Drawing and Describing a Place: Exploring Settings in Novel Studies

How important is the setting when we’re exploring a novel? For some people the obvious answer is - well it depends on the novel. But many novels we explore in the classroom have rich and vivid settings and many of those settings benefit from a closer look. Here’s one easy way you can explore the settings when you engage in a novel study with your class.

Why settings are important

There are a range of reasons why settings are important to our stories. Sometimes even the seemingly mundane setting - a school or a suburban house - still tells us a lot about our characters and the events which are happening. But many settings are important for other reasons.

Sometimes the setting plays a starring role in the action of the story. The twisty path which requires Annemarie to move a little slower in Number the Stars has a direct impact on the events of the story. Similarly the magic of Terabithia comes as much from the place itself as it does from Jess and Leslie playing there with their imaginations - and has a direct impact on the most important part of the story. The different places Rowan and the other characters journey through in Rowan of Rin often decides who can go on and who will have to stop the journey at that point.

Other settings set the scene to allow us to better understand the story. Barringa East Primary tells us so much we need to know about the whole neighbourhood - and Erica Yurken - when we read Hating Alison Ashley. The refugee camp and then the detention camp which Jamal and Bibi find themselves in during Boy Overboard allow us to see both opportunities and hopelessness. 

Sometimes the settings allow us to ask more questions. What does Coraline’s other house tell us about her real house? What does Leslie’s house tell us about her and her parents in Bridge to Terabithia? Why do the Rangers live tucked away in little cabins in the Ranger’s Apprentice books?

Why should we draw the places?

Once we recognise that the settings are important, we need to look at how our students can further explore them. One easy way is to look at what that setting contains.

By drawing the settings, students are looking at them from a different point of view, away from the words on the page. Students may not draw a setting perfectly, but they can think about what details they should include, beginning to think about which features are the most important. Students can also use this experience of drawing the setting to develop more questions about it. They might ask why an author chose to include a particular detail or why one aspect of the setting was more important to the main character than another.

Students can go further by labelling or annotating their drawing. They can add words, arrows or symbols to their drawing to add extra meaning or to help them gain a better understanding of the place created by the author.

Another way to draw the setting is from the bird's eye view, like a map or a diagram showing the different elements of the place. Students might like to combine a map and a drawing to show a better understanding of the setting.

Why should we describe the places?

Once students have moved the words from the book into pictures on a page, they can go back and describe the setting in their own words. This helps students to cement their understanding, to show how the characters interact with the setting or how the setting plays a role in the narrative.

An easy way to write a description is to think about what the setting looks like, what it sounds like and what it might feel like to the people who are standing in that setting. This way of describing a setting ensures that the experiences of the characters is related back to the setting. Students can also write a more traditional description or they could reflect on how a stranger or a different character might describe the setting differently to the main characters. 

These words and drawings can be placed together and students might like to return to one or both of them to adjust them as they continue to look at the novel. You can also combine the different drawings and descriptions in the class, allowing students to explore the different ways their classmates experienced the same setting. This is a great activity to put together as a classroom display or to show in the school office or the school library.

Have you drawn and described settings with your students? Share your experiences in the comments!

Related posts to read:

• Exploring Author Intention

• Addressing Controversial Topics in the Classroom

• 3 Ways to Engage Students with Folding Vocabulary Lessons

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

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Using Digital Resources to Inspire Creative Writing in the Classroom

Creative writing is one of the easier topics to teach remotely - after all, it just needs pen and paper and an instruction from a teacher, right? While that is true, there are a number of digital tools teachers can use to make creative writing easier, more interactive and just more fun for students. And these tools work great for both remote and in-person teaching!

Writing Prompts

Sometimes it can be really hard to start writing from a blank piece of paper, especially when the days are melting into each other and inspiration can be hard to find. This is when teachers can step in with some writing prompts to make it that bit easier to get writing.

There’s some great writing prompt websites available, thanks to some very creative people. One of my favourites is Pobble 365, a website which combines a picture prompt with a story starter, questions and even art suggestions. Students can look at the daily prompt, or choose a day from the calendar.

Students might also respond well to picture prompts. They might like to use freewriting cards like these ones, or you might like to choose a range of photos to send to them to warm up their writing muscles. Unsplash is a high quality photography site with a wide range of images which you can download and send to your students for writing.

If you want to give students a little more power over the prompt they use, you might like to engage them in a digital creative writing resource like this Galarious Goods school one. This resource offers a page filled with click and drag prompts which students can combine to make their own story starter (each resource has 216 different possible combinations!)

Brainstorming Tools

Brainstorming is a great way to expand on writing prompts before actually starting to write the story. Students can use a range of digital tools to assist with this brainstorming. A simple way to allow for collaborative brainstorming is by sharing a Google Doc (or a shared document in another shared learning platform). You can open this up to your whole class or create pairs or small groups by only sharing it with certain students. Students can add text, images, story ideas, links and more and you can easily monitor their engagement in the process.

