School Libraries Matter

Parent Survey

This post is mainly for our parents.  Please ask your parents to fill it out this national online survey they haven’t already.

A coalition of Australian school library associations are asking parents to answer this brief survey to garner support for the continuance of both school Libraries and Teacher librarians to manage the libraries and all resources needed by staff and students. https://goo.gl/forms/qlAFLSfqSfK6KrdI2

As background reading to the issue, there’s an 5min podcast https://goo.gl/XxewTm and a flyer: https://goo.gl/aYNsJo

Thanks if you can possibly respond to this national survey and pass the survey on please, to other parents in both state and private schools? 

Students, you’ll have your turn later this month. Our school is sending out a survey and is interested in your feedback about the kinds of tools, furniture and services that you would like to see in our school Information Centre.

Displays

Each semester, we are fortunate to be able to access the regional loans boxes from the Qld Museum.  A big thank you to Justin at KickArts regional gallery for circulating these specimens to schools and community groups.

The Marsupial Lion box was pretty cool. We learned that Thylacoleo was nothing like the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) or the Dingo. It was in a class of it’s own. The box included casts of both a skull and a realistic iteration of the lion’s head.

Apparently the Lion participated in a race with a Cheetah and the Cheetah won.  The lion said, “You cheated”. The Cheetah replied,  “Nah, you lion.”  LOL

Seriously, we have enjoyed some great displays this year.  Thank you Justin, KickArts and of course the Queensland Museum.

Official Farewell for Mrs Anderson

Presentation night featured a special guest we hadn’t seen around since April.  Mrs Anderson officially resigned after over 20 yrs service to Smithfield State High School – the last 6 years as our Library Officer.  She was among 3 senior staff members who will be leaving the school after this year. Thank you Mrs Anderson for your diligence, grace and wit.  You are still missed after all these months.  Mrs Anderson is pictured with Mrs Harrison (middle) and Mrs Joyce (far right).

 

Giving and Gratitude

THANK YOU KARIN & WALTER ZITZELSPERGER

Feeling grateful is a form of savouring and being mindful of all your blessings – human, natural and man-made. Try it?  Take a mindful walk between classes and both savour and be thankful for the breeze, the gardens, the sunlight and blue skies and the people you pass just for a few minutes. You’ll be amazed at how your mood will be lifted by the time you get to your next class. (Walters, L. The Strength Switch, 2017)

On the other hand, showing kindness to others gives a big boost to our own well-being. We should savour it too by recounting how they were lifted by our thoughtfulness.  Equally, tell friends, family, teachers that you’re grateful for them and direct your attention to letting them know that you appreciate the gifts and services they have given you.  Seniors will be reflecting on this now as they exit school one final time and begin the rest of their lives.  It could be as simple as a comment or post-it note?

We were recently in receipt of a kindness – a donation of a prized book collection.  I asked Karin Zitzelsperger if I could take her photo to acknowledge that she and her husband Walter decided to donate their Classics collection to Smithfield SHS Resource Centre.  We hope it makes Karin and Walter feel expansive to know that we will find a very good home for the Complete Works of Charles Dickens and the other items.  We are planning to gentrify our Fiction section early next year.  The Zitzelsperger’s Dickens collection will have pride of place in our new Classics section.  We do hold a good many classic novels but Karin and Walter’s gift will give that section a real boost.  Other sections planned include: Adventure, Suspense, Biography, Humour  etc.  You heard it first here, but call in first thing next year to check we have ‘made good’ on this promised rennovation.

Karin Zitzelsperger donates her Charles Dickens collection.

NANOWRIMO HAS BEGUN

On the subject of gratitude. A big thank you to Senior, Eryn, who is taking time to mentor our writer’s group through a very challenging initiative – the writing of a novel in just ONE month.  The grit, motivation and organization required is our biggest challenge.  Participants can still sign up these first few days in November but should try to make the Wednesday meetings for support and boosts to your word count. One day down – 2% finished my novel draft.  How about you?

AUDIO BOOKS

With resources all needing to come back for stocktake before the Christmas holidays, we’re encouraging students to ease off on borrowing them by the end of November.  You can read our eBooks and participate in our free trial of AudioBooks by using your Smartphone, Table or Computer to borrow and read from our online Wheelers Website.  Download ePlatform today for your phone or tablet and let us know if you need help.

