Māwhai Tuhituhi – online Te Reo writing competition for Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori

Hei whakanui i Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori 2014, kei te mahi pakiwaitara tuhituhi ā-ipurangi Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui, ā, ka taea e koe e tō kura rānei ētahi taonga te wini.

Kua oti kē i te kaituhi rongonui haere nei a Paora Tibble te whiti tuatahi te tuhituhi, ā, māu e āpiti atu ō tuhituhi ki te pakiwaitara ia rā, hei te 21-25 o Hūrae.

Ka whiriwhirihia kotahi te whiti ia rā (tae atu ki te 200 kupu), mai i ia reanga, ka mutu hoki ngā pakiwaitara hei te ahiahi o te Paraire te 25 o Hūrae.

Ko ngā Reanga: (Kura) Tau 1-8, me te Tau 9-13

Ko ngā taonga ia rā he pēke whare pukapuka, he kāri koha, he haki pukapuka hoki.

Ko ngā taonga mā ngā toa tuhituhi kotahi iPapa mō ia reanga, ā, he haki e $250 hei hoko pukapuka mō ngā kura o ngā toa tuhituhi.

Ko te kura hoki he tokomaha rawa ana kaituhi ka wini hoki i te haki pukapuka e $250!

Kia whai wāhi koe ki te wini, tūhono mai ā-ipurangi ka tuhituhi mai rā: wcl.govt.nz/mawhaituhi

 

 

To celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori 2014, Wellington City Libraries are weaving an online story, with the chance for you and your school to win some cool prizes.

Well-known author, Paora Tibble, has written the first paragraph but we need you to continue the story each day, from 21-25 July.

A paragraph (up to 200 words) will be selected, daily, from each age group, and the stories will finish on Friday afternoon, 25 July.

Age Groups are: (School) Year 1-8, and Year 9-13

Daily prizes include library bags, concession cards and book vouchers.

The prizes for overall winners include an iPad for each age group winner, plus $250 of book vouchers for the winners’ schools.

The school with the most contributors will also win $250 of book vouchers!

For your chance to win, join us online and weave your story: wcl.govt.nz/mawhaituhi

Watch the International Space Station live

Above us the International Space Station (ISS), with 6 crew on board, obits the earth every 90 minutes. Recently they fitted a camera to the space station so you can watch live what’s going on. It’s really addictive to watch… we warned you!

When the crew are on duty the camera shows what’s going on inside the space station and you can listen to the audio of conversations between the crew and mission control. When the crew are off duty, the camera is pointing towards earth showing the view the crew have from their windows. Often the ISS goes into a black spot where there’s no transmission and it’s out of contact with Earth. So, if the screen shows nothing, just wait a bit and the video feed will return when the ISS is out of the black spot.

Because the ISS orbits Earth once every 90 minutes the crew experience a sunrise and sunset every 45 minutes – they have 45 minutes of night time and 45minutes of daytime. So if the screen looks dark it may be because it’s night time on the ISS. Look closely and you may see the lights of cities on Earth below.

Have fun watching! Here’s the link to the feed

 

The Hobbit – Production videos

The second Hobbit move – The Desolation of Smaug, is due to be released in New Zealand on December 12th.

Peter Jackson, the director, has been posting production diary videos online since he started filming The Hobbit to give us a behind the scenes look at how the movie was made. He’s continued this tradiation with some new video diaries for The Desolation of Smaug. The videos are interesting, fascinating and funny.

Over the next month, leading up the movie’s release, we’ll be posting some of the videos here.

Here’s video #1

While you’re waiting for the movie release you could watch the first Hobbit movie, or read the book.

Friday Fun

Because it’s Friday and the weekend starts at 3pm today, I thought we could check out some fun websites with free online games.

Here are my favs:

Sprout:  Games (scroll down the page for games based on well-known TV shows), videos, colour ins, crafts and recipes – there’s so much to do here.

Nickelodeon: Over 1000 games to play, what more could you want (apart from time to play them all)?

PBS Kids: loads of games based on well known TV shows and book characters. I especially love the Curious George and Cat in the Hat ones.

Mattel: Yes this is the company that makes barbies, but the also have Hot Wheels, Monster Trucks, Bionic Battle and Battle Force 5 (and lots of Barbie games). You can chose between different types of games – arcade, racing, make over, action, sports etc.

BBC: Another TV station web site with heaps of cool games. I really like the look of ‘Wizards vs Aliens’.

Cartoon Network: The home of Ben 10 games, also heaps of cool action adventure, sports and puzzle games.

 

 

Check out our Fun Stuff webpage for more links to awesome sites.

 

AnyQuestions – live online homework help

Need help with those pesky school work questions? AnyQuestions is here to help!

It’s a website designed to help NZ school students learn how to find information online. You get to chat live with a friendly librarian who will help you find the answer or information you need and will teach you some cool online searching tips and tricks along the way. It’s free, fun, friendly and helpful.

AnyQuestions is open Monday to Friday 1pm – 6pm. If you need help outside those times you can visit their sister website – ManyAnswers, which has info and good website links about many of the most popular subjects and topics you get in school.