You can also use more structured online tools for creative writing. Students may enjoy using a mind mapping tool like Bubble.us to organise their plots and ideas, or they can use a brainstorming tool as part of a bigger resource like the Creative Writing Digital Resource.

Writing with Slideshows and Documents

There’s lots of tools when students come to writing their stories, from the old pencil and paper to word processing tools (and even voice recognition apps!). Word processing tools and slide show tools (like Power Point and Google Slides) can be some of the most effective tools, with students able to combine text and images, able to create picture books and able to easily share with others for collaborative work and to share with their teachers. Students can also use the linking tools in slide show tools to create choose your own pathway stories or to create ‘tables of contents’ for their work - as a teacher you can also combine student work into a ‘class book’ of stories using these tools.

Reflecting

When students finish their writing, it’s important to take the time to reflect on their work. Students can write about how they felt as they were working on the writing and what they think worked well or not so well. They can use comment features on documents and slide shows to add information about how their writing went, or they can use a structured reflection tool that you share with them. 

Have your students engaged in creative writing using digital tools? Share your experience or any great tools you’ve used in the comments

Related posts to read:

• Writing Skills and Expectations Before Goal Setting

• What is Freewriting? (And how can it be used to teach writing?)

• Including Freewriting In Your Classroom Writing Centres

• Where Do We Find Persuasive Writing?

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5 Ways to Help Students Learn When They Can't Be at School

We’re currently in one of those moments - the moments which history remembers. With a pandemic spreading around the world and countries slowly (or quickly) shutting down, our own governments are having to make some tough decisions about what happens next.

For many of us, that means schools closing. Which comes with a wide range of challenges - have our students got access to technology? Have they got an environment in which they can learn? How can we make sure they cover the curriculum in the best way possible?

I definitely don’t have all the answers, but I’ve been thinking about some ways which might make it a little easier to get learning to our students over the coming weeks and months.

1. Use Information Sheets and Activities

When we teach science and social studies, so much of it revolves around content and learning basic facts and concepts. Information sheets can be excellent for providing this information to students, allowing them to also explore content reading.

One way to share information sheets is as a PDF file - with a PDF reader like Adobe Reader allowing students to add their own notes to the sheet. If students have access to a printer or are provided with a package, these can be highlighted and written on as well.

Follow up activities can be as easy as identifying key information and vocabulary in the resource, through to developing further questions, turning the information into a diagram, creating a poster or cartoon about the information or creating a series of comprehension questions for other readers.

The Australian Government mini units for Year 4, 5 and 6 are designed around information sheets and follow up activities. To only send students the pages you wish to send them from a purchased resource, you can use the Print as PDF feature in Adobe Reader to save those particular pages, then share them with your students.

2. Research Activities

Research activities are great across a wide range of subjects. Want to explore the works of a particular author when school returns? Ask students to research that author! Want students to understand the daily importance of maths? Ask them to investigate some of the ways they’re using maths every day at home! Want kids to travel without travelling? Ask them to research a country!

Research can be honestly difficult for students, so you may like to provide some scaffolding - either in the form of additional questions for students to take a closer look at (eg. What are 3 important things in the history of that country? What are some popular foods in that country?) or by providing some additional research tools.

Click here to download some research tasks you might like to share with your class. To allow you to easily load these onto online classrooms or closed learning spaces, these are available as a collection of jpg images and on a PDF.

If you’re considering a novel study for Boy Overboard, The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice) or Nim’s Island this year, there are also research resources available which students may be able to explore before they read the book.

3. Writing Activities

Writing is one of the easiest tasks to set for home. Students just need something to write on and with - whether it’s paper and pencil or a laptop or device. Students can even experiment with some of the dictation tools available!

Writing tasks can be easily shared - on a piece of paper in a package, in an email to parents, through an online classroom. Students can send their work back too - even if they need to photograph it to send it through.

Writing tasks can be fiction or nonfiction, reflective or imaginative, big or little. You can set text prompts, picture prompts or no prompts at all. And - just to make it even more attractive - writing also helps with reading.

Click here to download some writing tasks you might like to share with your class. To allow you to easily load these onto online classrooms or closed learning spaces, these are available as a collection of jpg images and on a PDF.

I also have a collection of Freewriting activities and prompts, and a blog post which you can share with your students.

4. Digital Resources

There’s definitely going to be a boom in digital resources appearing in the next few days and weeks, but they have both advantages and drawbacks. Good digital resources should be more than just worksheets with text boxes. They embrace moveable elements and different ways of engaging with learning. However, using them also involves an amount of technological know-how (including the most important ‘undo’ buttons on Google slides resources!)

