• all living things have a common name and scientific name
• every different type of living thing has its own special scientific name
• scientific names have two words (usually)
• scientific names have funny words that sound different to every-day words
• animals that are similar might have similar names (eg: first word the same, second word different)

So this week, when we discovered an unusual species of fungi in the yard, I asked the kids this question…

If you were the first scientist to discover this amazing species, what would you call it?

I know – weird, right?!  We discussed its unusual shape, vibrant colour, pungent smell, and “tentacles” while thinking of a name.  Miss 5 said the first word should be Fungus (based on her understanding of scientific names).  Maybe Fungus Octopus? What about Fungus Redstar or Fungus Crazy?  

And then… the game was on!  Armed with a clipboard, crayon and magnifying glass, the kids set about making up names for other fungi they found around the backyard.  They made their own signs and took careful photos of their discoveries.

Here are the, ahem, un-scientific names of species as decided by the SquiggleKids:

Fungus Orangey

Fungus Rosy (named and written by Mr 3)

Fungus Goldiae

Fungus Umbrellus

The kids ran with this activity because it was of interest to them.  (Not all kids would find fungi so fascinating!)  Even my three year old wanted to “write” his own sign, and I loved seeing his purposeful scribble.  This kind of scribble is early writing at its finest.  I especially liked my daughter’s Fungus Umbrellus.  We discussed how the word umbrella sounded like an everyday word, but umbrellus sounded like a “science” word.

Both kids were so proud of their efforts too, and couldn’t wait to show SquiggleDad their discoveries. I think I have a couple of young naturalists on my hands!

You may also enjoy reading:

• Identifying Birds Eggs
• Fantastic Fungus
• Watching Nature Unfold

…which of course lead us into a discussion about Narelle’s award winning picture book, Fox and Fine Feathers, with her signature linocut illustrations.

Lyrebird, Coucal, Pitta and Nightjar are birds of the forest floor. Although as different as groundbirds can be, they always look out for danger and warn each other to hide. One day, Lyrebird, Coucal and Pitta forget to look out for Fox. Only Nightjar is watching. Can he warn the others in time?

We loved learning more about these four beautiful Australian rainforest birds from the story:

• Superb Lyrebirds are incredibly shy creatures.  They are rarely seen, but often heard as they mimic the calls of other birds.  Males have long, intricate tail feathers.
• Pheasant Coucals are sizeable black and brown birds. They are not particularly adept at flying, so prefer to run after their prey.
• Noisy Pittas are brightly coloured little rainforest birds.  They hop about in the undergrowth, and although quite common are not often seen.
• Long-tailed Nightjars are masters of disguise.  Their feathers are perfectly camouflaged amongst the leaf litter during the day while they sleep.

Courtesy of Narelle Oliver herself, I have a SIGNED copy of Fox and Fine Feathers for one lucky SquiggleMum reader.  To enter, simply leave a comment below and tell me an Australian bird that your kids have seen in your area.  (It’s a great excuse to  look out for birds this week…)  One entry per person, Aussie residents only, comp closes Sun 18/3/12 8pm Qld time.

PS – If you adore Narelle’s work, prints from the book are available at the gorgeous Marks and Gardner gallery online, or at their beautiful premises on Mt Tamborine.  Tell them SquiggleMum sent you

*I received a copy of the book from Narelle Oliver, but did not receive payment for this post.

_____________________________________________

This competition has now closed. Congratulations Judith.

You are the winner of a signed copy of Fox and Fine Feathers!

Today the Moreton Bay Regional Libraries launched the Read Up program for under 8s.  To encourage kids to visit their local library and borrow on their own card, the Read Up program rewards children with special certificates designed by some of Queensland’s best illustrators.

Two of these amazing illustrators, Peter Carnavas and Narelle Oliver, were both at the launch today.

I have reviewed several of Pete’s books before, and always rate them highly.  Peter spent time with the kids at the launch today teaching them how to draw an illustration.  He explained that if you can draw a circle, a line and a dot – you can draw anything!    It was wonderful to watch a bunch of kids drawing comical sharks together.  Even my 3yr old had a go!  Peter also talked with the kids about how an illustration has to involve more than simply a character.  An illustration must tell the story.  Check out the “story” below…

It was such a delight to also meet award winning illustrator Narelle Oliver.  I have long been a fan of Narelle’s work as it often focuses on Australian animals in their natural habitats.  Her linocut prints are a distinctive trademark, and provide a wonderful opportunity to talk with kids about different ways artists create their illustrations.

