CMIS Evaluation Primary Focus

Teachers may like to use this cute video of the “Green Sheep’s” travels as a visual literacy or ICT  exercise. Perhaps a Buddy system activity for  older and younger students?

Thanks to Penquin for reminding us what a cute sheep it is.

You will find it listed on the CMIS “Books not to be Missed!” selection.

The Guardian newspaper has been running a nice little series on fairytales in recent days. As well as discussing aspects of the tradition, some well-known and not so well-known stories have been retold or newly translated. Here are the links:

Themes

• Adult content warning : beware fairystories
• Love (A.S. Byatt)
• Wicked parents (Hilary Mantel)
• Quests (Adam Phillips)
• Justice and punishment (Sarah Churchwell)
• Rags to riches (Philip Pullman)
• Beastly tales (Marina Warner)

Translations and retellings

• The black geese (retold by Alison Lurie)
• Mossycoat (retold by Philip Pullman)
• The little mermaid (translated by Naomi Lewis)
• The fisherman and Ifrit (translated by Malcolm C. Lyons)
• Hansel and Gretel (translated by Joyce Crick)
• The one-handed murderer (translated by George Martin)
• Red Riding Hood (translated by A.E. Johnson)
• The red shoes (translated by Naomi Lewis)
• The mixed-up feet and the silly bridgegroom (retold by Elizabeth Shub)
• Clever Gretchen (retold by Alison Lurie)
• Jack and the beanstalk (retold by Joseph Jacobs)
• The lion and the hare (retold from the Sanskrit by Ramsay Wood)
• The sleeping prince (retold by Alison Lurie)
• Rumpelstiltskin (retold by Joyce Crick)
• The boy who set out to learn fear (retold by Joyce Crick)
• Rapunzel (translated by Joyce Crick)
• The steadfast tin soldier (translated by Naomi Lewis)
• The tinderbox (translated by Naomi Lewis)
• Cinderella (translated by Angela Carter)
• Snow White (translated by Joyce Crick)
• The Juniper Tree (translated by Joyce Crick)
• Beauty and the Beast ( by Jeanne Marie Le Prince de Beaumont)
• The heart of a monkey (retold by Andrew Lang)
• Hans my hedgehog (translated by Jack Zipes)

The full Guardian fairytale archive is here and well worth exploring.

Steve Weaver’s flickr image of Fairy Woods used under Creative Commons licence

Run for your lives, me hearties. Or at the very least, shiver yer timbers.

Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The day, always 19 September, when even the most unlikely people start to talk strangely, with lots of arrrrrrrrs and curious head gestures.

What happened last year? Google has some ideas about how you can join in for 2009, including the never-fail pirate name generator.

And here’s a few (well, 76 actually) pirate stories to get you in the mood.

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos and used under Creative Commons licence.

Have you seen? Look to the right. There’ll be more soon.

Enjoy this sweet little vodcast from the first grade students at Parkview Elementary School Oklahoma. And it comes with the blessing of Mo Willems himself:

Might be a nice idea to try something similar (or if you have, please share it with us).

The 2009 Shortlist for the Book of the Year Awards and the Notable Australian Children’s Books have been announced by the Children’s Book Council of Australia.

The winners and honour books will be announced on Friday 21 August 2009 at the beginning of Book Week.

Book Week runs from 22 August to 28 August.

The theme for Book Week 2009 is Book Safari.

For your start on this exciting safari, the CMIS Resource Bank has reviews of most of the Shortlisted and Notable Books. 

More information about the reviews organised by category can be found on the CMIS Evaluation Book Week webpage. 

Judith Ridge has alerted readers of her Misrule blog to the death, announced in the Sydney Morning Herald,  of illustrator Kilmeny Niland. The illustrator was the daughter of Ruth Park and D’Arcy Niland and Deborah’s twin.

Kilmeny Niland’s sudden death is a great loss to Australian children’s literature.

The Department of Education and Training web services will be unavailable between 5.00pm Friday 26 September and 7.00am Tuesday 30 September 2008 due to a planned Central Office power upgrade.

During these periods, all centrally delivered online services including email, internet portal and web access will be unavailable. Services provided by the ICT Customer Service Centre will also not be available. Readers of the CMIS blogs will be unable to access the CMIS website and Resource Bank. Blog links to resources hosted on the DET WA portal servers will not be available during the upgrade.

Times stated are for Perth, Western Australia (GMT+8). Use The World Clock – Time Converter to calculate your local time.

The CBCA has announced the Shortlist for the Book of the Year Awards along with the Notable Australian Children’s Books. The Winner and Honour books will be announced on Friday 15 August 2008.

Friday 15 August marks the beginning of Children’s Book Week which runs from the 15 – 22 August.

This year’s theme:  Fuel your mind

The Book Week merchandise features the imaginative artwork of Shaun Tan and one of his captivating creatures, sure to be popular with students.

For teachers, it is worth noting that some of the Picture Book of the Year titles including The Island and Requiem for a Beast are suited to older readers.

In the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books, Girl Stuff: Your Full-on guide to the Teen years and Kokoda Track: 101 days are also for secondary students.