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Welcome back and where has the library gone?

2012-01-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

At present we are in the exciting phase of extending and refurbishing our library. This means for Term One we will temporarily be on the stage in the hall. We hope to be able to issue books from here by the end of this week. All our online services are available and you can access these from school or home by going to the school website. Feel free to email us if you have particular queries - contact Ms Duckworth hd@darfield.school.nz
A special welcome to Year 7 students - we look forward to seeing you, hearing about the kind of books you enjoy reading, and introducing you to some new authors. To students returning, rest assured we have been busy getting new stories by your favorite authors and some of the latest recommended reads, both fiction and non fiction.
On Monday 27th February the library will be hosting "Books with Bob" day and many classes will be able to attend a session in the hall. Bob Docherty is a popular speaker and he has his finger on the pulse of the latest and greatest reads for teenagers and young adults.
We will put a notice in the school bulletin when we are open for business.

SURVEY TIME!

2011-10-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is your library and we need your input so we can plan for further improvements! If you have a spare five minutes we would appreciate your feedback. Just click on the link LIBRARY SURVEY

Book Trailers are a fun way to preview and promote books. It is not easy to put book trailers on this blog because youtube is not available at school however, you can view these from home. One great site is BOOKTRAILERS4KIDSANDYA. This site has been developed by a Christchurch school librarian and features trailers and reviews of books that would appeal to teenagers and young adults. Check it out - if you like it you can use the RSS feed to keep you updated when new trailers are put on the site.

Poetry Week

2011-09-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

Rappers Dan "The Rhymestone Cowboy" and 2Black.

At assembly we were lucky to hear the four finalists in this years Darfield High School Poetry Competition. The finalists are Rahera Ingle with her poem "Ashes", Aisling Rayne "La Bretagne", George Watson and James Cider with "Guilt" and Ella Pearce with her poem "Eye of the Storm". Each poem will be accompanied by a poster created by our art students and you can vote for your favorite poster and poem next week.

We also had the privilege of being entertained by Dan Urquhart aka 'The Rhymestone Cowboy'. Dan is from high country farm stock and he is a professional horse trainer. His other passion is rapping and his three raps combined with audience participation were a great start to our poetry week.

Don't forget voting for your Board of Trustee Representative starts this week. Post your vote in the box in the library now!

Study Tips

2011-08-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year again and only 60 or so days until NCEA exams start. But don't panic - there are some study guides that may help you achieve your best and also some links to useful study sites.

"Max Your Marks" is a New Zealand book with tips from top students on how to get the highest marks. Students tell us how they blitzed their school year, each in their own way.

Other books include "Study Skills", "Beat Stress! The Exam Handbook" and "The Smart Study Guide". These books can be issued or reserved now.

A useful study link is StudyIt . This is designed for and by senior students. It contains study and exam advice, subject content, achievement criteria and practice questions, a discussion group and "email an expert" (although you already have experts in your classroom and the moodle sites they provide!).

Other study sites include The Pulse This is the Christchurch City Library youth website and has some great strategies for success in studying and resources for completing your assignments.

Welcome back to Term 3!

2011-08-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a great holiday break. Exciting news is that the

Australian author John Marsden of "Tomorrow when the War Began" fame is coming to Christchurch! He is speaking to a few Christchurch earthquake affected schools (sadly not us) but if you would like to hear him speak there is a free opportunity:

Who: John Marsden
Where: Knox Church Hall, Bealey Avenue
When: Wednesday 10 August 2011
Time: 6pm
Admission: Free

One of our new books - available soon!

Loads of books went out at the end of last term and we have already seen many of you as you return, reissue or renew your books. If you have overdues please pop them back to the library - don't make us chase you up! We will have a "new book" display day this Thursday 11 August where you can view new books and reserve them for the following week. See this link Good Reads if you want to look again at the books promoted at assembly.

Ms Duckworth attended SLANZA 2011 (School Library Conference) in Auckland during the holidays and has come back full of enthusiasm and with plenty of ideas on how to further improve our library. One new thing you will notice is "Website of the Week" displayed on a noticeboard in the library and also in a page on this blog. If you have a great search engine or website you think others will enjoy - let the library staff know and we will display them.

Here is a search engines you might like to try out:

Carrot cluster

Carrot2 is a clustering search engine that organizes your search results into categories. After you have your search results make sure you click on the tools 'Circles' and then 'Foam Tree'. It could help you narrow your search.