One exciting option is to ask your students who have access to computers or devices to create their own digital resources using Power Point, Keynote or Google Slides. They can explore adding information, including moveable parts and text boxes, trying to add videos or audio, any required animations or transitions - and for some extra fun, linking from one slide to another.

There are currently 7 Government focused Galarious Goods digital resources available looking at types of government and elements of democracy. 

5. Character, Setting, Retelling and Whole Novel Exploration

You may have reached the end of your class novel before school was closed. Or you may have been given permission to read your class novel through an online classroom. Or students may be lucky enough to have their own copy of the novel. If this is the case, you can absolutely continue taking an in-depth look at this novel.

While it might be harder to do comprehension or vocabulary activities remotely, there’s lots of ways you can explore characters, settings or the novel as a whole. Ask students to create profiles of the main characters, to write letters between characters or to create lists of how the characters might behave if they were in lockdown. Ask them to create tourist guides of the settings or to compare one setting with another. And ask students to retell the story or to look at some of the themes or events from the novel.

You can find a free resource for Retelling here as well as free sample packs for Boy Overboard, Nim’s Island and Hating Alison Ashley. You can also find a wide range of Novel and Picture Book resources at Galarious Goods - many of which you can utilize in a home setting. 

Take care and stay safe

Related posts to read:

• Taking Care of Ourselves as Teachers

• 8 Free Resources for Classrooms Reading Boy Overboard

• 9 Brilliant Books to Read if You Love Nim's Island

• Explore the Pig the Pug Series with these Writing Tasks

• 3 Ways to Engage Students with Folding Vocabulary Lessons

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12 Books to Read After Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas

Whitney and Britney are the singing chickens coming to your classroom! But what books can you explore with your students once you’ve finished the story of the Chicken Divas? Here’s a list of 12 related picture books I’ve put together for you!

Books about Chickens

1. Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins

Rosie goes on a walk, not realising that she’s being followed by a fox. The poor fox - who is obviously up to no good - is met with disaster every step of the way. This is a great book for comparisons - comparing what Rosie does with what happens to the fox, but also comparing the relationship between fox and chickens in Chicken Divas and the relationship in Rosie’s Walk.

2. Peggy by Anna Walker

Peggy is happy living in her little house, getting on with her daily activities . . . until one day a gust of wind blows her away and she finds herself in the middle of a city. Peggy needs to use her problem solving skills to get back home. Students can compare the behaviour of Peggy with the behaviour of Whitney and Britney - deciding which of the activities are ‘normal’ chicken activities and which ones are a little more unusual.

3. Banjo and Ruby Red by Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood

While this story focuses on Banjo, the best chook dog, you can’t forget about the spirited Ruby Red who defies the barks of Banjo until she can’t anymore. This story explores the friendship and love between these two animals and is a great story for prompting discussion about whether animals can have feelings and relationships.

Books about Performing Animals

4. Alpacas with Maracas by Matt Cosgrove

If you’re looking for animals who want to perform, you can’t go past that other musical (or not so musical) duo, Macca and Al. This is another great book for comparisons - looking at the different ways the animals put together their acts and the way they were received - and a great excuse for a class dance party!

5. Dance is For Everyone by Andrea Zuill

What do you do when an alligator turns up at your dance class? This gentle book is a great exploration of some of the issues that might arise when unexpected animals just want to dance. Students can brainstorm some of the other issues of animals turning up wanting to dance, explore animal themed music like The Carnival of the Animals or Flight of the Bumblebee or even create a dance featuring animals.

6. Josephine Wants to Dance by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley

Josephine just wants to dance - even when her brother tells her she can’t. When the ballet company needs her, she’s thrilled to leap her way into the performance. This is a lovely book looking at why an animal might like to perform - students can explore some of the reasons Josephine wants to dance and create their own reasons for Whitney and Britney.

Books about Solving Mysteries (like Dora)

7. What the Ladybird Heard Next by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks

When eggs go missing from the farm, the ladybird and her friends have a mystery to solve. This is a more complex problem than Dora’s but it’s delightful watching the animals working together to outwit the terrible crims and the different types of poultry make this a lovely follow up to Chicken Divas

8. The Very Hungry Bear by Nick Bland

Bear also has a food related problem - he’s hungry. Polar Bear can solve his problem, if Bear can solve Polar Bear’s problem. This is a great book for retelling - looking at the different problems the characters face and how they eventually solve them. 

9. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas

This is a very different type of problem Wilfred is trying to solve - he’s trying to help his neighbour find her memories. This is a lovely book to make connections between the past and the future - just like Dora used to be a performer and remembers this when she discovers the Chicken Divas, Wilfred uses different tools to help his neighbour remember her past.

