EVERYTHING you need to know about Book Week is at the CBCA website with the list of all the winners and Honour books for 2022 (and previous years too). As well, PETAA (Primary English Teaching Association Australia) has Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) guides, and there is a link to teaching units of work…
August is designated official poetry month by Red Room Poetry. Their website has heaps of things you can do for yourself, to enjoy and participate in poetry in various ways. For students there is the fabulous ‘Poem Forest’, a nature poetry prize. The prize has been created collaboratively by Red Room Poetry and the the…
I have had time to explore two major resources to explore or consult when you need them. No, I’m not going to comment on either the dire situation for staff in our schools, COVID or the weather. Viewing 2022 Literature Symposium: The excellent online 2022 Literature Symposium advocating for the power and pleasure of literature…
These items have come across the laptop in the last couple of weeks – a report on a survey on writing in the classroom, the ACTF My Place writing competition, an opportunity for a workshop with author Deb Abela, and a reminder about the PETAA Literacy Conference Writing in Australian classrooms First, the results of…
PETAA is the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia and is a not-for-profit organisation that supports primary school educators in the teaching and learning of English and literacies across the curriculum. Here’s the perfect opportunity to get hold of those classic texts for teaching English K-6. Hop on to the PETAA website before Thursday 30…
Under the ‘umbrella’ of us all liking a good story, experts from a variety of organisations have come together to share their knowledge to affirm ‘the value of quality literature in classrooms’. This is a great resource to explore for our own learning, and to share with colleagues. The benefits will flow directly to our…
Classrooms are gradually developing a new ‘normal’, where time is still short and too many so-called ‘assessments’ – read tests’ – are requiring completion. In between, we carry on. One of the most rewarding, interesting, challenging and useful strategies for teaching history/geography/maths/etc, and the potential for addressing the vast majority of the outcomes in the…
Learning is fundamentally and profoundly dependent on vocabulary knowledge Mackenzie 2017 Katherin Cartwright – Images are a wonderful way to launch a mathematics lesson, especially if they are full of intriguing or ‘explorable’ mathematical ideas. Kath regularly draws attention to the importance of looking and noticing in building mathematical ideas – see ‘A picture is…
Recording our thoughts and ideas, plans and hopes, onto a surface seems to be a necessary part of the human condition. We have certainly been doing it for long enough. Reasons to write We write for so many reasons – I have a list that I have explored and added to over the years. I…
It is so good to be back with face to face learning with PETAA, and a vocabulary workshop that I love working with. It seems almost natural that our teacher minds, our training, our interest in learning steer us into a deep interest in words. Some of the most interesting words and word ideas that…