little mates a f - scholastic australia song or narrative is called ... barn, budgerigar, budgie,...

Show your students the title page of Amazing Amelia and ask, ‘From the illustrations, why do you think Ameliamight be amazing?’

She has six limbs/legs and can hold lots of things at once All the things she is holding are used in sports Maybe she is good at sport

‘What word starting with the sound “a” have you heard used for someone who is good at sports?’ The most likelyanswer is ‘athlete’, but encourage students who suggest ‘active’, ‘action man’ or ‘acrobat’.

Read the first spread with the students. Brainstorm on the board other names beginning with ‘A’. Ask which waysstudents have heard ‘Aaron’ pronounced. Some people start it with an ‘a’ as in ‘apple’, and others start it with thefirst sound in ‘egg’.

Read the second spread. A vowel sound such as ‘a’ can be said out loud in different ways, depending on thesounds that follow. Mostly the following sound is a consonant, but sometimes—as in ‘Aaron’—it is another vowel.Ask your students to identify how many different ‘a’ sounds there are on this page at the beginning of a word.

‘Amelia’: pronounced either like the ‘u’ in ‘up’, or like the ‘e’ in ‘over’ ‘active’: like the ‘a’ in ‘apple’ ‘all’: like the ‘a’ in ‘ball’ ‘Australia’: the first ‘A’ is like the ‘o’ in orange, or like the ‘e’ in ‘over’

Ask, ‘Do you know any other ways of saying ‘a’ at the beginning of a word?’Eg. ‘after’, ‘ape’

Suggest that students listen carefully for other ‘a’ sounds in the rest of the story.

Look at the third spread. Ask, ‘Why does one of Amelia’s friends look worried?’Eg. ‘She might get stuck to the web instead of bouncing off it and the spider might eat her.’

Ask your students what Amelia’s accident is.

When words have similar meanings they are called ‘synonyms’. Ask your students what synonym they have heardfor ‘assist’.

Eg. ‘help’, ‘aid’

At the end of the story, Amelia and her friends sing the Australian national ANThem. A funny version of a well-known song or narrative is called a ‘parody’. As a class, brainstorm some more lines to follow on from ‘Australianants let us rejoice’.

Eg. ‘for we have cake for tea’See how far you can get—maybe right to the end of the first verse.

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Teacher Notes

Copyright © 2011 Scholastic Australia Pty Limited

With your students, look at the front cover of Bouncy Ben. Ask, ‘What kind of animal do you think Ben is?’ Ifsomeone says ‘bandicoot’, look it up on the internet with the class. Say, ‘Good guess. It could be, but its ears are abit longer than a bandicoot’s and it has a fluffy end to its tail. What else could it be?’ (Ben is a bilby.)

Ask students what they know about bilbies: They are marsupials They live in dry parts of Australia They are nocturnal Bilbies are endangered, so there was a campaign to make them popular at Easter instead of rabbits

Say, ‘So this is Ben the bilby on the cover. Can you see anything else that starts with the sound “b”?’Eg. ‘blue’, ‘boots’

Ask, ‘Why do you think he might be called “Bouncy Ben”?’ He’s good at basketball/high jumping/pole vaulting/hurdles He’s a cricketer and can make the ball bounce when he bowls He gets excited and is full of energy

Show your students the first spread. Say, ‘In this picture we can see his buddies, and all their names start with thesound ‘b’ just like Ben’s, but what else can you see that starts with “b”?’ (The bilbies are looking at a ‘beetle’.)

Say, ‘We use different parts of our mouth and we change the position of our tongue and lips when make thedifferent sounds in English. Our lips do important work when we say “b”. Practise making the sound “b” a few timesand notice what you do with them.’

Eg. ‘We press our lips together and then suddenly open them.’Ask the students, ‘Which other sound do we close our lips for and then open them suddenly?’The answer is ‘p’ but some students may say ‘m’. Get them to practise the difference. (We keep our lips closed fora longer time with ‘m’.)

The name ‘Ben’ has two consonants—‘b’ and ‘n’—with a vowel between them. Keep the same two consonants,but change the vowel sound in the middle. What other words can you make by doing this?

Eg. ‘bean’, ‘been’, ‘bin’, ‘born’, ‘barn’, ‘burn’Someone might come up with a couple of difficult ones such as ‘bairn’ or ‘bane’. Say, ‘Let’s see whether any ofthese words crop up as we keep reading the book.’

In the remaining spreads, look for other things beginning with ‘b’ that the illustrator has included.Eg. bubbles, billabong, barn, budgerigar, budgie, banksia, bottlebrush, branch, bat, bees, butterflies,burrow, bobbles

Say ‘When the bouncing competition has finished, the author uses the word “Bonzer!”, which Australianssometimes use instead of saying “Great!” or “Fantastic!” Can you think of another word starting with “b” that yourparents or grandparents might use to mean the same thing?’

Eg. ‘Beauty!’, ‘Beaut!’, ‘Bottler!’Be aware that there might be less acceptable possibilities starting with ‘b’!

Suggest that your students draw their bedroom at home and label all the things starting with ‘b’.Eg. bed, blanket, ball, bat, boots, box, board, boogie board, boardies/ board shorts, books, bookshelves,bag, band, bottle, bike, bell and so on.

Teacher Notes


With your students, look at the front cover of Cuddly Callum. Ask, ‘Which one do you think is Callum?’ He couldbe either the crocodile or the cocky/cockatoo. ‘Would you like to cuddle either of them? Why or why not?’

Eg. ‘Crocodiles and cockies both bite or the crocodile looks cute—it may even be a toy’

Remind your students that sometimes there are differences between saying a sound and writing it down. Thehistory of spelling includes changes and mistakes over thousands of years. Tell them that there are a few waysto write down the sound that begins the name ‘Callum’ in English. The letter ‘c’ is one of them. Ask, ‘What otherwords start with a hard ‘c’ sound?

Eg. ‘car’, ‘corner’, ‘crow’, ‘cricket’, ‘cone’, ‘collar’, ‘crumb’, ‘cake’, ‘Coke’‘How else can we write down the sound of a hard “c”?’

‘k’: kerb, kookaburra, koala ‘ch’ (sometimes): character, chaos

Read the first two spreads. ‘Now we know that Callum is the cockatoo and Mr Cuddles is his toy crocodile. Whydo you think Callum takes Mr Cuddles everywhere with him?’

Callum is very young He doesn’t have a teddy He is lonely Mr Cuddles might be lonely Mr Cuddles doesn’t have a family Mr Cuddles’s family are all out at work or school

‘What is another word for “companion”?’Eg. ‘friend’, ‘mate’, ‘partner’, ‘buddy’, ‘bestie’

Ask what it means to ‘camouflage’ something.Eg. ‘To hide it’, ‘to make it look like its surroundings so people won’t see or find it'

‘In the third spread, where could Mr Cuddles hide so that he would be camouflaged or hidden?’Eg. ‘Mr Cuddles is green so he could hide in the green grass or among the green bushes or trees.’

Show the class spread eight and point out Cassie the cassowary, the crackers, crumbs and cockroaches underthe couch. Ask the students ‘What else starts with “c”?’ Students may answer ‘crab’, for example. Follow up with‘What word for a noise starting with “c” might the crab make if he eats the crackers?’

Eg. ‘crunch’

Ask, 'How do you do a “cartwheel”?’ Take the class out onto a safe grassy area of the playground (or somwherewith a soft landing!) and ask two or three students who are confident cartwheelers to show the class how they doit.

On spread eleven, four different kinds of cockatoos are illustrated. Using either the internet or a book such asMichael Morcombe’s Field Guide to Australian Birds, name each one and find out where they live.

Suggest that your class make a list of everything beginning with the letter ‘c’ that they have seen so far today.Eg. cornflakes, carpet, coffee, chocolate, café, crash, comb, cream, car, carport, carriage, cover,crutches, cork, cricket, cockroach

Teacher Notes


Show your class the front cover of Daredevil Declan. Ask them what they think a daredevil is.Eg. ‘someone who takes extreme risks and isn’t scared of being hurt’

Ask students if they know which culture or country the name ‘Declan’ originally comes from. (It is a Celtic name—itcomes mostly from Ireland.) On the board, ask your students to brainstorm a list of boys’ names and a list of girls’starting with ‘D’. For example,

Boys’ names: David, Dennis, Drew, Don, Darren, Dale, Dallas, Dugald, Douglas, Darryl, Daniel Girls’ names: Debbie, Denise, Dee, Dorothy, Dot, Dale, Dallas, Dora, Devika, Demi

Point out that some names can be for either a boy or a girl.

‘What kind of animal is Declan?’Eg. ‘dog’, ‘dingo’

‘In what ways do you think he might be a daredevil?’ He rides his bike very fast He might be a trail bike rider He performs stunts by jumping cars or other obstacles at the show with his bike He might rescue people who get into danger Maybe he is a police dog—he might sniff out drugs and risk getting caught by criminals

On the second spread there are two old-fashioned Australian expressions that were used a lot in the ‘olden days’,but you still hear them occasionally today. Ask students, ‘What are they and what do they mean?’

‘dinky-di’: Meaning real, genuine or true, eg. ‘He’s a dinky-di Aussie.’ ‘down under’: This was an expression that people in Britain used for Australia, because they

regarded it as being down under the globe, on the bottom of the world.Play for your students the 1980’s pop song ‘Down Under’ by Men at Work.

Look at spread six. Ask ‘What is a “deluge”? The picture gives you a clue.’ Explain that it is a very heavy storm—the kind that might follow the build-up of the dark clouds in the picture.

Ask, ‘Why would a deluge be bad for a dirt bike rider?’Eg. ‘Because the dirt would turn to mud and his bike would slip and slide everywhere’

Look at spread seven. Ask, ‘Who has ever wondered what they could do on a rainy day? What sorts of thingscould you do if you were bored?’

Eg. play games, watch TV, surf the internet, cook dinner, make Mum a cup of tea, invite a friend over,read a book, write or draw, dress up and put on a show.

‘What do you think Declan’s friends will do?’

Which of the ideas that they think up for fun are the most risky? Ask students which ideas might upset Declan’sparents:

Spinning plates on a stick—they could knock over precious ornamentsPlaying Dad’s musical instruments—they could disturb the neighbours with their noise or break the

instrumentsDot-to-dots—they could get paint on the carpet or walls and not be able to clean it offEating doughnuts—they could get sick from eating too many doughnuts

Ask students, ‘Do you have a daredevil in your family or among your friends? What is the most devilish thing thatperson has done?’

Make a list of the unique Australian words or expressions used in this book.Eg. dinky-di, down under, dunnies, daggy, didgeridoo

Add some more of your own.

Teacher Notes


With your students, look at the front cover of Energetic Elliot. Ask, ‘What kind of animal is Elliot?’ (Elliot is an emu.) ‘What do youknow about emus?’

Emus run fast

They lay big eggs

The fathers help hatch the eggs

Emu chicks are striped

They have sharp beaksLook up some more interesting facts in the library.

What other books have you read about emus?

Eg. Edward the Emu, Edwina the Emu, The Story of Karrawingi the Emu, Why the Emu Can’t Fly, Emu StewLook up the emu, the ostrich and the cassowary. Make a table with your class that shows the main differences between them.

Ask, ‘What does the word “energetic” mean?’

Eg. ‘You have lots of energy’, ‘you rush around doing lots of things fast’

In the first spread, ask your students what other birds they can see besides two emus.

Eg. ‘pigeon’, ‘brolga’, ‘stork’, ‘egret’

Ask the class, ‘What is the echidna looking at and why?’

Eg. ‘He has an egg-timer; he is using it to see how fast Elliot can run’.

‘Where have you seen those black-and-white checked flags before? What are they used for?’

Formula one car racing

They are used to indicate the winner

To show the race is over

Ask the students what are some of the different sounds ‘e’ makes when followed by a vowel:

like ‘e’ in ‘emu’: easy, east, eat

like ‘y’ in ‘yellow’: Europe

makes ‘i’ a long sound: either, eiderdown

a double ‘e’ sound: eel, ear

like ‘er’: early, earth

‘When “e” is followed by a consonant, what are some of the different ways it sounds?’

like the ‘e’ in ‘egg’

like the ‘e’ in ‘emu’, ‘evening’ and ‘even’

Choose three students to show the rest of the class how to play elastics.

‘If a team is called the “Eastern Emu Eleven”, what game are they playing?’ (They are playing cricket.)

Ask students to choose any three words from this book that start with ‘e’ and to find as many rhyming words for each of them asthey can.

Eg. ‘Eleven’: seven, Devon, heaven, leaven, Kevin

‘Who is Elvis?’ (look him up in the library). ‘What is an “entourage”?’

A group of followers

A group of associates

People who follow some sort of leader (a king or queen, a star, an emperor, even a sports star)

In spread five, Elliot loves to eat enchiladas and edam cheese. Find out what an enchilada is and discuss which countries thesefoods originally came from.

‘Why does Elliot run out of energy?’

Eg. ‘He doesn’t get enough sleep’, ‘he runs around too much’‘How does he fix the problem?’

Eg. ‘He makes sure he sleeps all night’

Teacher Notes


Say to the class, ‘Fred is a fairy penguin, but look at the ball on the front cover. What kind of sport does he play?’Eg. ‘football’, ‘soccer’

If students answer ‘soccer’, suggest that they are right but that there is another word for soccer starting with ‘f’.Australians are used to calling this game ‘soccer’, but more recently the people running this sport have tried to getus to change this practice.

Ask the class to find out where in Australia fairy penguins live.Eg. ‘South Coast’, ‘Aotearoa’ (New Zealand)

Ask if anyone has seen one. ‘What are they like and how big are they?’Eg. ‘They are the smallest penguins’, ‘they’re only 43cm tall’

Look at the first spread. Ask, ‘What other animals beginning with “f” has Lachlan Creagh included in this picture?’Eg. ‘frill-necked lizard’, ‘fur seal’, ‘field mouse’, ‘frogmouth’

Ask students to make a list of any other animals they know that start with ‘f’.Eg. Flying fox, finch, fox, ferret, frog, flamingo, fantail pigeon, funnel web spider

Have a look at what Fred is carrying and wearing on the second spread. Ask the class ‘What “f” sport is he readyto play?’ (Fred is ready for fencing.) ‘What other “f” sports or pastimes does Fred enjoy in this book?’

Eg. ‘frisbee’, ‘fishing’

Ask a couple of students to bring a frisbee to school. Find a safe playing area in the playground—one that offers asoft landing! Divide the class into two teams and then send half of each team up to the other end of the playingarea. Agree on some rules for a game of frisbee (eg. if the catcher drops it the thrower has to throw it again). Seewhich team is faster and more accurate.

‘Why can’t Fred find any of his friends on Friday?’ They are having a feast. Find out how to make felafel, fried riceand fairy bread. Find out where felafel and fried rice originally came from.

Help students to make a recipe card for each, with the headings ‘Ingredients’ and ‘Method’. Add an illustration sothe cook will know what the finished dish should look like. Students could ask at home whether they can help makeone of them for the family.

Ask, ‘Why would you like to be one of Fred’s friends?’ He loves to play games and sport He has fun He eats different foods He is really popular and has lots of friends

Teacher Notes

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• Look at the front cover of Grumpy Grace with your students. Ask what kind of animal Grace is. (Grace is a gecko.) If students say ‘goanna’, suggest they look more closely at the shape of Grace’s tail.

• Ask, ‘Why might Grace be grumpy?’

⇒ She is holding a book, so maybe she can’t read very well

⇒ Maybe she has a quiz or test and she thinks she won’t do well at it

⇒ Maybe it’s her diary or journal and she can’t think of anything interesting to write in it

⇒ Maybe she has to do homework but would rather be outside playing with her friends

• Briefly ask your students why they are sometimes grumpy. Empathise occasionally, but don’t offer negative feedback on their reasons.

• Look at the first spread. Grace looks happy here. She is with her friends and they are sharing a meal. Ask, ‘What are they eating?’ (Worms) Use the library or internet to research what else geckos like to eat.

⇒ eg moths, beetles, insects generally

• Find Gundagai and Gillingarra on the map. Brainstorm a list of other places in Australia that begin with ‘G’. Find them on the map too.

⇒ eg Glenelg, Glen Iris, Geelong, Gulgong, Goulburn, Griffith, Gawler, Gladstone, Geraldton

• Remind your students that ‘g’ can be given a hard or soft sound. On the board, brainstorm a list of words that begin with a hard ‘g’, like ‘gecko’, and a list that start with a soft ‘g’, like ‘gentle’.

• Read as far as the page where Grandma tells Grace to ‘get a grip’. Ask, ‘What do you think might make Grace happy?’

⇒ eg ‘If she could finish her chores’, ‘If she could play with her friends’, ‘If she went on holidays’

• Read on and ask your students whether they predicted what would happen next.

• Ask ‘Everyone is going go-karting. Why does Grace still look grumpy?’

⇒ eg ‘Because she is studying’, ‘Because she doesn’t know how to drive’, ‘Because she is scared of doing something new’

• Ask, ‘Why does Grace change her mind?’

⇒ eg ‘Because when she doesn’t join in she feels lonely’

• Give each student a sheet of paper and some crayons or pens for drawing. Ask them to produce a double page spread for the letter ‘G’ in an alphabet book. They should illustrate it with other animals and objects starting with ‘g’ (not necessarily Australian) and show that ‘g’ can be pronounced with both a hard and a soft sound.

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Teacher Notes

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• Show students the cover of Helpful Harry. Say, ‘This is a tricky one. We can see that Harry is a dog, but what kind of dog starts with “H”? Anyone who has visited a farm might have heard about this kind of dog.’ (Heeler)

• With your students, do research on heelers in the library. Find out what colours they come in (red, blue) and what sort of work they do.

⇒ eg many Australians have them as working dogs on farms, helping to control and guard the sheep and cattle; people often have them as pets

• Ask your class, ‘Why do you think Harry is looking at the bee?’

⇒ eg ‘Bees are busy workers, just like Harry’; ‘because dogs like to try to catch and eat insects’; ‘because they move quickly and dogs like to chase them’

• Look at the second spread. Ask, ‘How is Harry being helpful?’

⇒ eg ‘Escorting the ducklings across the busy road’, ‘helping the wombat to dig his burrow’

• See if your students can think of other ways that Harry might be helpful.

⇒ Rescuing sheep and cattle

⇒ Guarding sheep, cattle and chooks against foxes at night

⇒ Helping to find things that are lost

⇒ Collecting the newspaper

⇒ Telling his owner when a storm is coming

⇒ Being a good watchdog if strangers come to the door

⇒ Playing with his owner and keeping them company

• Look at spread six. Find out whether your students have ever heard the word ‘hoedown’ before. It’s mostly used in the United States. If they have never heard it, they will be able to predict what it means by looking at the picture and reading the text underneath. Look it up in a dictionary to check. (A hoedown is a celebration, often including food, music and dancing.)

• Suggest that your students look at the word ‘hoedown’ for two words that they might recognise. Explain that sometimes when you meet a new word, you will notice it includes shorter words that you already know. These shorter words can help to predict the meaning of the unfamiliar word.

⇒ eg a ‘hoe’ is a tool for digging. When you stop work, you put your tools ‘down’. And when you stop work, what do you do? You have a ‘hoedown’. You rest, relax and celebrate—especially if you have just finished a big job on the farm.

♦ (Be aware that the US slang ‘ho’, meaning ‘whore’, has unfortunately crept into the language of older Australian students and this may enter the class discussion or create the odd giggle.)

• Ask, ‘Where do you think the harmonica might be? What things or places around the farmyard start with “h”?’ Read on until spread ten. ‘Did you predict where the harmonica was hidden?’ (It was under the hydrangea.)

• Give each student a sheet of paper and something to write with. Ask them to write a list in dot point form of at least five ways they plan to be helpful this week. If they can think of more than five ways, the people they help will be very ‘happy’!


Teacher Notes

• Show your students the front cover of Inquisitive Isabella. Ask, ‘What kind of bird do you think Isabella might be?’ If they are stumped, say, ‘Well, what letter of the alphabet might it start with?’ (‘I’; ‘Isabella is an ibis.’)

• If they have seen an ibis, ask where.

⇒ Zoo or wildlife sanctuary ⇒ Near water—eg a lake, river, or swamp ⇒ City parks ⇒ Landfill sites.

• Say, ‘Maybe you’ve heard an adult use the word “inquisitive” before. Who was being described as “inquisitive” and

what do you think it means?’ ⇒ A puppy, kitten or other pet exploring ⇒ A baby who is interested in everything ⇒ Someone who asks lots of questions

• Ask, ‘What clues are there in the picture of Isabella on the front cover?’

⇒ eg glasses, magnifying glass, pith helmet—she is an adventurer and an explorer ⇒ ‘Why do you think she has a net?’ ⇒ eg she might be looking for insects to catch and eat

• With your students look at the first spread of Isabella and her friends. Research Australian ibises in the library or

on the internet. Which species has Lachlan Creagh illustrated? (Glossy Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis, White Ibis) Draw up a table to compare their characteristics. Isabella is a Glossy Ibis.

• Isabella is not just an explorer; she is also an inventor. Ask your students to identify three of her inventions. Some

may be shown in the pictures, but not mentioned in the text. ⇒ A sunhat with a book, telescope and binoculars attached ⇒ Mechanical legs so Isabella can take her goldfish for a walk ⇒ A machine to make ice out of seawater so the penguins can build an igloo ⇒ Invisible ice-cream ⇒ A flying ironing board, so the birds can do their ironing in the trees ⇒ An outboard raft so she can study insects at night ⇒ An airboat or fanboat like the ones used in the Florida Everglades

• Ask your students which invention would be the most useful and why? • Remind your students that ‘g’ can be given a hard or soft sound. On the board, brainstorm a list of words that

begin with a hard ‘g’, like ‘gecko’, and a list that start with a soft ‘g’, like ‘gentle’. • Remind them that sometimes a letter from the alphabet can be pronounced more than one way. Brainstorm some

examples on the board. (a, c, e, g, i, o, u, y). Ask your students to draw up two columns. In the first column, list five words from the book that begin with a short-sounding ‘i’ as in ‘ink’. In the second column, list five words from the book that begin with a long ‘i’ as in ‘ice’.

Short Long Inquisitive Isaac Isabella ibis Is ironbark Invisible ice-cream It I’ve


Teacher Notes


• Say, ‘Now, without using a dictionary, add five more words that are not in the book to each

column.’

• In the middle of the story, there is an ‘incident’. Ask your students ‘What is it? What causes it?’

⇒ eg All the birds become itchy; there is an invasion of insects. • Stop reading at the spread where Isabella is on the fanboat. Ask your students why the insects on the right-hand

page look worried. ⇒ eg Isabella has invented a vaccine to protect everyone from the insects.

• Brainstorm the meaning of these words from Inquisitive Isabella:

⇒ Intensely ⇒ Inspiration ⇒ Inflatable ⇒ Indispensable ⇒ Incessantly ⇒ Interrogated ⇒ Initiative

• Suggest that your students see whether they can get any help from the context or surrounding words. If not, use a

dictionary together to look them up. Now for each word invent a new sentence.



Teacher Notes

• The initial sound in the title of each Little Mates book usually gives a clue about the kind of animal author Susannah McFarlane has chosen for the main character. But the cover of Jolly Jack is a bit puzzling: it features a kangaroo. Ask your students to help solve the puzzle. (Jack is a young kangaroo—a ‘joey’.)

• This is a story about being jealous. Ask your students about the sorts of situations where

people sometimes feel jealous. ⇒ eg. Someone is better at sport or schoolwork, and people who are jealous

wish that they were as good. People can get jealous about someone’s ap-pearance, possessions, experiences, friends or relationships.

• Ask how someone who feels jealous can overcome their feelings.

⇒ eg. They can become friends with the person they are jealous of and start sharing, or develop their own special talents and stop worrying about whether someone else is better.]

• With your class, look at the first three pictures of Jack—on the front cover, flap and title page. What do we learn

about Jack from these pictures? ⇒ eg. He is a joker, he likes making himself look silly and doing funny things to make people laugh.

• Ask, ‘What do you think this story might be about?’

⇒ Jack does something funny, but it goes wrong ⇒ No one laughs ⇒ Jack does something funny, but someone else is funnier

• Suggest that the class look up the word ‘jumbuck’. What does it mean? Ask them where they have heard this word

before. (In the song, ‘Waltzing Matilda’.) • All the ‘j’ words in this book start with the same sound except one. Jojoba is pronounced ‘ho-HO-bah’. With your

class, look up ‘jojoba’ in the dictionary and find out what it means and which language it comes from. (Spanish) Ask students if they can think of anything else in Spanish that starts with with ‘j’. (Juan, Jose, Jesus)

• There are other languages where ‘j’ is not pronounced the way it is in the English word ‘joey’, or in the Spanish

word ‘jojoba’. Say, ‘Who knows another way the letter “j” can be pronounced?’ • If they need a clue, ask whether anyone has seen a brand of cheese in the supermarket that starts with ‘J’.

‘Jarlsberg’ is pronounced ‘yarlsberg’. It’s Norwegian. Or they might know the first name of the architect who de-signed the Sydney Opera House. Joern Utzon—pronounced ‘yern’. It’s Danish.

• Ask the students which other words in Jolly Jack are unfamiliar.

eg. japes, jester, jovial, jauntily, jingles, jostling, jittery, jitterbug, jamboree ⇒ Together with your class, see if you can use the surrounding words to help predict the meaning, and

check your guesses in the dictionary. • In Jolly Jack, sometimes there are jokes in the illustrations that are not mentioned in the text. Ask the students

what jokes they can see. ⇒ The pilot of the jumbo jet is actually an elephant—elephants are sometimes nicknamed ‘jumbo’!

Look up the origin of the word ‘jumbo’ on the internet. ⇒ In the snowman illustration, Jack hides and frightens the wombats by making the snowman’s arms

move. ⇒ Jack sets up a kind of mouse-trap to catch Josh.


Teacher Notes


• Jack comes from Jindabyne. Find it on the map. Why do lots of people like to go there? (It is close to the NSW snowfields.)

• When you have read the last page of Jolly Jack, ask everyone to nominate the funniest

person they know—it may be someone at school, or a family member or friend. Make a list on the board of the reasons they are funny.

• Ask for volunteers to tell their favourite joke or hold a joke-telling competition. (Suggest

that students keep their jokes in good taste.)


Teacher Notes


• Show your students the front cover of Kind Katie. Say, ‘Which of the two characters on the cover do you think is Katie?’ (Katie is the koala.) Do you know any other stories about a koala?’

⇒ For example Koala Lou, Blinky Bill, The Koala Who Bounced, Bunyip Bluegum in The Magic Pudding.

• Ask, ‘What do you think Katie might be doing with the baby ringtail possum?’

⇒ She is cuddling the possum because it might be upset ⇒ She might be minding the possum while its mother is busy ⇒ She might be saving the possum from danger.

• Ask the students which other Australian animals names begin with ‘k’. (kangaroo, kookaburra) • If Katie was a bit bored at home and was looking for something interesting to do—starting with ‘k’—what could

she try? ⇒ For example kickboxing, karate, kicking a football, kissing, karaoke, keyboarding, kite flying,

kayaking, knitting.

• Say ‘Let’s see whether Katie has thought about doing any of those.’ • Read Kind Katie with your students and stop at the second spread. On a map of Australia, point out where ‘the

Kimberley’ is. • Keep reading and stop at the spread where Katie and Kayla are knitting. Say, ‘Well, you made some good

guesses earlier: Katie’s friends include Kai the kangaroo and Ken the kookaburra. Here’s her friend Kayla, lying at the door of her kennel. Which “k” word would tell us what type of animal Kayla is?’ (kelpie)

• Turn the page and let your students study this picture. Say, ‘Something “kooky”, or strange, is definitely happening

here, besides the karaoke machine falling off the cliff. What kind of animal is that with Katie?’ Some students will say it is a crocodile, and others will point out that crocodiles have legs, not flippers. Ask if this animal is similar to any other animals they have seen. Some may think it looks a bit like a crocodile, a bit like a whale, a bit like a dolphin, a bit like a shark. It’s a kronosaurus!

• With your class, find out all you can about the kronosaurus on the internet:

⇒ A meat-eating dinosaur that could swim under the ocean ⇒ Lived in the Cretaceous period ⇒ Bigger than a tyrannosaurus rex ⇒ An almost complete skeleton was found in Queensland by a team from Harvard University.

• The illustrator is having a joke—the kronosaurus did not live at the same time in history as koalas like Katie. • Inside, measure out a kronosaurus on the floor using chairs or other objects to mark how long and wide it would

have been. Outside, draw its shape onto the asphalt with chalk. Can the whole class fit inside a kronosaurus? Is there room for any more people?

• Continue reading the story. Point to Katie in her kimono. Ask what kimonos and karaoke have in common. (They

both originated in Japan.)


Teacher Notes


• If you previously read Little Mates: Cuddly Callum with your class, remind your students

that sometimes the first sound in Katie’s name can be written with another letter of the alphabet, the letter ‘C’. Mention that sometimes the letter ‘K’ at the beginning of a word is silent—we don’t say it out loud. Brainstorm examples of words from Kind Katie that start with a hard ‘c’ sound, and words that start with a silent ‘k’. Draw up a table.

Hard ‘c’ Silent ‘k’ crew knockout cook knit competition knickerbockers competitors knocked calm knives carried knots clever knick-knacks crowned congratulated cracker • The last page of the book asks, ‘What about you? Are you kind too?’ • Ask your students, ‘When you go home today, what will you do to be kind to someone?’



Teacher Notes

• Show your class the cover of Lazy Lou Lou. Say, ‘Which one is Lou Lou?’ (Lou Lou is the lizard.) Ask the students, ‘Apart from the word “Lazy”, what else on the cover tells you that Lou Lou might like to take things easy, without too much rushing around?’

⇒ Example: There is a picture of a snail, and snails move very slowly. • Ask, ‘What kind of lizard might she be? Look closely round her mouth. Now open the

book to the title page.’ (Lou Lou is a blue-tongue lizard.) Find out what your class knows about blue-tongue lizards. ‘Who has seen one? Where would you be likely to see one? Let’s look up blue tongue-lizards on the internet.’

⇒ They are skinks. ⇒ They eat snails—that snail on the cover of the book is staying well out of the way! ⇒ They also eat dog food. ⇒ They are cold-blooded—their bodies don’t produce any heat—so they lie in the sun to get warm.

• Look at the first spread. Say, ‘This book celebrates the letter and sound “L”. What other “L” animals can you see

here?’ (lorikeet, lyrebird). Turn to the second spread. Ask the class what the snails are doing. ⇒ They are having a leisurely lunch. ⇒ Although blue-tongue lizards eat snails, Lou Lou is so slow that the snails can take their time, so

they’ve even spread out a picnic tablecloth! • Read as far as the page where Lou Lou is wearing a lifesaver’s cap. Ask your students what has given Lou Lou a

new lease of life. Why does she suddenly feel she can start a new job? ⇒ Example: Because she successfully rescued Lenny, she found out she could move fast and save

lives when she needed to. • Sometimes when people celebrate a success or start a new job, they have a party. Ask, ‘If you were holding a

party for your friends, what food would you give them? How many things could you serve that start with “L”?’ ⇒ eg. Lollies, lemonade, lime, lamb chops, lamingtons, lemon meringue pie, lobster.

• Describe how sometimes it seems that the sound ‘L’ just rolls around the mouth like a lazy tongue. In Lazy Lou

Lou, some ‘L’ words suggest slow movement, and other ‘L’ words suggest fast movement. Brainstorm on the board examples of each:

Slow Fast lazy lively laziest limber lounging lurched lethargically lightning laconically leapt laborious lunged languishing lies li-lo lolling • Say, ‘There might be some words on these lists that we will need to look up in the dictionary to see what they

mean. Let’s do it.’ • Now ask for volunteers to form two bands. One will use instruments to create slow music and one will use their

instruments to create fast music.


Teacher Notes


• For musical instruments, use recycled materials: ⇒ For example cans, lids, sticks, plastic containers, Christmas jingle bells,

old rubber things, flip-flops, old sandals, shoe soles, a short length of metal or plastic pipe suspended from string, an old wire coat hanger with various objects dangling from it.

• Then find four or five students to create some dance movements that portray Lazy Lou

Lou, and then Leaping Lou Lou, to be accompanied by the appropriate music. Appoint a film crew to record the performance.

• As a class, watch the recording and serve lemonade or lettuce. (Snails too, if you like!)


Teacher Notes


little mates a f - scholastic australia song or narrative is called ... barn, budgerigar, budgie,...

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