Miss 5 was so excited when Narelle pulled a stowaway Thingamajig out of her bag, as this creature currently features all over her classroom wall at school!  The Very Blue Thingamajig was relieved to find that yes, he IS on one of the Read Up certificates.  The five Read Up certificates are beautifully designed artworks in their own right, and definitely worth collecting.  In addition to Narelle and Peter, the other contributing artists are Kerry Argent, Gregory Rogers, and Clare McFadden.

Your local library really is a treasure trove of top quality Australian picture books.  These amazing certificates might be just the inspiration you your children need to head to the library this week. Happy reading!

Other literacy related posts you might enjoy:

• Interview with Peter Carnavas
• Review of “The Great Expedition” by Peter Carnavas
• Loving Your Library Time

Dear Serena,

Thank you for delivering Lily’s Wish to me. I think it’s a great book. Other five year old girls like me will really love it, especially if their name is Lily – like mine! Here are some questions about the book.

• Where did you do the pictures? Do you have a special office (studio) where you do art?
• Did you use watercolours to paint the illustrations? What else did you use to make the pictures?
• My favourite picture is the first one where Lily is sitting at her desk doing work. It looks just like me! Which is your favourite picture?
• I liked your pictures in Samuel’s Kisses and Lily’s Wish. What is your very next book going to be?

Love Lily xxxxxxxxx

Dear Lily,

What a lovely surprise it was to receive this email from you, not only are these very good questions I think it is extra special that one of my books has been reviewed by a young reader who has the same name as Lily!

I am glad you like Lily’s Wish it is one of my favourite books becuase I have nephew’s and a niece who live in London so I have travelled to see them all the way over in the United Kingdom. Have you been to London? It is very nice, but a little cold and it seems to rain a lot

Here are my answers to your questions:

• Where did you do the pictures? Do you have a special office (studio) where you do art? I work from my home in Sydney and have set up my desk in the front room that has a lot of sunlight and plenty of room so I can lay out all my paintings on the floor. This helps me see how the colours and illustrations would look if it was laid out in a book.

• Did you use watercolours to paint the illustrations? What else did you use to make the pictures? I drew the pictures using a 2B pencil and then painted them in watercolour. Some of the drawings have a little bit of coloured pencil over it, like Lily’s hair and Santa’s suit. Seeing this was the first time I had drawn scenery I had to use a lot of reference material searching on the computer for pictures of the Sydney Harbour and Big Ben in London.

• My favourite picture is the first one where Lily is sitting at her desk doing work. It looks just like me! Which is your favourite picture? That is my mum’s favourite picture too! I do like the first picture but my favourite is of the Reindeer flying over London past Big Ben.

• I liked your pictures in Samuel’s Kisses and Lily’s Wish. What is your very next book going to be? I am glad you like Samuel’s Kisses and Lily’s Wish! My next book is the 4th book in the series for Totally Twins. I am working on the front cover at the moment but shhh… it’s a secret. Author Aleesah Darlison is still working on it!

I hope I have helped with your questions.  I have a question for you Lily, can I put your questions on my website news page? I am sure other readers would love to see your review and questions

Speak soon!

Serena.
xxx

Dear Serena,

I haven’t been to London but my friend Holly lives there and I would like to visit her one day. Mum said  of course you can put my letter on your website. That would be cool. You are cool, and all your pictures are cool. Happy Christmas.

Love Lily xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Illustrations courtesy of Serena Geddes

and New Frontier Publishing.

I received a review copy of Lily’s Wish free of charge.

To celebrate the launch of New Frontier’s Little Treasures Collection, I am delighted to have been able to interview Pete himself.

Cath:  Last Tree in the City is my favourite of your published works. Do you have a favourite?

Peter:  It is always difficult to pick a favourite book as there are things I like about all of them (and some things I think I could have done better but I won’t mention those).  My sentimental favourite is Sarah’s Heavy Heart because it’s a different, dreamy sort of story.  It is the only story that really started with an image (of a girl carrying a big heart on her back) rather than the text or idea.  I’m quite happy with all of the illustrations and I am proud of the layers of meaning I put into that story.  Also, it’s dedicated to my wife so, really, it’s the most romantic of my tales.

Cath – Which of your characters is most like you and why?

Peter – I’ve always thought the tortoise in Sarah’s Heavy Heart was a bit of a self-portrait.  I identify a lot with Sarah and the tortoise because I feel like I do things quite slowly and quietly and sometimes envy the spontaneity of others.  Without really meaning to, I’ve created most of my characters so they are a bit like me – quiet, generally keep to themselves, big noses.

Cath – So as an author/illustrator, which comes first for you – the words or the pictures?

Peter – I think of an idea for a story first then pictures start popping into my head, though I don’t tend to draw anything until I’ve written the text.  As I write, I have the images in mind the whole time so it’s difficult to work out what comes first.  My goal is to make both elements interdependent in the finished story so it’s the same for the process.  The words and pictures bounce off each other the whole time, whether it’s in my head or on the page.

Cath – And how long does the process of developing a picture book take?

Pete – It generally takes somewhere between three and six months, inbetween doing everything else in my life.  I spend a few months drawing roughs, then a few months painting the final illustrations.  Once all of my work is done, the design, printing and distribution will take another six months so it can be around a year from the moment I start on a book to the moment I’m reading it to children at schools.

Cath – Finally Pete, what are your “tools of the trade” as an author/illustrator?

As an author, I like a pencil and notepad.  My stories are quite lean on words so it’s not too demanding for me to write them out with a pencil.  When I’ve finished the text, I’ll type it out and it’s done.  As an illustrator, I draft everything using an A2 sketchpad and have recently enjoyed drawing with very light pencils, H or 2H.  When it comes time to paint, I have traditionally used Arches medium watercolour paper, though I’m currently having a go using Saunders – thick enough, with a little less grain, making it easier for my ink outlines.  I only use about three or four brushes, with tubes of watercolour paint.  To finish off, I ink the outines with a few different nibs dipped into a jar of ink (the jar used to hold poppy seeds).



Thanks so much Peter.  I look forward to your next picture book Mr Darcy being released shortly too!  Oh, and if you are thinking of creating a curly-haired, big nosed character any time soon… let me know

Since adding basket storage to our fences, I have seen the potential in using fences to enhance the playspace rather than merely marking the garden’s boundaries.  So, we attached the large blackboard directly to the fence!  I also made a couple of extra smaller blackboards which can be moved around and used as needed.  One is a menu board in the dirt kitchen, the other is waiting for playful inspiration…

Purchasing large chalk boards can be expensive. Making them yourself isn’t!  We bought marine ply for our boards so that they would withstand the outdoor conditions.  The cost was less than $15.  We then gave the plywood two coats of chalkboard paint.  The paint was under $20 and we still have a LOT left over for future projects.

Oh, and an old teacher-tip for you: to make chalk drawings semi-permanent, soak the chalk in a strong solution of sugar and water before using.  I drew the leaves in a corner of the large board, and the word Menu on one of the smaller boards in sugar-soaked chalk.  The kids can rub over them, and they won’t rub off!  This trick lasts a long time inside, but a good soaking rain will still wash it away outside.  (We used to do this to draw the blue-and-white handwriting lines on the classroom blackboards to save ruling them up every day).

What do you think? Anyone else want to try this easy project?

I put out any sparkly collage materials I could find, as well as some fabric and PVA glue.  I also had a few leftover precut felt butterfly shapes which proved perfect for wings.  My daughter didn’t need any help (or any encouragement to get started)!  She busied herself for most of the day creating different families of fairies.  Water fairies, tree fairies, dirt fairies, vine fairies.  It was one big sparkly creative mess!!

The next day we were able to take the fairies outside into the garden.  The paddlepop sticks pushed easily into the ground, and also proved useful as handles for when the fairies wanted to flutter about.

It was wonderful to hear Miss 5 make up her own stories using the fairy families.  We were able to talk about what makes a good story, and the need for a “problem” to be resolved.  We even whipped out the iphone and recorded some of the stories.  They will be fun to look back on one day!

I’m so glad I kept my hands out of the making process, and let my daughter do it her way.  No end product to copy.  No “do it like this” moments.  No adult interference.  And I think her fairies are rather beautiful.  Don’t you?

