Brain Training

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Improve your Brain

Our international students managed to squeeze in another puzzle before their departure at the end of Term 3 – aptly a Bon Voyage puzzle. Puzzles are good for brain training, spacial recognition etc. and everyone can put in a few pieces on their way past.  Try it?

If you’ve missed Todd Sampson put brain training to the test as he undergoes a radical brain makeover in a three-part documentary series on the revolutionary new science of brain plasticity, in “Redesign My Brain” on Thursday nights, you can catch up with episodes 1-3 on Iview.

And if you’re interested in training your brain’s reaction time and capabilities, why not sign up for a free Luminosity.com account and play a few brain training games every day?  Another good way to train your brain is by going to www.freerice.com  to answer multiple choice questions about word meanings and many other subject categories.  The good thing about Free Rice is that every time you get a question right, 10 grains of rice is donated to alleviate poverty.
 

And the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature Goes to…

Last week, Canadian short story author and novelist, Alice Munro, became the 13th woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Before her name was announced a cheer went up when the audience were told that this year’s recipient would be a woman. One of her recent books, “Too Much Happiness” won the Man Booker Prize in 2009. Follow this link for a brief encounter with our latest Nobel Laureate and one of Canada’s best known writers. Let’s not forget Canadian, Yann Martel, who wrote “The Life of Pi”…who knows with a few more books to his credit he might win the Nobel one day?

Alice

Displays & New Books

Our new Queensland Museum display is called “Our Senses”. Scan for new books in our library by browsing on our Red Hot Reading newsletter.

Digital Citizenship

digital footprints

It is more important than ever that you guard your digital footprint.  This US High School film outlines some of the dangers of emailing, messaging and uploading photos of yourself and others to social media. Henry Sibley High School believe that “Managing Your Digital Footprint” is something you should really work on. Watch some of these stories and learn how to protect your digital reputation  and future prospects.

Short Play Competition

SSHS 5 Min Play Competition

Last week we launched a state-wide short play competition in the Learning Place, Studio key S818115759, which closes on July 12. Visit the competition site for all details and some tips.  Entries should be 5 mins or less in duration and be inspired by our theme – Time.  The best plays will be shortlisted and two winners chosen for performance at our  Spotlight evenings in October. Mario Calanna pharmacies have added additional incentive in the form of sponsorship of ipad minis for the winning playwrights.

Book Week Books 

The CBC Shortlisted books have been announced. Check out the “Older Reader” titles. We focus on the Young Adult literature but you can scan all the shortlisted books in all categories on the CBC site. 

The Qld Museum display boxes are of varying interest. Amphibians and Multicultural hats were colourful in the past fortnight but our new displays are generating more interest. If you’re curious about “Simple Machines” or in looking at actual specimens of Antarctic Wildlife, we will have them on display until the 21st May.

Speaking of popular, our penchant for innovation and downright quirkiness is evident in our new lunchtime activity.  With the weather cooling down, groups of students have been known to concentrate their spacial attention  by working together on our 1000 piece jigsaw, Uluru Sunset by Sarina.

Book Donation

A big thank you to Ms Hall for donating dozens of novels, particularly contemporary fantasy novels. We shall relish reading them!  Did you know that Game of Thrones is officially the most downloaded mini-series in the world? Such is the appeal of the fantasy genre. We have a wide selection of  fiction genres  – many of the new titles reviewed in our Red Hot Reading newsletter so you can sample them before you borrow them.

Olympics are Go

And we’re off. Our olympic display and competitions are open. We’ve even started a Scoop-It page especially about our Reading Olympics this term.  As you will see, teams Australia, Brazil and the USA are in the lead on borrowing and returning points. Who will win the cooked breakfast at the end of term?  It’s still any Form Class’ game with scores very close.

Congratulations Rosheka Warwick (8G) who was the winner of the first Olympic competition.  The next competition is Flags of the World so come in this week and have a go.

To feature our new books, we’ve kicked off another Scoop-It topic. Red Hot Reads, will give you a little more information about our new and not-so-new hot reads. Check it before you borrow.

We haven’t had a celebrity reader for a while. Hey we get pretty busy in the RC most weeks. Incredibly we’ve had 49,750  visitors through our doors in the first 6 months of this year! 

Jordan Morris  Celebrity Reader  13/07/12

 

 

My name is Jordan. I normally just like to read on my bed – nice and comfy. At the time I took the survey I was reading a Dr Who Book.  I have a few favourite authors, my absolute favourite being Robert Muchamore.  I loved reading his books as a child and still do. I’d like to meet Robert Muchamore, to discuss certain aspects behind his books.  Most of the books in our house are kept on the large bookcase in our sitting room.

