Exploring the Plots of Picture Books with Triptychs

One of the important skills you’re exploring picture books with your students is identifying what happens at the beginning, the middle and the end of the picture book. One art activity you can use to help with that is the triptych. Read on to learn more about this interesting way to demonstrate understanding.

What is a Triptych?

The word triptych is derived from a greek word meaning three-fold. Essentially it is an art work made up from three panels. Traditionally, these panels are connected by hinges, allowing the two side panels to fold in on top of the middle panel. They were first introduced in the middle ages as religious art work - their design allowed them to be folded and stored or carried to another place while being protected. They often tell a story and are intended to be read from the left to the right. 

How Can You Use a Triptych to Discuss Plot?

Because a triptych tells a story in three parts, it’s the perfect art medium to discuss the beginning, the middle and the end of a picture book. Students look into the picture book to consider how they might portray the beginning, what elements of the story would be most important to focus on when looking at the middle of the story and how the story ends.

What Kind of Picture Books Will Work?

This is actually a great question to pose to students! Because you need to portray the beginning, the middle and the end, you do want a picture book which has those things! Some of the early childhood picture books which focus on repetitive text (like Where is the Green Sheep? or Dear Zoo) probably won’t work so well (though, you could challenge some particularly creative students to try!). A very long picture book with a lot of events may also be too difficult. 

For younger students, you will probably want to concentrate on books with a clear beginning, middle and end. For example, the Pig the Pug books start with a set up, move into some form of disaster, then show us the conclusion. For older students, you may like to challenge them with more complex story structures, though they will probably also get a lot out of the clear beginning to end books as well.

What Do Students Need to Know When They’re Creating Their Triptych?

Like any art activity, students need to start by planning. They should think about what is important at the beginning, during the middle and at the end and then brainstorm ideas of how they can portray this.

Once they have planned this, students can begin drafting ideas for their triptych. How they do this will depend on the art medium they are using, but many students will begin by sketching their ideas before they start to work on their actual project.

Before students begin working on their good copy, they need to think about how they might be hinged together. Capturing ribbon between the artwork and a backing page is an easy way to create a flexible, but strong hinge, but you can always challenge students to create their own hinges using paper, cloth, ribbon or other materials.

Are you looking for teaching materials to scaffold a plot triptych? Sign up to the free resource library to get yours now.

Have you used art as your book related activities? Share your experiences in the comments.

Related posts to read:

• Explore the Pig the Pug Series with these Writing Tasks

• Five Ways to Explore Picture Books in the Classroom

• Exploring Three Galarious Goods Picture Book Studies for Upper Primary

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

4 Literacy Activities for I Just Ate My Friend

He was my best friend . . . and now he’s gone!

If you haven’t read I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon, I highly recommend getting your hand on a copy. This lovely picture book, which follows the monster’s search for a new friend - after they ate their old friend, is a brilliant book to read with early primary students, and a great one to take a closer look at in the classroom. 

Here’s a few ways you can explore this very funny picture book in your classroom.

1. Create Your Own Monster

The monsters in I Just Ate My Friend all look very different. Students can choose a monster and work in pairs or in small groups to describe these monsters. Alternately, students can explore creating their own monster.

One way to create a monster is to combine it with mathematics and use chance - and a dice - to create a monster. Each number of the dice can correspond with a particular monster feature and students can roll the dice, then draw the piece of monster they get. If students are in the pre-reading stage, this can be done in literacy rotation groups with a teacher or assistant or even as a whole class activity. Once students have drawn their monster, they can write descriptions for their new creation.

Want to create monsters with your class? You can get free printables to support this activity in your classroom by signing up for the free resource library.

2. Engage in Readers Theatre . . . And Create Their Own

Because the main character in I Just Ate My Friend meets a lot of other characters, it’s a great opportunity to introduce and explore reader’s theatre with your students. Students can discuss how they think different lines in the book should be read (exploring fluency and expression) and take turns being the main character and the monsters they meet. 

Once students are comfortable with the text, they might also like to think about how they could expand it. Students can brainstorm other monsters the main character might meet and act out what those monsters might say. They could challenge themselves to have enough monsters for the whole class to participate!

3. Exploring What a Friend Is

This is a great book for exploring the qualities of friends. Students can brainstorm words which describe friends and create images or descriptions of friendships.

