A to Z challenge 2012: L is for Lester

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This involves lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I have been learning a lot along the way, remembering lots of my favourite books and exploring new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas! 

L is for Lester. 

...and L is for lemon, lamb, letter, leaf, lightning, ladder, lollipop, light, lion, lettuce, lid, lizard, leap and leotard. These are all the words on the L page in Alison Lester's abc.  

Alison Lester is the writer and illustrator of many popular children's books including Magic Beach, Imagine and Are we there yet?

Alison Lester, along with Boori Monti Pryor are Australia's first Children's Laureates. You can read more about these two great authors and the wonderful work they are currently doing at www.childrenslaureate.org.au. 

A to Z challenge 2012: K is for Koala

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This involves lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I have been learning a lot along the way, remembering lots of my favourite books and exploring new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas! 

K is for Koala.

"There was once a baby koala, so soft and round that all who saw her loved her. Her name was Koala Lou. Koala Lou is the first born in a large family. She feels sad because her mother seems too busy to pay her any attention. Perhaps if she wins the tree-climbing at the Bush Olympics her mother might notice her again...Koala Lou starts training right away!" 

Koala Lou is another gorgeous book by Mem Fox. It is illustrated by Pamela Lofts, the same artist who illustrated Hunwick's Egg. 

This is a great book to reinforce to a child that they are loved for who they are not because of what they can do. One of my favourite things about this book is the illustration of a numbat watching the Bush Olympics. I have always been quite fond of the numbat, one of the less well known Australian animals. 

A to Z challenge 2012: J is for Jez

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This involves lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I have been learning a lot along the way, remembering lots of my favourite books and exploring new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas! 

J is for Jez. 

Jez is the first name of the author (Jez Alborough) of the great read-aloud book Duck in the Truck. 

"This is the tale of a duck in a truck - 

a truck that was stuck in some yucky brown muck. 

A sheep in a jeep and a frog in a bush 

saw the truck stuck and gave it a push.

But the truck stayed stuck!

What now, can you guess? 

Could a goat in a boat 

get them out of this mess?" 

The rhyme and rhythm of this book make it a lot of fun to read aloud. The bright, colourful and amusing illustrations also make it a great contender for a picture walk. A picture walk is where you look at and discuss the illustrations with children first before reading the text. Recently I found a great post about picture walks here. 

A to Z challenge 2012: I is for Ish

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This involves lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I have been learning a lot along the way, remembering lots of my favourite books and exploring new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas!

 I is for Ish. 

Do you know a child (or adult) who is reluctant to do things because of a fear that they can't do them just right? The inspiring picture book Ish by Peter Reynolds may be just the book for them. 

"Ramon loves to draw especially when he learns that he doesn't have to worry about getting it "just right"."

The Stellar Cafe is the blog of Peter Reynolds, the author of Ish and other great picture books. He doesn't update this blog very regularly but having a look through past posts is something I highly recommend! There is a great post about one students response to the book, Ish. 

My own favourite line in the book is "He wasn't sure if he was writing poems, but he knew they were poem-ish." How many people feel that way about writing poetry? 

A to Z challenge 2012: H is for Hector

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This involves lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I have been learning a lot along the way, remembering lots of my favourite books and exploring new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas! 

H is for Hector. 

...and for Hermit. Hector the Hermit Crab by Katie Boyce is a cute picture book with an endearing message and charming illustrations. 

"Hector is a rather shy hermit crab. He keeps himself to himself and is very used to his own company. But one day something happens which changes the way Hector's neighbours on the seabed see him, and Hector has to decide how to deal with suddenly being very noticeable indeed." 

I bought my copy of this book at a clearance sale at my local library. Which is very good for me but a part of me is sad that it is no longer available in the library so more children (and adults) can enjoy it. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - April 8th, 2012

Shadows after the rain are my offerings this week for Shadow Shot Sunday. 

Meeting Selena - easily this week's highlight!

Meeting Selena - easily this week's highlight! 

What a week that was! The highs were higher and the lows were lower. There is no competition though for the highlight of the week. Easily, it was getting to meet my brand new niece, Selena. She was born on Tuesday and weighed 6lb 12. The girls and I got to meet her on Wednesday and we have just got back from another visit. She is so absolutely adorable. Here's a photo taken today - 4 days old. 

Congratulations to parents Kate and Roberto and to big sister Teya! 

A to Z challenge 2012: G is for Green

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This will include lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way and explore new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas!

 G is for Green. 

...and green is the colour of the sheep in Mem Fox's popular book Where is the Green Sheep? For the G post in the A to Z challenge I'm going to begin by reposting a post from Wednesday March 9th, 2011. Why do more work than I have to? 

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Green sheep fun!

Yesterday I tried out a green sheep activity with some toddlers. It was great fun! Here's a picture of my green sheep. 

I read 'Where is the green sheep?' by Mem Fox to the group. Attention was a little lacking (they were very young!) for the reading of the story but afterwards they all seemed to enjoy sticking the green wool onto their sheep. The template I used is available here. 


This is an activity I would definitely like to do again. Which is lucky as I have a good supply of green wool as well as wool I am yet to clean and dye. 

A big thank you to my friend, Casandra, for the supply of the wool. I asked her about dying cotton wool for this activity and she asked if I would like some real wool. Yes please! She had a really great supply. Some of it was quite dirty and full of prickles. I quite enjoyed cleaning it and working out how to dye it. I used dishwashing detergent in warm water to clean it. To dye it I used food colouring in hot water with a bit of vinegar (apple cider vinegar as that was the only vinegar I had in the house!) then zapped it in the microwave for a few seconds. 

__________

Since first posting this I have also done this activity with a class of five and six year olds and it was a huge hit. Before reading the book I put some of the wool in a bag and children took it in turns to feel what was in the bag and guess what it might be. A couple guessed it was wool but all were surprised when I pulled it out of the bag and it was green. After laughing about it coming from a green sheep, the children enjoyed listening to how I had dyed the wool and asked lots of great questions. I still have a lot of wool left - time to get motivated to dye some more and read this book again! With more time too, I imagine children would really enjoy dying the wool themselves. 


There is a multitude of ideas for extension activities for this book available on the internet. A set of ideas I particularly like, written by D. Russell-Bowie and J. Thistleton-Martin (2005) can be found here. They suggest singing the text to a known tune, for example Are you sleeping/ Frere Jacques. I have done this very successfully with two different classes. I can imagine developing this idea further with children making the different sheep characters and singing and acting the story out. 


I'm enjoying this A to Z challenge and as I hoped when beginning am getting inspired and collecting lots of great ideas! While researching this post I discovered lots of extension ideas for this book as well as other great books.  

A to Z challenge 2012: F is for Farmer

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This will include lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way and explore new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas!

 F is for Farmer. 

Tom Farmer is the main character in the gorgeous book, Cows in the Kitchen by June Crebbin and illustrated by Katharine McEwen. This is one of my all time favourite picture books. I bought my copy when I was a Family Day Care Careprovider and it was read many times then and since. It is a particularly good book for young children (aged 2-3) and when I facilitated a playgroup for a year I read it almost every week at the end of the session. Now, when I read it to a class of children I point out how well-loved it is (it has been taped back together) while at the same time emphasising how important it is to look after books! 

Children love singing along with the repetitive text "Cows in the Kitchen, Moo, Moo, Moo. Cows in the Kitchen, Moo, Moo, Moo. Cows in the Kitchen, Moo, Moo, Moo. That's what we do Tom Farmer." to the tune of "Skip to my Lou". What I also love about this book is the opportunity to use soft and loud voices. Children love it when you whisper when the animals are creeping back into the farmhouse and then yell to wake Tom Farmer up at the end. There is also lots to talk about with the illustrations and there is a mouse to find on every page. 

This book will continue to be one of my favourites for a long time I think! As well as the sing-along text, it provides a great opportunity to talk about alliteration. Ask children what they notice about the words and they will point out those that start with the same sound. I have found children enjoy making up their own animals and places starting with the same sound and illustrating their ideas. Giraffes in the gym, lions in the library, orangutans on the oval, cats in the classroom, bears on the basketball court are some of the great ideas that children have come up with. 

A to Z challenge 2012: E is for Egg

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This will include lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way and explore new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas!

 E is for Egg. 

What good timing with the E post being on the 5th April and Good Friday on the 6th April. If you are looking for a great book to read at Easter time how about Hunwick's Egg by Mem Fox?

"When a mysterious egg appears outside Hunwick's burrow, no one is certain what to think. And when it doesn't hatch right away, everyone is even more bewildered. Everyone, that is, but Hunwick. For Hunwick understands the egg. It is his friend. And he is the only one who knows its secret." 

Mem Fox chose the name 'Hunwick' for the bilby in this story after a man called John Hunwick whom she worked with at Flinders University. My own fondness for this book partly comes from the fact that John Hunwick was one of my supervisors at University when I was studying to be a teacher. You can read in an interview with Mem Fox about "Hunwick's Egg" at http://www.memfox.com/hunwicks-egg.html. There is also lots of information on that website about many of the other great books by Mem Fox. 

I love this story and the accompanying illustrations by Pamela Lofts and so have many children I have shared it with. Perhaps this book could be shared along with The Very Itchy Bear by Nick Bland which I wrote about for 'B'. Both would make a good basis for a discussion of unusual friendships (or just friendships!).