Books about Foxes (And Wolves)

10. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

Foxes get a bad reputation in books. But just like Dora is a sweet fox who gets on very well with everyone around her, Alexander T Wolf wants you to know that he’s a really nice guy, wolves aren’t all bad and the story of the Three Little Pigs is just a big misunderstanding. This is a great opportunity to discuss how foxes and wolves are represented in media and why they are almost always the ‘bad guy’.

11. Fox  by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks

Fox is more true to stereotypes in this picture book more suited to middle and upper primary readers. Exploring friendship, trust and loneliness, this is a great book as a contrast to Chicken Divas. Students may like to compare the different ways text and fonts are used in both books and how they influence the way the readers read and react to the two books.

12. Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox and Patricia Mullins

Just as we started with a book with a chicken and a fox, so we end! Hattie can see something, but all the other animals dismiss her . . . until all of a sudden we see the sneaky fox! This is an easy to read book which students can also compare with Chicken Divas. Students might like to question why Lucinda Gifford chose to make Dora a nice fox, when foxes are so often portrayed as sneaky or dangerous.

Have you got any other books you would add to this list? Leave a comment to let me know.

The link on this page are not affiliate links - these books are usually available from a wide range of retailers, as well as your school or local library

Related posts to read:

• 5 ANZAC Day Picture Books to Use in Your Classroom

• 6 Great Books to Integrate With Australian Social Studies

• 6 Exciting Books for Students Who Love The Ruins of Gorlan

• 10 Books for Classrooms Exploring Boy Overboard

• 9 Brilliant Books to Read if You Love Nim's Island

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5 Things to Teach About Democracy in the Classroom

Democracy is such an important topic to teach in the classroom - but what should we be covering when we teach democracy? Here’s five things which will help students gain a better understanding of democracy - and where we find it in the world around us.

1. What is Democracy?

Before students can gain a deeper understanding of democracy, they need to understand what it is. They might like to start with breaking the word down - democracy is a Greek word meaning rule or strength by the people.

In our modern world, we understand democracy is a type of government where citizens get an equal say in how things are run - usually through voting.

This is a good opportunity to explore what voting looks like. Students may have accompanied adults as they vote and they can talk about what they see. You can also share photos of voting around the world - whether it’s Australians voting at an Antarctic station, a primary caucus in Iowa or voting in space!

Students can also talk about other places they see voting - whether it’s voting in the classroom or voting for a reality television show. 

2. Where Does Democracy Come From?

If you’re digging deeper into democracy, it’s good to know where it comes from - and how modern democracy is different. 

Democracy started in ancient Athens around 508-507 BCE. It was a change from ‘aristocracy’ - rule by the elite - with the idea that ‘the people’ of Athens should have a say in how the city state was run. The ‘people’ - those who got to vote and were involved in decision making - was quite restricted though - women, slaves and non-citizens were all excluded.

Students might like to reflect on how the development of democracy would have changed the life of Athenians who were able to vote. They might also like to research some of the features of democracy in Athens like ostracism and the red rope!

3. Common Features of Democracy

What features usually accompany democracy? From elections, to majority vote to the right to protest against the government, there are a range of features which people usually associate with democracy. These can change from country to country - not every country has free speech, for example - but the philosophy of everyone having the right to participate in decision making is usually behind these features.

Students might like to create a list of the features of democracy they know about and discuss why those features exist. They might also like to examine what can make democracy fairer and look at how some countries have worked to create fairer systems. To extend this, students might like to argue to a change to their own democratic system - from how the senate is created, to how votes are cast, to a change in who is allowed to vote.

4. Types of Democracy

There are two main kinds of democracy - representative democracy and direct democracy. In direct democracy, voters vote for all the decisions. In a representative democracy, voters vote for representatives who serve to make laws and decisions.

Many countries have a mixture of direct and representative democracy. In many countries, almost all laws are created by representatives. However, when the law is particularly big, or there’s a lot of conflict about passing it, laws might be referred to the public to be voted on. This is called a referendum.

Students might like to look at the benefits and drawbacks of both kinds of democracy and write a persuasive argument about which one they believe is better. They can also research notable referendum and talk about the different arguments people might put forward when they convince people to vote for laws.

5. Where Do We See Democracy?

It can be tempting for people to dismiss democracy as not important, but it’s essential for students to see the impacts of democracy all around us. From politicians belonging to different political parties, to newspapers being allowed to disagree with the government, to people being allowed to sign online petitions to ask the government to change something, democracy influences our lives more than we might realise.

Students can talk about the places they see democracy - or the influences of democracy - in their life and talk about how things might be different if only some people were allowed to vote. They can discuss how voting rights have changed over time and whether there are still changes required. They can also look at how different countries celebrate democracy - from democracy sausages in Australia, to I voted stickers, to election night parties.

How do you explore democracy in your classroom? Let me know in the comments below.

Related posts to read:

• What are Political Parties, Why Do They Matter and How Can We Teach Them?

• 7 Things You May Not Know About Government in Australia

• Australian Election Myths (And Teaching Ideas for a Better Understanding of Elections)

• 6 Great Books to Integrate With Australian Social Studies

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

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Starting a New Teaching Job on a Limited Budget

When I started teaching full time I had very little money. I’d done relief work and one short contract before taking on this full time role. And it was a contract for one term only - I had no idea whether it would be extended or not. So there wasn’t a lot of money to spend on setting up a classroom.

With the ABC News article about a new teacher spending hundreds of dollars on preparing for the first day of school, I thought it was worthwhile looking at how you can set up a warm, welcoming and prepared for learning classroom when you’ve got a limited budget.

The Bare Minimum

What’s the bare minimum you need for a new teaching job? It depends from person to person, but my bare minimum would include a broad brimmed hat for outside, some sort of planner and a pencil case or two.

It’s worth investing in the hat as a piece of safety equipment (and get a sun safe one over a fashionable one) - protecting your skin on playground duty, during sports events or those times when you need to get outside is 100% worth it. 

You can completely plan on your computer . . . but computers and school computer systems aren’t always reliable. A physical planner (or even a notebook) can give you a place to jot down a few notes when you have to fall back onto the old technology. Having a pencil case with some of your favourite pens (well named so they’ve got a chance of getting back to you!) and scissors and glue also gives you tools for any occasion. A spare pencil case with spare pencils, erasers and a sharpener can help for students who don’t have the tools they need to learn.

Finding Free Resources

Looking for more for your classroom, but your budget is spent? Ask if your school has a resource room or teacher resources as part of the library. I remember discovering the poster drawer in our school library - all the posters you could even need to decorate a room. The resource room was also filled with maths tools and science tools - all free for my class to borrow.

You can also use the school library for books in your classroom or talk to your local public library about whether they’ve got special conditions for teacher borrowing.

Don’t forget about free resources on Teachers Pay Teachers - searching for poster and narrowing the search to ‘free’ gave me more than 50 000 results. Bloggers might also have free resources available by signing up with their email list - like the Galarious Goods resource library!

Buying Affordably

What do you really need - or would really like - in your classroom? It’s worthwhile reflecting on this before you spend a lot of money. Then look for ways to buy these items affordably.

Op shops or thrift shops are GREAT for finding treasures. They’re especially reliable for books (and if you have one of the amazing Lifeline Bookfests near you, it’s even better) and you can easily build a small second hand collection, saving money for the special books. It’s also worthwhile looking at some of the bigger op shops for furniture - I found a great second hand bookshelf one year which I painted and put in my classroom. Don’t forget to look at their homewares or bric a brac or toy sections for other possible treasures.

Keep an eye on back to school sales in big shops like Kmart, Big W, Aldi and Office Works to find bits and pieces - but use catalogues and lists to stop overbuying!

If you’re looking to use fabric for displays or to cover furniture, choose your fabric carefully. Poplin - which is a great, light fabric is often quite affordable, as is some of the homeware fabrics for furniture. It’s worth browsing some of the lower cost fabric shops like East Coast Fabrics or The Remnant Warehouse in Australia for specials too.

Buying Thoughtfully

Are you interested in having a themed classroom? One way to achieve this on a limited budget is to pick a very broad theme - it might be rainbow or colourful, nature or the colour blue. You can add these touches to the classroom without having to go all out and it will still bring your theme to life. And it allows you to make changes as the years go by and trends change.

Falling in love with teaching ideas and items on Instagram? Stop and think about whether those teaching ideas will really work for you, in the classroom space you have and with the grade level you have. It’s ok to let ideas go through to other teachers! Also ask yourself if you can put purchases off for a little bit - can you buy a fancy lanyard later in the year when you have some pay saved? Can you make a list of things you’d like to add to the classroom later on once you know your students better?

Don’t forget - classes change all the time in the first weeks of school! In my first term, I went from a Year 4 class to a Year 3/4 class once Day 8 numbers came in. The next year I moved from 6/7 to a straight 7 and the year after that from 6/7 to 5/6 - I never took a class list as set in stone! Unfortunately this is also the time when teachers might also lose their new contracts or may be moved to other schools. Be prepared for any possibility in the first weeks of school.

What Really Matters?

In the end, it isn’t what is on your walls or floors which really matters - it’s what you’re teaching. My son’s prep teacher had very little classroom decoration on the first day of school. Instead she filled her walls with student work - celebrating everything they were doing and rotating it as new work was produced. Students loved taking their parents to see their latest work - they were so proud of what they’d achieved.

It’s totally ok to have the bare minimum when it comes to decoration and to allow your students to create the classroom space. It’s also ok to save your money for resources which will support you as a teacher, whether they’re resources which support your weaker subjects (I always needed more science support!), resources which make your life a little easier when you need them day after day or resources which bring a particular book or subject to life.

What are your back to school savings tips? Share them in the comments!

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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Using Back to School Reading Tools in Your Classroom

We all understand how important reading is in the classroom. But how can we ensure we make reading important from the very first day of school?  Here’s some tools you can use to create a reading friendly environment in your classroom as part of your back to school preparations!

1. Tools to assess where students are

• Unless you’re teaching first year of school students or students who are new to the school, it’s likely that your students have participated in reading testing - they might even have a reading level recorded. Don’t ignore this! Use this as a launch pad for your own reading testing.

• Your school probably has a system of reading testing. If you’re new to the school (or to teaching) ask around to find out what it is and jump into it as soon as you can (it can be a HUGE job). If your school doesn’t have a testing system, grab a couple of texts (easier, at grade level and harder) and ask students to read them to you individually. This gives you a starting place to work from.

• As well as assessing reading level, consider assessing how your students feel about reading. Do they like reading? What do they like reading? Where do they like reading? When do they like reading? What are their past experiences with reading? By asking these questions, you’re showing students that their experiences and feelings about reading are real and valid, and getting a better introduction into the reading life of your students.

2. Tools for setting goals.

• Before you set reading goals with students, you might like to spend some time exploring what reading goals might look like. Students might focus on reading levels or skill attainment, and that’s great, but student reading goals can also look like the reading goals of adults. Students might like to engage in a reading challenge to try different books, work towards reading a certain number of books, aim to write book reviews for some of the books they’re reading or participate in book discussions with their classmates.

• Students should reflect on what their goal would look like and how they’d know that they achieved it. This might mean creating a recording chart for their goal or they might write a journal reflecting on the work they’re doing to achieve their goal.

• Don’t forget to ask students what they’ll need to achieve their goal. For some students it will be access to a wide range of books. Others will need time to read or materials to draw up their recording chart. Some might need to learn how to write a book review, or how to use a dictionary effectively. This is a great discussion to have in individual reading conferences allowing students to make choices and take responsibility, while also showing them that you care about their reading goal

3. Tools for creating the environment

• What does your classroom tell your students about reading? Stand in the doorway and look in. Have you got any books on display? Have you got a classroom library or a reading corner? Are there posters about reading or books? Think about what message you want students to get about reading as they walk into the classroom and see if there’s anyway to make those messages obvious.

• Establishing a whole classroom library can be expensive, but choosing a few books to display can still prioritise reading without breaking the budget. Your school library or local public library may have a selection of books, and you can coordinate these with subjects you’re going to cover in history or science. 

• There are so many posters related to reading which you can display in your classroom. You might include posters of book covers, posters recommending different books, posters with book genres. You might have posters with sayings or quotes about reading. Printable posters (like these ones) can be found easily at TeachersPayTeachers, then printed and laminated to use year after year. 

• Creating a reading corner is another way to show students that you prioritise reading. A reading corner might be themed and decorated, but it might just include somewhere to sit, some posters and a collection of books.

• Don’t forget to include written recommendations in your classroom! You might start with recommendations from yourself, or you could include recommendations from other teachers in the school, your own family members - even your family pet! (Our chickens are fond of  The Fabulous Friend Machine by Nick Bland). Recommendations don’t have to be long - a line or two could be enough to grab the attention of a curious reader.

4. Tools to make reading fun

• Is reading fun in your classroom? Before the school year starts, think of some activities to bring reading alive for your students.

• Students might like to incorporate STEM with reading and design a book holding machine (so you can eat and read at the same time) or design a way of keeping books safe in the rain.

• You might like to have some funny and engaging books ready for the first day of school. Take a little time to read the first few pages - or a particularly funny bit - aloud, then offer the book for students to read (or create a list for read alouds throughout the year)

• Allow students the chance to explore some of the books they might like to read that year. Work with your school librarian to explore the library or hold a book tasting in your classroom. 

How do you embrace reading at the beginning of the school year? Share your tips and ideas in the comments!

Related posts to read:

• 5 Ways to Find Joy in Your Classroom and Teaching

• 5 First Day of School Blog Posts to Inspire You

• 5 Great Reads for Teachers Setting Goals

• Finding Communities to Support Us as Teachers

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

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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?

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5 Ideas for Teaching Community and Helpers After Disasters

As I sit to write this blog post, three states of Australia are dealing with deadly bushfires. The television and social media is filled with pictures and stories of devastation, and there’s very real fears for our native fauna and flora.

