Books to Film

The Dressmaker

Some of our most popular titles have been made into films.  Mr Green seems to be the likely choice of author if one wishes to read the book before seeing the film.  Although, something is generally lost in translation – don’t you think?

This week, we displayed The Dressmaker, screening now at Cairns cinemas and starring Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving and a whole cast of well-known Australian actors. Upon purchasing a new copy complete with a new “movie” cover, Tilly seemed to be carrying Mrs Robins’ first knee operated Singer Sewing Machines. The antique was still in her loft – so that became the inspiration for the display. We added a dance frock made by Vera Macfarlane in 1929 and Mrs Colgrave’s hat.

dressmaker

New Fiction

Ms Mesner quite enjoyed one of our latest acquisitions. She wrote, “Readers will laugh out loud and sympathise with a heart wrenching story as they enjoy Robin Benway’s, Emmy and Oliver.”  Read more of Ms Mesner’s impressions in her ReadPlus book review.

emmyandoliver

Infowhelming Internet Stats

Since the mid 90’s the internet,  and what we now term the nosphere, in general,  has grown beyond what could be described as exponential. Andrew Churches, an IT advisory teacher from New Zealand, had these examples at his fingertips when defining “infowhelm”  at his recent seminar in Cairns:

  • 4,230yrs of video is uploaded to youtube each year
  • 3,000,000,000 youtube are viewed per day
  • 300,000,000 photos are uploaded to Instagram each day
  • there are 1.2million ‘apple approved’ apps
  • 500,000 people currently hold ‘app jobs’
  • $5,000,000,000 in revenue made selling the add-ons to just one social media game
  • there are now more mobiles on earth than people
  • 90% of all information was created in the last 2 yrs
  • if we attempted to print out the internet, it would span from here to Pluto 13 times

To learn more about Andrew Churches, download his free IT educational resource.  Or visit his website. 

The book is not Dead

Computer Monitors For Sale

Add a second monitor to your computer. Stretch your desktop for extra space and visibility. We are selling used computer monitors (pictured near Mr Lever below) for only $20 for 45cm  and $10 for 38cm.  Most come with power cord and VGA cable. Try before you buy? At these prices they make very cheap stand-by monitor or desktop extension. All proceeds go back into school IT facilities.  Call us to learn more or call in to the library to select a monitor.  Ph 40584349

Vinyl sign2

Inspirational Messages

Our library is looking very inspirational with the addition of some vinyl signs – reminders of our school-wide habits of mind, explicit teaching and thinking strategies. Mr Lever and Ms Cowell  were each caught in the frame.

Vinyl sign1

Featured Article

The book is not dead.  Not while researchers are proving more and more that we comprehend printed text better than digital text. Not while Time magazine is writing interesting reports like: Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer”.  Sub-titled, “Deep reading is vigorous exercise from the brain and increases our real-life capacity for empathy” the article by Annie Murphy Paul begins:-

Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, reported in studies published in 2006 and 2009 that individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and view the world from their perspective. This link persisted even after the researchers factored in the possibility that more empathetic individuals might choose to read more novels. A 2010 study by Mar found a similar result in young children: the more stories they had read to them, the keener their “theory of mind,” or mental model of other people’s intentions.”   Read more…

NB Students can click on the Time Magazine link during a subject search of our online catalogue to read Time Magazine online via the school subscription.

Featured Book

What better way to develop empathy than through reading literature that focuses on little known historical facts. Works of ‘faction’ can provide alternate or complementary views of history.  Read a review of one of our latest novel purchases suitable for all year levels, “Making Bombs for Hitler” by Marsha Skrypuch.