Show, Don’t Tell – It was a hot day

Looking for a writing activity to do over the summer holidays? This is a great one for working on descriptive writing. The idea is to take a simple sentence and show it instead of just telling it. For example, take this sentence:

‘It was a hot day.’

Now try to describe a hot day without using the word ‘hot. Use all five senses if you can. Here’s an example:

The sun seared down on me. Sweat dripped down my face and into the crevices of my mouth leaving a salty taste on my dry, parched tongue. The air smelt of burnt leaves and had a haziness to it. Cicadas chirped and flies buzzed.

Now it’s your turn. Can you describe a hot day by showing instead of telling? After you’ve tried that one, here are a few others you can try:

‘It was a cold day.’

‘I saw a dog.’

‘A cat sat on a fence.’

‘I went to the beach.’

Friday Favourites – Christmas Special

There are only two more sleeps until Christmas. We’ve been reading Christmas themed books all month here and wanted to share some of our favourites.

Title: Elmo’s Christmas Colours

What it’s about: The characters from Sesame Street look at all the different colours (from red to green to pink to brown) and tie them in with Christmas. Written in rhyme. A board book.

Why the fairy princess likes it: She loves identifying the colours on each page.

Favourite part: Pink–her favourite colour. She also likes the page with Elmo.

Title: The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas

Illustrator: Heath McKenzie

What it’s about: A version of the twelve days of Christmas using Australian animals accompanied by some crazy illustrations. (Also comes with a CD with the song.)

Why the captain likes it: Because it’s a Christmas story and because he likes all the animals in it. He loves turning the pages along to the CD.

Favourite part: Flies a’feasting.

Title: An Aussie Night Before Christmas

Author: Yvonne Morrison

Illustrator: Kilmeny Niland

What it’s about: An Australian version of the classic Christmas poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ complete with a ute pulled by kangaroos.

Why I liked it: This is one of my all time favourite Christmas books. I love Aussie versions of classic Christmas songs and stories as they’re so relatable to me as an Australian. I love the use of familiar Aussie jargon and Aussie culture. On top of that, it’s very clever and funny in the way it’s written.

Favourite part: When Santa calls the kangaroos by name:

“‘Now, Kylie! Now, Kirsty!

Now, Shazza and Shane!

On, Kipper! On, Skipper!

On, Bazza and Wayne!”

Writing a Letter to Santa

The lead up to Christmas is a great time of year to focus on letter writing skills with students. Most kids love the idea of writing to Santa, so it’s a good way to get kids motivated to write a letter. If Santa is not appropriate or children are too old for Santa letters, scroll down to the bottom of the page for some other letter writing ideas.

Just Learning to Write

Make up a standard ‘letter to Santa’ printout (I just use Word). You might include Santa’s ‘address’ at the top, “To Santa”, “For Christmas I want…” and “From”. Perhaps even have these words written in a light grey so children can trace them (use whatever the standard cursive print is for your region). Make sure you leave enough space for children with large handwriting to fill the gaps. On the board brainstorm words children might use in their letters, eg: things they might ask for for Christmas, what sort of food they might leave for Santa. Encourage children to include a picture (especially early finishers).

EXAMPLE Santa letter — feel free to print out and use (font is Victorian Modern Cursive)

More Confident Writers

Brainstorm with children what sort of things need to be included in a letter (address at the top, date, to/from). Give children a minimum amount of paragraphs/sentences they must include (depending on age group). Early finishers can decorate their letters with a border/picture and/or mount on coloured card.

Email

If you are a bit more technologically minded you could set up a Santa email account for children to send emails to. Talk with children about the differences between traditional letters and emails. Use the opportunity to talk about email etiquette and making sure children are careful to type the exact address.

Other Letter Writing Opportunities at This Time of Year (or When Santa Letters aren’t Appropriate)

Perhaps Santa letters aren’t appropriate for your class (for religious/social/other reasons) or perhaps you would like to extend the letter writing unit over a few lessons. Here are a few other letter writing ideas for this time of the year:

- Write a letter to a loved one/friend who lives far away.

- Make Christmas cards for family and friends.

- Exchange letters/cards in class.

For Older Students

- If you can make a connection with a school/class overseas, get children to write to a pen pal all about Christmas in their country and hopefully they’ll receive one back and learn about Christmas in another country.

- Write a letter to Jesus (or other appropriate religious figure).

Book Advent Tree for Christmas

I’m starting the Christmas posts a wee bit early because this is an idea you’ll need to prepare by December 1st. I saw this idea on My Little Bookcase and thought it was just brilliant. It’s a great way to count down the days until Christmas and encourage reading in your little one.

Image from My Little Bookcase

The idea is to collect 24 Christmas/holiday themed books, wrap them in green paper and stack them from largest to smallest to look like a Christmas tree. Place the stack on a brown-paper-covered box and top with a star or angel. Each night your children get to open a book and you can then read it together. A much healthier advent idea than chocolate! And if you’re anything like me, I love to read my kids Christmas stories in the lead up to Christmas.

If you don’t have 24 Christmas themed books, don’t worry. My Little Bookcase has some great, non-expensive ideas, such as scouring op shops or even borrowing some from the library (just be wary of due dates when placing your books in the stack. you don’t want your library book to be at number 24 if it’s due back on the 10th).

Some of our Christmas favourites:

- An Aussie Night Before Christmas

- The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas

- Elmo’s Christmas Colours (board book)

- Santa’s Busy Christmas (board book)

- Born in a Stable (board book)

- The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

And I just picked up a new one today I just know my kids will love as they adore the Hairy Maclarey books. It’s called Slinky Malinki’s Christmas Crackers.

Pop on over to My Little Bookcase to see some of their other book advent ideas, like matchbox treat boxes disguised as mini books (my favourite treat idea was to put a dollar in each one and by the end have enough money to buy a new book) or for older kids a page a day bookmark.

Bedtime Stories

Online magazine Australian Women Online has a fantastic section for parents whose children love stories. The section is called ‘Bedtime Stories’ and features brand new stories from Australian authors for you to read to your child completely free. The stories are also printable, making them convenient to read at bedtime. Each month they have a different theme and a new story is posted each Monday.

The theme for November is ‘flowers’ and the latest story published (which went live this morning) just happens to be a rhyming story by me called ‘The Flower Show Fiasco’ about a flower show that goes horribly wrong. I hope you and your children enjoy it!

 

A Pirate Ditty

It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day today. Here’s a fun little rhyming story about pirates to share with your little ones.

PIRATE PIRATE

Pirate, pirate on the sea,

With his parrot Barnaby.

 

Pirate, pirate hoists the sail,

Ties a rope onto the rail.

Pirate, pirate climbs the mast,

Sees some dolphins swimming past.

 

Pirate, pirate in a storm,

Stays in cabin to keep warm.

Pirate, pirate swabs the deck,

Fixes mast because it’s wrecked.

 

Pirate, pirate pulls ashore,

Paddles rowboat with an oar.

Pirate, pirate looks at map,

Watches out for jungle trap.

 

Pirate, pirate starts to dig,

Finds the treasure, does a jig.

Pirate, pirate pulls up chest,

Wipes his brow and has a rest.

 

Pirate, pirate trudges back,

Carries treasure in a sack.

Pirate, pirate back at sea,

With his parrot Barnaby.

 

Pirate, pirate lights the light,

Sails off into the night.

Friday Favourites – Bananas in Pyjamas, Funnybones and Revolting Rhymes

It’s been a while since I did a Friday favourites post, I thought it was about time I posted one.

Title: Bananas in Pyjamas: It’s Going Out Time

Illustrator: Peter Townsend

What it’s about: The Bananas in Pyjamas are getting ready for a day out at the beach. A board book written in simple text.

Why the fairy princess likes it: It’s Bananas in Pyjamas. She loves them in any form, whether on TV or in books. Perhaps because she likes bananas.

Favourite part: She likes the book as a whole, she doesn’t have any particular favourite part.

The Captain has been requesting this book every night for the past week (he even got it read to him twice the other night– once by mum and once by dad).

Title: Funnybones

Author/Illustrator: Janet and Allan Ahlberg

What it’s about: In a dark dark cellar live some skeletons. The two skeletons and their dog go for a walk one night with the idea to frighten somebody. They play at the park and visit the zoo, but can’t find anybody to frighten. Luckily the little skeleton has an idea. The book uses repetitive language, singing and funny scenarios. The illustrations and text work together perfectly to tell the story.

Why the captain likes it: Because it has skeletons! Which makes it different to many of the other books we have, which usually have people or animals as the main characters. He also likes the interaction of the songs.

Favourite part: The song the skeletons sing when they put the dog back together:

The toe bone’s connected to the – foot bone!

The foot bone’s connected to the – leg bone!

The leg bone’s connected to the – hip bone!

The hip bone’s connected to the – back bone!

As it was Roald Dahl’s birthday this past week, I thought I should include one of my favourite Roald Dahl books. It was a tough choice deciding which one, as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda are both at the top of my favourites list, but I decided to go with…

Title: Revolting Rhymes

Author: Roald Dahl

Illustrator: Quentin Blake

What it’s about: A collection of twisted fairytales, including Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. Dahl takes the familiar children’s fairytales and turns them on their head in a wickedly disgusting way.