A closer look at history: New non fiction

Usborne encyclopedia of ancient Egypt

Many books about ancient Egypt focus on Mummies and pyramids, which is a pity because, obviously, the history of an empire that lasted from  1096BCE to 30BCE is much richer than that.  This book encompasses over 1000 years of history, not only focusing on the great Pharaohs, but what everyday life was like for the poorer members of Egyptian society.  There are sections on everything from the Egyptian army to medicine to beauty care.  There are plenty of links to useful websites, as well as a few timelines; one lists the pharaohs in chronological order, the other gives a chronological look at Egyptology and how its changed over the centuries.  This is certainly one of the most through books on ancient Egypt we have in our collection, and a great book for school projects.

 

Stephen Biesty’s Cross-Sections: Castle

This book is a classic and for good reason. As a close look at castle life during the medieval period it’s yet to be bettered. The cross sections of the various parts of the castle are intricately detailed, with explanations of what’s happening in different parts of the drawing. They’re also quite funny; try to spot the sneaky spy and the castle inhabitants getting up to all sorts of things, many of them not exactly appropriate to the situation!  The book manages to be both very informative and extremely fun. As well as the cross sections there are plenty of things like the feudal system, clothing and warfare.  This is THE book to read if you’re at all interested in Medieval castles.

 

 

Deadly days in History

Terry Deary has been writing the Horrible History books for twenty years, and to his credit, they’re still as interesting and funny as they’ve ever been. Rather than focusing on one specific country, this is a look at the days in world history that have been particularly bloody.  True to his established pattern, he doesn’t just stick to Western History; he also looks at the Sepoy and Boxer rebellions, as well as the Battle of Isandlwana.  He also isn’t biased towards any particular group; everyone involved has their savagery discussed.  It’s a great book, even by Terry Deary’s high standards, and well worth reading if you like your history both balanced and gory.

 

 

 

Bones never lie: How Forensic science helps solve history’s mysteries

One of the strangest parts of learning about history is how evolving scientific techniques of the present help us better understand the mysteries of the past. Forensic science is used to solve modern day murders, but it also has its uses in working out just what happened. For example, did Napoleon die of natural causes or was he murdered? Did the Grand Duchess Anastasia survive the massacre of her family by Communists? This book works hard to debunk various theories and explains the science behind each of the conclusions.  But it also takes the time to look at each of the other theories in turn, and treats each one with equal weight.

 

 

Need information fast?

AnyQuestions is a great website set up to help New Zealand School Students find the information they need for whatever they need it for.

It’s free, safe and reliable.

Here’s how it works: jump on the website, type in your name and your question or information need, then a NZ librarian will chat to you live and help you find a helpful website. Afterwards you chat will be emailed to you so you will have all the directions and websites in your inbox.

AnyQuestions is open Monday to Friday 1pm – 6pm. If you need help outside those days/times you can visit AnyQuestions‘ sister website ManyAnswers.

ManyAnswers is where lots of websites and information is kept about heaps of topics. Use the search box or word cloud to find your topic.

Got questions? We have the answers!

 

Do you have some tough homework, an assignment due in, or just don’t know where to start finding info? You need to know about this website then – anyquestions.co.nz

AnyQuestions is a New Zealand website set up to help NZ school students find online information. It’s a live website that open Monday to Friday from 1pm till 6pm. during those housrs there are librarians waiting to help you find online information to help answer your questions or to help with your school work.

It’s really simple – just state what your information need is, then chat live to a librarian who will help you find what you are looking for online. Not only will you discover reliable and helpful websites together, but the librarian will also give you hints and tips on good internet searching. Cool, right?

Sometimes you’ll need help when AnyQuestions is closed (like late in the evenings, in the mornings or on the weekends). But we’ve got that covered too.

ManyAnswers.co.nz is the sister site to AnyQuestions and contains helpful information, website links and search tips for heaps of topics. We carefully look at all the types of questions and topics we get at AnyQuestions, and write up information about how to find info about really popular topics and common questions over at ManyAnswers.

These two free websites are great for helping you find info for school, or just answering some of life’s tricky questions. Check them out today and impress your teachers and parents with how much you know.

The coolest book website

It doesn’t matter if you are a Dr Seuss fan or not (but really – who isn’t a Dr Seuss fan??!!) you need to check out his website!

Seussville is the home of everything Dr Seuss, from the Cat in the Hat, to Yertle the Turtle (my personal favourite).

Along with checking out all the Dr Seuss books, you can play games, download and print activity sheets, find out about all the many Dr Seuss characters and Dr Seuss himself (did you know his real name was Theodore Geisel?). There are even recipescrafts and activities you can do at home.

This fun, noisy and interactive site is really worth checking out!

 What are some of your favourite author/book websites?

 

Calling all scientists!

Have you heard about The Great NZ Science Project? Now’s your chance to get behind science and help New Zealand decide how we use it to invest in our future. Explore areas of interest and join the debate. The future of science in New Zealand is in your hands.

Important and leading NZ scientists have teamed up with our best free-thinkers -you guys, to figure out what science areas NZ should be focusing and spending our money on.

There are lots of ideas and projects suggested in the areas of

In each of these areas you can find out about what’s happening, what could happen in the future and why it’s important for scientists to work in these areas. There are heaps of facts and videos to watch. The videos are really cool, I reckon you should watch them.

Then you get to vote and write your opinion on whether you support science developments in these areas, which areas you think are most important and, coolest of all, you get to tell the scientists what you think they should be working on.

If you have an idea for a project for NZ scientists you can suggest it and you never know, an awesome scientist out there might think it’s a good idea and start working on it -Cool!

 

The Great NZ Science Project is on Facebook and Twitter for you to like, follow, post and comment.