and a reminder for some of our previous staff - below is a list of some of what we can help you with. I put this list up each year, so if you go back through the posts, it is all there. Anything else? If there is something that you think we can help with, just come and have a chat. We have learned to be fairly good at pulling rabbits out of hats and we also like a challenge.

• Looking for a particular book or resource? 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, Digital Cameras, Video Recorders, Computer Mice sets, Data Projectors, Teacher Reference, Board games, Chess sets, Kits........
• IWB area and a bank of computers, as well as laptops that are available to be booked for classes.  The Library laptop trolley is only to be used in the Library area, however.
• Help with research, proofreading of assignments, suggestions for books to read - we are your people.
• A place to display your amazing class work.
• Collation of websites for subjects/classes
• Booking sheets for: Library areas, F Block Laptops, Headphones, Ipads.

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.

The big deal for us this year is the new way of using the DVDs.  No more borrowing a disk and playing it in your laptop..we have gone more upmarket and digital this year.  Thanks to Kate and her brilliant ideas, most of the DVDs are now on the server, and by following a few simple steps you can play it through your laptop without ever having to borrow a DVD again.  The school also now subscribes to TV4Ed so if there is a TV program that has been screened that you think would be handy with your class, please see me and I'll do my best to find it and and download it for you.  (All legal and allowed!)

Wishing you all a fantastic school year with lots of READING involved. Now carry on being awesome.

Last Day of term

Well, it is here at last - last day of term for 2014.  We seem to have been waiting for this all year, or so some of the students have told me anyway.  They looked a little taken aback when I pointed out that the staff had been waiting as well.

My main news for this post is that the digital system for the DVDs is almost ready to go so when you all start back, you will be able to access what you need directly through the computer.  I have had a few people test it for me and it all seems to be running smoothly, so Kate can take you through it next year. I think you will find it really easy to use.

I seem to have been trying to get a post up for most of this last month - and now that we are at this point, I am just going to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year break and hope you spend it relaxing and enjoying family and friends, and that you all return refreshed and ready for 2015. Don't forget to include some reading in your plans.

Have an awesome holiday.  All the best to you all and whatever you do, have fun!