Students can also explore what friendships look like in other media. They might like to talk about television shows or movies or other books which feature friendships and talk about the qualities of friends shown there.

Do you want to teach this activity with your students? You can find it as part of the I Just Ate My Friend book study

4. Exploring Surprising Endings

I Just Ate My Friend has a surprise ending which completely changes the book. This is a great opportunity for students to talk about surprise endings and why the author might have chosen to write it. They can also connect this book to other books with surprise endings and discuss what makes an ending surprising.

Once they’ve discussed surprise endings, students might like to try creating their own surprise endings. They can create stories in small groups or pairs, write them, record them or have them scribed and create their own books.

Have you read I Just Ate My Friend in Your Classroom? Share your experience in the comments.

Related posts to read:

• 3 Easy Ways to Explore Alpacas with Maracas

• 4 Literacy Activities for The Wrong Book by Nick Bland

• 5 Engaging Picture Books Featuring Australian Animals

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

Just Empty Your Head! How Students Can Create a Brain Dump When They’re Reading

“Just hold all these complex ideas in your head. Then add in some new vocabulary. And form some questions. And don’t forget to make predictions!”

What are we asking students to do when we ask them to read a complex text or a novel? When you start to break it all down, it’s easy to see that students are being asked to recall or process several things at the same time. And that is, of course, an incredibly important skill to have. But how can we scaffold this to ensure that every student in the class has success with the more complex task? Enter . . . the brain dump!

What is a Brain Dump?

Essentially, a brain dump is the act of taking everything that you’re thinking . . . and putting it down onto paper (or a technological alternative). Many people use them when they’re feeling stressed or anxious or overwhelmed; it allows people to grab all of the nagging little thoughts in their heads and put them into a tangible form. They’re also great if you’re in the habit of ‘remembering’ all of the things you need to get done in a day or a week. By putting them down onto paper you have something to help you remember, loosening the mental load just a little.

“So, that sounds great . . . but how does it work when you’re teaching reading to children?”

Using a Brain Dump when exploring a book

As I pointed out, reading a text involves a lot of different actions, particularly if the text is longer or is complex. There’s characters to remember, settings to put into place, plots to follow. There’s the basic act of decoding, then there’s understanding the vocabulary - either by using context clues, remembering words or by using word roots. Students then need to make predictions of what might happen next or why they think a particular character acted the way they did or why the author might have chosen to use that particular word. The act of reading is a complex one!

By creating a brain dump, students can get everything they’re thinking about the text out of their head and onto the page. They’re able to see what they do and don’t know and use their brain dump to create new connections. 

“That’s great . . . but how do we teach it?”

How Do We Teach Brain Dumps for Reading

It might be best to start with a short piece of text - a poem or a picture book - which is familiar to the students. On the first read through, students should simply listen to the text. On the second read through, you demonstrate the brain dump. As you read through it again, model writing down everything which comes into your head - from observations on the characters’ names (“Oh, that dog is called Trevor. I went to school with a Trevor. Just like the Trevor from Fireman Sam . . .“) to questions (“I wonder why Pig never seems to learn his lesson. Or does he learn his lesson and just constantly make new mistakes?”) to random thoughts which are unconnected to the text but came into your brain anyway (“I wonder if it’ll be wet at lunch?”)

Once you’ve modelled your brain dump you can use the same text or another familiar text for the students to have a try. Remind them that it doesn’t need to be perfect - it’s not being used for assessment - it’s just a way of helping them better understand the texts they are reading. Give students plenty of opportunities to practice - remembering that they can be used with texts students use in history or civics, science or technology as well.

Tip: Students can use any piece of paper - or a computer or tablet - for brain dumps. However, you can find a range of free brain dump templates by signing up for the Galarious Goods free resource library.

“Ok, I get that. But what do we do with them once we have them?”

Using the Brain Dumps

Once students have their brain dumps, they can use them in a range of ways. Again, this is something you might like to model to the students - but they might also develop their own ways of using them, which they might like to share with their classmates.

Students might like to use their brain dumps for basic recall references. They allow students to write down the important characters or the important dates and events, something to refer back to when they need them. Or they could use them to brainstorm questions they might like to ask about the text, going back through their information to see where there are any queries.

If students create brain dumps for two different texts, they might like to use them to find connections - once they see the information written in front of them, it can be easier to see where those themes or ideas overlap. Students might also like to share their brain dump with a classmate to see how different people have responded to the same text.

Have you used brain dumps for reading in your classroom? Tell us about it in the comments!

Related posts to read:

• Three Connections to The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

• Exploring Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

• Exploring Author Intention

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

5 Reasons to Explore The House that Cleaned Itself in the Classroom

Frances Gabe was tired of cleaning her house. So she experimented with cleaning tools and designed and invented and adjusted her designs until she had a house that cleaned herself.

This real-life story is brought to life in the amazing picture book The House that Cleaned Itself by Laura Dershewitz and Susan Romberg. It’s a lovely and engaging book, perfect for the classroom. Here’s some reasons you should be exploring it in your classroom.

1. It’s a great biographical picture book

I adore biographical picture books. I love the way they highlight the lives of interesting people - both well known people and those who should be better known. I love the way authors manage to use limited space and words to explore complex lives. 

In the classroom biographical picture books show students how you can tell real stories through a familiar medium. They’re an accessible way of learning about the subject - using words and illustrations to allow students to gain a better understanding or inspiring students to undertake further research and reading about the subject. They allow students to get a good understanding of why the subject is important, why they are being written about, before they get into the details of how they got there. 

The House that Cleaned Itself is one of the best biographical picture books I’ve read. It’s incredibly clear - we meet our subject, see her problem, see how she works on that problem. She can see why she is remarkable and what challenges she faced. We can also read between the lines to see why she undertook these projects and what kind of person she was. We can wonder who else is similar to Frances Gabe and what qualities we would like to emulate ourselves.

We can also use this book as a template for biographical picture books of our own. This would be especially useful if you were researching inventors or scientists who have worked to solve problems.

2. There are so many opportunities for science exploration

The House that Cleaned Itself shows us that Frances Gabe didn’t just jump in and start inventing. Instead she did a whole lot of research, experimenting to see how different chemicals worked and hypothesising how she might use them.

There are so many science questions raised in the book which we can explore in the classroom. We can look at how water works and how it can be guided and moved in different ways. We can explore how we can effectively drain water from a space and even how we could collect and reuse water.

Frances Gabe also explored how she could protect belongings in her house. This is a great exploration we can continue in the classroom. We can experiment with the impacts of water on different surfaces - what it does when it touches or rests on paper or cloth or wood. We can experiment with different forms of waterproofing and make recommendations to use in a self-cleaning house.

Cleaning products is another area students can experiment with. During the 20th century cleaning became more scientifically influenced, especially as new machines and new cleaning products were invented. Students can experiment with different dishwashing methods or products, different ways of getting stains out of cloth even different methods of cleaning marks off a ‘wall’ surface. This is particularly good for exploring cleaning ‘old wives tales’ and whether natural kitchen products can clean as well as commercial cleaning products (and there’s an environmental angle students can also explore).

3. The book is all about design

Design is such an exciting subject to explore in the classroom. The House that Cleaned Itself is a perfect introduction to design thinking. Frances Gabe identified a clear big problem (she hated cleaning her house) but also lots of smaller problems (how would she clean her dishes? How could she protect her books? How would she drain the floor?). She experimented and brainstormed solutions and built prototypes. She engaged in troubleshooting when something didn’t work and went back and tried again. 

Students can reflect on the design process as they tackle their own design challenges. They can talk about big design problems - in their homes or classrooms, in their local community, in the world - and identify smaller problems which they can design solutions for. They can experiment, brainstorm and design. They might troubleshoot and fix issues, not being discouraged when something goes wrong.

4. The illustrations are perfect for further exploration

Meghann Rader’s beautiful illustrations are well worth exploring. Inspired by technical drawings, they tell us so much about Frances Gabe and the activities she was undertaking. Students can compare the drawings of Frances Gabe and the differences between the beginning of the book and later in the book. They can look at how the illustrator has used line to show movement - of water, of plants and of ideas. They can examine technical drawings and compare them to the illustrations - and use this style to create their own illustrations.

5. The additional material inspires more exploration

As with so many books from The Innovation Press, The House that Cleaned Itself includes additional material in the form of an authors’ note and bibliography. These easily prompt more questions for exploration - who are the other inventors who have worked out of their homes? How would Frances Gabe’s inventions be useful for NASA? Why was Frances Gabe’s invention mostly forgotten?