I’ll probably take the Hunger Game series with me on my next holiday, I often read on holiday and I really want to reread the series before all the movies come out.  The last book I bought for someone was Sabriel by Garth Nix.  My most memorable reads would have to be The Cherub Series. I still remember waiting the long months for the new books to be released. The Harry Potter series I’ll never forget, I’m sure everyone loved these and I just waited in anticipation as a child. And lastly the FAYZ series, which I just devoured on a camping trip.

My favourite book(s) as a child were the Harry Potter series. I’d just love for the Cherub Series to be made into a film, seeing all the stunts they do in real life would be awesome!  Although, unless they work closely with the author it may be ruined!

 THANKS JORDAN !

 

 

Dreaming

Dream is the theme for June during The National Year of Reading. Our Reader’s Cup team dreamed of showing well in the field at the regionals on Friday June 8th and didn’t disappoint.  Kate Brunger, Charlotte Davey, Maddi Barclay and Lani Seaton (L-R) placed firmly in the middle of the field after reading 6 awesome novels all term. All the team read as many of the books as they could, with each person electing to be an expert in at least 2 books, which included: Wonderstruck, The Emerald Atlas, First Light, War Horse, The Apothecary and the crime novel, A Pocketful of Eyes.  All enjoyed  competing in this annual literary trivia competition hosted by Malanda State High – who this year, were the overall winners heading off to the State final. Our 2012 Reader’s Cup team braved the low temperatures and are pictured below waiting to do battle.

Today the 11th marks the day when 9 authors write a book together online over 24hours, ready for publishing online the next day. Visit the futureofthebook.com.au to download it and sample this innovative project.  Throughout 2011, if:book Australia commissioned essays from ten Australian writers on the future of writing and reading in a future tilted towards the digital.

If you’re into history and music, browse this youtube channel where music lovers have written songs and performed video clips about great moments or characters  in history.

If you haven’t checked out our 24/7 library catalogue yet, make sure you browse the Quick Links while you are at it. All SSHS students should be aware of the benefits of belonging to the Cairns Public Library. If you are a member and you are studying any grade up to and including TAFE, you are able to chat to a qualified tutor in any subject every weekday between 4-8pm. The Cairns Library website links to edatabases like Trove, where you can search for information from archives such as the Australian Women’s Weekly since 1933! Register for a QPL account, using your library card, and access full text journal articles for free – all from the public library website. You don’t have to physically go to the library after joining, if you don’t want to. It is free to join.

Mathematicians Read Too!

Mr Collis

Celebrity Reader  19/03/12

 Mr Collis

I like to read on my balcony.  I’m currently reading,  Life without Limits.

My favourite authors are: Arthur C Clarke, Piers Anthony, Steven Jay Gould, Tim Flannery, Carl Sagan, Stephen King, Robert Ludlum and Conn Iggulden. But I’d really like to meet Carl Sagan to discuss controversial topics in Science.

Most of my books are on book shelves in the lounge at home. I’d take Conqueror by Con Iggluden with me on a holiday. The last book I bought for someone was The Greatest Puzzles Ever Solved. 

My most memorable reads are:  The Hobbit,   The Call of the Wild and A Thousand Splendid Suns. My favourite childhood book was called, The Iceberg Hermit.

I’d like to see Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clark, made into a movie.

Mathematicians read too!

Just Books

 

Jayme Reddacliff 

Celebrity Reader  27/02/12

I’m Jayme Reddacliff and I love reading in my room or any place that is away from people.

I am currently reading Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Embrace, by Jessica Shirvington. 

I really like the way that J.K Rowling writes and I really like Richelle Mead’s books.  

I would love to meet P.C. Cast and her daughter, Kristen Cast,  to ask where they keep getting ideas for their series from, because the series keeps the same plot but in each novel there are new surprises for each. Each novel makes the whole story better.

I keep my books on shelves in my room. It’s like a mini library.  When I go on a holiday I would want to take the new Mortal Instruments book with me as well as the sequel to Embrace

I bought my father the latest Eragon book, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini 

My three most memorable reads were:

1. The House Of Night series

2. The Harry Potter Series

3. The Vampire Academy Series 

I grew up being read all different  childrens’  books, but when I was about 5 my father started reading the Harry Potter Series to me. They would have to be my most memorable books. I would love to see the Mortal Instruments turned into a set of films, but I have no idea who I would want to star in each spot.

AND THE 2011 ANIMATED SHORT FILM OSCAR GOES TO…

 

 NEW BOOKS – some covers are linked to reviews.

Read the review   Read review    Read review
Read review   Read review Read review
Read review Read review Read review
Read review Read review Read review
Read review Read review Read review

 

Science Week and JCU Open Day

 

Last week the library combined two events; National Science Week and a promotion of the James Cook University Open Day  Aug 21.  The JCU Medical & Health Sciences Faculty Marketing Department  kindly supplied anatomical models and the Minister, Hon Cameron Dick,  visited the library on Wednesday while paying his respects to our own award-winning HOD Science, Mr Callin.  

Lots of students expressed interest in the JCU Course book for 2012 as well as our own title, “Careers in IT”.  We have two contests running until the end of August. The first is an anatomy quiz and the second involves writing a Nano Story (50 word story) mentioning one of the health science careers listed on the competition.  All our competitions this week and next week, which is book week, close at the end of August.  Snapshots of the Science Week/JCU display are sprinkled through the blog today.

Inspecting the Medical realia on loan from JCU

Sites to help you study & read

This week, we’ve added heaps of good research sites to our Library Bookmarks  like the Creative Commons website.  Search by tags or look down the lists to check if a list has been created for your assignment.  A very cool Study webpage for 13-17yr olds has just been launched by the Western Australian Government. Spend some time at STUDY VIBE and watch your grades improve.  The WA government has always been innovative, they have been running a journal featuring reviews of adolescent fiction for many years. You can  read the reviews online. Search the CMIS website for Book Reviews (search by title or author) You can even search for information pathfinders (search by topic) and be rewarded with a hotlist of websites.  This is one example of a book review which appears in the Fiction Focus quarterly journal and also in their online database. Here’s the review of “Lean on Pete”, a new novel on the shelves.

Steampunk

“Lean on Pete” is great for those of us who like realism, but hold onto your hats fantasy lovers, there’s a new genre to describe the speculative yet historical stories that are increasing in number. It’s “Steampunk”.  Explore these bookmarks from the Marcellin Library to learn more about Steampunk novels.

More visitors arrived from Hong Kong and were partnered up with eager Smithfield  students. Teachers, Ann, Petula & Ray spent some time with us in the library, while the students were off with their buddies.

Visiting students from Hong Kong using a library laptop

Coming to the Movies – Good Reads #3/11

New book covers

Lately we’ve acquired a few best selling novels which have made it to the big screen or are coming soon. A big thank you to Birch Carroll & Coyle Cinemas Cairns and 101.9 Coast FM for donating the Diaries of a Wimpy Kid.  Search for these titles on the Internet Movie Database (IMBd)   Read the credits of any film using the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Movie Credits Index.

There’s even a new film version of Romeo & Juliet on the way, but you won’t be able to read the graphic novel until our Reader’s Cup team have all read it for the upcoming competition on the tablelands.  Read  reviews of more graphic novels. Visit this blog listing some cool graphic novel resources.  One of the many maps available on the quirky “World Mapper” site is a map ranking the numbers of books borrowed from public libraries. Check out some of their other maps. Are you having trouble with the time it takes to find the information you need?  Google has just started holding live webinars to educate us with some handy internet search strategies.  Many of  the webinars are archived here.  Another good place to listen to some short, sharp and sexy podcasts about internet searching, security and safety can be found at  auDA ‘s (Australian Domain Authority)  Let’s Talk Net site. Talk to the library staff anytime about more books that have been made into movies so that you can read the book before renting the DVD!

Good Reads #1 /11

As the “love” month draws to an end, we say goodbye to “Blind Dates with Books” and “Speed Dating with Books”.   “Not before time”, say those classes who gave these a go!  Romance is dead? Long live Romance! It was a romantic month for the future king of England, Prince William and his bride to be, Kate Middleton – they mailed out their wedding invitations amidst political upheavals and a spate of natural disasters. But romance lived on even at the Cairo Protests and Christchurch’s terrible earthquake.

There’s a mixture of literary genres in our first batch of “Good Reads” for young adults.  Click on the cover images to read the reviews.

                                                                   
BTW “From Kinglake to Kabul”  comes with Teacher’s Notes.    
The classic “A Day No Pigs Would Die” has found it’s way back to our Fiction collection too. View the trailer .  Read the Spark Notes
Lastly,  for senior students reading in our 15+ collection:  Michael Silverblatt from KCRW (Santa Monica) has interviewed some of the world’s leading authors on his radio show, “The Bookworm” for over 20 years.  He astounds writers with his insights about their novels – Joyce Carol Oats once called him, “The reader writers dream about”.  You can download and listen to his podcasts at the Bookworm website or subscribe through itunes.
Michael Silverblatt

Michael Silverblatt