DISPLAYS

Horror stories have been moving since we whipped up a quick Halloween display. Scary stories will definitely become a new fiction section next year.  Marsupial Lion from the Queensland museum has also been on the floor for the past 2 weeks.

 

Our Book Review Newsletter

Red Hot Reads has lapsed for some time, but we’re adding to our Book Review Newsletter again, starting in 2017 –  so that you can read our latest acquisitions.  Some of our books are donated to us by Read Plus because we have a team of reviewers willing to share their reviews to help other educators and students select YA novels.  Most of the reviews will be scooped from book review sites.  Watch this space.

Maladcapture1apted by R. Kurti

Walker Books, 2016. ISBN 9781406346299
(Age: 13+) Recommended. Science versus Religion in this fast-paced dystopian adventure. Cillian, a budding mathematician, is the sole survivor of a terrorist attack on the Metro (subway). Triggered by the trauma, hitherto untapped superpowers enable Cillian to save himself. Sadly, his father’s parting word, ‘Gilgamesh’, quickly becomes his quest.
Within hours, Cillian’s home is burgled and he knows he must look for the answers to the sole clue to his real identity. But there is another lost soul for him to meet in Foundation City. Tess is an orphan. She was raised by an extreme religious group, ‘Revelation’ who were responsible for the subway disaster and every other attack on the high tech ruling elite. Tess is sent to observe and ultimately destroy Cillian but the pair become friends, united by their distaste for the extremism on both sides.
Of course the friends endure, but it is clear they have unfinished business in Foundation City. In Maladapted, characterisation is not one of Richard Kurti’s strengths so readers looking to get to know Tess and Cillian, will be disappointed. However, the electrifying plot commands you to keep reading and we can expect that the main characters will be fleshed out in the ensuing series. Maladapted is crafted to satisfy fans of the Maze Runner and Divergent series or similar novels in the popular dystopian/sci-fi/horror category.
Deborah Robins

Read more reviews on ReadPlus Book Blog.

100 Years of Anzacs

NEVER FORGET

We’re getting busier

The past month has only allowed us a smidgen over 2 weeks of school time, during which we had 8,299 visitors and circulated 533 loans. Our Textbook Room circulated 2,032 textbooks during the same period.

CGBF Grant Work Complete

Over the holiday break, all of our fans and lights were replaced, halving our energy footprint into the future. Thank you to Paul Stevens, our local Electrician from TWT Electrics, for working many lonely days to minimize disruption to teaching and learning.

100 Years of Anzac

Australia-wide there is heightened interest in Anzac Day because of the 100th anniversary. Our multimedia display includes digital images,  primary resources, posters, books and the educational Courier-Mail Anzac Coin Collection. Students may use the lectern to scan personal accounts of diggers or quietly reflect on the lounges.

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Reader’s Cup

Our small team vying for a place in Smithfield’s district readers’ cup team started reading prior to the holidays and are making good progress. They are meeting once a week, to swap and discuss books and of course, quiz each other in the hope of blitzing this literary quiz competition. The six titles selected for 2015 are: The Rat Catcher’s Daughter by Paula Rushby  (Historical), Night Vision by Ella West (Mystery and suspense), Two Wolves by Tristan Bancks (Adventure) , A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin (Fantasy), The Last 13 – Book 1 by James Phelan (Action), One Minute’s Silence by David Metzenthen (Picture Book).

Cairns Public Library

Research is a large part of secondary school. Locating quality resources is crucial to becoming an expert in your topic -able to formulate a thesis and argue it effectively. The wealth of online resources and databases available through an ordinary membership of the local pubic library, appears to be a well-kept secret.  All our students would benefit from membership and we  would like to urge families to join the  local library, even if you don’t intend to visit the building or borrow print resources.  Without leaving home, students can access dozens of useful databases each brimming with useful information. The same login will enable you to read the world’s newspapers for free every morning and obtain homework help most evenings  between 3pm & 10pm with a qualified tutor.

Search our Information Portal  to scan our printed collection and various databases, which give you the edge. Struggling to complete your assignment?  Brush up on the ISP (Information Search Process)  and affirm that you are mean to feel anxious and vague. That’s the first stage of the Combined ISP.