]]> http://squigglemum.com/activities/fairy-fun/feed/ 17 http://squigglemum.com/literacy/backyard-letterbox/ http://squigglemum.com/literacy/backyard-letterbox/#comments Tue, 09 Aug 2011 05:27:32 +0000 SquiggleMum http://squigglemum.com/?p=5441 I have long had the idea of putting an actual letterbox in the backyard for the kids to use.  FINALLY I got around to it.

Letter writing is such a great, purposeful literacy activity.  It provides a reason to write, and an incentive to write well because you want the recipient to be able to read their letter when they receive it!

I picked up this letterbox from our local (big green) hardware store for around $12.  It’s nothing fancy, but it does the job perfectly and we don’t need to worry about it being able to withstand the conditions outside.  We simply screwed it to a low, existing sleeper wall beside the dirt kitchen.

It has already been more than worth the money!  The kids have written so many letters to each other, to Mummy and Daddy, and to friends who have come over to play.  Writing them is fun, reading them is fun, checking the mailbox is fun, and delivering the mail is fun. Of course, everyone participates at their own level.  Miss 5 has been doing some great early writing, using her sound-letter knowledge to have-a-go at writing independently.  She has also worked hard to decode the simple letters I have posted to her.  Mr 2 has enjoyed being the mailman, and posted some excellent scribbles to his sister!

If you are looking for an inexpensive, non-permanent, interactive addition for your backyard or playspace… try a letterbox!  It provides a lovely way for siblings or parent-child to communicate, promotes early reading and writing, and gets kids outside. Ticks all my boxes

PS – you can now subscribe to my posts by email! Check it out over there on the right…

There are lots of reasons why I love this activity, and why you should try it with your kids!

1. It’s easy to set up.
2. It’s exciting!
3. It gets kids outside.
4. It provides a purposeful reading opportunity.
5. It can be modified for a range of ages.

If your child is at the beginning-to-read stage (like my 5yr old), keep your clues really simple.  I used the same short sentence on each clue. “Go to the _____________.”  Go, to and the are all high frequency words, and this is an excellent way to use them in context.

If your child is a more competent reader, increase the length and complexity of the clues.  A game like this really encourages your child’s reading as there is an inbuilt incentive!  They have to be able to read the clue, in order to find the next clue, which of course – needs reading too…

If you have older children, you might like to get cryptic (especially if you’re a bit of a fan of puzzles and crosswords yourself).  Older kids may even like to get writing and set up their own treasure hunt!

At the end of every treasure hunt of course, there has to be treasure.  The “treasure” doesn’t need to be fancy. Sometimes our treasure is morning tea wrapped in a box.  Sometimes it’s bubble mix for blowing bubbles, or a batch of playdough.  This time the treasure for Miss 5 was a little wooden table and two chairs for the fairy garden.  The set might have only been a couple of dollars from the cheap shop, but the tiny furniture is treasured indeed.

Have you ever set up a treasure hunt for your kids?

I’m a big fan of local author/illustrator Peter Carnavas.  Like myself, Peter is a primary school teacher so he knows what makes a great picture book.  With New Frontier behind him, Carnavas has been bringing out book after fabulous book.

His latest offering and fifth picture book is The Great Expedition, an interpretation of the story about Australian explorers Burke and Wills. While the text reflects upon many of the trials faced by the team of early explorers, the illustrations instead depict children on their own neighbourhood adventure.

The Great Expedition is about a team of brave young explorers who cross wild country to deliver a valuable parcel.  The journey is punishing.  Some of the explorers don’t make it.  But in the end, we are left with two courageous souls to admire and remember for many years to come.

(Illustration roughs from Peter’s blog)

Exploring the illustrations and their connection to the text is a delight, and the book is a wonderful introduction to Australian history for younger readers.  The book was only released this month, so may not be in your library as yet.  You can purchase copies of The Great Expedition from good bookstores, or from New Frontier online for $24.95 (hardback).

Update: Book Launch!

For all my Queensland readers, Peter Carnavas will be appearing at the gorgeous Marks & Gardner Gallery at Mt Tamborine this weekend!  From 10:30am on Sunday June 19^th, Peter will be at Marks & Gardner Gallery for a morning of activities including an author talk, drawing demonstration, bookreading, book signing,  quiz and an expedition through our 5 acre paddock.  RSVP for numbers.