From Words & Pictures, a stylishly abridged The Wizard of Oz, adapted by Michel Laporte and illustrated by Olivier Latyk, boasts a shaded palette of peachy orange and cool greens, and elegant die-cut overlays, entirely appropriate to the original’s themes of illusion, perception and magic. We thought about what would happen if the animals escaped on the ark and learned all about vibration, by using different instruments and experimenting with elastic bands and rulers. We then presented our work to some of our friends and discussed what we had enjoyed about the project. Before you start sharing the story you might want to talk about the story of Noah’s Ark (see link below with a retelling). Read the story aloud to your child pausing to talk about what is happening in the story and the illustrations. Join in Mrs Noah told her children stories about unicorns, dragons and other mythical creatures. Try making up one together one or more of the mythical animals. Children could decide which animals are in the story and you could take turns Make a rainy-day picture Mrs Noah saved several mythical animals, including unicorns, dragons and griffins. Make a zig zag book for your child to draw illustrations of them. You could write some information together too ( see links below). Make up a story together

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Andy Mulligan’s Dog (Pushkin), though less overtly fantastical, is another animal story with a difference. At its heart is the pain of rejection, felt both by unhappy boy Tom and by Spider, the runty reject puppy with the projecting tooth to whom Tom gives his heart after his parents’ separation. But Spider’s expensive mishaps and Tom’s ferocious anger – not to mention school bullies and the cruelties of an arachnid called Thread – seem to militate against a happy ending. Poignant, funny, savage and ultimately uplifting, this is Mulligan at the top of his challenging form. We then read ‘Mrs Noah’s Garden’ which was focusing on renewal and starting afresh, just like we were doing in school. In art, Yr4 focused on using different media to design and create their own garden. They used sharpies to design their own pebble to decorate our own school garden.

In her enthralling debut, I Have No Secrets (Electric Monkey), Penny Joelson undertakes a difficult task, narrating from the perspective of a character without speech: 14-year-old Jemma, who has cerebral palsy. Relishing her apparent helplessness, her carer’s boyfriend confides to her that he has committed a murder – but when a technological advance offers Jemma the chance of a voice, she becomes a danger to him. Both a compelling thriller and a warm, lively portrait of unusual family life, Joelson’s first book marks her out as a writer to watch. Comprehensive teachers’ notes designed to develop critical thinking skills and a more sophisticated, considered response to texts and illustrations. Keep a weather diary, or make a weather chart, and count how many days it rains in a week/ month. If there is a very rainy day, collect rainwater in a jam jar or measuring jug, and see how many centimetres of rain has fallen. Mr Noah is busy building the ark and sorting out the pairs of animals to join him, anxious at the same time to ensure that the ‘troublesome creatures’ are not included. There is no explanation of which animals fall into this category. Meanwhile, Mrs Noah is busy sewing, clue in the title, and visiting parts of the woods that are her special domain. Mysterious and intriguing, what she is doing is not revealed until the ark finally finds land after the great rains and we see, in a series of beautiful illustrations, the fantastical creatures she has saved. What might Mr Noah say when he finds the creatures he tried to get rid of still exist? You pretend to be Mr Noah and Mrs Noah and have an imaginary conversation.

Mrs Noah’s pockets | IBBY

open-ended discussion points and activities to encourage the development of pupil independence, collaborative working and problem-solving Using musical instruments, we completed some science showing how sounds travel, while making sounds that would be found in the garden. Education Shed Ltd, Severn House, Severn Bridge, Riverside North, Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK, DY12 1ABA memoir for childen aged 12 and over, Alex Bertie’s Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard (Wren & Rook) is a demystifying wander through the author’s life, from a transformative haircut to the various milestones – coming out to family, getting a doctor’s letter, starting testosterone – that mark his progress. At a time when trans identity can sometimes become a contentious issue, this engaging, humorous account, conveying deep feeling without straying into hysteria, is invaluable for anyone who is or who knows a transgender person. Graffeg have had the pleasure of working with Eva on a number of projects over the past few years, furnishing us with an added educational resource for many of our books. Work of the highest standard is always completed on time and I would happily recommend Eva to anyone looking for top quality teachers' notes to accompany their texts.” Find out more Listen to a version of the original Noah’s Ark story here Find out more about weather and climate change Find out about different types of weather, using the internet and information books. Talk about the difference between a shower and torrential rain that causes floods. Talk about climate change The language is beautiful, opening with the extremely simple sentence “it rained” and continuing with rich evocative sentences, until “then one morning everyone awoke to silence”.

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Look together at the rainy day pictures in the book and make your own. You could try with crayon or paint or draw lines, dashes and dots with a candle on paper and then paint with well diluted blue paint or ink. Be a weather spotter In the original story Mr Noah is the main character making the decisions, sharing this book might lead to discussions about the role of women and girls in history and traditional stories. Mrs Noah’s Garden is forthcoming in 2020….Mr Noah builds a house from the ark while Mrs Noah develops her garden. One to look forward to.

Mayhew uses paper collage and linocut illustrations to achieve wonderful colours and depth. The use of blue, the darkening of the colours during the rains, the wonderful lightness as the sun reappears and the rain stops, is very effective. The illustrations of the rain with vertical lines changing in intensity and the swirling clouds and tempestuous seas are very effective. This contrasts brilliantly with the calm still bright blue after the storm. The mythical creatures are each wonderful collages. Talk about the decisions the characters made in the story – Mr Noah deciding to get rid of ‘troublesome’ creatures and Mrs Noah deciding to save them.