Light the candles all around the world

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The Grade 4 at the Jackson School invited us to be a part of this project. At the Library, some prefects and Form 2s lit a candle to show we share their holiday spirit!

Holiday fun with your laptop!

Safe, cool stuff to do with your laptop over the vacation... a new door is unlocked everyday!
Have fun!

A winter wonderland!

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Our library always decorates for Christmas. This year our theme is a winter wonderland. Don't ask me why they didn't choose something more local- we live in the West Indies and it never, ever snows! It was the library prefects' choice I guess.

I like to spend my free time in the library because of the air conditioning but sometimes I think our librarian, is overdoing it because it is freezing cold. One day I found myself not really feeling to study and I saw some of the library prefects making snowflakes out of paper so I asked if I could help. This was my first time ever making a snowflake bur surprisingly I did pretty good. Just ask Ms. Heywood!

After almost all the snowflakes were complete Celeste and I started to decorate them with iridescent glitter and the library turned into Ke$ha! And then on Monday we started to put up the all the decorations. In the end snowflakes and glitter were everywhere! Surprise, liming in the library can be fun!

Arianna A.

Our Christmas Book Blitz

Reading promotion in our school is very important to me- study after study shows direct links between extensive and consistent reading for pleasure and academic success. As an avid reader myself, I love to 'infect' you with my passion.
And that's where my GEAR- Get Excited about Reading program comes in. It tries to combine extrinsic motivation; small prizes for high borrowing (more than 15 books a term), with intrinsic prompts, like increasing your self esteem linked to improved reading speed, comprehension and academic success which I have long identified as being extremely important to a majority of my users.
I try to provide you with as wide a collection of exciting and interesting teen and young adult materials as I can and you do me and yourselves proud- our circulation figures are amazing!
And just to make sure you keep up during the vacation, we'll be having a mini bookfair; our Christmas Book Blitz on at the library from Tuesday 12th- Friday 16th December. Come buy yourself, a friend or relative a book or two and remember - Happy Reading!

Ms. Heywood

Skype adventures 2

When our librarian, Ms. Heywood explained that as part of our International School Libraries Month (and Global Classroom) activities we were going to Skype with other students in classrooms and libraries in other countries, we were so excited.We could hardly wait because we were so eager to start!
We really wanted to see their school and to find out if what we saw in American television shows was actually the way they seemed. Our class got to meet lots of  students from the Holbrook High School in Arizona, U.S.A. and their librarian.
We had so much fun. We didn't know very much about their state and they didn't know much about Trinidad and Tobago, so we got a chance to share what we had learned about our country and culture in our 'T&T is me!' research projects.
There are lots of Native American students at this school and they belong to many different clans and they told us about some of their customs. They even tried to get us to say something in their language, but it was very difficult.Some of them spoke Spanish and we (well, mostly Melanie) were able to show them what we had learned in class!
We thought that it was very interesting and informative and a genius way to meet people in other countries. We really felt connected to the world. It was a great day and we can't wait to do it again!

Jade L.. Shanice L., Serena S. and Sarah-Marie C. (1K)

Skype adventures 1

Some of us had a chance to Skype with some students at the Biblioteca Escolar Henriques Noguiera in Torres Vedras, Portugal on Friday 18th November. It was a very interesting and exciting visit and we were able to share what we'd learnt about Trinidad! Then our new friends sent us a popplet to tell us more about their country. Click here to find out more about life in Portugal. Obrigado!

International School Libraries Month

We have Bookmark Buddies!
International School Library Month is celebrated in schools all over the world in October each year. The ISLM theme for 2011 is 'School Libraries Empower Learners for Life'. To celebrate this month, we had several different activities @ our library.

The Form 1s were delighted to find out that we had been chosen by 3 schools in Croatia; the 4th Elementary School, Bjelovar, the Grigor Vitez Elementary School, St. John Žabno, Josipa Jurja Strossmayera Elementary School, and 1 school from the town of Novouralsk, in the Sverdlovsk region, Russia in the Bookmark Exchange. 

We wondered why they had chosen us and all concluded that it had to be because Trinidad and Tobago is so special! So we decided to find out more about our wonderful country so we could show everyone just what makes us so different! We'll be sharing what we've learnt in Skype sessions with our new friends and right here on our blog, so keep posted!

Ms. Heywood

The Global Classroom project

Today the globalisation of business, advances in technology and increasing migration means that to be successful, everyone will need to be able to work on a international scale. We'll need to be more knowledgeable about other countries and global issues, and able to communicate across cultures and languages. Students gain such global competencies when they develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes to understand and act creatively and innovatively on issues that are global in scope, or important local issues that are faced by others in other parts of the world.

This year, several classes at St. Joseph's Convent, Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago will have chances to participate with over 100 teachers and 2000 learners all over the world in the Global Classroom project. The Form 1s will exchange bookmarks and glogs and have several Skype visits during International School Libraries Month in October. They'll have epals (like pen pals, only online) and will be leading the Global Eco-warriors Project, researching meaningful issues in 4 main areas-

• Environmental sustainability
• Economic development
• Health and human development
• Cultural identity and diversity.

Through their activities in these projects, they will begin to learn how to study the world beyond their immediate environment, to recognise and respect the perspectives of others, to communicate their ideas effectively with diverse audiences and to collaborate effectively and to translate their ideas into appropriate actions to improve conditions. Join our blog to follow them their journey!


Ms. Heywood