Dare to be Different

Written by Jane Welsh

Monsters INC

I have included a multiple intelligence overlay for the books and movie, available from Penguin. This story is a good one to begin a unit of lessons revolving around Fairy tales, Folk tales and Fables.

After looking at fears, both real and imagined, you can branch out to look at the differences and similarities with the old fairy tales that all children have read about and seen. I don't believe we use enough visual media in our literacy lessons. Unfortunately, there still seems to be an old fashioned opinion by many that viewing isn't an important or even a necessary part of our literacy teaching. I believe it is vital.

When planning for this sort of unit, (a good one to begin the year with, it gives you time to get to know the children and it gives the children, even those reluctant readers, a great boost) use an overlay. I usually add the naturalistic learning style here to allow for those children who would like to look at the animals in fairy tales and perhaps their imminent extinction - for example wolves, as the big bad wolf may not be around for much longer.

Wanda Linda goes Berserk

Kaz Cooke

0-14-350099-6

I used this book with a group of Year 6 children. We explored the notion of getting out of the wrong side of the bed. What makes you feel that way? Why do you feel grumpy all day and do you always remember what it was that started the 'bad day'?

I asked the children to think about a grumpy day and what had happened. We designed a 'SPLAT'. This is similar to a speech bubble with mock swearing around the outside! They wrote about the spiral that develops when you begin the day on the wrong side of the bed. I asked them to exaggerate the words and then when typing it up to use different fonts to highlight how they felt.

Try linking this book to Mr. McGee and the Blackberry Jam. He has a bad, yet funny day. Ask the group or class to draw a story map to describe Mr. McGee's day. They could do the same for their own grumpy day. Add some humour!

The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate

Margaret Mahy

0-14-055430-0

Read The Man whose Mother was a Pirate over and over again, just for the beauty of the language. Children need to learn to listen for the artistry of the words. Get them to imagine standing on the seashore. Ask them to describe, like Margaret not only what they see but how they feel. Then get them to draw or paint the symbolism of their writing. They could keep it in a bottle! Messages in bottles seem to excite children. Go beyond the book and set the children on a deserted island. Let them write a letter home and send it by bottle. These sorts of activities bring out the creative in even the most hardened anti-writers in the class.

Tough Boris

Mem Fox

0-14-056453-5

Bring in Mem Fox's' book Tough Boris. You could really get into the deep and meaningful with this book, parrots dying etc. I decided not to but it could be worth doing if you are looking at death and dying. Instead I used this book with a group of preps to make a pirate map of the school. We buried treasure, wrote directions and asked our buddies to find the treasure. Our classroom became a pirate ship for a couple of days and then an island that needed exploring. It proved to be a great, fully integrated week with location and direction being covered for maths and lots of language opportunities.

Daisy All-Sorts

Pamela Allen

0-14-055687-7

There are so many wonderful activities that we can take from this book. All-sorts, those crazy sweets with lots of colours. I have made all-sorts with boxes to keep writing ideas in. The children painted them, cut a slit in the top and collect all-sorts of ideas that they might like to write about.

We have made striped books and collected lists of favourite foods. The children interviewed adults at home, collected recipes and made an all-sorts recipe book to share with their families.

We made a 'lolly shop' in a corner of the classroom, took orders, wrote about favourite flavours and wrote procedures for making fairy bread, marshmallows and chocolate crackles. The children were asked to design a jelly with all-sort stripes. How would they do this without the jelly colours mixing together? When they had worked it out they then had to write down the method for others to follow. You will need LOTS of jelly packets for experimentation!

We decided that Daisy needed a lead. I took some leads into school, gave the children some dog biscuits, some luggage cards tied to the biscuits and asked them to write down their suggestions for how to control Daisy, coax her home and generally train her to be a good dog who 'doesn't need to be bribed with all-sorts!' Tie the dog biscuits to the leads with string and hang them around the room for others to read.

Read all-sorts of books about dogs. Ask the children to bring pictures of their pets or animals they would like to own. Groups can make booklets with pet information in them. They can write some talks for assembly about good pet ownership. Try to have the Guide Dogs visit and the Responsible Pet Ownership Group come to visit the class. Children can write questions to ask the visitors. Posters can be made to promote the visits. Collect as many pamphlets as you can from vets and pet stores for your class to read. They could design their own pamphlet about specialized pets. Older children could look into the history of domesticating animals.

Emily's First One Hundred Days at School

By Rosemary Wells

0-7868-0507-2

I have used this book to create our own 50 day book in the prep room. Each day the children write their own sentence about the day. It can be a personal or school-related sentence. I then take a photo and we put it into the book. This has created great excitement about writing. No one is frightened to have a go and everyone is contributing. I have linked it into my maths lessons too. There is so much in the book that you could use it for many lessons during the year. For instance:

On day 9 the planets of the solar system are introduced. Why not have a star gazing evening with families coming to school to watch and map the sky. Use black paper and white, yellow and red crayons. See if anyone can name the planets the next day.

On day 11 Emily introduces the book tree. Set one up in your room. The children begin by writing the titles of books on leaves to display on the tree. They could go on to write book reviews for others to read. I hang book covers on the tree to promote books to the children. I also hang little books that the children can read themselves.

On day 35 a letter arrives from Costa Rica. Look it up in an atlas. Set up email pen pals with children in a school overseas. This really takes off and the children love it. It promotes some very healthy writing and many children keep in touch for years.

On day 100 have a party. Let the class organize everything! They can share with the other classes how much they have learnt in 100 days.

There are so many ideas in this book, I can't cover everything. However I will add to these ideas every so often.

Paul Needs Specs

Bernard Cohen and Geoff Kelly

0-670-04054-1

A great book to use with any class, even better if someone has to wear specs! Give your students 5 pipe cleaners. Ask them to make a pair of glasses, noting how they made them. Ask for a written prescription for glasses and how they were made. Ask an optometrist to come to speak to your class. There are plenty of books about why people need to wear glasses. If you can't get someone to speak then pick up some pamphlets about what an optometrist does.

The groups can do some Internet research on eye disease in third world countries. The Fred Hollows Foundation has information available. Fund-raisers could be organized to help with research and highlight the wide need for glasses here and abroad. Posters can be designed to spread the word about sun damage of the eyes and the need for all people to wear sunglasses. The children could write a school sun smart policy that includes glasses.

A Farm Through Time

Angela Wilkes and Eric Thomas

0-7513-7178-5

This book shows a history of a farm from medieval times to the present day. I wouldn't necessarily use this book with junior classes, however it is a wonderful pictorial example of a time line. It gives the children a clear example of what a time line is and how it can be used to deliver information. I have used it with upper classes as I model a time line. I have then asked the group to create a time line using a simple story. You can plot a story on a time line in a similar way to a story map. Try it with Goldilocks and the Three Bears or Little Red Riding Hood.

DK EYE WONDER - OCEAN

0-7513-3219-4

The photographs in this book are spectacular. After looking at the pictures the preps made fantastic fantasy finger fish. Draw around your hand, decorate with crayon and then paint with food dye. Add lots of sparkles! Having made the fish they then wrote a simple fact about fish on a clam shaped card. The children have been showing their fish and clams to parents, buddies and friends and are able to read back their cards when asked.

The older classes could make Ocean passports with collected information about the underwater world. Make some fishy fact cards for the groups to work through. These cards could ask for information that requires deeper or wider reading. Make the questions as open ended as possible to allow the children to explore the topic further. The Internet could help here. The collected facts could be displayed on an underwater scene that the class or group designs. You could give each child an underwater animal identity. They would need to develop a fact file or CV for themselves that might include a power point presentation, film, or play to represent their information.

Ask the children to design a seabed display. Old strawberry crates made good bases for this. The children will need to collect and organize a variety of objects and bits and pieces. Seabed chimneys can be made from clay for example. Information can then be exhibited on sea stars tucked into the sand.

Younger children can read

Sun, Sea, CRAB and Me

Nigel Grey

1-86368-023-3

This is a good book to use when doing an integrated unit, Feathers, Fur, Skin and Scales. The illustrations are wonderful. Combined with The Ocean book the children can display their information on cranky crabs, sensational sea stars and perfect polar bears!

Sea beds can be made on a smaller scale and the class room can be made into an underwater wonderland to help create an exciting learning experience.

Jobs people do

DK

0-7513-5518-6

I have used this book when doing an integrated unit on The Community. Ask some parents in to speak about their occupation. The children can pose questions, make a booklet about different jobs and investigate different jobs that they might be interested in when they grow up.

We looked in newspapers at job advertisements and wrote several of our own. The children put together a CV and role-played interviews for each other.

We put together a film crew to interview staff about the jobs that they may have done if they hadn't chosen teaching.

I asked the local fire department, police station, bread shop owner, gardener, restaurant owner, vet, school nurse and principal to visit us to talk about their work. The children read up on their careers before they came and then added to their knowledge by asking questions.

We made posters of the jobs that we would like to do and then looked at certain professions that help our community to live safely. I asked the children about rules at home and at school and they came up with a school policy about behaviour. They made 'I will help you' cheque books at home (the parents were delighted) and tried to follow through on their promises!

Jane Welsh

Jane Welsh is a Primary Teacher with fifteen years experience. She has taught all year levels but has specialised in the lower primary years. She has a Dip.Ed and B.Ed in Primary education with major studies in Language and Literature. She has been involved in the implementation of the Early Years Literacy Programme at a Victorian Private school.

HOME | TEACHERS | © LEGAL

Written by Jane Welsh
		Monsters INC
I have included a multiple intelligence overlay for the books and movie, available from Penguin. This story is a good one to begin a unit of lessons revolving around Fairy tales, Folk tales and Fables. After looking at fears, both real and imagined, you can branch out to look at the differences and similarities with the old fairy tales that all children have read about and seen. I don't believe we use enough visual media in our literacy lessons. Unfortunately, there still seems to be an old fashioned opinion by many that viewing isn't an important or even a necessary part of our literacy teaching. I believe it is vital. When planning for this sort of unit, (a good one to begin the year with, it gives you time to get to know the children and it gives the children, even those reluctant readers, a great boost) use an overlay. I usually add the naturalistic learning style here to allow for those children who would like to look at the animals in fairy tales and perhaps their imminent extinction - for example wolves, as the big bad wolf may not be around for much longer.
	Wanda Linda goes Berserk Kaz Cooke
0-14-350099-6 I used this book with a group of Year 6 children. We explored the notion of getting out of the wrong side of the bed. What makes you feel that way? Why do you feel grumpy all day and do you always remember what it was that started the 'bad day'? I asked the children to think about a grumpy day and what had happened. We designed a 'SPLAT'. This is similar to a speech bubble with mock swearing around the outside! They wrote about the spiral that develops when you begin the day on the wrong side of the bed. I asked them to exaggerate the words and then when typing it up to use different fonts to highlight how they felt. Try linking this book to Mr. McGee and the Blackberry Jam. He has a bad, yet funny day. Ask the group or class to draw a story map to describe Mr. McGee's day. They could do the same for their own grumpy day. Add some humour!
	The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate Margaret Mahy
0-14-055430-0 Read The Man whose Mother was a Pirate over and over again, just for the beauty of the language. Children need to learn to listen for the artistry of the words. Get them to imagine standing on the seashore. Ask them to describe, like Margaret not only what they see but how they feel. Then get them to draw or paint the symbolism of their writing. They could keep it in a bottle! Messages in bottles seem to excite children. Go beyond the book and set the children on a deserted island. Let them write a letter home and send it by bottle. These sorts of activities bring out the creative in even the most hardened anti-writers in the class.
	Tough Boris Mem Fox
0-14-056453-5 Bring in Mem Fox's' book Tough Boris. You could really get into the deep and meaningful with this book, parrots dying etc. I decided not to but it could be worth doing if you are looking at death and dying. Instead I used this book with a group of preps to make a pirate map of the school. We buried treasure, wrote directions and asked our buddies to find the treasure. Our classroom became a pirate ship for a couple of days and then an island that needed exploring. It proved to be a great, fully integrated week with location and direction being covered for maths and lots of language opportunities.
	Daisy All-Sorts Pamela Allen
0-14-055687-7 There are so many wonderful activities that we can take from this book. All-sorts, those crazy sweets with lots of colours. I have made all-sorts with boxes to keep writing ideas in. The children painted them, cut a slit in the top and collect all-sorts of ideas that they might like to write about. We have made striped books and collected lists of favourite foods. The children interviewed adults at home, collected recipes and made an all-sorts recipe book to share with their families. We made a 'lolly shop' in a corner of the classroom, took orders, wrote about favourite flavours and wrote procedures for making fairy bread, marshmallows and chocolate crackles. The children were asked to design a jelly with all-sort stripes. How would they do this without the jelly colours mixing together? When they had worked it out they then had to write down the method for others to follow. You will need LOTS of jelly packets for experimentation! We decided that Daisy needed a lead. I took some leads into school, gave the children some dog biscuits, some luggage cards tied to the biscuits and asked them to write down their suggestions for how to control Daisy, coax her home and generally train her to be a good dog who 'doesn't need to be bribed with all-sorts!' Tie the dog biscuits to the leads with string and hang them around the room for others to read. Read all-sorts of books about dogs. Ask the children to bring pictures of their pets or animals they would like to own. Groups can make booklets with pet information in them. They can write some talks for assembly about good pet ownership. Try to have the Guide Dogs visit and the Responsible Pet Ownership Group come to visit the class. Children can write questions to ask the visitors. Posters can be made to promote the visits. Collect as many pamphlets as you can from vets and pet stores for your class to read. They could design their own pamphlet about specialized pets. Older children could look into the history of domesticating animals.
	Emily's First One Hundred Days at School By Rosemary Wells
0-7868-0507-2 I have used this book to create our own 50 day book in the prep room. Each day the children write their own sentence about the day. It can be a personal or school-related sentence. I then take a photo and we put it into the book. This has created great excitement about writing. No one is frightened to have a go and everyone is contributing. I have linked it into my maths lessons too. There is so much in the book that you could use it for many lessons during the year. For instance: On day 9 the planets of the solar system are introduced. Why not have a star gazing evening with families coming to school to watch and map the sky. Use black paper and white, yellow and red crayons. See if anyone can name the planets the next day. On day 11 Emily introduces the book tree. Set one up in your room. The children begin by writing the titles of books on leaves to display on the tree. They could go on to write book reviews for others to read. I hang book covers on the tree to promote books to the children. I also hang little books that the children can read themselves. On day 35 a letter arrives from Costa Rica. Look it up in an atlas. Set up email pen pals with children in a school overseas. This really takes off and the children love it. It promotes some very healthy writing and many children keep in touch for years. On day 100 have a party. Let the class organize everything! They can share with the other classes how much they have learnt in 100 days. There are so many ideas in this book, I can't cover everything. However I will add to these ideas every so often.
	Paul Needs Specs Bernard Cohen and Geoff Kelly
0-670-04054-1 A great book to use with any class, even better if someone has to wear specs! Give your students 5 pipe cleaners. Ask them to make a pair of glasses, noting how they made them. Ask for a written prescription for glasses and how they were made. Ask an optometrist to come to speak to your class. There are plenty of books about why people need to wear glasses. If you can't get someone to speak then pick up some pamphlets about what an optometrist does. The groups can do some Internet research on eye disease in third world countries. The Fred Hollows Foundation has information available. Fund-raisers could be organized to help with research and highlight the wide need for glasses here and abroad. Posters can be designed to spread the word about sun damage of the eyes and the need for all people to wear sunglasses. The children could write a school sun smart policy that includes glasses.
	A Farm Through Time Angela Wilkes and Eric Thomas
0-7513-7178-5 This book shows a history of a farm from medieval times to the present day. I wouldn't necessarily use this book with junior classes, however it is a wonderful pictorial example of a time line. It gives the children a clear example of what a time line is and how it can be used to deliver information. I have used it with upper classes as I model a time line. I have then asked the group to create a time line using a simple story. You can plot a story on a time line in a similar way to a story map. Try it with Goldilocks and the Three Bears or Little Red Riding Hood.
	DK EYE WONDER - OCEAN
0-7513-3219-4 The photographs in this book are spectacular. After looking at the pictures the preps made fantastic fantasy finger fish. Draw around your hand, decorate with crayon and then paint with food dye. Add lots of sparkles! Having made the fish they then wrote a simple fact about fish on a clam shaped card. The children have been showing their fish and clams to parents, buddies and friends and are able to read back their cards when asked. The older classes could make Ocean passports with collected information about the underwater world. Make some fishy fact cards for the groups to work through. These cards could ask for information that requires deeper or wider reading. Make the questions as open ended as possible to allow the children to explore the topic further. The Internet could help here. The collected facts could be displayed on an underwater scene that the class or group designs. You could give each child an underwater animal identity. They would need to develop a fact file or CV for themselves that might include a power point presentation, film, or play to represent their information. Ask the children to design a seabed display. Old strawberry crates made good bases for this. The children will need to collect and organize a variety of objects and bits and pieces. Seabed chimneys can be made from clay for example. Information can then be exhibited on sea stars tucked into the sand. Younger children can read
	Sun, Sea, CRAB and Me Nigel Grey
1-86368-023-3 This is a good book to use when doing an integrated unit, Feathers, Fur, Skin and Scales. The illustrations are wonderful. Combined with The Ocean book the children can display their information on cranky crabs, sensational sea stars and perfect polar bears! Sea beds can be made on a smaller scale and the class room can be made into an underwater wonderland to help create an exciting learning experience.
Jobs people do DK
0-7513-5518-6 I have used this book when doing an integrated unit on The Community. Ask some parents in to speak about their occupation. The children can pose questions, make a booklet about different jobs and investigate different jobs that they might be interested in when they grow up. We looked in newspapers at job advertisements and wrote several of our own. The children put together a CV and role-played interviews for each other. We put together a film crew to interview staff about the jobs that they may have done if they hadn't chosen teaching. I asked the local fire department, police station, bread shop owner, gardener, restaurant owner, vet, school nurse and principal to visit us to talk about their work. The children read up on their careers before they came and then added to their knowledge by asking questions. We made posters of the jobs that we would like to do and then looked at certain professions that help our community to live safely. I asked the children about rules at home and at school and they came up with a school policy about behaviour. They made 'I will help you' cheque books at home (the parents were delighted) and tried to follow through on their promises!
Jane Welsh Jane Welsh is a Primary Teacher with fifteen years experience. She has taught all year levels but has specialised in the lower primary years. She has a Dip.Ed and B.Ed in Primary education with major studies in Language and Literature. She has been involved in the implementation of the Early Years Literacy Programme at a Victorian Private school.
HOME \| TEACHERS \| © LEGAL