But amongst that, people keep finding moments which lift us. A volunteer firefighter mum who writes brilliant, raw and funny pieces. A pharmacist who lost his home, but continues to work - without electricity - to make sure his community has medication. So many different groups travelling hours to make sure evacuees and volunteers are well fed and looked after. We see how strong community can be in the worst of times and how people can come together to make the best of horrific situations.

I’m not a counsellor or trained in counselling in schools, but I know students will be starting the new school year in January and February, filled with big emotions and big questions connected to these fires. There will be a huge need for professional assistance, but we know that classroom teachers will also have to respond to the events of this summer - even in communities which haven’t been impacted.

At times like this, I am often reminded of the Mister Roger’s quote: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

There have been no shortage of helpers during these fires - helpers who remind us of all the best parts of community. Here’s a few ways you might like to explore community and helpers in the classroom.

1. Define the Idea of Community

What is a community? What does it look like? What does it feel like to be part of a community?

These might be easier questions to answer in some small towns - community can be partially defined by the borders of the town - but it can be more difficult when you’re talking about cities or suburbs. Students might look beyond the physical boundaries of a community and instead reflect on their school communities, different faith communities or the interest communities for both adults and children (sports, after school activities, service groups etc)

When looking at school community, students might write about what makes their community special. They might reflect on a school motto or school song, look at behaviour values that all students learn about or talk about special events which happen every year.

2. Who are the Helpers in our Community?

Who are the helpers in our community? Can we identify all of them?

This is a great challenge for students to create an ongoing list of all the people who help others in their community - from police, doctors and firefighters to teachers, road crossing guards and tuckshop helpers.

My making the list ongoing, rather than a one time activity, students can add new helpers as they learn about them. They also have a visual reminder of all the helpers who work in their community. Additionally, you can also use the list for other classroom activities.

3. Learn about what helpers do in the community

What exactly does a police officer do? What about a native wildlife carer? 

Investigating the roles of helpers in the community is the kind of activity you can do with students of all ages. You can choose one type of helper to explore or students can undertake individual investigations. Students can interview helpers or you can invite guest speakers to talk with the class. Students can create profiles, write news stories, write job descriptions - there are so many possibilities.

4. Learn about volunteering in your country

What is a volunteer? What do they do? What are some of the different types of volunteering you can do?

From surf lifesavers to service clubs like Lions to parents helping with reading in the classroom, there are so many different ways people volunteer. Students can examine the different ways people volunteer, why people volunteer and the benefits of volunteering. They can see what kind of volunteering kids and young people do. They can even create a campaign to encourage more volunteers.

5. Become helpers themselves

It can be easy to think that only adults are helpers. After all, children can’t be firefighters and they aren’t usually allowed to skip school to help koalas. But there are still ways they can be the helpers in their community.

Encourage them to think of small things they can do to create a better community. It might be looking at ways to make sure all students are included at play time, picking up litter without being told to or planting trees with their parents. It could be writing to local politicians about a local park or making sure a grocery story has a soft plastic collection bin. 

When big disasters happen, they might like to raise money to help certain causes. They might like to explore the different charities collecting money and learn which charities would be most effective. They could talk about different ways of fundraising and choose one which would be most effective for their community. They can learn about promoting their fundraising and how they can best communicate what they are trying to do.

They can also take on the important role of thanking the helpers in their community. Drawings, letters and cards can mean an awful lot - a reminder of why helpers are doing such an important job. It’s an easy way to make a big difference.

Related posts to read:

• Get Students Involved to Make a Better World

• Addressing Controversial Topics in the Classroom

• 6 Great Books to Integrate With Australian Social Studies

• Exploring Australian Picture Books About Weather

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• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

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So You Want To Be a Teachers Pay Teachers Seller?

Maybe you love creating engaging resources for your classroom which your students adore. Or you’ve had great success with a particular resource which has all your colleagues talking. Or you’ve got a bit of a following on Instagram and those followers are super enthusiastic when you show them your latest resources.

It’s time to monetise that interest and passion and get on Teachers Pay Teachers.

But - wait a moment - how can you make sure you're doing the right things when it comes to an unfamiliar venture? How can you avoid some big mistakes when it comes to Teachers Pay Teachers?

Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) is probably the biggest educational marketplace around. It attracts resource creators from around the world, creating everything from high quality, technological wonders, to engaging hands on classroom materials to worksheets quickly whipped up when a need was recognised.

If makes sense that a teacher who is passionate about creating resources would want to be involved in TpT. But, as a Teacher Seller with a number of years of experience, I’ve seen a rapid increase of new sellers who are unprepared, unprofessional, or - worst of all - are breaking the law as they step into the TpT world.

The good news is that there are ways to avoid that! Here’s some tips to help you avoid the most common pitfalls when it comes to TpT!

1. Check Your Employment Conditions

You’ve just made a new resource and you’re ready to post it on TpT . . . but wait! Does your job allow you to do that?

Your employer - the state, school district, religious educational authority or private school - probably had you sign a contract when you started teaching. Some of those contracts prohibit you from taking on other work. Others require you to get permission - from your Principal or the district or someone else - to engage in other work. Other employers may regard the resources you make to be their property, so you aren’t allowed to sell them. Or they might ask you to ensure that you restrict all TpT work to personal computers and personal time.

This is a really important thing to consider when you’re thinking about becoming a seller. Selling on TpT will take a lot of work - it can be years before you replace an annual income. You don’t want to be out of a guaranteed income because you unwittingly broke the terms of your contract.

Takeaway: Check your employment conditions and see if you can be a seller - and if you need permission to do so.

2. Register your Business

(Note: I’m approaching this tip from the Australian perspective - but it’s important to check if you need to do this if you live in other parts of the world!)

Did you know that you need to register your business name in Australia - unless you’re operating under your own name? The good news is that it’s a really easy online process and it’s very affordable. (You can read more here)

You might think that it wouldn’t apply to you if your business was only a hobby. It’s important to know that if you intend to make any profit, if you regularly carry out activities in the business - even setting up as a seller on TpT! - can qualify you as a business.

(You will also have tax obligations for any income you make from TpT - an accountant is the best person to talk to for more information)

Takeaway: Register your business if you’re required to - and make sure you keep receipts and paperwork!

3. Check Your Trademarks and Copyright

These are probably the biggest errors made by new sellers - and the ones which can get you in the deepest trouble.

First a note on terminology - copyright is the legal right for the creator of text, songs, images, photographs, films etc to determine who reproduces that work. Trademarks are symbols or words which are registered as representing a company or organisation - and only that company or organisation can decide who uses them. For example - the words and images of The Very Hungry Caterpillar are covered by copyright law, Eric Carle’s name is trademarked and cannot be used under trademark law.

New sellers may break copyright laws if they don’t take care with the images they use in their products. The creator (or owner, in some cases) of the image decides who can use the image. This means you cannot just save images from Google, from other websites or from social media to use in your resources without permission. This also applies to free resources.

(If you’re looking for images you can use, check out the fabulous and affordable clip artists on TpT or search for public domain images (make sure you check the terms of use for those images) or seek permission from the copyright owner)

As for trademarks . . . well lots of things are trademarked. Many popular brands are trademarked and cannot be used within resources. Author’s names might be trademarked and many educational programs are also trademarked. There are some great resources in the TpT forums and TpT University which will give you more information as well as searchable registers - but unless your work is completely your own, make sure you do your research. Trademark owners have the right to challenge your work and have it removed - and they often do.

Takeaway: Have a good understanding of copyright and trademarks - and do your research when you create new resources.

4. Be Original

You’ve seen a fabulous looking TpT resource on social media or in a shop and you know you can make something just like it. You’ll just change the words a bit and make it with images you like . . .

Don’t. Do. It.

Copying another seller is a deeply unethical thing to do. TpT is also a relatively small community and other sellers (and buyers) will notice if you do this - especially if you do it regularly. You’re also not producing the best possible resources - the best resources come from your own imagination, your own research and your own experiences.

Takeaway: Be your own fabulous self - it’s the best way to create resources and develop an audience.

5. Be a Professional - Treat your TpT shop like the business it is

It’s important, when it comes to TpT, to behave like you would in any other secondary income job. Real teachers will spend real money in your TpT store and by behaving as a business owner, you show them the respect they deserve as your customers.

What does that mean for you? It means being honest and just in your dealings with buyers - make sure the resources are of a high quality; take care to follow copyright and trademark laws; offer work that is original and thoughtful.

It means being kind to your buyers by letting them know what they are getting for their money. The best (and easiest) way to do this is by having comprehensive descriptions and previews of your work. (This is also good business sense! People are more likely to buy when they know what they’re getting!)

It means pricing appropriately. Do some research around pricing; read posts in the forums or in various Facebook groups. Ask a TpT friend for advice if you’re really stuck. Think about what value your resource has to the buyer, rather than how much time you put into it (especially in the beginning when everything takes a loooong time). Follow TpT guidelines on free resources and sales.

And - a note on freebies. Don’t use TpT as a host for your free resources. They make the money to employ staff and maintain the website through sales. A percentage of $0 is always going to be $0. If you only want to offer free resources, create your own blog or website or Facebook page or email list where you can give them away.

Takeaway: Treat your TpT shop as a business - even if you have limited time to work in it. Your behaviour reflects on you.

Related posts to read:

• Why I Won't Share Anti-Parent Teacher Memes (and you shouldn't either)

• Taking Care of Ourselves as Teachers

• Don't Put My Child On Your Classroom Data Wall

• Using Printable Resources When You Have A Photocopy Limit

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

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• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram