Category Archives: Lower Primary education

interview with Caroline Tuohey author of Skadoodle & Snug's Magnificent Plan

Meet Caroline Tuohey author of Skadoodle & Snug’s Magnificent Plan – #readilearn

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Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to Caroline Tuohey author of the delightful picture book Skadoodle and Snug’s Magnificent Plan.

I previously introduced you to some of Caroline’s work when I interviewed illustrator Muza Ulasowski about another of Caroline’s beautiful books Forest Wonder. But today we are talking about the adorable Skadoodle and Snug.

About Caroline Tuohey

© Caroline Tuohey

Caroline Tuohey is a children’s writer and poet whose main interest is picture books.  She has five published picture books in print with a sixth due out with Ford Street Publishing in October 2020.  She has also been published in children’s literature magazines in Australia and Ireland as well as in anthologies and poetry sites online.  She enjoys holding story time sessions at libraries, schools and preschools and conducts workshops for both school students and adults.  Her other interest is bush poetry – which she writes and performs.  She lives on a farm in the Riverina region of New South Wales, with her husband, two children, several dogs and a horse or two.

About Skadoodle and Snug’s Magnificent Plan

Continue reading:  Meet Caroline Tuohey author of Skadoodle & Snug’s Magnificent Plan – readilearn

learning about minibeasts at home or at school

Learning about minibeasts at home or at school – #readilearn

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Whether learning at home or at school, there is a world of minibeasts for children to explore, inside and outdoors. Regardless of our feelings towards certain species, all are important to our environment and contribute to our lives in different and often unseen ways including pollinating our plants, decomposing waste and providing food for other species. It is fair to say that we need minibeasts more than they need us.

Learning about living things is an important part of the science curriculum for children in their first few years of school. They learn about the features of living things, their needs and their life stages. Studying minibeasts allows for learning in all these areas in a small space over a short amount of time.

At readilearn, we support your teaching and children’s learning about minibeasts with a constantly growing collection of resources. In fact, three new resources were uploaded this week.

Observe and record

An interesting project is to use a magnifying glass to discover the different species of minibeasts that live in and around our classrooms and homes. Much can be learned through observing their behaviour.

The Code for caring explains how to observe while maintaining safety for self as well as the minibeasts.

My Minibeast Diary provides a format and suggestions for recording children’s observations.

Continue reading: Learning about minibeasts at home or at school – readilearn

Meet author Diana Harley and her springtime picture books

Meet author Diana Harley and her springtime picture books – #readilearn

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Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to Diana Harley as we discuss her three beautiful picture books that are perfect for sharing at springtime, or any time.

Here at readilearn, we have quite a fascination with minibeasts, especially butterflies, and have quite a variety of teaching resources that focus on them. Naturally, we are attracted to other resources which encourage children’s interest in minibeasts and the environment.

Diana Harley, Australian picture book author

About Diana

Diana Harley is a writer, author, poet and playwright living and working in the Bega Valley of NSW. Diana has written a number of fiction and non-fiction books for children, has had two adult poetry anthologies published and has won numerous awards for her poems and short stories. Many of her poems and stories have been included in various anthologies.  She has done a few blogs and two of her short plays have been produced and performed in regional NSW. She has run writing workshops for both adults and children and enjoys getting writers writing! She is a chocoholic, loves wedgetail eagles and reading is her favourite hobby.

About the books

Continue reading: Meet author Diana Harley and her springtime picture books – readilearn

special days and events for classroom celebrations in September

Special Days and Events for Classroom Celebrations — September – #readilearn

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September has almost arrived, bringing spring to the Southern Hemisphere. I always enjoy spring when the world seems to brighten, and gardens fill with flowers, insects, birds and other small creatures. The days are pleasantly warm and don’t yet have the stinging heat of summer.

I hope wherever you are and whatever season you are in, you enjoy it too and that you find this list of September days and events useful.

Before we get into September days though, I want to share with you the sad news that Sir Ken Robinson passed away on Saturday 21 August after a brief battle with cancer.

Sir Ken has been an education hero of mine, and of millions of others around the world, since first hearing his TED Talk Do Schools Kill Creativity? Recorded in 2006, it is the most popular TED Talk of all time. This tribute in The Washington Post written by Valerie Strauss provides an overview of his career and impact on educational thinking.

To honour this great man, I again share his influential video on schools and creativity. It can never be shared or viewed too often.

He may be gone, but never forgotten, and greatly missed. Thank you for your contribution to making this world a better place, Sir Ken Robinson.

Now onto the September days.

Continue reading: Special Days and Events for Classroom Celebrations — September – readilearn

Getting creative with Karen Hendricks and her book Go Away Foxy Foxy

Getting Creative with Karen Hendriks and her book Go Away, Foxy Foxy – #readilearn

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In this special Books on Wednesday post, I am delighted to introduce you to Karen Hendricks and her lovely new picture book Go Away Foxy Foxy.

 In this post, written by Karen, she explains how creativity is explored in the picture book and suggests conversations you can have with children to encourage their creativity. The post is part of a Books on Tour promotion.

About Go Away, Foxy Foxy

© Karen Hendriks

Go Away, Foxy Foxy is a delightful story of three little bunnies who decide to sleep out in a tree house one night. Outside in the dark, Foxy Foxy prowls. He’d like nothing better than to make a feast of those little bunnies. The bunnies show different levels of fear and bravery and use their intelligence, without having to resort to using the Mummy bell, to scare the fox away.

Children will easily identify with the different emotions displayed and will be encouraged to discuss different ways they may respond to the situation and solve the problem.

About Karen Hendriks

Continue reading: Getting Creative with Karen Hendriks and her book Go Away, Foxy Foxy – readilearn

readilearn's fourth birthday

It’s readilearn’s fourth birthday – #readilearn

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On Monday 24 August, readilearn will be four years old, and what an amazing four years it has been — one day, one week, one month, one year at a time. We haven’t been without our hiccups, but we haven’t been without our successes either. I express my sincere gratitude to everyone of you who has supported me along the way. Rest assured, the journey is not over yet.

About Norah, founder of readilearn

For those who don’t know, below are #12 things about me that preceded and contributed to the establishment of readilearn, a collection of teaching resources to support teachers of the first three years of school.

  1. Education is my life, my passion, especially literacy development and the education of young children.
  2. I decided at age 10 that I wanted to be a teacher. That desire has never waned.
  3. When I left school, I went straight into teachers’ college, and from there back into the classroom, but on the other side of the teacher’s desk.
  4. I wasn’t always happy with everything that was expected of me as a classroom teacher and read widely about education and alternatives to schooling.
  5. I undertook further study into language and literacy development.

Continue reading: It’s readilearn’s fourth birthday – readilearn

Combat Boredom with Board Games – #readilearn

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Note: This article was first written for and published at the Carrot Ranch Literary Community as part of a series supporting parents with children learning at home. The benefits of playing board games are the same whether played at home or at school. If you have older children or adults available to support children while they play, board games are an excellent activity for learning in groups across many areas of the curriculum.

One of the best ways to have fun while learning, or to learn while having fun, is by playing board games. Playing games together as a family helps to bond family relationships. Adjustments can be made to suit most numbers and ages and rules can be adapted to suit your purposes. While the main thing is to have fun together, there is a lot of learning going on too.

Social Skills

  • One of the greatest benefits of playing board games is the development of social skills.
  • Some of the social skills children learn include:
  • Getting along and taking turns
  • Playing fair — accept the roll (if dice are used) or draw (if cards are used) for example, and respond accordingly: don’t try to pretend it

Continue reading: Combat Boredom with Board Games – readilearn

special days and events for classroom celebrations

Special Days and Events for Classroom Celebrations — August – #readilearn

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It’s August already and we are starting to see a change in the seasons. Here in the Southern Hemisphere we are getting ready for Spring, while in the Northern Hemisphere, you are maybe hoping things will start to cool soon.  Wherever we are, it seems the uncertainty caused by the pandemic still has us in its grip. I think I’d probably be right in saying that we’d all like that to change, and soon.

The help lighten your workload and inject something a little different into the routine, I’ve listed some special days and events you might like to celebrate in the classroom this month.

The MS Readathon runs throughout the month of August. The purpose of the MS Readathon is to encourage children to read and, at the same time, raise money to help kids who have a parent with multiple sclerosis. Teachers can register their class or children can register individually. Find out more and download some great resources from their website.

The Horses’ Birthday is celebrated on 1 August in the Southern Hemisphere. Horses born after 1 August in will be considered one year old on 1 August the following year.

In the Northern Hemisphere, 1 January is recognised as the horses’ birthday. The dates are chosen as most foals are born in late winter.

Why not celebrate with a carrot cake, or give your favourite horse a carrot treat?

Children may enjoy discussing the question, “What if we had a people’s birthday, and celebrated everyone’s birthday on the same day, regardless of when they were born?”

Some horse-related resources from readilearn:

Continue reading: Special Days and Events for Classroom Celebrations — August – readilearn

meet Marg Gibbs author of Jasper's Jumbled Up Words

Meet Marg Gibbs author of Jasper’s Jumbled Up Words – #readilearn

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Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to Marg Gibbs, author of Jasper’s Jumbled Up Words as part of a Books on Tour promotion.

Jasper’s Jumbled up Words is a story of a young child’s journey into communication through speech and shows how the encouragement of a loving family fosters the progress. The excitement that is felt when a child utters their first words will be familiar to most families.

Jasper’s Jumbled Up Words © Marg Gibbs

 

The back-cover blurb

Jasper’s Jumbled up Words is a gentle story about a young boy who wants to be understood.

‘In Jasper’s head, strange sounds bubble, but in his mouth the words get caught and only babble comes out.’

Jasper soon finds himself confused and upset. Then one day, he surprises everyone.

Jasper’s Jumbled up Words sensitively deals with the difficulties surrounding language development and offers children, parents and care givers hope.

About Marg Gibbs

 

Contine reading: Meet Marg Gibbs author of Jasper’s Jumbled Up Words – readilearn

educate for peace through teaching friendship skills

Educate for peace through teaching friendship skills – #readilearn

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The UN International Day of Friendship on 30 July promotes friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals in order to inspire peace and build bridges between communities.

Education has an important role in fostering friendships at a grassroots level that can transform communities both small and large. We begin by developing respect, understanding and empathy among students in our classrooms and schools and reaching out to others in our local, national and international communities.

The basis for developing friendships in the classroom is the establishment of a supportive classroom environment in which everyone is welcomed and respected. It means that we, as a class, teachers and children, get to know each other and learn to appreciate our similarities and value our differences.

Establish a supportive classroom environment

I have suggested strategies for establishing a supportive classroom environment in previous posts, including:

Establishing a supportive classroom environment from day one

Starting out right — classroom organisation

Preparing the classroom for a successful school year

The posts link to resources to support your work in setting up a welcoming classroom.

Continue reading: Educate for peace through teaching friendship skills – readilearn