Learning Commons

B.C. Red Cedar Awards - The Red Cedar is British Columbia’s Young Reader’s Choice book award. Every year, thousands of children between grades 4 and 7 from across the province are invited to read books from the nominated lists of non-fiction and fiction titles and vote for their favourite. The purpose of the program is threefold: 1. To enrich and broaden students’ reading experiences, 2. To promote literacy through the reading of quality Canadian literature 3. To encourage students’ thoughtful evaluation of these reading materials. The Red Cedar Book Awards are officially "launched" in mid-November each year, and students have the next six months to read and decide which one of the titles on the list they feel is the best Canadian book of the year. Voting takes place in Late April, and the award winners are announced in May. Students may read books in either the fiction or the non-fiction category (or both if they’re really avid readers!). Two awards are given annually to the book from each list receiving the most votes.

Rocky Mountain Book Award - The Rocky Mountain Book Award is a readers’ choice program, which invites students to choose the best book from a shortlist. This Alberta-based program is designed to stimulate the reading interests of students in grades 4-7. Students and educators are invited to read exemplary Canadian literature, and then the students vote for their favorite book. This award program is for schools, libraries, and interested groups of students. This may include children who are being home-schooled or families who wish to become involved in reading good Canadian children’s literature. Each reading group must have a teacher or adult leader.

The Saskatchewan Willow Book Awards - The mission of The Willow Awards is to promote reading by granting a "Willow Award" to the Canadian and/or Saskatchewan book(s) voted by Saskatchewan students to be the best of those nominated in designated categories for a specific year. In an effort to encourage participation by all children, regardless of the level at which they are reading, three awards have been established: •The Shining Willow Award for books written for young readers. •The Diamond Willow Award for titles written for upper elementary readers (grades 4-6) . •The Snow Willow Award for books for young people in grades 7 - 9.

Manitoba Young Readers Choice Awards - The MYRCA Selection Committee considers all Canadian novels written in English each year for the intended audience of ages 10 to 14 years, or grades 5 to 8. The 15 to 18 titles deemed the best find their way onto the MYRCA list for the following year. The selection committee is composed of teachers, teacher-librarians and library staff from a variety of Winnipeg school divisions. We also have representatives from the Winnipeg Public Library, the Reading Council of Greater Winnipeg as well as at least one university professor of children's literature and a bookseller. We encourage participation from rural Manitoba and currently have a professor from Brandon University. The program is actively promoted across the province. Brochures are sent out to all Manitoba schools and public libraries. Students must read or have heard read a minimum of 3 of the titles to be eligible to vote. Votes are collected and tabulated in mid-April.

Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Readers Choice Awards - The Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award is the oldest children's choice award in the U.S. and Canada. The award was established in 1940 by a Seattle bookseller, the late Harry Hartman, who believed every student should have an opportunity to select a book that gives him or her pleasure. NOMINATIONS Nominations are taken only from children, teachers, parents and librarians in the Pacific Northwest ~ Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana and Washington. Nominations will not be accepted from publishers. Nominations of books that are a sequel in a series will not be considered. Nominations may include fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, animae and manga. JUDGING Books will be judged on popularity with readers. Age appropriateness will be considered when choosing which of the three divisions a book is placed. Other considerations may include reading enjoyment; reading level; interest level; genre representation; gender representation; racial diversity; diversity of social, political, economic, or religions viewpoints; regional consideration; effectiveness of expression; and imagination. The Pacific Northwest Library Association is committed to intellectual freedom and diversity of ideas. No title will be excluded because of race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political or social view of either the author or the material.

American Library Association Newbery Medal - The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

American Library Association Caldecott Medal - The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

Canadian Governor General's Literary Awards - Each year, the Governor General’s Literary Awards (the GGs) honour the best in Canadian literature. As Canada’s national literary awards, the GGs represent the rich diversity of Canadian literature. Some 1,600 books are submitted each year from English and French-language publishers representing authors, translators and illustrators from across Canada, in seven categories. • Fiction • Poetry • Drama • Non-fiction • Children’s literature – text • Children’s literature – illustration • Translation For each category, a jury, comprised of fellow authors, translators and illustrators, makes the final selection. Each GG winner receives $25,000; each non-winning finalist receives $1,000. The publisher of each winning book receives $3,000 to help promote the book. The total annual value of the GGs is close to $450,000.

FollettShelf e-book service - This link accesses our hosted online bookshelf available to faculty and students of Fireside School. E-book titles are in English and include fiction and non-fiction. Titles can be downloaded onto personal iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch and Android devices using the free app “Destiny Discover”. Login to the service is required using standard student/faculty login and password. A guide to using FollettShelf is found at https://resources.follettlearning.com.

Digital Textbooks Available Online - Textbooks in digital format for core subjects available for purchase, download, or online access.

Newspapers in Education - Online access to the Calgary Herald. User name is sbrooks@rockyview.ab.ca and password is "Fireside". This account is for Fireside students only. Please respect this access by not sharing it outside of the Fireside community.

Voices into Action - A wealth of free curriculum-based teaching resources and online tools to help students and teachers to learn about about prejudice, human rights and social justice.

Scholastic Inc. - Scholastic is providing free digital access to staff, students and parents during school closure due to Covid. Follow the link. No registration or login required.

This area contains links to tutorials that will assist students and faculty with various tasks relating to research and location of items in the library.

How the Dewey Decimal System Works
A fun and interactive lesson about the Dewey Decimal system of classification and how to find the books you want in a library!

Google Search Quick Tips
Tips for searching with Google to get the best results.

Bibliographic citation builders:

EasyBib - A popular citation app that can be downloaded onto iPad, iPod, iPhone and android. Simply scan the barcode of the item you wish to cite and the app will build the citation for you.

Noodle Tools Citation Builder - An MLA citation builder for younger students. Needs user name and log in but is free to use.

The Purdue Owl Research and Citation Guidelines - An online guide to the various styles of citations, how to build citations, and proper usage of citations. Includes APA, MLA and Chicago Manual styles.

What is Plagiarism? - This website describes Plagiarism, how to recognize it and how to avoid it.

Son of Citation Machine - A great online tool for building citations in several different styles.

Cite This For Me - Cite This For Me allows you to automatically create website citations in the APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard referencing styles at the click of a button. Simply browse to the page you wish to cite and click the button to generate a correctly formatted citation. Then copy-paste the citation into your assignment, or add it to your online bibliography for safe keeping until later. Cite This For Me also comes with a Google Chrome extension.

Bibme - The fully automatic bibliography maker that auto-fills. It's the easiest way to build a works cited page; and it's free. Search for a book, article, website, or film, or enter the information yourself. Add it to your bibliography and continue citing to build your works cited list. Download your bibliography in MLA, APA, Chicago, or Turabian format. Bibme is very easy to use, but you need to pay for a pro account to save your bibliographies.

Social Studies Websites:

The Alberta Online Encyclopedia - A plethora of Alberta heritage resources including Aviation, Black Pioneers, Estonian Heritage, Francophone Heritage, Natural History, Aboriginal Heritage and many more links. Not all links are active. Resources range from K-12.

The Famous Five - Alberta's "Famous 5" were petitioners in the groundbreaking Persons Case. Led by judge Emily Murphy, the group included Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise Crummy McKinney and Irene Parlby. Links take you to information regarding the Persons Case, 1927-29.

General:

Cochrane Public Library - The Nan Boothby Memorial Library located in Cochrane is an exceptional public library with many programs for children, adults and teens. Their website is wonderful and loaded with items including Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and a Homework Central guide. Be sure to check out their Study Skills, Exam Preparation, Internet Guide for School Homework and Subject specialized sites. This is truely an awesome resource for all your homework needs! No need to be a member to take advantage of their website.

Our Library OPAC - Our library has an Online Public Access Catalogue that will allow students and staff to log into our collection from anywhere, any computer, at any time! User name and password are your standard Rockyview login protocol. You can search the catalogue, view your check-out's, overdue items, fines, place holds and even comment on books from our library that you have read!

Free public library membership to Nan Boothby Public Library.

All Fireside students are eligible to receive a free membership to the Nan Boothby Public Library located at 405 Railway Street West in Cochrane. A parent or guardian is required to also have a membership. This is a wonderful local resource for our community with lots of programs and resources for all ages. Application forms and gift certificates can be picked up at the Fireside Learning Commons and returned to the Learning Commons or the public library.

Cochrane Public Library