 

Cairns Anzac Day Services

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Have you seen the Neodymium?

Forces on Display

We’ve all enjoyed hands-on learning about neodymiums, forces and magnetism, courtesy of the Queensland Museum regional loans. Students found the levitating globe intriguing. Pictured are seniors Steven Hennlein and Brooke Knight, trying out some of the experiments.

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Free MS- Office – 365

Many students have downloaded the MS Office suite for free to use on up to 5 computers at home.  Read more about this international initiative.

February – The Month in a Glance

  • 16,972 people used the library in the past month, that’s over 800 per day allowing for 1000 extra visitors for the month due to photos
  • 946 items were borrowed during February
  • Over 50 new resources were processed.  One might be waiting for you to take it home?  Read the reviews on our Red Hot Reads Newsletter.

Reader’s Cup 2015 @ Cairns High

Now that the coordinator, Lyndall Sellars, took up the post of Teacher Librarian at Cairns High, our teams won’t have to travel to Malanda SHS to compete in the annual district Reader’s Cup competition. We can easily pop into Cairns High to represent Smithfield High.

Reader’s Cup is a state-wide literature competition held every year in Term 2,  involving teams working together to score the most points when faced with innumerable questions about six  novels. We are hoping to take two teams of Yr 7 and Yr 8 students this year.  Pick up your application form in the Library if you: enjoy reading, remember details, can work as a team and can commit to a weekly meeting to study the books together.

NEWSFLASH – Your tutor hours have been extended. This incredible free online tutoring service is now available between 3pm to 10pm, Sunday to Friday. Even if you don’t borrow books from the public library, joining the public library means that you can access quality tuition through YourTutor and without leaving home. Another benefit is the power to access the subscription databases of the State Library online – for free.

 

Our First Year Sevens Make History

Orientation

2015 will be an exciting year for the whole school community. Our library will need to service hundreds more students and teachers as we welcome Year 7 to the “big school” for the first time in the history of our school.  We promise you – and all our “Freshmen”, that it won’t be long until you get in the swing of things, like all Year 8’s and all the Year 8’s before them.  We’ll be talking to you about our “ways of working” in the Library, but don’t expect to remember everything  the first time. If you need any help to log in to a computer, find a resource etc.  – just ask. Who?  Our Library staff  of course! Another strategy to learn these information skills,  is to visit our Information Portal .

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New Staff Member

A big welcome to our newest library staff member, Mrs Colgrave, who transferred to our faculty from Admin this year.

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Australia Day 

We have our usual Australia Day display running this week, mainly to highlight books to the International Students who may want to familiarize themselves further with our geography and customs.  Thank you to Mr Colgrave for helping us erect the  display. The Australia Day Honours List can be found here.

A welcome bit of news to we Library folk  is the announcement of the Senior Australian of the Year – Childrens’ Laureate Jackie French. Overcoming dyslexia herself, French believes in the transformational power of storytelling in the lives of young Australians. Read more about Jackie here…  Check out one of her books from our shelves…

“Every book a child reads creates new neurons in that child’s brain,” she told the crowd on the lawns of Parliament House on Sunday as she received her award.

“If you want intelligent children give them a book. If you want more intelligent children give them more books.”  The 61-year-old from NSW has published 140 books, for both adults and children, in 32 languages and received more than 60 literary prizes.  Read more..

International Year of Light and Light Technologies

Late in 2013, a resolution was passed by the UN General Assembly to make 2015 The International Year of Light. The Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon delivered his message in Jan 2015. You can read his message, which ends with “Let there be a year of Light.”  and find out more by visiting the International Year of Light website.

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CGBF Grant for New Lights – A Coincidence?

CGBF logo

Last week, we were delighted to learn that our CGBF grant application to have our original energy hungry lights, fans and security replaced, was successful.  Our energy footprint will be only a third of what it used to be, with more efficient systems. Over the holidays our new cabinet for housing the security system unit, photocopy paper and Book-It computer, was delivered.  Thank you to Mr Robins and Mr McClelland for moving the electronics and installing our new TNLA logo. THANK YOU to our supporters who supported out application, Prof Paul Gadek (JCU), Sam O’Connor (Police), Mark Allen (TBSS), Keith Seaton (P & C) and Michael Trout (MP). Finally we acknowledge the generous Community Gambling Benefit Fund for donating over $30,000 to upgrade our facility.