2011-07-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Review Winners

Thanks to everyone who entered the "Give this a Read" review competition. There are some excellent reviews, a couple of which are on the "Student Reviews" page. More will be added soon. First prize of a $30.00 voucher goes to Preston Kerr for his outstanding review of Jolt by Bernard Beckett.

Highly commended reviewers who will all receive a free magazine are: Ciara Rayne, Jasmine Nash, Kathryn Barnhill, Chloe Fraser, and Maia Seaward.

The winner of the draw who also receives a magazine is Michael Ridgen.

Thanks to all who entered - you will all receive house points.

Check out these new links!

2011-06-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

READERGIRLZ is a website for teenage girls and once a month they publish good reads for teenage girls plus they have some very cool interviews, reviews, music selections, and posters to promote their non profit organisation. Once in the website you can click on archives to view past recommendations.

GUYS READ is a website that has been especially designed for boys to find stuff they would like to read. This site has long lists of great books under different headings: how to build stuff, books about robots, books that have a least one explosion, books that are funny, scary, or realistic.
Our library may not have all the books that are recommended but if it is not on our catalogue then come and talk to us and we will see what we can do.

LIBRARY SURVEY Thanks to everyone who participated in the library survey - the results will be out soon. Also a reminder that those of you who wanted to enter the library 'Give this a Read' competition - entries close on Friday 1st July (this Friday!). Go to our competition page to get the details.

Library Survey and "Give this a Read" Review Competition.

2011-05-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

We need you!

This is your library and we need your input! If you have a spare five minutes we would appreciate your feedback so that we can use your ideas in our planning and better support your learning and reading needs. Just click on the link LIBRARY SURVEY

Be in to win.....
The "Give this a Read" competition will run until week 9 and prizewinners will be announced in week 10. First prize will be a $30 Westfield Voucher and there will be 5 runner up prizes of magazines of your choice plus one winner from a draw of all entries. House points will also be awarded. To enter this competition either pick up an entry form from the library or click on the competition page

New!

If you have an author that you really enjoy and you don't know who to read next try this site Literature Map
You can type in your favourite author and and see an interactive screen of similar authors you might enjoy.

Welcome back!

2011-04-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey Paparoa Holman

Hope you had a great two week break. This term we will hold a variety of activities and promotions as well as hosting a visit from the author Jeffrey Paparoa Holman. Jeffrey is a poet, fiction writer and lecturer and he will speak to some Year 7, 8, 11 and 13 students as well as taking a workshop for our keen writers on Thursday 16th June. If you would like to know more about this writer click on Author's Visit.

There were a lot of books issued for the holidays so please return these if you have finished them or bring them into the library and we will renew them for you.

New! Check out this search engine - Twurdy. The name comes from the question "Too Wordy?" and it has been designed so that you can find search results that suit your reading level. It is colour coded so that you can easily distinguish between easy and difficult to read sites. www.twurdy.com

Magazine Survey

2011-04-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who took part in the magazine survey. As a result of your requests we will be adding to our magazine subscriptions and purchasing the following: - Pet Magazine - New Zealand Performance Car - Animal Voice - Creme - New Zealand Rugby This is in addition to the magazines we already have in the library - Rod and Rifle, Girlfriend, Mana, Cosmos, Hooked on Boars, UpStart and many second hand magazines.

DHS Library 2011

2010-09-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome back and we hope you all had a fun and relaxing summer break. This week the librarians are off into town for a book buying day so keep an eye out for new books over the next few weeks. We use your suggestions from the end of last year plus our own ideas from our holiday reading as a basis for our buying decisions. No doubt over the holidays you will have read some great stories or discovered a new series so let us know by writing it in the 'Suggestion Book' on the issue desk and we will add it to our buying list. Last year you, the students, borrowed 13.000 books - you are great readers!

This year we will again have a variety of author visits, competitions and promotions running in the library and whether you are doing research or reading, we look forward to seeing you.

Library Week

2010-08-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the winners!
Library Week Competitions

* "Risk it for a biscuit": Thanks to everyone who entered this competition - we had a lot of great entries. Congratulations to the following people earned some house points: Emma 7FN, Selina 7CS, Hamish 7 CS, Lisa Marie 7 SE, Brydon 7SE, Chloe 7SE,

Kieran 8AB, Nicole 8AB, Brad 8AB, William 8AB, Keiran 9KS,

Bhodi 10 PG, Harry 10 PG, Zoe 13 NF.

* Winning Entry for "Review on the Blog Competition"

Congratulations to Preston from Year 9 who won an autographed copy of Brian Faulkner's 'Brain Jack'.

ONE SMALL SUITCASE by Barry Turner

This book is the true account of how 10,000 refugee children escaped the Nazi holocaust.
The author, Barry turner, has a PhD in political history and has been a passionate writer on political issues over the past 30 years. With this background I believe he was the best person to have written this book.
Barry Turner gained a unique insight into the lives, hopes and dreams of these displaced children through their own individual experiences and accounts.

After WW1, Germany was a broken nation and the countries saviour came in the form of Adolf Hitler. One of the favoured themes of Hitler’s government was to blame someone else for all trials and tribulations, other than themselves of course. Most of the time the Jewish community was caught in the Nazi crossfire, this became better known as anti-Semitism.

With anti-Semitism running rife, Britain saw the need for Jewish children to find a safe haven and promoted the transportation of the at risk. The theory of Kindertransport was now a reality. Taking children of all ages and placing them under their protective wing.

Upon arrival, some refugees already had foster parents waiting but others were sent to special refugee camps. Children stated that it was best to be in a camp with other children who were experiencing the same situation, than to be sent to a foster family, not knowing what to expect. However, where some found sanctuary, others found hardship and separation from family and friends unbearable. As quoted in the book ‘The greatest sadness was the children who felt unwanted’.

Please don’t think this is just another war saga, these pages are filled with many human interest stories. The book goes on to share the success stories of some of the contributors to this book.

This book is heart warming but sometimes distressed me. This is the kind of story that reminds us that man can be so cruel, but that out of something bad there can come some good.
Preston Year 9

"Books with Bob" 29th July

2010-08-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

We were very lucky to have a visit from Bob Docherty. Bob is a bit of a legend in the library world and he entertained our Year 9 and 10 students with a lively and engaging presentation introducing them to wide variety of latest and greatest reads. There is a display in the library featuring most of the books he talked about and they can be reserved.

Here is one of Bob's reviews and if you are interested you can find further reviews on Bob's Book Blog http://bobsbooksnz.wordpress.com/

LIAR by Justine Larbalestier. Pub. Allen&Unwin, 2009.

This is one of the most readible books you will ever come across because of the plot and the way the book is structured.
Micah is by her own confession a liar. She says it runs in the family history, but it is not the only surprise that runs in the family. She is part American black, part white folk and is quite obsessed by this because of her condition. She is 17 and takes birth control pills to stop menstruating.

Micah goes to an alternative school and is reviled by the other students because she tells so many lies. But why the lies? Micah tells this story and she berates the reader for falling for all her lies. It is a brilliant technique.

Unbeknown to the other students, Micah has an after school relationship with Zach, one of the most popular boys, with whom she meets to go running in Central Park New York City. Zach dies in mysterious circumstances and Micah’s world and the world of the students at her school implodes.

How did he die? What is Micah’s condition? Why does she lie?

Told in three parts- part 1 Telling the truth, Part 2 Telling the true truth and Part 3 The Actual Real truth. Each part has three types of chapter, Firstly life Before the death of Zach, Life After the death and Thirdly Micah’s Family History.

This is an engrossing read which will thrill you till the end from a Five Star book. Get it and read it.

Great appeal to Secondary students and lovers of Stephenie Myer books who want something really meaty.

Kate De Goldi

2010-06-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

Kate De Goldi came to Darfield High School on 16th June. Kate is a well known New Zealand writer and an astute and energetic reviewer for radio and television. Her most recent novel, The 10pm Question (2008) won Book of the Year and Best Young Adult fiction at the 2009 New Zealand Post Children and Young Adult' Book Awards. Kate has also written award winning short stories, picture books and young adult novels. We have many of her books in our library and students from Years 7,8,11 and 12 had a wonderful time listening to Kate's advice on developing characters and some took part in her writers' workshop.

News from the library...

2010-01-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

Brian Falkner is visited Darfield High School on Monday 26th April! He is a fantastic New Zealand writer and his latest book 'Brainjack' was shortlisted for both the NZ Post Children's Book Awards, and the Sir Julius Vogel Awards (for Science Fiction books). Brian had an entertaining session with all Year 7,8, and 9 students and then some keen year 7,8, and 9 writers joined him for his writers workshop.

If you want to find out more visit Brian's website http://www.brianfalkner.co.nz/

or Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brian-Falkner/227979331399
(you may need to access this from home)

Congratulations to the winners of our 'Risk it for a Biscuit' promotion last term - they all earned house points. Here are some of their comments on books they have enjoyed:

'Wolf Island' by Darren Shan
This is the story of a boy called Grubs Grady who goes to visit an island that is an enclosure for mutated werewolves. People who enjoy fantasy horror will like this story and can read more in the same series as it is book number eight. Eugene Harris Yr 11

'Clean Break' by Jacqueline Wilson

This is the story abour a girl called Em who loves her dad very much. One Christmas day everything goes wrong and Em doesn't know if she will ever see her dad again.....

Rosie Marchant 8AM

'Eragon' by Christopher Paolini

This is a story for people who enjoy fantasy and like dragons. It is a great book about how a normal farm boy, Eragon, finds a dragon egg and becomes a dragon rider. When his uncle is killed after the discovery of the egg, Eragon sets off on the back of the dragon to revenge his uncle's death.

Emma Griggs 7FN

'Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets' by Dave Pilkey

This book is about two fourth graders, George and Harold, who continually have to stop Captain Underpants from getting into trouble. This time they have to stop him from more trouble than he has ever been in - the talking toilets want something...something big... An easy read for students who like a laugh.

Brydon Jacques Year 7

Latest Book Recommendations

2009-10-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

Little Brother
by Cory Doctorow

Marcus aka W1n5ton is a 17 year old knows how to beat the sysytem. Using his computer hacking skills he and his friends outwit the school surveillance and bunk, only to find that they are in the wrong place at the wrong time when a bomb goes off. Marcus is arrested and his city becomes a police state ruled by a corrupt Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Soon Marcus finds that he is left with no option but to take down the DHS himself.

The Knife of Never Letting Go
by Patrick Ness

"The first thing you find out when your dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say." The first sentence of this novel sets the scene for a thrilling story. It is set in a world where, as a result of a virus, all the men in Prentisstown can hear each others' thoughts all the time. This results in a continuous background jabber called The Noise. Todd Hewitt, the hero, not only hears the thoughts of men but also his dog. One day while he and his dog are in the marshes at the edge of Prentisstown Todd discovers some silence - the source of that silence is a girl. There are no girls in Prentisstown, and finding her means that Todd has to escape. The book - which is the first part of a trilogy - is mostly the story of their flight from pursuers that can not only track Todd but can hear his thoughts too.

Recommended by Mrs Cooke "It was gripping, kept me guessing and I couldn't put it down"
Book 1 in the Chaos Walking series.

Sites to Explore

2009-10-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Check out these websites for fun!

Book Trailers
It is New Zealand Book month - view Brian Faulkner's latest book trailers then reserve the book at the issue desk. http://www.brianfalkner.com/booktrailers.asp
Wolframalpha
This is a new computational knowledge engine that answers mathematical calculations http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Xtimeline

Explore, create, and share timelines about history, biographies and more using this web 2.0 timeline widget. http://www.xtimeline.com/

Worldmapper

A collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest. Nearly 600 mapsare now available. http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/

Sumo Paint

An excellent free online image editor and drawing application
http://www.sumopaint.com/home/

Flashface
Create Your Own Avatar. http://flashface.ctapt.de/
Manga
Create your own avatar. http://www.manga.com/content/avatar-face-maker

The Encylopaedia of Life
Aims to create an online reference source and database for every one of the 1.8 million species that are named and known on this planet. http://www.eol.org/
Visual Dictionary Online
A free visual dictionary of 20,000 images with contextual definitions. http://visual.merriam-webster.com/

Check out these new search engines

http://www.bing.com/

http://duckduckgo.com/

http://find.natlib.govt.nz/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=NLNZ&fromLogin=true&fromLogin=true
This search engine searches across all the New Zealand National Library websites

http://www.google.co.nz/ There's an interesting search enhancement to Google (May 2009). Try clicking on Show Options after you have done a search, (it's located directly above your returned search results.) then scroll down and click on wonder wheel. This operates as a visual mindmap when you need to fully explore a subject and its related topics. Recommended.

http://www.refseek.com/
RefSeek is a web search engine for students, researchers and librarians that aims to make academic information easily accessible to everyone.

www.viewzi.com/
Viewzi is a powerful visual search engine that provides many different possibilities to display your results. Using Yahoo!, Google and Viddler, you can search the Web, images and videos.