March 18, 2009
by Mrs Sinclair
0 comments
The following pupils received their reading challenge certificates last month. A big thank you must go to them all for being brave enough to take part in the ‘lucky dip’ back at Christmas time.
James Gunn; Keri H; Ailish H; Elisha F; Mark M; Charlotte L; Nikki C; Kimberley C; Shannon F; Ewen H; Laura W; Danny J; Abigail J; Sophie W; Chantelle B; Craig M; Eva P; Matthew M; Murray C; Megan F; Vicki I
March 5, 2009
by Mrs Sinclair
0 comments
Here is a list of recent additions to the Senior Fiction book collection. These were donated to the library by a member of staff and are a welcome addition to the collection. Thank you.
Bad Blood by Lorna Sage
The Birth of Venus: Love and Death in Florence by Sarah Dunat
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
Mercy by Jodi Picoult
Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen
No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan,
The Road Home by Rose Tremain
Second Chance by Jane Green
Showdown by Tilly Bagshawe
So Super Stylish by Rose Wilkins
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
February 17, 2009
by Mrs Sinclair
0 comments
January 29, 2009
by Mrs Sinclair
0 comments
To help take the library forward over the next few years, we need to find out about how you use and feel about the library and what your interests are.
In a couple of weeks we plan to ask pupils to fill in a couple of short online surveys but first we need to pilot them to check the links and software is working.
People will be invited to test the surveys which are accessed through a passworded ‘Surveys‘ page. If you are interested in helping to pilot them, please let Mrs Sinclair know.
January 23, 2009
by Mrs Sinclair
0 comments
The last few books that were borrowed for the Christmas Reading Challenge are trickling in. A number of the readers that took on the challenge are what we would describe as reluctant readers, and I hope that this sort of challenge has helped to open their eyes up to the range of books available in the library. Here are a few more reviews that have been handed in.
The Dark Words by Peter Lancet
There was a man who went looking for a scroll. He met people who had read the scroll and had turned into dark people. It was a good short book with some well drawn illustrations. CM 4*
Public Enemy Number Two by Anthony Horowitz
Neil Diamond is put into a maximum security cell with Johnny Powers. I enjoyed the book but wouldn’t normally go for this type of book. AH 4*
You’ve got Blackmail by Rachel Wright
This book is about a girl called Lauren and her friend Dex who find a blackmail note while they are delivering the new prices for the hair salon. The question is, ‘Who is the Blackmailer?’ I thought this book was quite enjoybale but it seemed to drag on for a while. AJ 3*
Killer Camera by Anthony Horowitz
Matthew King goes to a carboot sale and buys a 50th birthday present for his grandad , Christopher. The book was was quite good but it had a bit too much writing and not enough pictures for me. KC 3*
Moving by Helen Orme
There are five girls and they are like sisters. One of the girls is being made to move to a new school, St Joans, an all girls school but she doesn’t want to go. Siti tries think of reasons why she shouldn’t go and in the end there is a big story in the paper and on TV. It was a good book so I would recommend it to others. I gave it three stars as it could have been longer and took more time to read because it took me ten minutes to read. I thought I would have liked the story to describe the characters a bit more. KC 3*
January 13, 2009
by Mrs Sinclair
0 comments
A number of new fiction books will soon be available for borrowing. They should suit a range of tastes with a mix of teen chick lit, sci-fi / fantasy and adventure.
Boys might be interested in Geoffrey Malone’s Pirates or Andy Briggs’ Hero.com: Rise of the heros. For those out there who maybe don’t really like reading but are prepared to give it a go, then John Townsend’s Firebomb about a boy whom the police think is aterrorist, whilst the real one is plotting to bomb a planet… or Thomas Bloor’s The Dragon and the Warlord a fantasy tale where a Warlord has destroyed Sheng’s life. Both are no more than 70 pages long, printed on cream paper (easier on the eye) and have easy to read font.
For the girls, Narinder Dhami’s Bindi Babes and Superstar Babes or Belinda Hollyer’s Everthing I know about you will provide the teen chick lit read many of you like. If you have read all the Rennison, McCombie, Cabot or Brashares available in the library then these might be for you.
January 12, 2009
by Mrs Sinclair
0 comments
That is the question everyone who searches the internet should ask themselves. Why? Google, as big and good as it is, and handy because we all know about it, and the fact that many sites use Google links, is NOT the only search tool out there. In fact, did you know that there are different types of search tool? More about that later!
Fact: An individual search tool like Google does not search the whole of the web! (nor do the metasearch engines)
Different engines may give you different results because each of them use different methods of indexing or cataloguing the millions of webpages out there. By using a variety of engines, you may well get more results. This means you do need to evaluate the information you are finding so you can weed out irrelevant results.
Search engines are good for helping you to find detailed information and you can find information about every conceivable subject under the sun, BUT you often get far too many results which are time consuming to sort through and the information is often completely irrelevant or inappropriate to your needs.
There are three types of search tool: Indexing, Directories and Metasearch engines.
These are the ‘Search Engines’, but the term is now commonly used to describe all search tools. The indexing engines use automated ‘bots’ or ‘spiders’ to trawl through the internet to create massive indexes which enable you to search billions of webpages. These are useful for searching using keywords or phrases.
Altavista |
|
Gigablast |
Lycos |
Directories are commonly compiled and catalogued by human editors, meaning that you may get fewer, more relevant results. They are best for general or topic searches. They tend to index homepages of sites, rather that every single web page. You can browse across broad and specific subject categories.
About |
|
The Open Directory |
|
Yahoo |
|
These search tools will carry out a search through a number of engines and directories. There may be fewer hits but the results may be more relevant.
Ask |
Ixquick |
Clusty |
Mamma |
Dogpile |
Metacrawler |
Hotbot |
|
For more information about searching the internet go to: Searching the Internet; or for a quite comprehensive list of search engines: Hero (Search Engines)
