Author Archives: timthelibrarian

About timthelibrarian

Tim Harwood is a Teacher Librarian and eLearning enthusiast.

Britannica – My Britannica

Posted on 13/09/2016 by timthelibrarian

My Britannica is the section of Britannica Online where you can keep your stuff. As a teacher, you can setup a My Britannica account and use it to plan lessons and collect materials (articles images and videos). Sign Up To … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Skills | Leave a comment

Review: Freedom Ride

Posted on 12/08/2016 by timthelibrarian

Sue Lawson’s Freedom Ride is good. Really good. Many have called for it to be included on school reading lists and it will be added to ours if I have anything to do with it. It is a terrific portrayal … Continue reading →

Posted in CBCA, Reading, Review | Leave a comment

Hop. Book. Chat. E03 has been made

Posted on 18/07/2016 by timthelibrarian

Our July episode is a hat tip to the worldbuilders – the creators, makers and dreamers. In Prythian is the New Vampires we look at the worlds in YA fiction that we would like to visit and what we would … Continue reading →

Posted in Podcast, Reading | Leave a comment

Coding – Project #3

Posted on 14/07/2016 by timthelibrarian

This one is simple. This page has an activity where you can animate your name by following the steps. It pulls together backgrounds and animating sprites and covers some of the controls and looks that you may not have played … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Fundraising in schools

Posted on 21/06/2016 by timthelibrarian

The library has recently purchased a copy of The most good you can do, a long overdue book about effective charity. The book delves into both the goal of the spending and the efficiency of recipient organisations in achieving this … Continue reading →

Posted in Library resources | Leave a comment

Reading conferences

Posted on 17/06/2016 by timthelibrarian

“Reading conferences provide the most useful opportunities for formative assessment of students’ reading…” – Di Snowball, et al. Reading conferences are, as stated above, excellent. The students benefit measurably from the opportunity to receive immediate feedback from their teacher, get … Continue reading →

Posted in Literacy, Reading, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Coding – Project #2

Posted on 08/06/2016 by timthelibrarian

We are working towards a project like Caesar Cipher on Scratch because it neatly explains how algorithms are used to make programs – but first we need a heap of other skills. Backgrounds are one of them. For today’s task, … Continue reading →

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Anywhere, anytime collaboration

Posted on 08/06/2016 by timthelibrarian

Our Enrichment Coordinator has just set up a new blog to communicate with her TLT. The TLT meetings were being hamstrung by conflicting time pressures. The blog is an attempt to facilitate collaboration without needing to rely on all being … Continue reading →

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Writing Research Assignments

Posted on 01/06/2016 by timthelibrarian

Research assignments are very different to tests. Tests function to show what the students have learnt throughout a unit while research assignments are a learning experience in themselves. As a result, if you ask your students to recall what they … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Skills, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Coding – Project #1

Posted on 01/06/2016 by timthelibrarian

Coding is a fun and rewarding experience that can develop a deeper understanding of how the devices in your life work. Have a go at completing the following problem using Scratch. If you get stuck, go to the video tutorial … Continue reading →

Posted in Coding | Leave a comment