SLA Resources Blog

CLPE launches Poetryline

CLPE (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education) is launching a new interactive website for primary schools - Poetryline. There are opportunities to see and use animations to enthuse children to poetry, see poets performing their poems, and get new ideas for teaching poetry, as well as giving guidance on new poetry books. This is a great development arising from CLPE running the annual Poetry Award for the last 10 years.

Red House Young Writers Competition 2013

To enter the competition, children should be aged between 7 and 17. They can submit a story, poem or article and it’s up to the individual what subject they choose to write about. This year the competition entries will be divided into four age categories: 7+, 9+, 11+ and 13+. The deadline is 31st July 2013.
As well as becoming a published author, the winners will also earn the opportunity to attend a Red House Young Writers’ Workshop, with a high-profile children’s author, held – for the first time ever- as part of the celebrated Imagine Children’s Festival at London’s Southbank Centre. The workshop will provide participants with a unique, fun and stimulating opportunity to help them hone their skills and provide lots of feedback to encourage and inspire!
So, both winners and authors get a great deal out of involvement in the Red House Young Writers competition – but you have to be in it to win it! And to enter simply email us with your piece of work along with your name, email address, date of birth, age range (7+, 9+, 11+, 13+), your parent/guardian email address and your address to youngwriters@redhouse.co.uk, with a subject of "Red House Young Writers' Yearbook 2013 Competition".

'Look in the library' poster personalised for a School Library Service

A personalised version of Carel's colourful 'Look in the library' poster personalised for schools library services. An instant guide to how a library works with your SLS name and logo. An ideal way of promoting your school library service.

New JCS Online Resources

JCS now has available at discounted consortia rates 2 new resources: Digital Theatre Plus and the Guardian and Observer Digital Archive. Digital Theatre Plus provides an expanding collection of full theatre productions as streaming video featuring internationally renowned actors such as David Tennant, Catherine Tate and Laurie Metcalf. The Guardian and Observer Digital Archive is a fully searchable online database of every article, photograph and advertisement published in these two newspapers between 1791-2003. It's now provided on the powerful ProQuest Historical Newspapers platform.
If you'd like to trial either or both of them just complete the form available from the home page.

Walker Books Reading group Offer

Walker Books, home to the best in YA fiction, is offering 50 schools the chance to win an amazing package for your YA reading group. If your school is a lucky winner, you will receive VIP packs of 5 free reading copies and discussion guides throughout the year, plus 45% off all the books in our YA promotion.

Your school will also have the chance to pitch for a Writer in Residence, plus Walker will be hosting 4 Skype author events for you to take part in. And, if you are not one of our lucky 50, you can still get involved by downloading free reading group guides and getting 45% off all the books in our YA promotion.

Visit www.undercoverreads.com to enter and for full details. Closing date is Monday 15 April 2013. Terms and conditions apply.

Books and authors involved in the promotion include:

Black Spring – Alison Croggon
Hidden Among Us – Katy Moran (out March)
Flip – Martyn Bedford (out March)
Monkey Wars – Richard Kurti (out May)
The Night Itself – Zoe Marriott (out July)
The Messengers – Edward Hogan (out September)
Blood Donor – Steve Tusane (out September)
Sawbones- Catherine Johnson (out October)

Good luck!

Oxford University Press announces partnership with Poetry by Heart

Oxford University Press is partnering with The Poetry Archive to support Poetry by Heart, a new national poetry competition in England which will see thousands of students aged 14 to 18 competing this spring to become national champion for their skill in memorising and reciting poems by heart.

Oxford University Press will provide free content from the Oxford English Dictionary Online, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and the American National Biography Online to support students participating in the competition. The poems on the Poetry by Heart website include a number of links to OUP resources, encouraging students to explore in greater depth the language of the poems, and the lives of the poets who wrote them. Students can discover biographies of the poets using the Oxford DNB and ANB Online, and the OED entries help to explain the meaning and illustrate the usage of some of the older or more difficult words used in the selected poems. Check out some of the resources on the Partnership page, the teacher resources and the 'What's it all about?' pages.

School Spellathon Week Announced

Learning disability charity Mencap is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its annual spelling bee by launching the first-ever School Spellathon Week from 4-10 March 2013. Every school in the UK is invited to take part to support Mencap and to be in with the chance to win a £10,000 cash prize.

More information about Spellathon and School Spellathon Week can be found online. To take part in School Spellathon Week and to be eligible for the above prizes, email spellathon@mencap.org.uk

Henrietta Branford Writing Competition for children aged between 7 and 19 years is now open.

All the details can be found on the website and the closing date is Friday 26th April. The 6 winners will have the chance to come down to London in July to meet Jacqueline Wilson, the winner and shortlisted authors of the Branford Boase Award for first time novelists and also publishers and editors. It's a great chance for children to chat to people in the business who can give them good advice about writing, as well as meeting the writers of the future.
You can download a poster to display in your library from the website.

Simon & Schuster announces live-streamed event with Master of Horror, Darren Shan

Simon and Schuster Children’s Books is delighted to announce a live-streamed author event with Master of Horror, Darren Shan. At 2pm GMT on Tuesday 19th March 2013, fans can tune in to see and hear Darren talk about his new 12-part Zom-B series, as the third title, Zom-B City, is published (14th March). Forest Hill School in south London will host the event with a live audience, but anyone can watch live online, across the globe, for free.

Viewers should register for the event now at www.darrenshanlive.com. They can submit questions to Darren in advance of the event, and will be sent reminders in the run-up. A recording of the session will be available on demand following the live-stream.

JCS Publisher Workshops for the spring term

Wednesday 27 February at Raynes Park High School, Bushey Road, London SW20 0JL and Wednesday 13th March at Long Eaton School, Nottinghamshire NG10 3NP
These extremely popular events include demonstrations of several of the online resources available through JCS, time to try them out, and discussion about why schools should be investing in online resources from trusted sources as well as ways to get them used by students and staff. To book a place on one of these workshops, please complete the online booking form .

Work related primary resources

The Yes Programme is a career-linked learning resource that gives primary pupils a window into the world of work. The aim is to broaden the horizons of pupils and help them to “connect learning to life”. The Yes Programme consists of resources provided for Key Stage 2 and are linked to the national curriculum. Drawing from a variety of contributors the resources provide real-life illustrations of the relevance of classroom learning to the world of work. They also introduce learners to the concept of work and different job roles. Check out the subscription models on the website.

Astrid Lindgren reading Guides

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) has launched some new reading guides for twelve works by ten previous recipients of the award. The reading guides are written by members of the jury who are experts in children’s and young adult literature.

The reading guides contain an introduction of the author, description of the contents, a suggested interpretation and topics for discussions. The guides are based on the following books: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Maikäfer, flieg! (Fly Away Home) by Christine Nöstlinger, O Meu Amigo Pintor (My Friend the Painter) by Lygia Bojunga, Northen Lights by Philip Pullman, Basu ni Notte by Ryôji Arai, The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson, The Ghost’s Child by Sonya Hartnett, The Devil Latch by Sonya Hartnett, Alors? by Kitty Crowther, Lénfant Racine by Kitty Crowther, The Arrival by Shaun Tan and Het Boek Van Alle Dingen(The Book of Everything) by Guus Kuijer.

Link to Reading Guides here.

Inanimate Alice

Interactive literacy title 'Inanimate Alice' has come to our notice. Written by novelist Kate Pullinger (winner of the Canadian Governor General's Prize for literature), and recognised this year as a Best Website for Teaching and Learning by the American Association of School Librarians, this is a story worth reading.

OUP & Guardian Competition

Are A-level students put off going to university because of increasing tuition fees? A competition from Oxford University Press’s Very Short Introductions (VSI) series and the Guardian is offering a year’s tuition fee of £9000 as the prize for their ‘Very Short Film’ competition.

Students have until 31st December 2012 to submit a one minute film on a subject they love. It can be anything from cake baking to particle physics, as long as it is something they can talk passionately about. The films can be shot on any device, including mobile phones, and will be uploaded to the Guardian website.

The competition is open to UK students, from A-level to postgraduates. The live final will be at an event in London, where the winner will be chosen by a panel of judges.

