I.B. Asia Pacific Teachers Convention 2007 click for more info pdf file
31 March to 2 April 2007, Singapore
Focus is "Information Literacy Across the IB Programmes"

2007 PYP and DP Workshops: Prem Center, Chiangmai,Thailand http://www.ibap-events.com
   - Jan 19-21 2007: Beginning to Make the PYP Happen, Collab Planning and Teaching & Learning
   - Jan 26-28 2007: DP TOK (L1), DP CAS (LM) and DP Economics (L1)
   - Feb 2-4 2007: DP Chemistry (L1), Physics (L3) and Visual Arts (L3)

I.B. Services for Schools click for pdf file (830KB)
The latest edition of this booklet is available at: www.ibo.org/programmes/services
This booklet applies to fees from September 2007 ... for specific about the new fee structure visit the IB website(s)         www.ibo.org/heads/headnet        http://ibnet.ibo.org       need password

Individual School IB Websites: www.shambles.net/pages/staff/ARandR/ibschools
There are 26 different school IB websites listed in this area on Shambles ... it would be appreciated if you also have a page on your school website dedicated to IB then could you add it to the list using the form at the bottom of the page.

It really is a sad world where security and disaster toolkits need to be on the agenda in schools .....
Help can be found at ......

Emergency Planning & Disaster Toolkits : www.shambles.net/pages/staff/emergency

Pandemics links : www.shambles.net/pages/learning/medical/pandemics

It would be appreciated if schools could also share their policies

It is notable that since smoke from the Indonesia fires and SARs closed schools in the region over the past years that many more now have more robust (VLE) virtual learning environments in place so that teaching and learning can continue at home if the school is closed ..... I wonder who is going to open the first totally Virtual Asia k-12 School? www.shambles.net/pages/school/vschools

'website', 'simple', 'free', collaborative, 'sharing', 'fun', 'functional', 'RSS', 'tags', ... all are terms that can be used to describe the new (actually not so new anymore) Web 2.0 environment .... and a page of Web 2.0 information related to teaching and learning can be seen on Shambles .

For one quick example have a look at a Web 2.0 spelling site at http://orangoo.com/spell

But following on the Web 2.0 experience are lots of other 2.0s ... e.g. Library 2.0

But how about Business 2.0
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/23/smbusiness/business2_nextnet_intro
In this CNN story they identify 25 companies, in five Next Net categories, whose approaches help illuminate where the Web is headed and where the opportunities lie. "Most are startups, a lot of them with less than 10 full-time employees. Few are currently making money, and it's a given that many will fail. But it's equally likely that somewhere within this group lurks the next Google or Microsoft or Yahoo -- or at least something that those giants will soon pay a pretty penny to have."

download the free
Web 2.0 booklet
for teachers
Coming of Age

the new second edition
will be released
January 2007

World Cat search is now an option on the Shambles Librarians page.
"Find in a Library" links people broadly searching the Web from popular search, bookselling &
bibliography sites to the resources of local libraries. This form is on the Shambles Librarians Page

Ask.com Releases ISBN Number Smart Answers
Ask.com has added support for ISBN number searches.

Amaztype http://amaztype.tha.jp
Create a Word using images of books ... but in fact an amazing visual search facility for books at Amazon .. brilliant and fun

IASL Annual Conference 16-20 July 2007 Taipei, Taiwan : www.iasl-slo.org/conference2007.html
International Association of School Librarians - Giving Libraries & Schools the Cutting Edge

Miss Dewey Search Engine www.msdewey.com
Brilliant concept for a search engine .. try it .. you'll smile!

Wiki : SLIC http://slic.wikispaces.com
School Librarians in China

YALSA : Teen Tech Week www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teentechweek/ttw.htm
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) 4- 10 March 2007

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside a dog, it's too dark to read".
Groucho Marx

The next SEAMC will be 1st to 4th February 2007 hosted in Singapore
details are on the website

This year there is also SISMC
Singapore American School (SAS) and United World College of South East Asia are also hosting The Singapore International School Mathematics Competition (SISMC).
"Last year was our first and we hope to continue each year. It will take place on 11 Nov. 2006 at SAS and be a 1-day event. Last year we had 8 Singapore schools compete.
The format is similar to SEAMC, but using a shortened schedule.

and while on the subject of Mathematics
The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM)
www.ncetm.org.uk
Created to support the professional development of teachers of maths at every level, the site will allow teachers to share best practice, download free teaching resources, join discussion forums, access CPD opportunities and more.

I'm such a fan of Google that this is going to be a regular section in future newsletters .... and its not just because it's a brilliant search engine .... in fact it's not a search engine at all, it's really an advertising company anyway .... but it is because of all the other toys that come out of Google Labs and out of the minds of the founders ..... for free.

Google Teacher Newsletter : www.google.com/educators      first edition  
Google and teachers have a similar objective: to help people build knowledge by providing greater access to useful information. Google recognizes the central role teachers play in breaking down the barriers between people and information, and they support educators who work each day to empower their students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. The Google Teachers' Newsletter is one of the ways they are working to bolster that support and explore how Google and educators can work together.

Google Apps for Education : https://www.google.com/a/edu
Get your campus talking ... "Schools accepted by Google during the Google Apps for Your Domain beta period are eligible for free service for their approved beta users even beyond the end of the beta period, as described in the Terms of Service."

The ESP Game : | Play | Research and Development (video) |
Google label (tag) ALL the images in their database using a game .... very clever.

Surprisingly not many schools have taken up the advertising options on 'Shambles' : we get over 10,000 visitors and over 20,000 page impressions each day during term time.

'Shambles' is a free service because of sponsorship and advertising ... your support would be appreciated .. details at www.shambles.net/advertising

csmith@csmith.info
ePortfolio at www.shambles.net/csmith
"I'm so busy learning that
I don't have time for work"