Why I liked it: I love twisted fairytales and I love anything by Roald Dahl. His use of language and rhyme is both clever and witty.

Favourite part: This line from Red Riding Hood has always been my favourite line of all the stories since the very first time I read it:

The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.

She whips a pistol from her knickers.

*Parental warning: For younger readers it may be a good idea to read the stories in Revolting Rhymes first before reading them to your child or letting you child read them on their own as some of the content may not be appropriate for your child. In particular, Cinderella contains a certain word that is not appropriate for younger (or even upper primary) children.

National Poetry Week

It’s National Poetry Week this week, so why not take the opportunity to introduce your students to some different forms of poetry. I’ve got examples of poetry you can try across the various age groups. Once students have finished writing their poems, get them to ‘publish’ them by typing them up and mounting them on coloured card (and decorate with a border/illustrations).

Acrostic Poems

Acrostic poems are a nice basic form of poetry for young students. Take a word (like ‘Spring’) and get students to describe the word using the letters that form the word, either using single words or sentences. Brainstorm ideas on the board before students go back to desks. If students are too young too write the poem themselves, do one together as a class.  eg:

Sun is shining

Pollen fills the air

Rabbits hop in fields

I feel warm

New blossoms on trees

Going on a picnic

Haiku

Haikus are great for teaching syllables, since each line needs a specific syllable count. They are also quite short, which is perfect for younger students. A haiku has three lines: line one has 5 syllables; line two has 7 syllables; line three has 5 syllables. Practise clapping out syllables before you start. Example of a haiku:

Rain is falling down,

Pitter, patter on the ground,

Filling dams and streams.

Rhyming Couplets

Rhyming couplets are one of the simplest forms of poetry; it is a poem made up of pairs of lines that rhyme. There are lots of examples of rhyming couplets in classic poetry you can use to show students as examples (try Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales or Banjo Patterson). For older/more advanced students you can introduce the concept of meter, meaning the couplets should have a matching syllable count and matching rhythm. Here is an example from the opening lines of a picture book I’m working on:

There was a young boy from a faraway place,

Who woke up one morning with spots on his face.

He looked in the mirror and got quite a fright,

The spots on his face were a worrisome sight.

The spots were strange colours, like purple and blue,

And right on his nose was an orange spot too.

How the spots got there, young Jim did not know,

But one thing was certain, those spots had to go.

Limericks

Limericks are humourous poems with a specific rhyme scheme. I’m sure you can find lots of silly/fun examples to share with students (try Edward Lear). A limerick has five lines. The 1st, 2nd and 5th lines rhyme and the 3rd and 4th lines rhyme. The 3rd and 4th lines have a shorter syllable count than the 1st, 2nd and 5th. Limericks also have a specific rhythm/meter, which you can easily pick up by reading a few aloud. Traditionally the first line introduces a person and place. Example of a limerick:

There was a young girl from China,

Whose dresses couldn’t be finer,

Until she fell down,

A hole in the ground,

And now she looks like a miner.

My Dad Thinks He’s Funny

Here’s a Father’s Day Literacy activity you can do using the fantastically funny picture book My Dad Thinks He’s Funny by Australian author Katrina Germein and illustrated by Tom Jellett.

1. Read kids the picture book ‘My Dad Thinks He’s Funny’ if you can get a hold of it. If not, discuss funny things dads say using these examples:

“My dad doesn’t like babysitting. He doesn’t think anyone should sit on babies. And he also doesn’t lie in bed. He says you should always tell the truth.”

2. Ask kids if their dads (or other adults) ever say any of the funny things from the book.

(Bonus: For older kids you can discuss puns and whether they know of any other puns.)

3. Brainstorm some more funny things students’ dads (or other adults) say. Write them on whiteboard or large piece of paper.

4. Get kids to go back to tables and write about something funny their dad (or other adult) has said or done. They can use brainstormed ideas on the board for inspiration or think of something else. (For older kids you might like them to focus on using puns.)

5. Kids who finish early can draw an illustration to go with their funny story.

6. Share stories as a class.

Bonus: Get kids to ‘publish’ their stories by typing them up and mounting them on coloured card with an illustration to give to their dads (or other special adult) for Father’s Day.

Book Week Writing Challenge

Have you ever read a book and thought ‘What if…?’ or ‘What happened before the story?’ or ‘What happened after the story?’

What if Bella chose Jacob?

What was Ron Weasley’s life like before Hogwarts?

What happened after Charlie took over the Chocolate Factory?

Your book week challenge is to pick a book and write a story that explores the untold story of one of the characters or a ‘What if..?’ story.