TextNow

Unitas is a national charity that helps young people access, participate and progress in mainstream education and training. It designs unique programmes for individuals at risk of social exclusion.
TextNow is a heavily subsidised reader engagement programme that motivates young people to become more confident and able readers. The model is based on a structured programme of daily 20-minute reading sessions each weekday, for a period of ten weeks, supported by trained volunteer coaches, a starter library of your choice and an online awards scheme. This regular and focused one-to-one support aims to encourage a young person’s interest in and enjoyment of reading, thereby improving skills and attainment across the curriculum.

Life of Pi Competition

National Schools Partnership have launched a creative writing competion aimed at older secondary pupils - all tying in with the release of the film (in December) of the Life of Pi. Check it out for resources and to enter.

Climate Week - 4 to 10 March 2013

Climate Week is a supercharged national campaign to inspire a new wave of action on climate change. It culminates in thousands of events and activities, planned by organisations from every sector of society. Showcasing real, practical ways to combat climate change, the campaign aims to renew our ambition to create a more sustainable, low-carbon future.

Climate Week is backed by every part of society - from the Prime Minister to Paul McCartney, the British Library to the Met Office, the TUC to the CBI, Girlguiding UK to the National Association of Head Teachers. During the last Climate Week, over 3,000 events were attended by half a million people across the UK for the second successive year.

The Climate Week Swap is a new element to the campaign for 2013, highlighting the positive impact that swapping books and other items can have on our environment. Run a swap event in your library, with your friends or at home and save resources from going to landfill. All those who register a Swap event will be entered into a draw to win a swap with a celebrity! Celebrities involved include Hugh Laurie, Andy Murray, Alesha Dixon and Frank Lampard.

The Climate Week Challenge is Britain’s biggest environmental competition. The Challenge is open to all ages, can be done on any day during Climate Week and it is completely free to take part. Over 130,000 people participated in 2012 in a challenge to come up with an idea to green a local space and make it more environmentally friendly. The entries were judged by a celebrity panel and the winners went on to take part in workshops organized by industry and business leaders. Winning designs included the Water Pebble – a device for the shower that flashes green when you first start washing, amber for when it’s time to rinse off and red for when it’s time to get out the shower.

Start thinking about how your library could get involved during Climate Week 2013. Whatever you are doing, make sure you register your event on the Climate Week website and help to create a national movement for change.

To find out more about getting involved in Climate Week go to www.climateweek.com, email info@climateweek.com or telephone on 020 3397 2601.

T S Eliot Prize 2012

Don't forget to check out the Shadowing Opportunities for the T S Eliot Prize, and the competitions associated with it. Closing date 18th December.

New research on reading impact for VIP

RNIB has amassed a body of qualitative evidence on the value and impact of reading for blind and partially sighted people, but this was lacking in quantitative support, and could not be compared with the developing evidence base relating to the impact of reading on the wider population.

RNIB commissioned LISU and The Reading Agency to undertake independent research to address these issues, the key findings of which are outlined in this report.

David Almond Radio 4

David Almond is on BBC Radio 4 Bookclub on Sunday 4th November at 4pm (repeated Thursday 8th November 3.30 pm). The programme is about the award-winning Skellig - and the extraordinary prequel, My Name is Mina, Shortlisted for the 2012 Carnegie Medal.

South Ken Kids Festival 2012

South Ken Kids Festival is on 21-25 November. It's the 15th anniversary edition, and it will have an incredible line-up of children's authors and illustrators: Quentin Blake, (festival patron), but also Tony Ross, Axel Scheffler, and many more!
The Festival are organising a national drawing competition celebrating Quentin Blake's 80th birthday. Children have to make their own storybook and send it in by 13 November for a chance to win amazing prizes... Children throughout the UK can participate!

Win Vivian French

Young authors have been given top tips on writing by children's author Vivian French in a bid to help them win a competition - in which she is the prize! The short story competition is being run by library supplies company, LFC and is open to the first 250 primary schools who register, with each primary school allowed to submit a maximum of 10 entries - deadline to register 30 October (Competition entries deadline 30th November).

