Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Congratulations! 70 years of engaging the community with Literature for young Australians!

 The following information is taken from the Children's Book Council of Australia awards website page.
There are a number of changes that need to be noted for this year.

BOOK WEEK 2016

Saturday 20 August - Friday 26 August 2016
Theme: Australia: Story Country
 Friday 19 August Noon: CBCA Book of the Year Winners Announcement
Stop Press: Shaun Tan is doing the art work
Looking for ideas: Visit  the collaborative Pinterest Board:

2016 CBCA Australia:Story Country

Children's Book Council of Australia 2016 book week theme ideas & activities

Follow Audrey's board 2016 CBCA Australia:Story Country on Pinterest.
2016 Book of the Year Awards

"The Children's Book Council is pleased to announce a slight change in the Awards announcement procedures for 2016.
As most of you will know, this year is the 70th anniversary of the first award and in that time the way the awards are judged and announced has changed many times. That's what makes them dynamic, responsive to change and relevant. 
Next year, immediately following the judges' meeting, we will announce our Notables (or long list, as other awards call such a list); at the CBCA conference in May, we will announce the Short List and then in August the winners and honour books will be announced.


              Screenshot from CBCA website


This will keep up the momentum of interest and excitement, give libraries and schools three points of focus and help to promote Australian children's literature across a number of months." 
 
Dates to be noted: 
Notables announcement April 18
Short List announcement May 20
Award announcement August 19

Monday, 7 March 2016

Looking good...Notetaking and drawing tool app free ATM

Zen Sketch is described in the App store as:
"a cross between a note-taking and a painting app. ...The app goes beyond regular ink handwriting apps by using an industry standard drawing/painting engine, but still organizes your work in a logical fashion like any good note-taking app.

Use Zen Sketch to create powerful notes or paintings. All your work can easily be exported out of the app as images or PDFs, and shared in just about every way imaginable. The app has no learning curve, and lets you work in a streamlined and clean interface designed with the latest technology in mind."

It sounded worth downloading especially at this price! Free!

I am very happy with what it offers.

There are plenty of tools, great range of colours and plenty of easy to share options.
 

For young kids don't miss out on the Bamba apps by Mezmedia which are free atm too!
well worth downloading
Screenshot of a few of the Bamba apps.











I find many of the great educational apps that go free by using a range of apps including the ones in the screenshot below: