Six Great Middle Grades Books for Your Classroom

Every now and then I find myself reading a lot more than usual. Recently I found myself devouring a whole range of new-to-me middle-grades books and I thought I should share them with you here!

Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham

What does it mean to be a friend? What do we do for our friends? How do our friends influence our behaviours? How do we feel when we can't find the right friends.

These are some of the questions sitting within this autobiographical graphic novel by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham. Looking at how friendships grow and change as we do, this book raises a whole lot of possible discussion questions which would be great to explore with our students.

This would be a particularly good book to introduce at the beginning of the school year as students are building a classroom community. It would also fit beautifully into a discussion of graphic novels and whether some stories are told better in a graphic novel form.

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson 

This is another graphic novel which deals with the issue of friendship and how people grow apart and change. However, Astrid is also dealing with her own growing up and how she fits into the world in this coming-of-age story. 

Astrid falls in love with roller derby after her mother takes her and her friend Nicole to a bout. However, although Astrid is excited about roller derby camp, Nicole signs up for ballet camp. And then Astrid discovers that roller derby is hard.

One of my favourite things about this graphic novel is that Astrid doesn't find roller derby easy. She feels out of place and uncoordinated among girls who have experience in the sport and she has to dig in and find perseverance to keep going. This would be a great book to include if you're promoting a growth mindset in your classroom.

Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan

This novel had two of my favourite things - a cast of interesting and individual characters and a protagonist with an interesting hobby. Naomi lives with her younger brother and her great-grandmother who took them in. But when her mother returns and wants to take her away, the trio find themselves travelling to Mexico on a quest to find their father - and more about their history.

One thing which really stands out here is that Naomi carves soap - making intricate animal figurines out of bars of regular soap. It's this skill - which she knows is connected to her father - which allows her to play a pivotal role towards the end of the book.

There's a lot of scope for research with this book as well as a lot of possible discussions about what makes a family and how family can be built by the people we invite into our lives. 

As Simple as it Seems by Sarah Weeks

This is a relatively short book, but there's a fair amount in it for discussion and consideration. Verbena has recently discovered that her life isn't really what she thought it was and is feeling completely out of sorts in her own skin - especially as her best friend starts drifting towards other people.

Then Pooch comes along and has his own set of differences and difficulties. Verbena sees his arrival as an opportunity to be someone else - to sit in someone else's 'skin' for a little while - until things go completely wrong and she has to be herself again.

This is another book which examines friendship, but it also looks at identity and truth - there's a lot of ideas to explore around names and who we are in this one.

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

After Suzy's best friend drowns - despite being an excellent swimmer - Suzy finds herself retreating into a world of silence and looking for answers. She thinks she's found them in jellyfish - and she sets out to find all the answers she'll need.

Yet another book about friendship - there's definitely a theme going on in all these books! But also about how we react to external events, pressures and even medications. How people impact on our lives and how we need to accept our own responsibility in the events around us.

Like the next book, this is probably better for the slightly older (or more able to work with mature themes) middle-grades reader. This would be an ideal book for a classroom library and I could see students finding a lot to respond to in it.

If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth

Although I thoroughly enjoyed all the books here, this is the book which kept me awake until after 1am so I could finish reading it. Lewis lives on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975 - living a life where he's surrounded by family and traditions which mean everything to him and a house which is falling down around his family. Additionally he's living a school life where he's the only non-white student in his class, there's a vicious bully who no one will confront and he's got a new friend who's willing to share a lot, but can't ever know about Lewis's home life - even as he makes Lewis less invisible at school.

This is a relatively complex book with a lot of strings to hold together and it's probably better for a more mature reader. There's an awful lot to get out of it though, from the nature of friendship (again!), to the idea of moving or being stuck in one place, to the strength of music and songs running throughout the book.

This would make an excellent small group book study in the classroom. In a secure and safe setting, students could get a lot of personal reflection out of it, as well as looking at how the author uses words, plot and character to create such an engaging story.

Have you read any of these middle-grades books? Have you got any on your to-read list?

Related posts to read:

• 6 Great Books to Integrate With Australian Social Studies

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

• Five Reasons to Use Picture Books in Middle Grades Classrooms

• 3 Ways to Engage Students with Folding Vocabulary Lessons

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Share Guest Speakers; Engage Your Students

When was the last time you had a guest speaker in your classroom? What did they share? What did your students learn? And why is it important to have guest speakers in the first place?

Guest speakers can be a valuable element of a teaching unit. The right speaker, speaking on the right topic, with properly prepared students, can create a classroom moment which is remembered long after other activities are forgotten.

Guest Speakers Open Up New Ideas and Opportunities

Lots of students know little outside of their own experiences. They may have never met an engineer, a train driver, an author or a historian. Meeting these kinds of guest speakers can introduce them to know career opportunities and things to work towards as well as new ideas to learn more about. Alternately, a guest speaker can reinforce and extend learning on topics students do know a lot about - giving them new avenues to explore on a topic they're already interested in.

Guest Speakers Can Bring Different Perspectives to Topics You're Investigating

If you're looking at Antarctica in the classroom you may be examining the animals, scientific research or history or the continent. A guest speaker who has visited Antarctica can provide a different human experience point of view, talking about what you need to wear to go outside, what kind of people they meet in Antarctica or what it feels like to stand near a penguin. Guest speakers are able to provide the perspective we can't always provide our students from books or research. This can engage our students and allow them to create connections with the experiences of their guest speaker.

Guest Speakers Allow the Teacher to have Gaps in their Knowledge

It can be tempting to believe that teachers know everything! Of course, that's not really the case and it's good to let our students know that we are also learning from books and other people. Guest speakers can fill those gaps in our knowledge as well as the gaps our students have and show our students that we are lifelong learners - as we'd like them to be.

Preparing Our Students for Guest Speakers

Before guest speakers arrive, it's important to prepare our students for them and for the topic they will be exploring. Students may like to read a short biography of the speaker or you could ask the speaker to answer a couple of short 'Frequently Asked Questions' to share with your students. Students could brainstorm the topic or investigate the kind of vocabulary they might hear. They may even like to make a short list of questions for the guest speaker - giving the guest speaker some ideas of what to cover when they're speaking.

Students need to be clear on behaviour expectations for guest speakers - understanding that many speakers are giving up their own time to share information with the students. They should be prepared to ask good questions of the speaker - and you may wish to cover or revise what makes a good question. You may nominate a student to take notes or video record the speaker (if the speaker gives permission). And don't forget to prepare one or two students to publicly thank the speaker when they have concluded their speaking.

Preparing A Guest Speaker for Our Students

Before a guest speaker arrives, they'll need to know about practicalities as well specific speaking information. Let them know where they can park and where they'll need to go when they get to your school (you may send students to meet them at the school office). They'll need to know how many students they'll be talking with, how old the students are and whether they'll have access to equipment like a microphone, projector or way of playing videos.

You can help a guest speaker out by providing some topics you'd like them to cover or telling them what you've been exploring or covering in your classroom. You may have some questions from the students to give them an idea of what to cover in their speaking. Don't forget to give them an approximate length for speaking - and it's often better to keep it shorter with time for questions!

Who Can You Ask to Speak?

This is, of course, totally dependent on where you live and what you're studying in your classroom. Not everyone will have access to an astronaut when they're studying space (though you may be able to invite an amateur astronomer) or an author when they're studying a certain book. You may need to be creative to find an appropriate speaker or you may have to let a certain topic go and come back at another time. Alternately, you may like to work with other classes at your school or even with teachers at other neighbouring schools to invite someone who can talk with a large number of students over a day.

Here's a few ideas to match speakers to topics:

Reading the Ranger's Apprentice - invite someone who is involved with archery, someone who trains horses or someone who studies medieval history
Studying law making and enforcing - invite a politician, a public servant, a police officer or a lawyer to talk about how they're involved with the law
Studying poetry - invite a poet to talk about writing poetry or speakers from within or outside the school to share their favourite poems (this can also be done with video talks)
Learning mathematics - invite someone who uses mathematics in their job like an architect or engineer

Who was the best guest speaker you've had in your classroom? Why were they so good?

Related posts to read:

• Helping Our Students With Goal Setting

• Using Printable Resources When You Have A Photocopy Limit

• 5 Ways to Find Joy in Your Classroom and Teaching

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4 Ways to Use Songs To Make Your Lessons Sing

Some of my earliest memories of school include singing songs and using chants to remember what I was learning. (A is for Apple, A, A, A is still imprinted on my mind!). Songs are a wonderful way to help students understand and remember different learning topics - so where can we find them and how can we used them in the classroom?

Luckily for us, we live in the time of the internet and YouTube! This allows us almost instant access to some amazing educational songs which we can play right to our classes. One of my favourite bands for educational songs is They Might Be Giants. They have a couple of educational albums including Here Comes the ABCs and Here Comes the 123s, but the one I've used the most is Here Comes Science - I have a strange love for their Solid Liquid Gas song!

Schoolhouse Rock is a classic example of educational songs for a reason - even outside of the United States it's likely that you've heard at least some of their songs. These songs were originally created when an advertising executive realised that his son could remember all the lyrics to songs even though he was having trouble remembering multiplication tables. There's lots of songs available covering a range of topics - in English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.

There are also a really wide range of teacher and student created educational songs! Some educators and classes have been incredibly creative with how they've explored a topic and they've been kind enough to share their creations with the internet.

But how can we use educational songs in the classroom?

1. Introduce New Topics and Gain Interest

Songs can be a wonderful way to introduce a new topic to a class. It may be directly connected to the topic you're going to be covering (like the Solid Liquid Gas song when you're about to explore solids, liquids and gases) or it might be indirectly connected (like protest songs when you're covering the Vietnam War and reactions to it). Students can just listen to the song, watch a music video or examine the lyrics. They may note new vocabulary, discuss what they think they're going to learn, or make connections to topics they've already covered or knowledge they already have.

2. Reinforce Facts, Events or Processes

Once students have been introduced to new topics or ideas, songs can assist in reinforcing them. This can be particularly useful for things which need to be memorised, like mathematical facts or formulas or historical dates. It may also offer an alternative way of looking at a topic - something which can be very useful for some students who are having difficulty with the way the material has been covered. 

3. Prompt Questioning and Further Exploration

While songs can definitely tell a story or provide information, their structure and length - and the fact that many are written for entertainment - means that inevitably parts are left out. This is great for us as teachers though, because we can use songs to prompt further questioning and exploration - did George Washington and Alexander Hamilton really have a close working relationship like they did in Hamilton? Why did Constantinople become Istanbul? What is the story told in From Little Things Big Things Grow?

Students can brainstorm these questions while listening to the songs, annotate on the lyrics of the songs or use a display board to add questions to as they learn more about the song and the events or ideas it describes.

Looking for a song about a historical event? This Genius list includes a lot of them - though not all would be appropriate for the classroom, so check them out first.

4. Create Your Own Songs

Can't find a good song for the topic you're covering? Then write your own (or ask your students to write one for you!)

Creating a song for your students, or having your class work together or in small groups to write songs can help to refine the topic you're teaching and really concentrate on what's important. Students need to show a really good understanding of the topic to create effective songs and the process can be a great way of clarifying and assessing what they know. 

Lots of teacher and student created songs begin as parodies of well known songs - this can make life much easier because you're not having to come up with the music or the rhythm of the songs - you're just fitting words into an already created structure. Some students (and teachers!) however, may enjoy the creative freedom of coming up with a brand new song.

This step by step guide is a great place to start if you're considering writing your own educational songs.

Whether you're just listening, taking an in-depth look at educational songs as part of your teaching or planning on becoming the next Schoolhouse Rock, educational songs are a great way of adding interest and memorability to your lessons. It's definitely worth trying to fit them into a lesson where you can.

Related posts to read:

• 6 Fabulous Blog Posts for New Teachers

• 5 Ways to Find Joy in Your Classroom and Teaching

• 5 First Day of School Blog Posts to Inspire You

• Finding Communities to Support Us as Teachers

• 5 Things School Parents Might Worry About (And how teachers can help those worries)

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4 High-Interest Ways to make Law-Making Lessons Fun

This post is totally inspired by a question I saw a few weeks ago - how do you teach law-making in Australia in an interesting and engaging way? How do you make sure students really understand the law-making process? How do you avoid the knowledge and understanding test and find other ways to assess student understanding.

So often you see role-playing as the only option put forward. However, although it's fun to pretend to be the Prime Minister, it's not always practical for time or space considerations. Or you may not have enough students to play all the needed parts. And some of the role-playing scripts out there are decidedly uninspiring or require a lot of explaining to allows students to understand what's going on.

So my goal was to offer an alternative! Four different ways to explore and assess law-making which don't include role-playing! (You can still pretend to be Prime Minister though)

Create or Play A Game

Passing a bill through Australian Parliaments looks like a fairly straight-forward process to start with. However, input from different interest groups or departments, media reports, backlash from the voters or disagreements in the party room can definitely throw hurdles in the way. This makes it perfect to turn into a game. 

Once students understand the basic processes of how a bill is prepared for parliament and passes through parliament, they can brainstorm possible hurdles (or helps) and consider how they might make a game board. A snakes and ladders or beginning to end style game could work very well, as could a quest like game. Or students could turn it into a human size game using hoops, large dice and A4 sized cards.

Need a Passing an Australian Bill Activity? Get yours here.

Teacher Created Option: You could create a game board, or a series of game boards or card games yourself and have them available for students to play as part of rotations or small group work.

Create a Social Media Campaign

Social media is increasingly becoming a way to share information with other people, with government departments using it to teach citizens about new laws, important public service messages and other advice they might need. It can be fun to use the structures of social media to explore ideas in the classroom, especially when students have to think about what would be attractive or what limitations they might face.

Students can share information about law-making by making videos (like YouTube), image based posts (like Instagram or Snapchat), short text posts (like Twitter) or a mixture (like Facebook). They can start with the basic information and think about how it can be summarised, what information is most important and what is the most effective way to share it. Students can plan entire social media campaigns, or focus on one element of law-making or one style of social media.

Teacher Created Option: Present the law-making information to your students in the form of social media. You might like to collect videos, images or posts which students can work through to gather information, or create your own. This can be a great process for students to think about what information is important and what isn't!

Turn it Into a Song

I think almost everyone has seen the video about how a bill becomes a law in the United States. But what about governments outside of the USA? Educational songs are surprisingly big on YouTube, with professional musicians, teachers and students creating songs to share what they know (as well as some pretty awesome videos.) So turn it over to your students and ask them to create their own songs which share all they know about the law-making process. 

Teacher Created Option: Embrace your inner Lin-Manuel Miranda and make government processes interesting with your own song. I don't guarantee you'll have a Broadway musical out of it, though . . . 

Museum Display

Museums are well known for collecting images, text, artefacts and interactive elements to share information with viewers. Challenge your students to explore one or more aspects of the law-making process by creating their own museum display. Students will need to think about what kind of images, text and artefact they might need and how they could include an interactive element, or something like video or audio. 

Teacher Created Option: A museum display on a noticeboard or a spare table can be a great way to spark questions and thinking, especially at the beginning of the unit. Students can identify vocabulary they might need, as well as information they would like to explore further.

Related posts to read:

• Elections in the Classroom - 7 Tips for Real Learning with Minimum Controversy

• Different Types of Government (And How We Can Teach Them)

• 5 Things You Need to Teach Year 4 Civics and Citizenship

• What are Election Policies? (And how can we teach students about them?)

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6 Exciting Books for Students Who Love The Ruins of Gorlan

The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan is a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed using it to create a comprehensive book study. Recently I updated the Ruins of Gorlan resources, adding additional material and activities and offering more options for teachers using the book study in the their classrooms. To celebrate the update, I'm pleased to present a new Ruins of Gorlan blog post offering 6 additional books (with a few sneaky extras) for students who loved the Ruins of Gorlan.
 

The Mapmaker Chronicles by A.L. Tait

I've only read the first in this series (the second is in my to-read pile!) but I loved it as much as I love the Ranger's Apprentice books. It's similar in 'style' to The Ranger's Apprentice - a fictional setting similar to a real-life historical period - and there's some other similarities, but it's also very much its own book, with unique characters and antagonists and completely different adventures.

The king wants to know what lies in the world and he's looking for captains and map makers who can make it happen. Quinn, a 14 year old boy who would prefer a quiet farm life, is chosen as one of the map makers.

This would be a great read aloud book, as well as working as a whole class or small group novel study. It could be easily connected to the ideas of map making and explorers around the world and could definitely lead to some interesting discussions amongst students.

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

If you're looking for a book which combines fantasy and adventure, it's hard to go past The Hobbit. The tale of Bilbo Baggins who sets off on an unexpected adventure with a group of dwarves is a classic for a reason. Although it goes more into the fantasy side of things than The Ruins of Gorlan, it balances it nicely with adventure - making it a easier read for those students who make not have a lot of experience with the fantasy genre. 

The Hobbit is a great book as a read aloud (prepare your voice for the Gollum chapter), a small group or recommended as a reader's workshop novel. Students who finish with The Hobbit may like to go on and explore The Lord of the Rings.

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

The Ruins of Gorlan is set in a time period and place which which obviously meant to reflect medieval England. For a different look at the medieval world, students may like to explore Catherine, Called Birdy, a diary style book which examines the life of the daughter of a knight. It explores the social history of medieval life and the pressures on young girls to be married.

This would make a fascinating comparison piece with The Ruins of Gorlan. Students could discuss why John Flanagan chose to be inspired by the medieval time period while making changes, especially in the way women are treated. I think this book would be especially effective in small group discussions.

Castle by David Macaulay

For a different way of looking at the medieval world, students may like to examine Castle, a picture book which combines drawings of a fictional castle (based on detailed research) with descriptions of the construction process. This would be a brilliant book to combine with STEM activities, as students explore the different elements which go into making up a castle. This additional knowledge may also provide more context for some parts of The Ruins of Gorlan or assist students in picturing events in The Ruins of Gorlan more clearly.

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The Thief tells the story of Gen, a thief who is released from prison to assist the magus - the King's scholar. It's an excellent adventure book, with a main character who demonstrates intelligence, skill and bravery, when required - much like Will in The Ruins of Gorlan. It also demonstrates influences from historical cultures - something which would be fascinating for students to explore. This would work particularly well as an option in Reader's Workshop (especially with a good book talk) or as a read aloud book for the whole class or a small group.

Other Ranger's Apprentice books and The Brotherband Series by John Flanagan

It feels a little like cheating to include these, but they are a must read for any fans of The Ruins of Gorlan. The Ranger's Apprentice is not a strictly chronological series - the books are often gathered together in twos or threes (though there are some stand alones and a collection of short stories) and they jump forward and backward around Will's life. There's a lot in them to explore and lots of students will be caught up in the adventures of Will, Halt and their friends.

Brotherband goes off to the land of Skandia - a land we meet in the second, third and fourth Ranger's Apprentice books - and continues the adventures in a slightly different way.

Both series are great to have available - either in the classroom library or the school library - for when students have finished reading The Ruins of Gorlan. Alternatively, you may like to help a small group of Ruins of Gorlan fans conduct their own book study on one or more of the Ranger's Apprentice series when they're finished with the first book.

Related posts to read:

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

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

• Lessons from Three Characters in The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

• Using Boy Overboard in the Classroom

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

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Using Picture Books to Teach Civics (Video Post)

This video takes a quick look at pictures books and how they can be used in civics lessons in a middle grades classroom.

Find the blog post I mentioned here

The books I mentioned: I'm Australian Too by Mem Fox and Say Yes: A Story of Friendship, Fairness and a Vote for Hope by Jennifer Castles.

I'm Australian Too Book Study Pack

Know any other great books for teaching civics? Feel free to include them in the comments!

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7 Great Books to Integrate With Australian History and Social Studies

There are so many different ways to explore Australian history and social studies (or Humanities and Social Sciences as it is described in the Australian curriculum) in the classroom. One of the best ways is to use books - fiction and non fiction - which relate to the themes, ideas and events our students are exploring. I'm pleased to present seven books covering Australian social studies which are perfect for middle grades classrooms.

I'm Australian Too by Mem Fox and Ronojoy Ghosh

While the text seems simple at first, there's a lot in this picture book to explore and discuss when it comes to Australian identity, those who come to Australia and things which represent Australia. Students can look at and research some of the different reasons people come to Australia, comparing and contrasting different stories. They may also like to contribute their own stories or interview someone who has travelled to Australia and become an Australian citizen. It would definitely be a great book to extend ideas when looking at citizenship and modern Australian history. You can also use the book to discuss global citizenship and the responsibilities different countries and individuals have - or should have - to people in other parts of the world.

You can get an I'm Australian Too Book Study resource at the Galarious Goods Shop

How to Build Your Own Country by Valerie Wyatt and Fred Rix

This is a brilliant non-fiction book for any classroom covering government or economics! What would you do if you had your own country? What would you need to know? How do you stop your country from falling apart? While this book walks you through the process of setting up your own country, it also looks at the knowledge which will help any young country builder make their country an excellent one. You can use it as the foundation of a teaching unit, dig into bits of it for different activities or make it available for those students who want to explore further. It's not an Australian-centric book, but it's a great general look at some really important topics.

Book Trailer for How to Build Your Own Country

The Mostly True Story of Matthew and Trim by Cassandra Golds and Stephen Axelsen

Australian history told through a graphic novel? Yes please! This graphic novel tells the story of Matthew Flinders who circumnavigated and mapped Australia. You can use this in small groups in the classroom, with students comparing the graphic novel retelling with other histories of Matthew Flinders. Students can discuss why Flinder's story is important and what his achievements meant to Australia and compare him to other explorers and map makers. Students can also look at the geographical challenges of map making and make their own maps - an activity which can also integrate reading and social studies with mathematics!

Say Yes: A Story of Friendship, Fairness and a Vote for Hope by Jennifer Castles and Paul Seden

This beautiful book is centred around the friendship between an Aboriginal girl and a non-Aboriginal girl and the 1967 Referendum in Australia. Including images, paper ephemera and newspaper clippings from the time, it explores how many laws at the time were unfair to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia and invites readers to think about how things could be better going forward into the future. It's a perfect social studies book, which can be related to law making and the rule of law, to referendums, to what a census is and how it impacts decision making as well as modern Australian history. Examining the images in the book could also give students inspiration when they're sharing their own history research.

News story about the friendship behind Say Yes - A Story of Friendship, Fairness and a Vote for Hope

Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman

It can be really meaningful to students to link a class novel study with a social studies unit. Morris Gleitzman's Boy Overboard is an excellent book for any class examining why people come to Australia and what it means to be Australian. The story of Jamal and his family who flee the Taliban in Afghanistan for the safety of Australia, readers get to see the difficulties refugees can face and the motivations which can turn people into refugees in the first place. It's a great book to read while looking at modern history, those who have come to Australia over history or global citizenship and one which students can study and read as a class novel or investigate as a teacher read-aloud.

If I Was Prime Minister by Beck Feiner and Robin Feiner

This is such a fun and interesting book for students to explore. It poses the question of what children might do if they were prime minister of Australia - a questions which allows student imaginations to go a little wild. But this also allows students to ask what the real role of a Prime Minister is - and what responsibilities a Prime Minister has/

Refuge by Jackie French

Jackie French has so many books which are excellent to tie in with Australian social studies - I could make an entire post containing only her books! Refuge is a really interesting book to read - it went in a totally different direction from what I expected. I think this one would make a particularly good read aloud - particularly if students make predictions about the story before it began. Refuge looks at different people from different time periods who have come to one land as refugees and find themselves in a rather odd place. It is very good to connect to Australian history and I highly recommend it.

You can read more about Refuge at Jackie French's website

Related posts to read:

• 10 Books for Classrooms Exploring Boy Overboard

• 8 Free Resources for Classrooms Reading Boy Overboard

• Using I'm Australian Too in Upper Primary Classrooms

• What Does it Mean to Be Australian?: Using Picture Books in the Classroom to Explore Australian Identity

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Positive Reflection for Teachers (Video Post)

This video explores a few ways we can prompt ourselves to reflect in a positive manner and how it can help us with our teaching practice. Don't miss the birds who decided to add a bit of positive reflection themselves!

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5 Galarious Goods Resources I Absolutely Love
Celebrating Galarious Goods! Welcome to Our First Birthday Party!

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5 Galarious Goods Resources I Absolutely Love

I'm celebrating the first year anniversary of Galarious Goods! Last week, I took a bit of an overall approach to celebrating and talked a little about celebrating in the classroom. This week, I want to take a little look at the shop I've created and which teaching resources are my personal favourites!

Boy Overboard Complete Novel Study Bundle

This is one of my strongest performing resources, so I know I'm not alone in loving it. I first came across the Morris Gleitzman book back in 2009 when I studied it with some of the students I was teaching at the time. It remains such a strong and relevant book, looking at why people become refugees and what they give up to get themselves and their families to safety. 

The novel study was interesting to put together because Morris Gleitzman often uses short chapters and answering comprehension questions for each chapter would be an incredibly lengthy (and quite boring) process. I worked on grouping chapters which worked well together and then finding the comprehension questions which would work best for that selection of chapters. It was also the first time I created a 'all in one sheet' - a printable sheet with comprehension questions, vocabulary questions and a 'going deeper' activity - these could go together to make a book students could work through or go home as homework sheets. I was thrilled to repeat this with the Nim's Island Novel Study. 

Get your copy here

Getting Involved Lessons

As politics and governments become more talked about around the world, I believe there is a sense of people looking for ways they can get involved - including students. These lessons were designed to help students get involved in local, national and global issues - to think about what they really cared about, to research how they could get involved, to get information out to others and to take action. I feel that this is a really important message to get out to students - that there are things they can do to create a better world for themselves and others.

This was probably the most comprehensive approach I've taken to lessons. I tried hard to think of everything a teacher might need to teach them and either provide them or provide ideas and resources which the teachers can include (I couldn't quite figure out how to include students' elected representatives to give class talks within a digital resource!). It was also the first time I included PDF presentation files which are formatted files to be used with projectors or interactive whiteboards or used on devices. 

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Magna Carta, Westminster System and Australia Mini Unit

What do you know about the Magna Carta, the Westminster System and how they influence the Australian system of government? Well this mini unit has everything you need to teach this to your Year 6 students. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this one, especially writing differentiated fact sheets to allow all students to be engaged with this important democratic foundation. The resource was awesome for this - particularly because I found some wonderful videos on YouTube about the Magna Carta - well worth watching with your students.

I was also surprised at how relevant some of this information was - I really didn't think I'd be applying the research for this to modern day politics. It also has allowed me to really enjoy some documentaries on the topic and related topic - more knowledge is fun!

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Christmas Math and Engineering Paper Chain Challenges

This is a totally out of season resource to talk about and I don't even care because I like it so much. STEM and maths investigations is not something I do a lot of, but they are topics I completely believe in and thoroughly enjoy. I also love making Christmas chains, so this was the perfect combination. 

Many of these challenges are just plain fun - something to enjoy while you wind down for Christmas break. Students can look at measurement, strength, materials and creation techniques through these challenges, while thinking about mathematic and engineering processes.

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Pearl Verses the World Novel Study Bundle

The book Pearl Verses the World by Sally Murphy is one of my favourites. I first read it not long after it was released and it produced all the tears. It's also a great one to read in the classroom or to have students explore on their own. These novel study resources ask students to look at comprehension and vocabulary and the novel as a whole, but also allow for the exploration of poetry, within and outside of the novel.

I wrote this one on a beach holiday, so the feel of the beach is definitely throughout the resource for me. I also loved that I got to write my own poetry for this resource. It was great to flex some of those creative writing muscles again.

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What Was New in June 2017?

We're halfway through 2017! I'm a little amazed at how quickly the last 6 months has gone - I'm pretty sure we only just got through Christmas!

So what happened in June 2017?

June was all about law making in Australia - where do the ideas for them come from and how are they passed through Parliament and applied? As well as the two mini units, there's a lesson excerpt (perfect if you just want to concentrate on the passage of a bill through parliament), a mini-unit bundle, word wall and posters and assessment resources, as well as a complete bundle. It was a real learning experience putting these together - I never thought I'd read a parliamentary handbook before this!

I also updated the Ranger's Apprentice resources - comprehension and vocabulary, research tasks, character tasks and whole novel activities - as well as the US Bundle and the UK Bundle. These are so much more comprehensive, with a greater range of activities for the classroom. It's also been a great excuse to dip back into the Ranger's Apprentice books.

Another update was the Classroom Library Explorations Activities. These three activities now have new options, task cards and a cleaner look as well as a US Letter Paper option.

In the blogging world, I've looked at activities which allow you to explore Nim's Island out of the classroom, 9 books to read if you like Nim's Island, 3 ways to investigate stereotypes using the Nim's Island movie, and I've shared a post about Galarious Goods' first birthday and celebrating learning in the classroom. I've also created my first video talking about fitting in celebrations in the library - I shared it on the Galarious Goods facebook page first, then uploaded it onto YouTube - so it's easy to find! I'm really looking forward to making more videos in the future.

Behind the Scenes

We're enjoying school holidays here at the moment - with park visits and lots of library time. We're also planning for a 5 year old birthday party early next month - with a Go-Jetters, all around the world theme!

I've been working on a book study for Mem Fox's I'm Australian Too - it's a picture book, but there's a huge amount for middle grade students to explore. It also connects nicely with Australian and Global citizenship - the next Year 6 civics and citizenship unit.

Keep an eye on Instagram for more updates!

Hope you have had a great June and you've got a great July on the way!

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