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Book Week August 2014

2014 CBC Children’s Book Week Aug 16-22 – Connect to Reading

The theme of Book Week this year is “Connect to Reading” and our displays featured texts that connect us to:  other texts, the world, the self and the past.  Our competitions and activities aimed to connect us to others with students submitting alphabet biographies and playing scrabble and connect 4 in the lunch break. All patrons had an opportunity to experience a connection with a mystery novel.

Book Week Results

We connected to reading last month for Book Week and drew our competitions. Nicholas Elliot-Kit was the lucky borrower of the week.  Aaron Moran was our Scrabble champion and both Grace King and Laena Gorman won our My Life is an Alphabet competition.

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Of course, we will be showcasing the six Older Reader’s titles and the ineffable HONOUR BOOK, “My life is an Alphabet” by Barry Jonsberg from the Younger Reader section.

The official young adult selections this year are:

Wildlife by Fiona Wood ( Connect  to yourself and to nature)  BOOK OF THE YEAR

The First Third by Will Kostakis  (Connect to family)

Sky so Heavy  by Claire Zorn  ( Connect to a possible nuclear winter)   HONOUR BOOK

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The Incredible Here and Now by Felicity Castagna (Connect to the loss of a family member)

Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil  (Connect to your inner nerd)

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Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near (Connect to your dark side)  HONOUR BOOK

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By far the biggest hit was our giant Connect 4 game and everybody had at least one go.

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Trinity Bay Writer’s Festival Report

Smithfield State High School has always encouraged a great literary program, nurtured by its English department and the school library; so the opportunity to spend two days with successful authors from around the country on the 31st of July and 1st of August at Trinity Bay, was not missed. In a workshop with some of Australia’s best authors, students were able to hear a few great writing tips and learn more about how the authors came to be where they are today. Not only were they entertained and engaged by Brian Falkner’s expertise and charm, but motivated and assisted by professional author Christine Bongers and local writer Maggie Doonan. Students were also impressed by the wonderful artwork of David Legge, who made drawing seem easy. All who attended were also treated to a workshop with each of the authors and the illustrator on the following day, where they were able to practice, showcase and develop their literary and artistic skills. It was a great opportunity for all who attended, and it is definitely on the agenda for next year.   By Joshua  Pelach

Research Tips

  • Our online Information Portal has moved.  To search our school resources, websites and online databases in one search;  visit our new look school website – Select the Support and Resources tab – Student Resources – Library Search.  Or bookmark our Portal Page direct: http://smithfieldshs.cmeweb.libcode.com.au
  • Try out this handy automatic summarization tool – http://www.textcompactor.com/

 

Desirable Difficulty

First Lunch Break

We’re back to our usual expectations this term. First break rules are not up for negotiation. We expect only homework, research or reading at first break.  Students playing games, hanging out or making noise will not be welcome.

Anzac Day Display

A huge thankyou to the RSL for lending us their military memorabilia displays for the week,  so we could commemorate our most popular national day.

Farewell Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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Read his BBC Obituary. We have some of his titles in Fiction, including the 1982 nobel prize winner’s most famous novel, “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, acclaimed by many to be one of the greatest novels of the Twentieth Century.

Study or Explict Learning?

We’ve renamed  our study tips tab in our information portal to debunk some of our long-held beliefs about studying.  For eons we’ve believed  that we’ll remember what we learn by re-reading, making notes, highlighting etc.  More recent research suggests that we learn best by interacting with the material via “desirable difficulty”.  This is best achieved in a study group, being quizzed or quizzing someone else etc.  By struggling to search memories for the answer, the difficulty can create lasting learning.  That’s why the difficulty is called desirable – because knowledge acquired in this manner lasts the test of time.

To summarize: Study in small chunks every week – do not cram right before a test  – Test or Quiz yourself using a quiz generator   –  Online Quiz Creator  –  Register for Class Marker – Socrative

Form a Study Group to discuss the work and quiz each other verbally  – Today’s Meet  – Backchat on twitter or another forum tool. Discuss information during the lesson or afterwards in forums to be interacting with the information and with others. Try using technology to help you:  Padlet – Today’s Meet – Chatzy – Socrative

Book Week Shortlist

The Children’s Book Week shortlist has been announced. …And the Older Reader’s Novels are:

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2014 Welcome back to our Library

 

Welcome Back

This is our first post for 2014.  Our library continues to develop our services to staff, students and the wider community.  We welcome back the Duke of Edinborough group who work weekly in our libary in addition to all our academic staff and students.  You will notice a few differences. Our electric stapler over in the copy centre is a hit! We like to watch unsuspecting first time users jump out of their skin as they gingerly insert their papers to be stapled.  Who said there was no glee to be had in teaching? 

With heaps of new books coming out this is a good time to reinforce the value of reading. Although some seniors tried last year, you can’t borrow 10 books a month to cram for your Core Skills Test. Yes, yes of course  WIDE READING  IS THE BEST PREPARATION FOR UNSEEN TESTS, but it makes more sense to spread them out right from the start in grade 8 and read one or two or our excellend young adult books every month.

We are focusing this year on our INFORMATION PORTAL   This is no ordinary online Library Catalogue.  Using our portal can get you into lots of free databases and tips for doing research. You can still use Google  but in a much more efficient way. 

February Theme

This month we are focusing on “others”.  Our Valentine’s Day competition saw us matching book/movie titles to their images.  But we also focused on “OTHER LIBRARIES”.  Last week Mrs Sivan Bolger visited from Smithfield Branch of Cairns Libraries to demonstrate how their free tutoring service works.  It’s called YOUR TUTOR.  All you need is a public library card to access a tutor qualified in your subject between 4-8pm every week day. Visit our information portal and click on the YOUR TUTOR tab.  Best of all, we consumed lots of pikelets and scones and were thoroughly entertained.

Listening to Cairns Library Librarian Sivan Bolger

Listening to Cairns Library Librarian Sivan Bolger

But wait, there’s still more.  Mrs Bolger returns this Tuesday to speak about the free databases available online through the Cairns Libraries.  All students can benefit from these services especially our Senior Learning Academy students.  Both talks focus on services which can be accessed remotely.  We still have to learn about all the resources and items in-store at the local Smithfield Library and Mrs Bolger alerted us to the FREE HOUR, yes you heard right, free hour of internet available to library patrons each day.  We even got the early tip that free WifFi is coming later this year.

Reader’s Cup Team

On June 6th we take a team of 4 annually to a reading competition in Malanda.  If you’d like to apply to be in the team, you need to be in Year 8 or 9. See Mrs Robins or send an email to drobi34@eq.edu.au  to apply.

Stay Tuned…

We haven’t arranged all our guests and displays yet, but here’s a hint for our March special event below. This is a good time of year to revise the 16 Habits of Mind. With these in our minds, we can really do our best work.   We hope you join us in exploring all that our local libraries have to offer – and best of all, it’s free!

Habits of Mind

EBOOKS

Read an ebook anytime anywhere. Download an ebook right from our online Library Catalogue.  There’s an instruction page under the Read Ebooks tab  or watch these instructions: http://screencast.com/t/CApOcT7RaJt

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Before you start downloading Ebooks to your device, visit the tab page for instructions about installing either Blue Fire Reader for smart phones or ipad, or Adobe Digital Editions for reading them on your Tablet, PC or laptop.

Most of our Ebooks are classics and because their authors have been dead a very long time, their copyright has expired. This means that these files will never expire on your device unless you delete them.  But we are slowly building up the modern titles which cost a lot more and are copyright protected.  So when you download one of these modern titles, remember that you only have 3 weeks to read the Ebook before it disappears and the next person can borrow it.

Some of our new title include: Team Human, Survive, Strindberg’s Star,  Skin Deep, Shift, Seventeen & Gone, The Savages, Revived, The Lord of the Rings, Mortal Instruments, Divergent, The Dead I Know and even non-fiction books with titles like Cyber Bullying and The World CIA Fact File.

Resume the habit of reading today and you’ll discover the benefits to your thinking, brainpower, personality and school grades – all without even trying.