This additional material allows a deeper exploration and better understanding of the book and the subjects around it. It encourages students to take more time, to research issues raised in the book and additional material and to draw conclusions from this. It’s perfect for a classroom where students really think about books and the subjects they cover and it’s ideal for a classroom which values STEM education.

The House that Cleaned Itself is available from book retailers including Amazon and Book Depository. You can find more amazing books from The Innovation Press here.

If you’re exploring The House that Cleaned Itself in the classroom you can find a comprehensive book study here. You can also find a free activity from that book study here.

Related posts to read:

• Exploring The Girl With a Mind For Math in the Classroom

• Exploring Three Galarious Goods Picture Book Studies for Upper Primary

• Five Reasons to Use Picture Books in Middle Grades Classrooms

• Five Ways to Explore Picture Books in the Classroom

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

Exploring Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

Books which tell us the story from the perspective of one of the main characters can often have unreliable narrators - narrators you can’t quite trust 100%. These unreliable narrators can be fascinating to explore in the classroom - allowing us to take a closer look at the intentions of the author and what kind of person these characters are.

The Unaware Narrator

Jamal in Boy Overboard (by Morris Gleitzman) is sure that he and his sister have arrived at a soccer match. Only to discover that he is terribly wrong.

Jamal is a character who often only has part of the story. He is forced to fill in the gaps with the knowledge he does have, but many times his conclusions aren’t right and he has to reassess and draw new conclusions. As readers there are times when we are aware that he doesn’t have it quite right (or we soon find out that is the case) and we have to assess whether we will believe his next conclusion, or treat it with a level of scepticism.

Morris Gleitzman writes a LOT of characters like this. Which makes sense because childhood often feels like this - like you have some of the puzzle pieces, but someone’s hidden the picture which helps you put them together.

Another great example of a character like this is Mothball the Wombat from Jackie French and Bruce Whatley’s Diary of a Wombat story. In this case, the illustrations soon let us know that the scratching post is a ladder and the furry enemy is really a doormat, so we find ourselves carrying two narratives through the story - the narrative in Mothball’s head and the narrative we can tell from the illustrations.

Exploring Unaware Narrators in the Classroom

These can be great fun to explore in the classroom because our own knowledge, experiences and schema may be able to help us fill in the gaps. Comparing what our narrators think is happening and what is really happening allows us to understand where our characters come from - whether they’re boys or wombats.

It also allows us to explore the intentions of the author. An author study on Morris Gleitzman books would be particularly interesting, looking at what information he gives his narrators before the events of the book, what conclusions they draw from that information when they’re in unfamiliar circumstances and what they learn going forward.

When we explore a character like Mothball, we can also look at the choices the author has made - the wombat understands certain terms like sleep, scratch and - of course - carrots, but hasn’t come up across concepts like garden beds, door mats or washing lines. Why has the author made those choices for our wombat narrator? How would the story be different if there were different choices?

The Deliberately Unreliable Narrator

Erica Yurken is the best thing since sliced bread. Or at least she is in her own mind. And in the stories she tells others.

Robin Klein’s classic novel Hating Alison Ashley is told from the perspective of Erica Yurken who constantly creates stories about herself and others to amuse herself, get herself out of trouble or to impress other people - including Alison Ashley.

If we just listened to Erica, we would probably be inclined to hate Alison Ashley ourselves. But there are things which make us question Erica’s trustworthiness - times when she gets caught out in her stories, times when she contradicts herself and times when we glimpse her through the eyes of other characters. The author knows that Erica is not reliable and wants the reader to know this too.

We find another unreliable narrator in the Do Not Open This Book series from Andy Lee. Our narrator desperately wants us to stop turning the pages (because dreadful things happen to him when we do), so he’ll try anything to stop us - even turning the book around so we’ll turn the pages from back to front. The illustrations, eventual confessions and meta-knowledge of how books work allows us to know that our narrator is not the most trustworthy of characters - even if he’s only being unreliable to save his own skin.

A. Wolf is also just trying to save his skin in The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. He’s found himself in jail and he wants us to know that it’s not his fault at all - it’s all because he needed to borrow some sugar.

In this case, it’s our own background knowledge - our understanding of fairy tales - which makes us question his honesty. After all - we’ve never heard this story before. But we keep reading to see how he’s going to justify his terrible crimes.

Exploring Deliberately Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

The biggest questions we can ask in our classrooms when it comes to deliberately unreliable narrators is why do they behave like this? Why are they trying to mislead us - the readers - and what will they get if they manage this?

We can also challenge students to write first person narration like this. To consider what motivates a character and then have them tell a story where they work to convince the reader of something which may not be quite true. This works particularly well when students begin with well known stories like fairy tales and myths and try to tell the story from the perspective of the ‘bad guy’.

What unreliable narrators have you come across in your reading? Have you used a book with an unreliable narrator in your classroom? Leave a comment below.

Related posts to read:

• Introducing Nim's Island

• Introducing The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

• Using Boy Overboard in the Classroom

• Introduction to Rowan of Rin: Classroom Discussions and Teaching Resources

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

Introducing Hating Alison Ashley

Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein has been a staple of Australian classrooms for decades now - and for good reason! This classic Australian novel still holds its own against more modern novels and is the perfect book to engage your upper primary readers.

Hating Alison Ashley is the story of Erica Yurken - a Year 6 student with big dreams and bigger stories who finds her world turned upside down when the seemingly perfect Alison Ashley arrives at her disadvantaged school. As the story progresses, and Erica gets more frustrated with Alison taking on her position of ‘best student’ we see that Alison’s life might not be as perfect as it seems - and Erica might have a real direction to take her big imagination.

Why should you teach Hating Alison Ashley in your classroom?

1. It’s still really relevant!

There’s an occasional reference which seems a bit out of place in Hating Alison Ashley, but it’s still tackling themes and ideas which feel relevant to students today - our position in our class or school, friendships or lack of them, embarrassing families, dealing with teachers and of course - school camp.

Hating Alison Ashley gives students a launching point to discuss some of these ideas and what they would do if they were in the positions that Erica and Alison find themselves in throughout the story.

2. Erica Yurken

Erica knows she is smart. She knows she is the best thing her school has ever known. But maybe, just maybe, is there a possibility she isn’t quite as smart as she thinks she is?

Erica is a brutally real character. She’s funny and smart, but also super frustrating at times. She narrates the story, so we see it from her point of view, but sometimes she gives us just enough information to wonder what the story would be like if someone else was telling it.

Erica in the book also makes me wonder what she would be like as a teenager or an adult. She’s an incredibly memorable character, and it’s definitely worth the time exploring her closer.

3. The other real characters

Hating Alison Ashley is filled with characters who feel real - from Alison Ashley who looks perfect but has a less than perfect family life to Barry Hollis who does all sorts of terrible things - but seems to be looking for read friendships as much as Erica is. Erica’s family includes her super embarrassing younger sister and strangely absent-but-there older brother who live in dream worlds as much as Erica does as well as Valjoy, who is just the right amount of terrifying. The teachers are also a delight to read - feeling incredibly real as they take on super challenging tasks each day. Then there’s Lennie - Erica’s mother’s boyfriend - who comes in to save the day at just the right time.

These characters elevate the story, allowing students more areas to explore and discuss. Is Erica fair to Lennie? Is Barry Hollis really misguided? What skills do you need to be a teacher at Erica’s school?

4. The novel is really accessible - but has room for deeper exploration

Hating Alison Ashley isn’t a particularly long novel. It would be possible to read the book fairly quickly, either with students reading alone or a mixture of along reading, teacher reading and guided reading. It’s set in a fairly familiar setting - an Australian school in an Australian suburb - so students already have some background knowledge as they step into the world. The writing is good - but it isn’t overwhelmingly complex. It’s easily a novel every student can engage in reading.

But the themes allow for a wide range of explorations for more advanced readers. Unravelling Erica as a character can be an in-depth task on its own! Students can also compare characters, look at the choices made throughout the book by the characters and the author, look at how Erica relates to the people around her and engage in creative tasks around the book.

Have you read Hating Alison Ashley with a class - or as a student? Share your experiences in the comments!

Related posts to read:

• Introducing Nim's Island

• Introducing The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

• Using Boy Overboard in the Classroom

• Introduction to Rowan of Rin: Classroom Discussions and Teaching Resources

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

Exploring The Girl With a Mind For Math in the Classroom

The Girl With a Mind for Math is a beautiful book from the creative team of Julia Finley Mosca and Daniel Rieley. Telling the story of Raye Montague who pioneered new ways of designing ships in the US Navy, this is a must have book for the classroom - and one which can be used in a number of different lessons.

