S1 pupils are starting out on their Ancient Civilisations project, most of which is based in the library. To help them with their research pupils are given a couple of information literacy lessons.
Note making took place last week. It involves pupils being given a presentation on how to take notes, including emphasis on using their own words and not copying and pasting unless using direct quotes, and touching upon plagiarism. They are then given the opportunity to practise a few note making styles.
This week pupils looked at using keywords to find information in the contents and indexes of books. To do this they play ‘Keyword Bingo’. Each group gets four books on various Ancient Civilisations and a bingo sheet with keywords or key phrases. As keywords are called out, pupils record the word(s), search for them in the books and note down which book and page number on which they found them. If the word called is on the bingo card, they cross it off. This is a fun way of getting them using the books, as well as introducing them to some of the topics which they could choose to do their research on.
We supplement library stock from The Orkney Library & Archive which ensures we have plenty of resources for 70 or so pupils. School library owned books are available for loan, whilst the Orkney Library books are for reference, to be used in the library only.
Next lesson we will be looking at planning the project and starting to do the background reading, encouraging them to use the books prior to moving on to internet research, if any is needed – we do have plenty of resources!
Our well established annual storytelling event took place on Wednesday 31st October, with around twenty pupils attending the event for some snacks and to share their ghost and horror stories. We established ourselves in the reading zone, dropped the lighting and spent our lunch break trying to scare each other with stories.
Attendees were positive about the event as well as providing one or two suggestions for the future on the Evaluation forms.
If there was more time but other wise fab. MC
I had fun. NC
It was awesome. MM
It was really fun, no improvement needed. MD
I love the scary stories. Maybe people could be planned to read later. ER
The stories were funny. BL
It was interesting. CW
A bit more space to breathe. It was very cramped. FM
It was perfect and only thing that is needing changed is to get a blind for the window. CM
The school library was very lucky to receive a donation of £160 to purchase resources from self-publisher and D&D writer Sly Flourish. His most recent publication Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, promoted through a Kickstarter did considerably better than expected, so he has donated to a number of school D&D groups.
Our club has grown considerably in the last two years or so, from less than 10 and is now standing at 20 pupils. This donation has enabled the purchase of more core rule books, meaning pupils can now borrow one of the sets to use at home, as well as Dungeon Master Screens, battle map, city dungeon tiles, and some miniatures to represent player characters. These were all chosen by the pupils.
Further information about D&D in school and the links it has to curriculum outcomes is available here on the library blog.
The annual poetry picnic took place on Thursday 6th October. Over the course of the two lunch sessions, around 20 pupils and some staff gathered in the library at lunchtime to listen to and read out poems on the theme of ‘Messages‘ as well as partake in some snacks and drinks which the Librarian provided. Over half of them read out poems to the rest, some a couple of times.
Once again we also revisited the popular ‘Tongue Twister Game’ which has now been a feature of this event for a good few years. It is always well received.
Participants were asked to evaluate the event and all provided a positive response to it. Some suggestions / comments were also provided.
[Need] A bit more time.
Loved it.
Good fun and thanks for the food.
More time to do this.
It was fun and good and I think we liked all the games.
Excellent and friendly event – a small but goodly company!
Christmas event.
The idea of having a Christmas event is good, but timings could be tricky with the library being very busy with booked classes.
Spooky Happenings – The ghost story telling even would normally follow NPD, but unfortunately a bereavement and subsequent absence meant there was no time available to prepare for an event at the beginning of term immediately after the October break.
The library is as busy, if not busier than ever, especially during leisure times – in the morning before classes start and at lunchtimes. Pupils can do a variety of activities at these times. There are the regular activities, described below, as well as our annual events. Our Poetry Picnic is this Thursday, 6th October to celebrate National Poetry Day. The theme is ‘Messages’. After the October Holidays we will have another lunchtime session of storytelling for Spooky Happenings.
A small cohort of pupils come to the library before its official opening time, presumably because they want first dibs on the PCs, but they come on the condition that they help with shelving and shelf tidying. Their ‘enthusiasm’ for this means the shelving trolley is usually not too full. Sometimes books aren’t in the correct place, but this is a minor inconvenience. Mornings are often the time when some pupils are frantically finishing (in some cases starting, I suspect) homework, or printing it out. Others will read quietly, but in the main mornings are a gentle run in to the school day with a bit of a chat.
Many will go on the computers to play games in the morning or at lunchtime, although those wanting to do school work will always get priority. This system seems to work well, with only the occasional gripe when someone is asked to come off a PC to let someone work. We keep an eye to the games pupils are playing as well as ensuring both games and any YouTube videos they watch are appropriate for viewing in the school. Pupils are aware of and accept these limitations to use.
Board games such as chess, draughts and Connect4 are popular at lunchtime. These are kept on shelves so pupils can help themselves. A new Draughts set has recently been purchased and donated by the Librarian as we only had one set. One wonders whether there is scope for a peedie competition?
Magic the Gathering, an RPG card game where opponents battle each other is still very popular, both at lunchtime and during Friday afternoon activities. It was introduced to the library in the late 90’s and has been played ever since. We have also run a couple of tournaments in the past, and the time may well be ripe for another one. Watch this space!
Friday afternoon Role Playing Games activity is also more popular than ever with 23 pupils attending. Eight play Magic the Gathering in the Upper Library whilst the rest play Dungeons & Dragons, in three groups. This year we have 7 beginners which bodes well for the future of this activity. The beginners group of 5 very enthusiastic S1 pupils is DM’d (Dungeon Mastered) by the Librarian, Mrs Sinclair, playing the published Starter Set adventure, Lost Mine ofPhandelver from Wizards of the Coast. An S3 pupil leads two older beginners in his more experienced group of players playing a 5e D&D homebrew Sci-fi type of game. A further group led by an S3 girl playing 3.5e D&D. More information on the history of D&D at Stromness Academy can be found here.
PC “Can I use toilet?”
NPC “Outhouse is out back”
3 min later same question
NPC Same reply
Pupil asks again
DM “Oh YOU want to go”
On Tuesday after school a small group of five experienced D&D players meet. This includes one of the pupil DMs so it gives him a chance to play as well. Currently we are playing the Curse of Strahd campaign set in Ravenloft. This adventure will be full of suspense, a little measure of horror and maybe even some hope. The characters find themselves transported through mists to a different place to where they were the night before. They are in a forest clearing near a road. They have two options: go east into the mist (back to where they think they came from) or go west. They find out that the mist is rather dangerous so go west along the forest track.
Player: “How would I know I am in a forest?”
DM: “Erm!” Looks at other players.
Other players: Bemused! Roll eyes!
The characters find their way to the village of Barovia where two little children ask them to chase a monster out of their house. The players are now currently ‘stuck’ in The Death House (no it isn’t really as bad as it sounds – actually, yes it is!) which is an introductory adventure getting them used to the emphasis on the role-playing aspect of this campaign, as opposed to the dice rolling of lots of combat. It is making the players think much more carefully about their character’s actions, how they work together as a group and how they affect the other characters in the group. For example, maybe hitting a group of statuettes with a maul, which you saw briefly in the guise of your adventuring companions, might have consequences! One of the party took a lot of damage!
The main thing with D&D is that the players have fun. The great thing is it also teaches pupils lots of skills in terms of numeracy, literacy and social skills. More information is found on the D&D page of this blog.
It has been some time since the last post here. January has been and gone and we are already in February. A lot of things have been going on in the library as shown below (in no particular order).
Activities: Dungeons & Dragons – The increasingly popular D&D activity on Tuesday after school and Friday afternoons continues. On Tuesdays, a small group of 5-6 pupils meets to play a game run by myself. We are using the 5th edition Starter set running The Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure. It is proving quite taxing for the pupils’ characters at times. Just a pity we only have 50 minutes to play it in.
On Friday afternoons, there are three D&D groups run by pupils. This gives me a chance to play for a change, in a slightly steampunk game designed and run by a second year pupil. This game also is a bit of a hybrid between 4e and 5e which is working fairly well. Our characters are running from an army and have now found themselves in a cave system to get through the mountains. We were last seen to be trying to deal with a horde of goblins and a sleepy troll cuddling a chicken – don’t ask!
Lunchtimes – The library continues to be a busy place with anywhere between half a dozen and 30 pupils visiting, depending on time, over the course of the split lunch. Computers are well used, mostly for leisure use, but work will always get priority. Some folks come in to read and / or chat quietly which in most cases is acceptable, but when noise levels rise words will be said.
It is important that food and drink are NOT brought into the library. This Librarian was rather put out on the weather closure last Friday – tidying a very messy fiction section is tedious enough but to find stale, hard, mouldy bread and empty bottles of milk shake behind the books was beyond a joke.
Tidying in progress. The books on the floor indicate how much has been randomly shelved and needing put in the right section, let alone those just dumped at the end of shelves. Please help to keep everything tidy.
More words will be said about this. Both the Junior and Senior Fiction sections have now bee given a good tidy and I would hope that library users respect this and take responsibility for helping to keep everything tidy and food free.
The trading card game, Magic the Gathering, continues to be very popular as a self-directed lunchtime activity and I am not averse to a game or two myself. MtG is also a popular Friday afternoon activity. A couple of other table top games have also been tried – Necromunda and another, whose name currently escapes me. Warhammer occasionally features too.
Lessons – January was fairly quiet in terms of class bookings with the English department library periods being the only ones. In mid-February S2 PSE will have five weeks in here doing Careers Information Literacy Skills prior to their S3 subject choice. Planning meetings, emails and discussions have already taken place and the tricky logistics appear to have been worked out – time will tell.
Last term, S1 pupils submitted ‘alternative book reviews’ as part of the Library & Information Literacy Skills course. They could do whatever they wanted, whether it was a poster, mobile, model or game as long as it wasn’t a traditional written review. Their imagination was the only limit. A great selection of ideas was produced. Pupils, in library period, spoke about what they did and about the book. The work was displayed in the English corridor and now some is in the library.
Recently S1 and S2 pupils, during library periods, were given the opportunity to browse catalogues, leaflets and the excellent Teen Titles magazine and make some selections for the library. This gives them an opportunity to get involved in stock choices. Budget constraints do mean that not everyone’s suggestions can be acted upon, but at least they can go on a wishlist.
Careers Resources – We are expecting a delivery of new careers books any day now (weather and boats (or planes) permitting). Back in November / December an offer of free books was flagged up on School Librarians’ Network and I looked into it. In this economic climate, this was too good an offer to miss so a number of books on different careers were ordered. Parents or pupils interested in getting their own copies can find a list of resources available here: How2Become. The website itself could also offer useful careers and choice information. More information on these books will be provided in due course, when they arrive in school.
Links to careers websites and LiveBinders are available in the LibLinks section of the blog.
Stan Lee Excelsior Award for Graphic Novels & Manga – At the time of writing the eight graphic novels on the 2016 shortlist should be winging their way to Orkney, having been delayed by lack of stock. This is frustrating as the order was placed just before Christmas and we have now lost a month of reading the books and shadowing this award. The display is nearly read and just awaiting the addition of the books. Pupils are invited to come along to a meeting on Thursday so that we can get the shadowing of this award started – books or no books! We have also ordered the five books of the Junior Award, even though we are not eligible to shadow that. They will make a good addition to our growing collection of Graphic Novels.
Online Resources – We have continued to subscribe to Complete Issues. This potentially useful resource has been under used despite termly reminders to staff and pupils. The subscription will be reviewed at the next renewal, but please do look at it in the meantime as it is potentially a very good resource for current and moral issues for discursive essay, etc. Further information can be found here. Username and password is available from the library.
Thursday 8th October was National Poetry Day which was celebrated country wide judging by the high media (radio & television) and even higher social media presence. Once again we celebrate poetry in the form of our annual poetry picnic which has been going since 2003/4.
This years theme was Light which gave an excuse for putting up some festive lights (not quite the right season for them yet), getting the candles out (battery operated, of course), and playing with torches, prisms and lasers (carefully). Much fun was had by all, none the least Mrs Sinclair, the Librarian who was much amused by her purchase of remote control candles, let alone experimenting with passing light through prisms, faceted glass balls and water bottles. We must than Mr McCaig, our science technician, for putting a tray of stuff together at the last minute as well as providing a fibre optic light.
We also read out some poetry for the poetry postcards from The Scottish Poetry Society as well as doing the tongue twister game – everyone in sequence reads a tongue twister. If they stumble over words or get it wrong, they drop out.
In the run up to the day, all S1 and S2 pupils did some poetry writing during the library / literacy periods. They were asked to have a look at some art work and write a few lines of poetry based on the image – what it portrayed? How it made them feel?
Some pupils then entered these for the poetry competition, with the closing date of Friday 30th October.
Poetry postcards were also delivered to classes during periods 1 and 2 with the teacher reading out the poem to their class. This was a way of bringing poetry to a wider audience as well as trying to get the whole school involved.
Some comments:
It looked like a medieval meeting but fun!
I like how you did the tongue twister game.
It was fun and exciting.
It was great.
I quite liked the ambiance.
A wonderful, cosy event. It was over too soon! Not much you can do to address that problem in a lunch break.
I think it was really fun, good, and interesting. I loved all the lasers. They were so pretty.
Participants were also asked for ideas for improvement and of those that commented on this, most that the event was “good as it is” and another suggested having a quiz. Now there’s an idea to think of.
All in all it was a very successful event with the pupils and staff who attended appearing to enjoy it. Acknowledgments must got to all attendees, the staff who read out poems to their classes periods 1 & 2, and the pupils who helped, whether it was delivering the poetry postcards or helping with photographs and tidying up afterwards. Without you, these events would be more difficult to pull off.
Late last week I went to empty my pigeon-hole to find a large package in it. There and then I tore (it was well sealed) it open to discover three books on cartooning. Initially I though they were unsolicited but on reading the accompanying letter I discovered they were a gift from Martin Brown (illustrator of Horrible Histories) via The Scottish Book Trust. I was absolutely delighted to receive this gift. The letter from The Scottish Book Trust states:
Martin had an absolutely brilliant time meeting pupils in Orkney and Shetland and was overwhelmed by the warm welcome and enthusiasm which greeted him at every school.
As a thank you, and to continue the drawing craze in Orkney and Shetland, Martin would like to gift your school a set of books about drawing and cartooning to add to the library. We hope that your pupils will treasure these books and that they will further inspire your young illustrators to get drawing!
Back in May, he visited Stromness Academy and other schools in Orkney and Shetland as part of the Scottish Friendly Children Book Tour. Stromness Primary School pupils also joined us for this event in the theatre.
Thank you Martin and The Scottish Book Trust for this wonderful addition to our library.
Thursday 8th October, yep! – that is next week and the second last day of term. “Yipee!”, I hear you say. So, next Thursday sees us returning to our annual celebration of poetry with the return to the tried and tested Poetry Picnic format. It will be held in the school library at lunchtime (12:25 – 1:30pm). Snacks, tea and coffee will be available (for small donation towards costs) as well as general banter about poetry on this year’s theme of ‘Light‘ (and maybe just general banter) in celebration of National Poetry Day.
What can you look forward to?
Sharing Poetry – Poetry postcard deliveries will take place during periods 1 – 3 next Thursday 8th October. Where teachers will ‘drop everything and read’ poems from this year’s (or previous years poetry postcards) if convenient, otherwise the poem will be read out at the end of the lesson. We will require some S6 volunteers to help deliver these cards.
Poetry Competition – Write a poem on the theme of ‘Light’. Poem can be based on your own thoughts, feelings, etc. on ‘light’ or use one of the paintings on display in the library and write a poetic response to it. Staff and pupils can enter.
Poetry & Plagiarism – As part of the introduction to the poetry competition, S2 pupils have been given a chance in English Library / Literacy periods to start to consider writing a poem about ‘Light’. Pupils respond to a painting which has clever use of light or has a title with ‘light’ in it. They write 5-6 lines of poetry.
They are then asked to swap their work with someone else. The pupils then writes their name on the piece of work they got. Pupils head off to do 10-15 minutes of personal reading whilst the teacher and librarian go round and look at the poetry giving out up to 3 stamps each for work which shows promise or is looking good… based on initial impressions. Those with the most stamps get a peedie prize (sweetie).
The outcry is tangible as pupils are getting ‘rewards’ for something they didn’t write. We then have a short discussion on what was wrong with this and why, including how it makes people feel. Thus, they get a feeling about exactly what plagiarism is and why we insist on pupils using their own words and ensuring they reference their sources of information. Thank you to the ever useful School Librarians’ Network forum for the idea.
Poetry Picnic – Come along to the poetry picnic held over the whole of lunch. Pop in for a short while are stay the full 40 minutes of your lunch. We might even bring back the popular ‘tongue twister’ competition.
Pupil helpers – There will be a requirement for some pupil volunteers to help with the poetry picnic and to tidy up afterwards so anyone interested should get in touch with Mrs Sinclair. (NB. We have three already so one or two more would be helpful.)
Playing with Light – We are also hoping to enlist the help of the science department so that a small display or quick experiments in light can be done during the poetry picnic. Watch this space!
Display with poetry competition images and poems from the poetry postcards.
So, a lot is planned and without you, the pupils and staff, this event wouldn’t work so well. Let’s see if this can be our best yet. See you next Thursday!
So, once again we are into the start of a new session and most of us have hit the ground running. I am now safely ensconced back in my library, clean (mostly) and tidy after the upheaval of the building work. The windows are in, the insulated cladding is on the external walls and the radiators are turned off (well as off as old valves allow). There is no doubt the library is substantially warmer than it has been over the last few years. There is still some external work yet to do in the form of rendering the walls but I am looking forward to when the scaffolding is down and allowing more natural light back into the library (just in time for the darker days of winter).
The school has now been back seven days. The new S1 pupils are now finding their way round. Most were issued with their library cards last week and will start on a programme of Library & Information Literacy Skills lessons this week.
The library is proving to still be a popular gathering place at lunchtime with the usual regulars and increasing numbers of new S1 pupils coming along to use the space, in particular the computers. This may be a timely reminder to regulars and new users alike that even at lunchtime the library needs to be properly used. We are usually fairly relaxed in what activities take place at lunchtime, but do remember the library is still a work space for many. There are guidelines in place in the form of a leaflet available from the library , but here are some salient points:
Use the library (@lunchtime) for: Homework; Study, research or revision; Reading (books or magazines); Use computers; Play board games, Magic the Gathering, or other games; Help the Librarian.
You are expected to:
Be seated in chairs
Leave furniture where it is
Chat quietly
Respect those doing school work
Use the Reading Zone for personal reading
Keep mobile phones and personal music players switched off and out of sight
Enjoy your use of the library. Remember if you have any suggestions as to activities we can offer or you want to suggest new books then please let Mrs Sinclair know.
Upcoming Events
Scholastic Book Club leaflets available in library from 25th August.
Deadline for school orders: 3rd December 2015. Online (preferred)at http://schools.scholastic.co.uk/stromness-academy
OR… fill in order form on leaflet and hand to Mrs Sinclair, Librarian with correct payment. (NB. if you want delivery from to home P&P is extra.)
National Poetry Day – Thursday 8th October
Spooky Happenings – Hallowe’en storytelling – Friday 30th October
Our well established annual storytelling event took place on Wednesday 31st October, with around twenty pupils attending the event for some snacks and to share their ghost and horror stories. We established ourselves in the reading zone, dropped the lighting and spent our lunch break trying to scare each other with stories.
thering, an RPG card game where opponents battle each other is still very popular, both at lunchtime and during Friday afternoon activities. It was introduced to the library in the late 90’s and has been played ever since. We have also run a couple of tournaments in the past, and the time may well be ripe for another one. Watch this space!
On Tuesday after school a small group of five experienced D&D players meet. This includes one of the pupil DMs so it gives him a chance to play as well. Currently we are playing the 
season for them yet), getting the candles out (battery operated, of course), and playing with torches, prisms and lasers (carefully). Much fun was had by all, none the least Mrs Sinclair, the Librarian who was much amused by her purchase of remote control candles, let alone experimenting with passing light through prisms, faceted glass balls and water bottles. We must than Mr McCaig, our science technician, for putting a tray of stuff together at the last minute as well as providing a fibre optic light.
