XMAS CARD FOR GEEKS....

Sooo had to share this with you all ....many thanks to ncowie from Kati for the headsup!

Awesome activity for kids with creative minds...

I just love this - take a movie title - create an anagram for it and then create a new movie poster for the anagram....have a look at some of the examples here ....

These were two of my favourites...

Free Technology for Teachers

Check out this fantastic site - heaps of great games and activities for teachers to use in the classroom - FREE TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHERS

Let me know what you think ....

Books to talk about...

To celebrate World Book Day, the WBD Team asked publishers in the UK (big and small) to compile a list of 50 fiction and 50 non fiction books capable of sparking conversation - here's the links to those lists ...

Fiction....

Non fiction ....

Have a look and start a conversation with someone you know...

PS The next World Book Day is March 2009

3 Column Book Reviews

I wish I has seen this before book week - it's a great idea - a book review in three comic strip frames - a great revision tool for senior classes for any text - a great junior activity also.

I'm thinking about a competition for Term 4.

Check them out here...3 Column Book Review

I liked this one on Moby Dick.

Alphabetical Autobiography....

I like the look of this task - an autobiography with a difference ....check it out here

Autobiographical Autobiography.....

Awesome games on the BBC education website...

The BBC educational website - BBC for schools - has an array of fantastic learning activities and games. Though it is geared up for GSCE there are awesome games for the kids to play.

Head for this link - Games - and have fun on Mia Cadaver's Tombstone Timeout....

Teaching strategies - a reminder..

Just a reminder that the TKI ESOL site has some wonderful resources and strategies ....
you can link to it from here ...Teaching and Learning Strategies

Get your kids to make a reading poster...

Quick, easy and fun ... grab a digital camera and try it out here .....

Here's mine ....

What boys like to read...

An intersting article on what boys like reading.. you can link to it here

Couldn't resist...

Lexipedia

This is a great visual thesaurus site - check it out with your classes - especially good for ESL learners...

Lexipedia

Let me know what you think...

Blackout Poems .....

Check out this unusual idea for a variation of 'found poetry'.

These rely on 'blacking out' sections of newspaper stories to create a poem. Check it out at this link - Blackout Poems...

Catherine is a comma - a pause???

You Are a Comma

You are open minded and extremely optimistic. You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything. You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests. You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time. Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to. (But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.) You excel in: Inspiring people You get along best with: The Question Mark

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

What punctuation mark are you...

I find this hard to believe but according to Punctuation marks I am a ......

You Are An Exclamation Point

You are a bundle of... well, something. You're often a bundle of joy, passion, or drama. You're loud, brash, and outgoing. If you think it, you say it. Definitely not the quiet type, you really don't keep a lot to yourself. You're lively and inspiring. People love to be around your energy. (But they do secretly worry that you'll spill their secrets without even realizing it.) You excel in: Public speaking You get along best with: the Dash

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

What do you think???????

Awesome writing activity...

Take your classes to have a go at this activity - One Word..

It's a simple as it sounds - click on go and you have 60 seconds to write about the one word that appears on the screen - publish your classes writing...

Word game fun with Wordslide

Another great wordgame - a little like Boggle - where you race the clock to make as many words as possible form the 6 letters provided. You can race against other players or just challenge yourself.

Take a look here - Wordslide

There are other games on the same site - a fun Geography one for those of you working a cross curricular programme.

Wordle..

There just has to be a way to use this tool in class !!

Wordle tales a chunk of text and turns it into a word cloud - like the one below made from a Yr13 piece of writing on 'Teenage Drivers'

title="Wordle: Teenage Drivers"> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/Teenage_Drivers"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"
>

A word bank for writing tasks...

More fun games for juniors..

Sorry - I have bee a bit slack on this lately ...

But for Yr 7/8 homeroom teachers this site looks great - despite being American...Spelling and Maths games...

Kids can sign up to Tutpup and compete anonymously with students worldwide in spelling and mathematics challenges..

Have a go!

Digital Storytelling ...

Take a look at this fascinating site - Penguin Books had six of its' authors tell a story digitally over six weeks -
6 authors, 6 stories, 6 weeks...

A fascinating look at how new technologies can be used to engage readers ...

I quite liked this - spoil the ending T shirt!!!

Great T-shirt for a movie buff......

RhymeZone - check it out...

Check out RhymeZone - a great little tool - simple and easy to use ...
Have fun...

Bitstrips - new cartoon application

Take a look at this site - Bitstrips - a beta program in the early stages of development - great for students to create their own character and comic strip...

What book do you belong in ...

A bit of escapism fun and humour - apparently I belong in :

'What Movie do You belong in?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Take the quiz yourself here

PS love the spelling of insecurities......

NZ Writers and Readers Week - Writing Competition

Next week - 11-16 March is NZ Writers and Readers' Week.

This will be our first competition of the year:

Ernest Hemingway (US author) once wrote a story in six words "For sale. Baby shoes, never worn".

The competition will be for the kids to write their own story in six words. You can find some more examples here.

A couple of great sites..

Just come across these two 0 they both look very useful..

LoudLit is a site that has a great range of oral texts. They are all in the public domain and so are free to download. Texts include some Shakespeare sonnets, Emperor's new clothes ...

and ..

I love this typing game - its sooooo addictive already - I'm getting worse though!!!
Words

Have a play....

NZ Writers and Readers Week

You might like out check out the information on this site NZ Writers and Readers Week

and get your classes involved........

We'll look at running some competitions in the library.

Ciao.

Awesome Site

This site is a great find - Teacher Book Wizard - take a few moments to have a look at it.

The main idea is that you can get a list of texts on a set topic. It is run by Scholastic (USA) and is a similar thing to our journal search....


I know that there are probably dozens, hundreds, squillions of these sites around but ...you know me!!!

Hello 2008....

Welcome back all of you - Happy New Year!

If you haven't picked up your stationery pack from the office do so!!! Goody bags for all!!!.

I'll be keeping this blog and the library blog going throughout the year - a good way to keep updated is to subscribe to the rss feed - if you have no idea what I am talking about pop in and see me!!! Or check out the help link on blogger.com -

http://help.blogger.com/bin/topic.py?topic=12455


I have also changed the library blog address to make it easier for us and the kids to remember - it's now simply called TuakauCollegeLibraryBlog and you can get it to from the blogroll on the sidebar......



Don't forget to subscribe....