First prize is a visit to the winning school by Vivian. And in a bid to help entrants she's only too happy to explain what inspires her to write. Right now she is working on a number of projects. Her advice to young writers can be summed up in one word: "Read, read, READ - and if you find reading hard work, get someone to read to you - or listen to story CDs. There are lots in your local library." And she says, young writers shouldn't worry if the story doesn't feel right to begin with. "Keep writing … and then go back and change the bits you don't like. I sometimes have to rewrite stories over and over again. It sounds boring, but it isn't - your story will be LOADS better." Finally she urges all entrants to have fun. "If you enjoy writing your story, your reader will enjoy it too."

Gods and Warrior Posters

The Reading Agency have posters and schools packs of Michelle Paver’s Gods and Warriors to give-away to the first 50 people who complete this form. Deadline 6th November

The British - free Resources

National Schools Partnership work with schools across the whole of the UK providing free resource programmes that are requested by teachers across all subjects and key stages.

Their new really exciting free of charge history resources programme (for KS2 and KS3) that ties in with The British a series that is currently being aired on Sky Atlantic on a Thursday evening.

Connected with the education resources is a series of lesson plans and teachers notes. In addition to this traditional content there are short video clips available that tie into the lessons that can be used in class. What is really fantastic though is that all teachers who register for the educational content also receive free of charge a full box set of the whole The British series.

JK Rowling Webchat

J.K. Rowling will be doing a live webchat about Harry Potter with school children from the UK, US and Canada streamed live at 5pm GMT on Thursday 11th October at www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter Sign up now to watch live.

Wicked! Competition

To celebrate the release of Harriet Goodwin’s third novel, The Hex Factor, her publishers have come up with a really great competition.
Entry is via the Competitions page of Harriet’s website, www.harrietgoodwinbooks.com and the appropriately witchy prize is a pair of tickets to see Wicked, the musical, in the West End, plus travel to London and a meal for two at Pizza Express. Do encourage your students to enter!

Teaching Study and Information Skills

Friday 13th July 10am – 2:45pm (with an optional 30 minute tour of the Main Library at 2:45pm)

Exasperated that your students rely on Wikipedia for their essay research?
Frustrated that students copy and paste information from the web into their essays?
Would you like students to find good quality material from Google?
Would you like your students to be able to reference correctly?
Would you like to equip your students with some essential research skills?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions then why not come along to the Teaching Study and Information Skills event at the University of Birmingham. This free event run by Subject Advisors from Library Services will teach you to teach these valuable skills to your students.

At the end of this event you will be able to:

Enable students to search the web effectively and critically evaluate the information that they have found
Help students to understand the different types of plagiarism and thus enabling them to avoid
Appreciate the need to reference and show students how to do this using a consistent and recognised style
Help students to understand that a University library will be different from a school/college library
Facilitate your students to use the University of Birmingham’s libraries and resources

This session is aimed at school/college staff who support year 12 and 13 students. These may be teaching staff, support staff and/or librarians. For more information or to book a place, please contact: libraryskillstraining[at]contacts.bham.ac.uk. Please include in your request:

Name:
Job title:
Institution:

If you are unable to attend this event but are interested in your students visiting our libraries then please contact: schoollibraryvisit[at]contacts.bham.ac.uk for more information.

Writing Competition from Raintree

Raintree has just launched a competition for creative writing. The competition for 2012 is to ‘Become the next great Raintree author’ by submitting an idea for an ending to ‘A New Beginning’ Michael Dahl’s newest instalment to the thrilling NEW Troll Hunters series which is published this September.

Working with 16-19 students?

A student undertaking her dissertation is interested to hear from people working with students aged 16 to 19. She has a short survey - please follow the link to respond. Generation Z - For librarians working with students aged 16 to 18 only

ICT Mark Scheme

Bett, the world’s leading showcase of learning technologies, and Naace, the United Kingdom’s (UK) education sector ICT association, today announce a new partnership to grow participation in the ICT Mark scheme, a national accreditation programme which recognises and encourages the use of technology to improve teaching and learning across the curriculum. To find out more look at the website.