Picture Books to Support the Australian Curriculum: Year 4

Picture Books to Support the Australian Curriculum: Year 4

Every teacher can testify to the engagement received by their students when offered to be read a story. Whether it be from a picture book or novel, stories bring so much enjoyment to children’s lives. The added bonus is that they can also be great tools for linking various content areas of the Australian Curriculum.

I have gathered a list of books that I highly recommend for Year 4 Teachers to use as they are teaching to the Australian Curriculum throughout the year. I have sorted these books into curriculum content areas but you will quickly notice that most of the books link to other content areas making them great tools for the time-poor Australian Teacher. (please note the following list contains affiliate links)

English

Language
Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones
I Am Different!: Can You Find Me?
Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook
A Report (Pick a Picture, Write)

Literacy
Famous Five: Five On A Treasure Island: Book 1 (Famous Five)
Adventure Island: The Mystery of the Whistling Caves: Book 1 (Adventure Island)

Literature
Animal Crackers Fly the Coop
Frindle
There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom

Maths

Measurement and Geometry
Ernest: 10th Anniversary Edition
Pigs on a Blanket: Fun with Math and Time (Reading rainbow book)

Number and Algebra
30 Million Different Insects in the Rainforest
Ten Thousand, Eight Hundred and Twenty Endangered Species in the Animal Kingdom (Big Countdown)
How Big is a Million? (Picture Poster Books)
Anno’s Magic Seeds

Statistics and Probability
Do You Wanna Bet?: Your Chance to Find Out about Probability

Science

Biological Sciences
Cat on the Island
Finding Home
Gorilla (Life Cycles)
Leaf Litter
One Small Island
Owl (Life Cycles)
Ten Thousand, Eight Hundred and Twenty Endangered Species in the Animal Kingdom (Big Countdown)
Life Cycle of a Tree (Life Cycles)

HASS

The Rabbits
Amazing Expeditions: Journeys That Changed The World
Avoid Being A Convict Sent To Australia! (The Danger Zone)
Barney and the Secret of the Whales (The Secret History Series)
Beth: The Story of a Child Convict
Birrung the Secret Friend (The Secret History Series)
Fortuyn’s Ghost
The Mayflower
Our Australian Girl: Meet Grace (Book 1)
Our Australian Girl: A Friend For Grace (Book 2)
Our Australian Girl: A Home For Grace (Book 4)
Our Australian Girl: Grace And Glory (Book 3)
I Wish I’d Sailed with Captain Cook
Meet… Captain Cook
Little Wooden Horse
The Mostly True Story Of Matthew & Trim
My Name is Lizzie Flynn: A Story of the Rajah Quilt
The Paddock (Walker Classic)
A Penny to Remember (Making Tracks S.)
The Unlikely Story of Bennelong and Phillip
What Was The War Like, Grandma? (Walker Classic)
What’s Your Story?

Health

Gary Asks for Help by Nyasha M. Chikoware
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright
A Handful of Buttons by Carmen Parets Luque
A Family is a Family is a Family by Sara O’Leary
Hey Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose
The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
A Rainbow of Friends by P.K.Hallinan
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold

Let me know if you have any other suggestions to add to this list by commenting below. I’d love to hear from you!!

Happy teaching!

Picture Books to Support the Australian Curriculum: Year 1

Picture Books to Support the Australian Curriculum: Year 1

Every teacher can testify to the engagement received by their students when offered to be read a story. Whether it be from a picture book or novel, stories bring so much enjoyment to children’s lives. The added bonus is that they can also be great tools for linking various content areas of the Australian Curriculum.

I have gathered a list of books that I highly recommend for Year 1 Teachers to use as they are teaching to the Australian Curriculum throughout the year. I have sorted these books into curriculum content areas but you will quickly notice that most of the books link to other content areas making them great tools for the time-poor Australian Teacher. (please note the following list contains affiliate links)

English

Language
Exclamation Mark
Pancakes, Pancakes! (World of Eric Carle)
Ruby and Leonard and the Great Big Surprise
What the Jackdaw Saw
What This Story Needs is a Pig in a Wig
Wombat Stew 30th Anniversary Edition

Literature
Collecting Colour
One Leaf Rides the Wind
This Is a Good Story
Three Billy Goats Gruff
What Rhymes With Sneeze?
What’s the Opposite? (The Hueys) (The Hueys)

Maths

Measurement and Geography
The Bad-Tempered Ladybird
Follow That Map!
Rosie’s Walk
What’s the Time, Dinosaur?

Number and Algebra
100 Days of Cool (MathStart 2)
Emily’s First 100 Days of School
Full House: An Invitation to Fractions
Give Me Half!: Understanding Halves (Mathstart: Level 2 (Prebound))
If You Were a Fraction
One Hundred Hungry Ants
Leaping Lizards (MathStart 1)
Math by All Means, Place Value, Grade 2: The King’s Commissioners (Brainy Day Books)

Science

Biological Sciences
Backyard
Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo
Looking for Crabs (Australian Children’s Classics)
Mallee Sky
Oi! Get Off Our Train
Sam’s Bush Journey
The Waterhole
Yucky Worms (Nature Storybooks)

Earth and Space Sciences
The ABC Book of Seasons (The ABC Book Of …)
All Through the Year
Cherries
On Earth
Tap the Magic Tree
The Things That I LOVE about TREES
What Will the Weather be? (Lets-Read-And-Find-Out Science Stage 2)
Why I Love Summer
Window
A Year on Our Farm

Physical Sciences
Boom Bah!
I Hear a Pickle
Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!
The Story of the Orchestra

HASS

All Through the Year
An Aussie Year: Twelve Months in the Life of Australian Kids
Australian Kids through the Years
Inside the World of Tom Roberts: A Ben and Gracie Art Adventure
It’s a Miroocool!
Lizzie Nonsense: A Story of Pioneer Days
Me, Oliver Bright
My First Car was Red
No Hat Brigade (Pocket Version)
Papa and the Olden Days (Walker Classic)
Possum in the House
Remembering Lionsville: My Family Story
Sugar-gum Tree (Aussie Bites)
Tails From Grandad’s Attic
Walking with the Seasons in Kakadu
When I Was a Kid
When I was Little, Like You
Window

Health

This is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe
I’m New Here by Anne Sibley O’Brien
How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends? by Jane Yolen
What’s My SuperPower? by Aviaa Johnson
Calvin Can’t Fly by Jennifer Berne

Let me know if you have any other suggestions to add to this list by commenting below. I’d love to hear from you!!

Happy teaching!


7 Fun Ways to use Timelines in your Classroom

7 Fun Ways to use Timelines in your Classroom

Reading, writing and analysing timelines is a requirement of the Australian Curriculum but it should not have to be a chore for you or your students!

Here are seven simple, yet effective, ways to get your students involved in practising timeline reading and writing skills while keeping them engaged and excited about what they are learning:

1. Timeline Bunting:
You know the bunting you see in the party section of your local dollar store?


It can make a simple, yet effective timeline activity for your students. Depending on the age of your students and the outcome you wish to achieve:
– you could have your students write the dates onto the bunting themselves to create their own individual timeline;
– you could have each student write one date and event on their bunting and then come together as a class to put the timeline together;
– OR you could add the dates and events on yourself and then have your students put the timeline back together after handing them a piece of bunting each.

Indigenous Australians Reconciliation Timeline

2. Block Timeline:
This idea is great for the lower grades but I can assure you the older grades will have no hesitation in having a go at this activity as well! Using wooden blocks, cheap building blocks or even an old jenga set you can write the dates and events on separate blocks. You can then either:
– allow students in small groups to put the timeline back together
– OR give each student a matching date and event and have them together as a class put the timeline back together.

Australian Goldrush Timeline

3. Paperchain Timeline:
This is a super simple timeline activity that can easily be prepared in minutes. Giving each student some strips of paper have them write the dates and events on each strip. Glue them together to create a chain. (Alternatively you could again do this as a whole class or in small groups by giving each student one strip and then have them work together to put the timeline together).

Australian History Timeline

4. Coathanger Timeline:
This activity could be done with the recommended coat hanger for individual timelines or a piece of string for a collaborative timeline. Students write the dates and events on pieces of paper/card and then tie the events onto their coathanger with string. Alternatively you could peg them on their coat hanger or a piece of string if doing a collaborative timeline.

History of Toys Timeline

5. Floor Timeline:
Place a long piece of tape onto the floor (or depending on the surface you could just use chalk to rule a line). Mark certain dates on the timeline and have students add events that they have been given onto the timeline. Alternatively students could create their own timeline on the floor if they have been given multiple events to sequence (this would be space dependent though).

History of Technology Timeline

6. Puzzle Timeline:
Using real puzzle pieces or the template found in our FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY, either you or your students can write the dates and events onto each puzzle piece and then put them back together.

Timeline Puzzle Templates

7. Paper Cutout Timeline:
Also from the dollar store you can often find pre-cut cards in various different shapes and sizes. These plane-shaped cards were perfect for creating a collaborative Transportation Timeline.

History of Transportation Timeline

Got any other ideas? Please share them below.

For other timeline ideas, check out these resources:

Reconciliation Week Art Ideas – Tiddalick the Frog

Reconciliation Week Art Ideas – Tiddalick the Frog

National Reconciliation Week is a great opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history. There are some great details about the purpose of this week, as well as ways of participating, on the National Reconciliation Week website.

Dreamtime stories have long been a favourite of my students. Not only do they capture the imaginations of the students, drawing their attention, but they also help reflect the culture and history of the original owners of this great land.

One of my personal favourites is the story of Tiddalick the Frog. In honour of National Reconciliation Week, I am sharing with you one of my favourite art pieces that my students enjoy year after year.

Templates for this artwork can be found in my Free Resource Library. Don’t have the password yet for the Library? Head to my Instagram account, check out my Story Highlights and inside the one titled FREE, you will find the password. Feel free to follow my Instagram account while you are there.

So here are the instructions on creating your own Tiddalick master piece.

You will need:

  • Glue stick
  • Scissors
  • Watercolour paints
  • Oil pastels or crayons (I personally prefer oil pastels as the colours are more vibrant
  • A3 paper
  • Tiddalick templates
  • Leaves (optional)

Note: Before I begin this art work I read to my students the story of Tiddalick the Frog. If you don’t have a picture book for the story here is a link to a video or a printable PDF with a simple story on it.

I also like my students to have completed their recount before beginning the art work as well.

Soooo….

  1. Colour in your frogs. There are many ways you can go about doing this. Either colour them fully in crayon or oil pastel. Or partially colour them with oil pastel or crayon and then paint with water colours over the top (as I did for the spotty frog).
  2. Cut out your frog. (Allow the water colour paint to dry if you painted them)
  3. Putting your frogs aside, take your A3 paper. Students will now do rubbings on their A3 paper. This really can be of anything you like. I chose leaves, with the aim for students to paint them blue with watercolours, giving the illusion of a pond. For the other one we simply rubbed lines along the paper while resting the paper on concrete. This gave the lines a rough texture. This was then painted over in brown water colours to give the illusion of dirt or mud.
  4. After rubbings are completed, students can was over the top with your chosen water colour paint.
  5. Once the paint has dried, students can now glue their frog and recount onto the A3 paper.

Pretty simple hey?! You are welcome!

If you are looking for other activities to support Reconciliation Week, check out these resources: