Valentines Anyone?

The library’s first lunch time activities for 2013 were in celebration of Valentine’s Day.  About ten risk-takes took part in Speed dating with a Book and thoroughly enjoyed it.  We spent 2 mins getting to know our dates before the alarm sounded and we moved to the next table to start the process all over again. Prizes for good evaluations were awarded. Congratulations to our best speed-daters: Harrison Seal Yr 8, Claire McGarrie Yr 9, Mikayla Radlof Yr 11 and Mani Norris Yr 11.

Responses were very positive:Shadow Girl was just peaceful to read – Very funny – “Siggy & Amber was Awesome – It looked funny – I reckon this is awesome – It was interesting – “Unlocked” was weird, it has guns – Headgameswas interesting, people can relate to it –  Nick & Norah sounds amazing, I think it’s my type of book – “Another Fine Mess” was funny and interesting – “Unlocked” had an interesting beginning, it was great –Conspiracy 365″  was action-packed.  More than one book went home on a date with new borrowers and a good time was had by all.  Let’s have one every term?

30 “all time greatest” romance films were highlighted on our LCD screen for students to guess. Congratulations to India Hopkinson and Julia Denman,  Yr 11 for guessing more than anybody else.

Valentine’s Day Movie(s)

‘The Paperman’ and ‘Adelaide’ were all we had time for. Most moviegoers prefered the annimation. So if you want to watch some creative and original short films, just go to Short of the Week and search for films in various categories.

Quiditch  in Cairns

Matthew Morris is the organizer of the newest Quiditch team in the Australian Quiditch Association.  The Cairns United Quiditch Club (CUQC)  is looking for members. If you would like to join, contact CUQC.  JCU inaugurated the sport here in Cairns with the CUQC recently becoming the second team in the area. Matthew is pictured below  in the player’s jersey and holding a book about Harry Potter, which provided the inspiration for the Muggle version of the sport. Of course this version must be played on the ground and therefore the rules have been modified. Contact champions@northqueenslandquidditch.com  for more information.

International Year of Water Cooperation 2013

Welcome back. You’ll notice some changes already but we have more surprises to come. No. 1 is our first installation. Look up and you’ll see it. Why do we have glass raindrops in the atrium ceiling? 2013 is the UN International Year  of Water Cooperation. We’d like some feedback from everyone, particularly our Art students – what mark would you give us for this assignment?  What would you have done differently?

 You’ll notice all new sled based research chairs and gas lift computer chairs. New desks in all 3 main classroom areas are still coming, so we’re not finished yet. Checking out your books and laptops, changing passwords and seeking information or assistance will be more pleasant now we’ve a new circulation desk too. We have a huge new colour printer R45 but you’ll still be able to print black and white to R42.  Just make sure the printer you choose starts with “O” for O Block, i.e. your Library.

New Books

We already have some great new titles, all of which are reviewed on our RED HOT READS page.  We must give a rousing three cheers to Cassie Kosky for donating her entire collection of Lord of the Rings and Twilight coffee table books. These Movie Companions and Visual Guides to the feature films are really very valuable in their own right. We have many fans at Smithfield and I know they won’t be on the shelf for long.

Julie & Andrew Matthews from Seashell Publishers have kindly donated multiple copies of their latest book, “Stop the Bullying”.  Whether you’re a student, parent or teacher, this book has some good advice for you.

 

Cairns Library

Of course many students are card-carrying members of the Cairns Public Library. Borrowing books, audiobooks and DVD’s for free is cheaper than buying them or renting them. But there are a few other advantages. With your library card, and a pin (just ask at the counter) you can use the internet for free for an hour at the Smithfield branch located at our back door.  Edatabases like Ancestry.com can be accessed in the Smithfield Branch Library on any public internet terminal.  But using your library card, you can register for a QPL Account and have access to many free Edatabases even at home. e.g.  The Library Press, which is a directory of most of the world’s newspapers online.  Most Learning Academy students have their QPL account – it’s easy to register. If you have trouble, just see Mrs Robins in the library to show you how.

Competition Time

Horror Movies

Congratulations to our resident horror movie aficianado Tyson Beable for winning our interactive Halloween Horror Film Quiz. Runner up was Ashley Smith. Nice to see students in all grades participating and taking a risk. It paid off for two seniors.  There were a couple of tricky classic titles that stumped everyone.  Here are the answers in order: Alien, An American Werewolf in London , Twilight, The Shining, Blair Witch Project, Bride of Frankenstein, True Blood, Dexter, The Ring, Chucky, dracula, The Exorcist, The Birds, Dawn of the Dead, Friday the 13th, Gremlins, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Let Me In, The Silence of the Lambs, House of 1000 Corpses, Scream, It, Saw, Rosemary’s Baby, Nightmare on Elm Street, Nosferatu, The Lost Boys, Psycho, Leprechaun.

Wellbeing Award

Sometimes you don’t have to put your hand up to win, you just have to be a competent, helpful, nice person and the Gods will smile on you. For instance, Judy Andersen was nominated by peers and scored the School Wellbeing Award. Judy is pictured below receiving the award from Caz Dagleish. It is important to note that our library cleaners Colleen and Mike are also very competent and the cobwebs pictured are actually part of our Halloween display!  Which brings me to my next point – things are rarely what they seem.  So if you stand around waiting for the Gods to smile on you, then you are missing out on lots of opportunities – look for them and “Have a go”.

Reading Olympics Winners Breakfast

8E were really appreciative of their cooked breakfast, largely made possible by Smithfield McDonalds. Students enjoyed juice and Milo to help them wash down 25 bacon and egg muffins. Thank you to McDonalds for sponsoring our Term 3 reading Olympics and for being a source of employment for Smithfield students. The No 1 Reader for the Reading Olympics was Ben Weller and both Ben and McDonalds were given a certificate of appreciation. At the breakfast,  Ms Harris & Ms Robins were pictured with 8E, who brought their own “thank you” to present to library staff.

RSL Memorial Fund Award

Grants and awards are like competitions. You need to nominate or apply for them, and like a competition, you need to “be in it, to win it”. Although sometimes competitions involve more luck than skill, successful grants require you to demonstrate your skills, knowledge and vision.  We were pleased to learn that Nathan Norris (Yr 12) was the recipient of an individual grant from the RSL, which will help Nathan participate in an international Scouting event in New Zealand in the near future. Achieving is largely a question of motivation, and so life is like entering a competition – having a go, taking a risk and not being afraid to fail. Get into the habit of seizing the day and the opportunities and you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

 

 

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
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Read review Read review Read review
Read review Read review Read review
Read review Read review Read review

 

Documentary Sites

This is our first blog post for nearly a term. We’ve  featured some funky library displays while the school website was under repair.   The centrepiece of our Extreme Sports display was a canoe!  Lately they’ve been more low key, with some wonderful self-portraits and sculptures decorating our Mental Health Week display last week. (featured). This week is National Nutrition week.  Check whether we made the right decisions about which foods earn a healthy TICK or an unhealthy CROSS.  Browse the latest edition of New Scientist magazine for the full story about how the foods we eat have been  modifying our genes.

 

The focus of this blog post however is Documentaries.  We have bookmarked some interesting directories where you can go to watch documentaries.  Youtube may be the most popular repository of films on the net, but you will agree, not all are of any educational value.  That’s because every man and his dog can upload their home movies and mash ups. The documentary sites we link to, point to at least 5 sites where films have been selected by the site because they have educational value.

Your teachers will have shown you many films using our school based index of films – Clickview.  We update this digital collection of films every week. You are free to search “Clickview Player” and watch films that interest you or finish watching a movie you stared in class.  You can even take them home on your USB drive to watch them at home.  You do have to download and install the Clickview Player on your home computer or your new laptop first.  We have updated a pamphlet with instructions about how to do this, and copies are located at the loans desk for you to take.  Or you can view instructional tutorials by clicking on the links above.