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The coolest book website

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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 recipes, crafts 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!

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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.

Niue Language Week 6-13th October

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Falaalofa lahi atu!

 

The theme for Niue Language Week is ‘fakamau, fakamanatu mo e fakaaoga tumau e vagahau Niue‘ which means ‘maintain, retain and develop the Niue language’.

The Pacific Island of Niue is very small and has a population of 1’400 people. It’s known as The Rock of the pacific, and is located about 2’400kms northeast of New Zealand. Niueans are automatically New Zealand citizens and have the same queen as New Zealand – Queen Elizabeth II.

90-96 % of Niueans live in New Zealand (22,473 people in 2006) and is our 4th largest Pacific Island population group. This also means that 70% of those that can speak Niuean live in New Zealand.

This week is Niuean Language week . Because the population is small and most of the Niueans live in New Zealand (where English is mostly spoken), it’s really important that the language is learnt and used by Niueans so that it survives.

Here’s a useful language guide for everyday words. You can also visit the official Niuean language website too, and the Wikipedia page is good for language experts. Why not give some words and sentences a go?

 

Here’s some cool facts about Niue:

  • It’s the largest coral island in the world
  • It was settled by Polynesians from Samoa in 900AD. The first European to see Niue was Captain James Cook in 1774AD
  • Captain Cook called the island Savage Island because he thought the islanders had blood smeared all over them. ‘Niue’ means ‘behold the coconut’.
  • Niue has free wireless internet for everyone who lives there. The first country to do so.
  • Every primary and secondary student has a lap top provided for them to do their school work on.
  • There is only 1 TV channel, 1 newspaper and 1 radio station.
  • Air New Zealand is the only airline that flies to Niue.
  • February is the hottest month, and March is the wettest (most rain falls over summer). Temperatures as high as 38 degrees have been recorded in Niue! That’s hot!
  • Niue is home to the Coconut Crab, that largest living crab in the word! It can grow up to 91cms wide. Scary!
  • Niue is on the other side of the International Date Line, which means that is is 23 hours behind New Zealand. Which means that at the moment it is yesterday in Niue.

New World War One Website

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In the year 2014 it will be 100 years since the start of World War 1 and in 2015 it will be 100 years since the New Zealand soldiers landed at Gallipoli.

The New Zealand Government has launched a website to commemorate this anniversary and to provide information on the activities around this time.

There is also a great section on the website that contains a timeline of New Zealand’s involvement in World War 1, with links to other websites like NZHistory that has loads of info. I’m sure this website will develop more over time as it gets more news and info added. So keep checking back for updates.

Here are some other great sites for World War 1 history:

NZ History

Returned Services Association

FirstWorldWar.com

Te Ara – The encyclopedia of New Zealand

NZ On Screen – Anzac Day Collection

Te Papa Tongarewa – Museum of New Zealand

 

 

 

 

Vote for the Bird of the Year

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Show your love for New Zealand’s unique and special birds by voting in the Bird of the Year poll run by the Forest and Bird Society (which has been around since 1923!).

There are 44 different birds you can vote for, from Albatross to Yellowhead. Have a read through the descriptions, click on the links for more info and then pick your favourite and vote for it. Voting closes on October 10th.

Previous winners of Bird of the year:

2011: Pukeko

2010: Kakariki

2009: Kiwi

2008: Kakapo

2007: Grey Warbler

2006: Fantail

2005: Tui

 

You can find out more about New Zealand birds at your local library. Here are some books I think are cool:

    

New info on Te Ara

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I’m sure you’ve all heard of Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand (if you haven’t then check it out now) and you’ve used it heaps for your homework. Well now Te Ara is even more useful with the launch of a whole new section called ‘Government and Nation’

This brand new section has info on Education, Legal System, The Treaty, War and Defence (including NZ’s involvement in WWI and WWII) and more. So useful!

Te Ara Govt and Nation

Happy Birthday Te Ara!

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Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand has turned 10 years old. Happy Birthday!

If you haven’t visited Te Ara before, now would be a very good time to check it out.

When the online encyclopedia was created in 2002 it was the first of its kind in the world. No other country had an online encyclopedia that contained info that had been created from scratch.

To make it really easy to use they decided to break up all the information into groups like The Bush, Earth Sea and Sky, New Zealand People and Maori New Zealanders. They also decided to limit the number of words per screen to 500 and break up each article into a number of screens. There are also heaps of pictures and videos (1 picture/video per 100 words, actually).

The result of all these decisions and hard work is a really cool website that’s awesome for your homework or just to find out about New Zealand stuff. (You can even find out which famous New Zealander were born on the same day as you -wicked!)

Te Ara 2

Ever wondered who’d win in a battle between Percy Jackson and Harry Potter?

wcl staff

How about between the BFG and Owly?

The Year 5&6 kids at Russell Street School in Palmerston North have asked these questions; and they’ve written down what they think could happen if these characters ever met and had to battle it out. You can read all about it here.

The battles are:

Hermione vs Matilda

Zac Powers vs Nancy Drew

Percy Jackson vs Harry Potter

BFG vs Owly

You can vote for your favourite character.  How cool is this?

NZ authors’ FABO story

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fabo story

Nine great New Zealand authors are currently writing a fabostory online. The name comes from FAce BOok, but Fabo is also a slang word for fabulous which this is too.

If you have enjoyed stories by Fleur Beale, Brian Faulkner, Maureen Crisp and Fifi Colston and other great New Zealand writers you might want to check this out.

The story starts here with Kyle Mewburn’s first chapter. Then each author writes a chapter in turn. They invite you to write a chapter too – you could win prizes and even have your story published online!