CMIS Evaluation Primary Focus

We are into day three of National Reconciliation Week.  The theme this year is: “See the person, not the stereotype.”   Check out the website for information and resources.  There is much food for thought and discussion.

A good print resource that throws light on the Aboriginal experience of Maralinga, but which is also relevant for Aboriginal experience elsewhere in Australia, is the recently published book, Maralinga: the Anangu Story.

The northern summer is festival time, and this week it’s Hay, coinciding with the 10th birthday of Julia Donaldson’s Gruffalo. In this interview from the Hay Festival she talks about her lovable monster and sings him a birthday song (or two). She also talks about her collaboration with illustrator Alex Scheffler.

Some of you may have been part of the hundreds who checked out the State Library of Western Australia’s new facility for children, The Place, when it opened yesterday.  I opted for a quieter introduction this morning.

Colour and space are the features that hit you as you walk in through the child-proof gates on the Mezzanine floor.  This space is divided into three areas: two which are big enough for school visits and one which is more intimate and warm in decor.  The latter with its sofas, big cushions, soft toys and handpuppets and delightful “princess” reading chairs would be suitable for shared reading between children, or adults and children.  There is a small collection of books plus a Big Book easel with Big Books.

The middle area currently has a display of the favourite children’s books of some of our well-known Australian identities.  More than 70 of these personalities have completed certificates naming their favourite book and saying why it is their favourite.  So if you want to know what children’s books PM Kevin Rudd, Gov.Gen. Quentin Bryce, Dennis Cometti, Seven’s Kochie and Mel, Rove, Rebecca Gibney, Sony Hartnett, Bindin Irwin, Shaun Tan, Ian Thorpe and John Marsden like, then you will have to pay a visit to The Place.  (Country-dwellers, if you are truly dying of curiosity, contact the State Library or ask us!)

This section also displays Graham Hay’s sculptures, Totem, which is made from “preloved children’s books” and I, eye, which is constructed with over 400 colouring pencils each of which has the name of one of the participants of the 2008-2009 summer holiday program.  Tables and chairs, puzzles, three computers for the reading of e-books, Cat Balloon in his room of balloons, and a ladybird tent for a more private reading space complete this section.

The final section is showcasing original art work of illustrators, Craig Smith, Andrew McLean, Ann James, Terry Denton, Kim Gamble, Julie Vivas, Peter Gouldthorpe, Steven Woolman, Narelle Oliver, Caroline Magol, Wayne Harris, Patricia Mullins and Elizabeth Stanley.

Now it’s up to the public to use this facility and to schools to continue to take advantage of the education programs available.  Our congratulations to SLWA for this cosy city hub for children and their families.

Books for children receive little enough attention in the media, so when the national broadcaster features the Indigenous series Sharing Our Stories it’s worth paying attention.

Here’s an interview about ‘The Frog and the Brolga’, from ABC Radio National Life Matters, and if you follow the links you can view some dreaming stories:

• Turtle Dreaming from Maningrida
• Devil Devil from Jilkminggan in the Central Desert
• Sunbird, a Ngaanyatjarra dreaming from Warburton

‘The Frog and the Brolga’ comes from the Purnululu Aboriginal Community in the East Kimberley.

SparkleBox is a UK website with 1000s of ideas and printable resources for literacy, numeracy and common Junior Primary topics that are free for download under Creative Commons terms.  Topics include: everyday life, living things, ourselves, places, weather and seasons, art and design, celebrations, religion, fantasy, physical education and role-play.  Also available are photos of classroom displays that teachers have shared, and signs, labels and banners.

What a great way to celebrate the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. Follow the links and you can even watch the NZTV coverage.

Full marks to the organisers.

Our thanks to Mylee Joseph (aliaCYSS listserv) for alerting us to this great children’s library which is part of the Baltimore Public Library in the USA.  Check out Storyville and complete a virtual tour.  You are sure to come away with some ideas for enlivening your own libraries and making them more child-interactive.

We’ve all had them. You know, the child with the book they ‘never borrowed’, or the one they swear they returned.

Here, courtesy of the US library listserv LM_NET, is a list that you can format to your own requirements to jog the memory along. We’ve slightly adapted it already for Australian conditions.

Where might that elusive book be?

FIRST: What does the book look like?

1. Remember that the library book has a spine label.
2. Think of the last place you had the book.
3. Describe the book: how big? Colours? Thick or thin?
4. Is it hardcover or paperback?

If you’re not sure, ask the people in the library.

NOW, LOOK around the house:

1. In the car (also check under the seats)
2. Under the baby’s car seat
3. In the boot of the car
4. Under the spare tyre
5. In the other car
6. In the garage
7. Behind or under the washing machine or dryer
8. In the stroller bag
9. In the recycling bin
10. In my folder or binder
11. In my backpack. In my other backpack.
12. In my brother or sister’s backpacks
13. On top of the piano. In the piano stool
14. Ask everyone at home
15. In the reclining chair (between the arm and the seat cushion)
16. Under or in back of the sofa (also check under cushions)
17. Under or on top of the kitchen or dining room table
18. Behind the refrigerator (fell off the top)
19. In the freezer
20. On top of, behind, or under the oven & dishwasher
21. On my bedroom bookshelf
(Check all the books turned around backward and behind other books on the bookshelf)
22. On one of the other bookshelves
23. On/in my desk at home. Check brother or sister’s desk
24. Under my bed. Under my sister or brother’s bed
25. Between my sheets at the foot of my bed
26. Between my bed and the wall
27. Between the mattress and the base
28. In the trundle bed. In the baby’s bassinet
29. On top or behind the dresser
30. In the dresser drawers
31. In the closet (check all closets)
32. Under the dirty clothes
33. In the toy box
34. In the bathroom
35. On the back porch
36. In the dog kennel
37. In the tree house
38. In the back yard
39. In the basement
40. Packed with the Christmas decorations
41. Under the TV set stand
42. On top of the VCR/DVD player or stereo
43. In the magazine rack or on the coffee table
44. Under the rug
45. Under the newpapers
46. In the moving boxes that haven’t been unpacked yet
47. Wherever anyone puts stuff that they doesn’t know what to do with.

LOOK around town:

1. At the doctor’s or dentist’s surgery
2. At the local public library
3. At the church/temple/mosque library
4. At my other parent’s house
5. At my friend’s house (we did homework together)
6. At Mum or Dad’s work place
7. Wherever we went when we were shopping recently (bank, etc.)
8. On the boat, aeroplane, train
9. At the babysitter’s, grandma’s, daycare/ after school car

LOOK at School:

1. On the school bus; at the bus stop
2. On the classroom or teacher’s bookshelf
3. In my neighbour’s or friend’s desk (ask their permission first)
4. Way back on the top shelf of my school locker
5. In the cafeteria, gym, music room, etc.
6. At the school office
7. At the school office or library where my older or younger sibling attends school
8. Ask teacher. Maybe she returned it when I was sick.
9. Ask the teacher librarian – maybe it’s on the school library shelf – got put away without being checked in.
10. In the school library ‘hospital box – maybe it’s being mended
11. At the ‘Lost and Found’ front office desk
12. Ask friends if they’ve seen it

Happy Hunting!

A School Library Journal survey of favourite picture books is now complete and the results can be viewed on their blog.

Top of the pops: Where the Wild Things Are (could the film possibly have influenced this?) but there are 100 other great titles to peruse and become acquainted with if you aren’t already.

If you look carefully (towards the end of the list, alas, but at least they are there) are two Mem Fox much-loved Aussie titles.

Mem Fox’s Whoever You Are, an anthem for peace and understanding, has been translated into Tetum and will be distributed to infant and primary schools throughout Timor Leste.

A joint project between the Alola Foundation, headed by Ms Sword Gusmao, and the National Education and Employment Foundation, the book is designed to encourage a love of reading in East Timor, where about 60 per cent of adults are illiterate.

“Books are often kept away in cupboards because teachers don’t know how to use them, ” Ms Sword Gusmao said. “It’s not enough to put books in their hands, there must be a concerted effort to ensure that books cease to be something foreign, but instead to be used, enjoyed.”