This is the third book from Julia Finley Mosca and Daniel Rieley (and the team at The Innovation Press) focusing on the life and achievements of great scientists. The Girl With a Mind for Math introduces us to Raye Montague who was just a young girl when her grandfather took her to visit a submarine, inspiring her to one day design ships just like it. However, Raye was born into the segregated south of the USA, and as a black girl she would have to fight to get the education she wanted to get. Her persistence and hard work and the support of her family over a number of years helped her finally achieve her goal and allowed her to bring new design ideas into the US Navy.

Why is this book important?

Told in relatively simple rhyme, A Girl With a Mind for Math allows readers an accessible insight into the world of a remarkable mathematician. With the extensive additional material at the end of the book, adults reading with children can help them gain an even deeper understanding of Raye Montague and the importance of her work, as well as the systemic barriers she faced as she worked to achieve her dream.

Picture book memoirs and biographies can be used across a wide range of grades. Young students can bring illustrations and words together to discover new worlds, while older readers can experience the story and gain background knowledge to support further research without having to wade through material often designed for adult readers.

This is also a story we should all know, but may not. Raye Montague was named a ‘hidden figure’ of the US Navy; someone whose contributions may have been overlooked or not remembered or celebrated as much as they should have been. Her achievements would be extraordinary for anyone - to design a ship by computer in less than 19 hours even though she had been given a month to work on it - but they are especially noteworthy as you learn the story of what she had to do to learn the skills she needed to achieve this feat.

Ways to Use The Girl With a Mind for Math in the Classroom

The Girl With a Mind for Math is a great book to share with your students or to add to your classroom library. But you can also use it for a range of teaching moments.

Explore machines used by the military

Often times when we think about the military, we think about those who fight in the armed forces. But it’s worth taking a little time to look at what happens behind the scenes and the machines which are used to assist the military. Some of these machines have become famous in history (like the aircraft of World War 2) and it can be interesting to look at how these were designed, how they worked and how they changed the way battles were fought or life was made safer for armed forces.

The Girl With a Mind For Math is just a little insight to that behind the scenes work - there are many scientists, mathematicians and engineers who have worked for the military to create machines!

Uncover other under recognised people of STEM

Students can go for their own search for STEM people in history who should be well known but aren’t. They might like to use their research to write memoirs or create museum displays or can even create a website or podcast series to share their discoveries with others. It can be a great way to explore research skills as well.

Explore some of the themes of the book

There are so many themes to explore in The Girl With a Mind for Math. Students can look at some of Raye Montague’s defining characteristics such as persistence and hard work, compare these with other examples from other people or reflect on how they can use these skills in their own lives.

Older students might like to explore discrimination and how it can impact the lives of people historically and today. The book gives several examples of discrimination faced by Raye Montague; students can also examine other notable people and the challenges they faced due to discrimination.

Download a Freebie for The Girl With a Mind for Math

Want a free resource to go with The Girl With a Mind for Math? Galarious Goods was thrilled to create an Interactive Timeline, along with additional questions for teachers to use, for students to set out notable moments in Raye Montague’s life. This is a great way to get an overall understanding of the book, and a good starting place for a more in-depth exploration.

You can see how the resource goes together in this video!

Have you read The Girl With a Mind for Math? Have you used it in your classroom?

Related posts to read:

• Five Reasons to Use Picture Books in Middle Grades Classrooms

• Five Ways to Explore Picture Books in the Classroom

• 3 Ways to Engage Students with Folding Vocabulary Lessons

• 5 Ways to Plan and Differentiate for Young Gifted Readers: Part One

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

8 Free Resources for Classrooms Reading Boy Overboard

Providing students with high quality background information for Boy Overboard can be a little bit of a challenge. Many resources are older and out of date and many links are sadly broken. Here, I’ve collected a range of free resources to assist you in providing background information for Boy Overboard and teaching the novel more effectively to your students.

8 Free Resources for Classrooms Reading Boy Overboard - a collection of links and ideas for the Morris Gleitzman novel and some ways to use them in the classroom. A Galarious Goods blog post.

(While all efforts are made to make sure these links are accurate - the nature of the web means they may be ‘broken’. Sometimes searching will help you access the material, but - sadly - some information may be taken from the web permanently)

On Refugees

National Geographic: Refugee Week

To access this resource, you need a login (which is quick and easy to get). This one page primary resource introduces students to a range of concepts, vocabulary terms and ideas around refugees. The page also includes teaching ideas.

