2012 CBC Short List!

The 2012 CBC Short List has been announced! Scan the QR codes below to be taken to teachers' notes (if available) and/or reviews - enjoy.

A Straight Line to My Heart  The Golden Day  The Dead I Know Ship Kings When We Were Two  Crow Country  Nanberry  The Truth about Verity Sparks

  Bungawitta

The Golden Door

Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel

Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King

Sites2See - Online Stories for Interactive Whiteboards

 

is a great website with wonderful links to resources - well worth bookmarking. 

Beantime Stories looks very useful and includes parents' instructions.

 

Roy: Tale of a Singing Zebra - the second link unfortunately is blocked for GGS at present but could be unblocked shortly (fingers crossed).

 

 Seussville looks particularly colourful and fun but the interactive books are not free. 

Sebastian Swan has a parents' page and so could be set for homework or advised as a site for parents to explore with their children.

Literactive is free but you need to join and use a password. It also includes some excellent hard copy resources but they need to be purchased.

old picture books is fabulous!

Storybooks at Magickeys is also a fabulous resource.

But check out the site yourself:http://lrrpublic.cli.det.nsw.edu.au/lrrSecure/Sites/LRRView/8005/

A blog well worth following

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recently stumbled across this blog (Teach with Picture Books) whilst surfing for attractive sites that featured instruction on persuasive writing.  Check out the links in this article, in particular, I have them bookmarked and will be adding them to my Junior English blog (when I find time, lol).

Question Generator

Having good questions is the key to any successful research task.

Do you want a fun an easy way to create questions for your inquiry?

Well here it is, the Question Generator.

Have fun creating your own questions as you spin the Question Generator.

Spin as many times as you like and create lots of different questions.

Now choose the best one for your inquiry!

It will help you to create both closed and open-ended questions.

Before starting, watch the video. It will clearly explain how to use the Generator in any research task.

Earth Day Contest

Glogster is Yours! Join NOW! 

Kids' Book Club

2012 being the National Year of Reading, this would be the perfect time to revisit the idea of a Kids' Book Club.


Who can join?


Any GGS senior student.


When and where will book club members meet?


Members will meet twice a term in Discussion Room A in the ISC on a Thursday at 3.45 - 4.30 pm.


What will we do during book club meetings?


We'll discuss a book that has been set for that month's reading.


Who chooses which book is read?


Book club members will take turns choosing a book for the group. The person whose turn it is that month will be asked to bring some discussion questions to the next session and to kick start the session.


Will there be criteria for choosing the books?


Not exactly but there will be suggestions and guidelines.  There will be a lot of different tastes amongst members, I imagine and therefore books should be chosen that have wide appeal. 


Will we be allowed to talk about other things besides books?


You need to realise that this is a book club, so... although it will be fine for people to chat in the first few minutes while we wait for everyone to arrive, the whole point of the club is to discuss books so that's the focus.  It is also a voluntary club, so if you're not interested in talking about books, you probably should join another club.


What happens if I can't keep up with the reading?


Everyone has busy periods when they can't get reading done but if you consistently come to our meetings without having read the book, you may be asked to look for a club more suited to you.


If you have any more queries or questions, come and talk to me in the ISC.  If you'd like to join Book Club, email me.

Book Club will begin officially in Term 2.

QR codes - easier than you think

QR codes (Quick Response Codes) are two-dimensional codes that can store huge amounts of data. They are somewhat like the product bar codes we are all used to seeing on our purchases. The scanning app needed to read the codes can be downloaded for free from the following website: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ suggested by Annette as one of the more user-friendly versions available. 

Having used myself this morning to create a QR for BookCloud in only a few seconds (see above), I can vouch for its ease of use.  If you're interested in experimenting with new FREE apps, especially those with smartphones or the new iPad 2 and netbooks, visit the e-Support wiki link to the left of this blog.

Greatest Reading Super Hero

As already mentioned in a previous post, 2012 is the National Year of Reading! A number of competitions and activities are already beginning to crop up to celebrate this worthwhile event - why not take advantage of them? At the same time, you'll be enriching your own life or helping to enrich the lives of others. I will be posting information concerning competitions and activities on this blog as well as the blogs and wikis that I run. I will also creat a link list exclusively dedicated to the 2012 National Year of Reading. So stay tuned and happy reading. Super Hero

The 2012 Creative Reading Prize

As part of the National Year of Reading, the Centre for Youth Literature is running the Read This! Creative Reading Prize. Readers around Australia will be asked to upload their response to a favourite book to a dedicated website.


Entries will run from March 1 – May 31 and may include a range of traditional and multi-media activities, such as fan fiction, poetry, craft, mashups, and book trailers.


The collective prize pool is $40 000 !!!!


The website: readthis2012.com.au is not yet up and running but... stay tuned to learn more about this amazing opportunity.

Oliver's Voki

INKY AWARDS 2011

The 2011 Inky Awards

 The Inky Awards are special awards for Ausralian teen choice book awards. They have been awarded since 2007 and are chosen by teenagers who vote for their favourites from the supplied shortlist. The Gold Inky is for an Australian Book and the Silver Inky is for an International Book.

 Cath Crowley who was our Resident Artist in Residence in 2010 has her novel 'Graffiti Moon' on this years Gold shortlist. Perhaps you might like to vote for her. This novel along with others from the Children's Book Council Award List are available to borrow in the ISC.
This years Artist in residence, Simonne Howell was a past Gold  Inky Award winner.

You can vote for your favourite Gold and Silver Inky Award by clicking on the website link below. Voting will be open until midnight October 14.


http://readalert.blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/inky-awards/

The following are Inky Award 2011 shortlisted titles:

Gold Inky (Australian Book)

Graffiti Moon- Cath Crowley

This is Shyness- Leanne Hall

Silvermay- James Moloney

Black Painted Fingernails -Steven Herrick

All I Ever Wanted -Vikki Wakefield

Silver Inky (International Book)


Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares- Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

No and Me- Delphine de Vigan

Clockwork Angel- Cassandra Clare

The Agency: The Body at the Tower -Y.S. Lee

Where She Went -Gayle Forman

Voting will be open until midnight October 14.


2011 Creative Reading Response Competition
You can also win great prizes by writing a creative response to the 2011 Creative reading response competition;


The beauty of this prize is that you, the reader chooses the form of your entry!


Teens and readers alike are invited to submit a creative response to a book you  love. It can be in ANY FORMAT YOU CHOOSE!  

Below are some suggestions to get you started:

-write a short story using the characters/setting (feel free to add zombies)

-make a video trailer or a machinima trailer

-write a poem or a song

-illustrate your favourite scene/character

-sew a costume

-make a model

-create an art piece

THE PRIZE
A Sony Reader Touch, complete with some awesome e-book titles to read!
(if you win)
And there will be MANY runners-up who will get free books, book vouchers, and any other fun stuff we can find.
Submit your entries to youthlit@slv.vic.gov.au (or email a link to the YouTube/flickr/whatever page where your entry lives) and place ‘Creative Reading Prize’ in the subject line.

OR

You can post your entry to:
Inkys Creative Reading Prize
Centre for Youth Literature
State Library of Victoria
328 Swanston Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
AUSTRALIA

Your entry MUST include:
your name, your email address, your postal address, your age, and the name of the book you are responding to.

THE RULES
You can be any age to submit, and there will be runners-up of all ages, but the Grand Prize can only be won by someone under 20.
Be as creative as possible. You can enter as many times as you like.

Winners will be announced on October 25 at InkyFest, taking place at the State Library of Victoria. The winner of the Creative Writing Prize will also be announced on the 25th Oct.

Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge Book Review Opportunity!

Now that the Premier's Reading Challenge is nearing it's culmination. The Education Age  is encouraging you to write a review of any of the books you have read during the challenge. Click on the website link above that will take you to the VPRC blog and add your review.You have the opportunity to win Book Prizes

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM

Simmone Howell: Artist in Residence

Recently we were privileged to have author Simmone Howell with us for three days. She was here as the ISC/English Department's 2011 Lorna Sparrow Artist in Residence.She ran creative writing workshops with  Year 7 and 8's and spoke to Year 9's about how her writing is heavily influenced by pop culture. The students really enjoyed her sessions and created some great writing in a very short space of time.Year 7 and 8 English teachers also picked up some interesting strategies to encourage the creative writing juices.

Simmone lives in Castlemaine and is a full time writer.She writes realistic teenage fiction, plays, short stories and scripts for TV. She also uses social media as a platform for her writing and you can read what she has to say about her visit to Gippsland Grammar in her latest blog post

http://www.simmonehowell.com/

CATH CROWLEY

Our last years artist in residence, author  Cath Crowley has been shortlisted in the Victorian Premier's Literary Prizes for 2011 with her new young adult novel 'Graffiti Moon'. This novel is available to borrow in the ISC along with multiple copies of the other short-listed books. Come to the ISC to check them out!

•The winner of the literary prize will be announced on September 5th, 2011.

Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge Book Forum:Add your reviews and win prizes!

Now that the Premier's Reading Challenge is nearing it's culmination The Education Age is encouraging you to write a review of any of the books you have read during the challenge. Click on the website link above that will take you to the VPRC blog and add your review.You have the opportunity to win Book Prizes!

Angel the new book in the Maximum Ride series continues the quest to save the world. the novel alternates between Max's viewpoint and the adventures of her flock and Fang's experiences establishing his new flock. Naturally, the two flocks unite towards the end in order to stave off an attempt by the Doomsday group to recruit the world's teenagers to kill all of humanity. A real page turner, the only disappointment or rather confusion is why the title - 'Angel'. In previous books Angel has attempted a coup in order to become the flock's leader but no such manoeveres occur in this book. Instead, Angel is more loyal and trustworthy than ever, except... but you'll need to read the book to find out. **** O.4 is another glimpse into the possible future only this time, it appears that humanity has not been invaded by aliens or even elimintaed, at least not exactly. Kyle Straker's recorded diary has been unearthed by creatures obviously superior to current humans. They have made a study of it with numerous amusing misinterpretations and odd analogies that give an insight into how great works of literature taken out of context can be easily misunderstood. But what has happened to Kyle nad the rest of humanity as we know it? In a suprising Matrix-like exploration, Mike Lancaster asks the reader to re-evaluate all they ever thought possible about the value of our current existance. ***** The Wilful Eye is a six shory story collection by some of Australia's best authors. The tales are loosely based on fairy tales but they have interpreted in such a rich and intriguing manner that the reader will be left revisiting the images and ideas explored as each story is completed. Not for the casual reader or for one who enjoys a quick fix of romance or violence or humour, the stories will resonate deeply with more literary readers who could well be inspired to return to the original story in order to compare the author's interpretation. Wonderful but definitely weird as well, *****