Writer’s Excursion to Trinity Bay SHS

Trinity Bay Writer’s Festival

“The World of Mystery” festival was held on Aug 10th & 11th at Trinity Bay SHS. Students from Yr 6 to 12 attended the two day workshop with world renowned authors, Lili Wilkinson, Nick Earls, Jack Heath and Anne Spudvillas.

“Seeing some of our students volunteer to read their own work to award-winning authors was a really great experience. Sharing and celebrating their writing, as well as encouraging one another, was something they should all be proud of!” remarked Ms Campbell.

Our budding authors – Jasmine M, Jessica R, Keegan M, Billie W and Tahnia E also commented:

“The writer’s festival was amazing … The authors and illustrators taught us a lot and I made many new friends … I learnt a lot about my friends’ ideas, aspirations and writing styles …

This experience was amazing and a ton of fun! … I cant wait till next year – I even started another book … I found a way to use my charcoal … I found it very interesting and educational … It inspired me to become a junior author… I now know how to illustrate my own book … Thanks for letting me go to that experience … You’re awesome”


CBCA Book Week 2017 – Escape to Everywhere

Books transport us to other places and inspired this year’s signposts to various fictional settings. None of our featured books from the 2017 shortlist were chosen Books of the Year. [https://cbca.org.au/winners-2017]

We featured Oliver Huxley’s allegory of grief “My Brother” and information books about design (Spellbound by Marie Coote) and courage (Fabish by Neridah McMullin). Thank you for your artistic assistance Mr Jarman and Sharon B (Yr12). and for the winning Panem travel poster by Dany C. & Vanda R. in 7A. Special thanks to Ms Ellington [pictured] for giving up some of her own time to help set up our display.

 

New Book Recommendation snipped from a Review by Jackson O. (Yr8)

Anthony Horowitz uses incredible description and storytelling to make a story that is not only intriguing and thrilling, but also engaging and thought-provoking. This unbelievable book constantly entertains and seems to surpass all other books in the Alex Rider series. ‘Alex Rider: Never Say Die’ will keep you on the edge of your seat and wanting more.

 

 

 

Smithfield Library in the News

We waited our turn, but eventually Paddy’s article about our super busy August 2015 hit the Cairns Post.  We don’t  get to showcase our Science Week and Book Week displays in the local newspaper every year. Both national networks (National Science Week & Children’s Book Council  chose the theme of the International Year for their inspiration – The International Year of Light. Click on the title of the article to zoom in to read the article.

Post-Ed Article 15 Sept 2015

BW story sept15

 

Unfortunately, a lovely photo of two of our three volunteers helping Mrs Robins to make an impression with eye-catching replicas of the shortlisted Book Week titles, didn’t make the newspaper. Pictured finishing off their creations are – Tenielle Burdin and Brooke Ryan.

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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/

 

Book Week 2013

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Last week we celebrated the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s national Book Week and we featured Brian Cox’s brilliant science lecture about our unfathomable Universe. It’s easy to download a youtube video – just watch the tutorial for a rapid method. We hung our own milky way of stars around our “Astronomy” and “Early Navigators” display (part of the Yr 8 curriculum). While “Sea Hearts” won the Young Adult category and both “The Ink Bridge” and “Friday Brown” were honour books, we featured a display of the brilliant “Creepy & Maud” by Diane Touchell. All the shortlisted titles are featured on the Book Week tab of our 24/7 Online Catalogue page.

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Our Book Week Quiz competition was won by Allysha Sordelli 11F. Alicia matched the titles of 10 Sci-Fi classics with their correct first-lines.  Our “Take me to your Reader” poster competition was won by Raylinda Mura 9C.

EBooks are Now on the Menu

Yes, we now hold a few dozen ebooks.  Most are copyright free classics but we will be purchasing more contemporary titles as our budget permits.  For all instructions about how to select and download our ebooks on your tablet (year 9) iphone, ipad or laptop  read the instructions on the Ebooks tab of our Catalogue page.

Spotlight Short Play Competition Winner

CongratulPerez_Giannaations Gianna Perez for winning our regional short play writing competition.  Gianna’s play “Room 28” will be staged this October 14 & 15th at our second round of Spotlight evenings with the Performing Arts faculty. Gianna also wins an ipad mini courtesy of Mario Calanna Pharmacies – our sponsor. All entries will recieve a participation certificate and our Judge, Ms Avril Duck has given everyone constructive feedback.

 

A challenge of a Puzzle

Finally, our latest jigsaw is completed. This butterfly shaped puzzle proved really difficult.  Mrs Kosky, our computer technician & Nathan Black, Yr 12, are regular contributors to this communal activity and are pictured fighting over the placement of the last pieces!

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World of Stories – Book Week

Library staff all contributed some worldly items to complement the cultural museum box, which was used to build our CBC Book Week display. We have thee competitions that will run until end of August so there’s still time to enter to win a book or anatomical keyring.  We’ve displayed statues and monuments of authors and book characters all week on our LCD screen hoping some will guess their identity or location. 

Why is Book Week still relevant to teenagers? We all get so caught up working hard on our next assignment,  we often forget that the absolute best way to do well on unseen tests (like Core Skills or NAPLAN) is to have a lot of recreational and wide reading over time.  And, reading literature for pleasure makes you a more interesting all-round person just like reading the newspaper or watching the news makes you a better citizen of the world!  

A sincere ‘Thank you’  to Collins Bookstore, Smithfield for donating book prizes and collating a small book fair/sale for us to inspect.  Check out our “World of Stories” display below or on AuthorStream,  if you missed our display last week.

Bookweek 2011

 

The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett, The Red Wind by Isobel Carmody, The life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher by Doug McLeod , Hamlet by Nikki Greenberg, Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley.  Many of the Book Week books and some new titles are currently on display on our library bookshelf below. Read more about the CBC Shortlist for 2011

 Last but not least, ever wanted to do some serious editing to a .PDF file and couldn’t find your original word document?  This free converter will impress – try it out.