This would be good to use before students read Boy Overboard or right after. It would also be a useful resource if students were researching refugees.

BTN: Refugee Day

This BTN video provides background information on refugees in a range of situations and provides images for students to put with the story. BTN has broadcast a wide range of stories on refugees over the years and many are available. This story, like many of the others, also includes teacher notes and further links for students to explore.

UNHCR Teaching Materials for 9-12 Year Olds

This teaching resource from the UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency) offers a range of teaching ideas and lesson ideas about refugees. One of the most useful resources is the teacher’s guide to integrating teaching about refugees and asylum into a range of classroom subjects.

On Afghanistan

The Pulitzer Centre: Lesson Plan on Afghanistan

This is a complete lesson plan on Afghanistan and its history, based around resources from news organisations. The lesson plan may be a little complex for your students, but there are a range of teacher questions and activities and some good news links (though some links are no longer available)

Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society page is good for some background information on Afghanistan. Some of the links are broken, but the documents at the bottom provide a timeline and a number of fact sheets with extra information about Afghanistan.

On the Pacific Solution

Australian Catholic Social Justice Council - Discussion Paper - The Pacific Solution
Australian Parliament House - Parliamentary Library - Pacific Solution

These two pages are aimed at an older audience, but provide background information to The Pacific Solution and arguments around it. These would be good for teachers to use when preparing discussions or further reading information for students.

On Boy Overboard

Morris Gleitzman’s Author Notes

This is a thoughtful reflection on why Morris Gleitzman wrote Boy Overboard and would be especially good to read while considering author intention. Students should wait until they have finished reading the book to read this.

Boy Overboard Novel Study - Sample Pack

This Galarious Goods free resource allows teachers and students to take a closer look at several aspects of Boy Overboard. This is a great resource if you have limited time to explore the novel or you are just looking for a few supplementary resources

Related posts to read:

• Using Boy Overboard in the Classroom

• Exploring Author Intention

• Addressing Controversial Topics in the Classroom

• 10 Books for Classrooms Exploring Boy Overboard

• The What Would You Take? Project - A Hands On Classroom Activity

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

The What Would You Take? Project - A Hands On Classroom Activity

What would you take with you if you had to leave your house immediately?

The ‘what would you take’ project is a fairly common one in schools, allowing students to develop empathy for book characters and real life situations and to create connections. But where can you use it effectively? And how can you extend this project?

At the end of Year 8, my local area was impacted by a range of bushfires. Thick smoke filled the air and buses came to take students home so parents could make evacuation decisions.

My best friend at the time lived away from our rural area. My parents and her parents made the decision that I would go home with her. I would be safe and one less person for my parents to worry about if they needed to evacuate. But I’ll never forget the phone call I had with my mother: “what do you want me to take if we have to leave?”

I was surprised by how quick my answer was. “My pointe shoes.” I’d only been dancing on pointe for a year, but we’d bought the shoes during a once in a lifetime trip to the USA and they were dancing and that trip all in one. I didn’t want to lose them.

Thankfully, my parents weren’t required to evacuate and the fire was stopped before it hit the town. But it’s a moment I’ve often come back to when reading books where characters have to leave suddenly.

**

In Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman, Jamal and his family have an incredibly short time to pack their lives up. They know they need clothes, they know they need things of value to trade, and they need things of value to them like Jamal’s soccer ball.

When we read novels and picture books where this occurs, we often ask students to reflect on what they would take if they were starting a new life somewhere else. We might extend that and ask them to fill a shoebox or a backpack with their chosen items, or items which represent what they would take. We ask students to reflect on what is important to them and what that says about our priorities - and what is important to the characters and what that tells us about them.

This project can be used when reading books about refugees, but can also be used when we talk about natural disasters or historical events where people have left their home with minimal time or space to take everything they want.

(It is important, though, to approach this with sensitivity, as there is a likelihood that some of your students may have been through this. Check in with your students and their feelings around it and be prepared to change the project if you need to. Students may also be unable to bring in some valuable items, so should be allowed to bring in photographs, drawings or a written piece to represent items if they would like to.)

