Teacher's Notes

Oi Frog, by Kes Gray and Jim Field, is a hilarious rhyming tale about a frog who discovers that all animals have their special places to sit. All year groups will love this award-winning book and the following strands from the grammar and punctuation appendix can be taught at the same time!

I have fallen in love with the picture book 'You Must Bring a Hat' cleverly written by Simon Philip and humorously illustrated by Kate Hindley.  It is a quirky text all about what happens when a young boy receives an invitation to a very interesting party that seems to have very strict rules about who can attend! 

Recently, I delivered a training day at the Book Centre focusing on how to create a reading school. It was a really productive day and I thought I would share some of the main elements that were focused upon and offer further ideas about how to bring reading to life in your school!

Within this blog, I would like to share some high-quality texts that can be used in the classroom with a range of ages to ensure that no children, young people or adult feel invisible, like monsters, stereotyped or ‘the single story.’

Mr Bunny owns a chocolate factory where chickens lay eggs so that he can sell Easter Eggs. However, his greed gets the better of him and he loses more than he can believe. Mr Bunny learns a real lesson as all is back to normal at his factory.

Why not create a BUZZ about reading and use ‘Bee & Me,’ by Alison Jay as a whole-school book? 'Bee & Me’ is a wordless picture book, yet every page is a stimulus for a wealth of discussion. A bee flies in the window and a little girl is frightened. She traps the bee and then wonders what to do…

Love Monster cannot believe it when he finds a box of chocolate. Should he keep them? Should he return them? What should he do? A hilarious tale where the motto is to follow your heart!

Over the years, teachers have always asked me why I didn’t create my own picture book as I was so passionate about them and was married to an artist. It made perfect sense! Mick and I wanted to create a book that would be loved by children but also used by teachers to show their pupils how to bring their reading and writing to life.

Where did chocolate come from? Who invented chocolate? What have the rainforests got to do with chocolate? How long have people been making chocolate for? Let’s find out what happened…