How to Extend the What Would You Take Project

Write About It

The easiest way to extend this project is simply to write about it. Students can write about what they have chosen, and practice description skills by describing them. They can draw the items they have chosen and highlight why they have chosen those items. They can also write a longer piece when they reflect on what they would or wouldn’t bring, why they make those choices and what it says about them and what they are interested in.

A Museum

Students can use their items to create a museum display of what they have chosen. They can combine their items with written labels and information cards to create a display which they can then share with other classes and parents.

Students can also take photographs of their chosen items and create a ‘virtual’ display using a slide show program. Students can explore using hyperlinks or in-page links to connect one page to another or create a slideshow which viewers look through. These can also be turned into a printed book which can be added to student portfolios or sent home with the student.

Apply to Characters

As well as creating their own ‘what would I take’ project, students can think about what characters might take with them if they had to leave suddenly. This can easily be applied to novels or picture books with strong characters and students can write, draw or create their own ‘what would you take’ boxes for these characters. By doing this, students think deeper about what characters want and what defines them.

The What Would You Take project is a great way for students to consider items which are important to us and others and to reflect on what it would be like to have to choose these quickly and to consider limited space. If undertaken thoughtfully, it’s the perfect accompaniment to many book studies and history topics in the classroom.

Related posts to read:

• Using Boy Overboard in the Classroom

• Using I'm Australian Too in Upper Primary Classrooms

• 10 Books for Classrooms Exploring Boy Overboard

• 6 Great Books to Integrate With Australian Social Studies

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

Celebrating Valentines Day in the Reading Classroom

While we can’t give our favourite characters a large bunch of long stemmed roses and it’s a little hard to bombard our favourite authors with chocolates and declarations of love, we can bring the spirit of Valentine’s Day into our reading classrooms and celebrate all we love about reading and books.

Celebrating the Books and Characters We Love

Valentine’s Day is a great time to celebrate everything we love about our favourite books and characters. Whether it’s the small celebration of a classroom activity or a complete Valentine’s Book Love Party, sharing affection for favourite books and characters consolidates the classroom as a place where reading is valued.

How can your students show this love? They can write letters to their favourite characters or their favourite authors, telling them how much they mean to their lives. You can schedule a lesson full of book talks, where students share what they love about their favourite books and why their classmates should also read them. They can create images of their favourite characters and write about their lovable qualities or create Valentine’s Day cards for their favourite characters or books.

Taking it a little further, students can examine the qualities of a popular book or series and discuss why it is so loved. They can analyse why ‘bad guys’ are often loved by readers, or how to make an unlikeable character more likeable.

By acknowledging that emotion - falling in love with books and characters - is an important part of a reading life, we allow students to see reading as a lifelong pursuit - something they can have as part of their world long after school has finished.

Celebrating Friendship in Books

Friendship is a central theme in many books for children and a great comparison topic for Valentine’s Day. Whether it’s the imaginative friendship of Jess and Leslie in Bridge to Terabithia, the frenemy friendship of Erica and Alison in Hating Alison Ashley or the often life-saving friendship of Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Harry Potter series, there’s so much to explore and discuss.

Some of the things students can question and discuss:

• What does a good friendship look like in books?

• Which books show us examples of good friendships?

• How is the friendship in one book similar to a friendship in another book?

• What picture books show us friendships?

• What is our favourite friendship in books?

• What do books teach us about friendship?

How Would Characters Celebrate Valentine’s Day?

What kind of Valentine’s Day celebrations would Pig the Pug plan? Does the Green Sheep stop resting to write Valentine’s Day cards? And would Gandalf send Bilbo a Valentine’s Day card?

Imagining Valentine’s Day celebrations for book characters allows students to step into the shoes of those characters for a little while. Students can discuss the features of those characters, what they would be likely to say or do, or how they might interact with other characters in an unfamiliar situation.

One activity students could engage in is writing Valentine’s Day Cards from one character to another character. This could be from a book you are studying as a class, books your students love or a brand new picture book you introduce to your students on the day.

Whether you just engage in a small book based activity or you plan a whole lesson of Valentine’s themed book celebrations, there’s so many ways to celebrate a class love of books on Valentine’s Day!

Related posts to read:

• Adventure Girl and Reclusive Author

• 4 Ways to Use Amazing Songs To Make Your Lessons More Attractive

• Five Quick Alternatives to Holiday Busywork

• 5 Ways to Find Joy in Your Classroom and Teaching

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram