Working in pairs, discuss the role that the images play in increasing our understanding of the author's message. In the evening, we eat at Whet Restaurant in the jungle. The children’s menu has healthy, kid-friendly options and the owner, Michelle, regales us with tales of cassowaries, lightning strikes and wild tropical storms. She points out the enormous webs of the golden orb spiders, a metre in circumference. The kids are captivated by her stories and she promises more next time we visit. By 7am the next morning the kids are up, ready to ‘whet’ their appetites again. My father says there has been a forest here for over a hundred million years," Jeannie Baker's young protagonist tells us, and we follow him on a visit to this tropical rain forest in North Queensland, Australia. Unusual collage constructions form vibrant New York City panoramas in this modest tale of Light, a white pigeon who flees his rooftop aviary to explore his urban surroundings. Ages 4-7. Continue reading »

A boy and his father spend the day in the rainforest of northern Australia and the boy imagines both the primeval past and the possible future for the area. The striking illustrations, which are collages made largely from natural materials, combine with a spare but thought-provoking text. Group discussion – Students talk about text and make text-to-self and text-to-world connections [evaluating and understanding] Visit DadsWorksheets.com for extra math practice, multiplication worksheets, fraction calculators, printable charts and free home school resources! The creator of Where the Forest Meets the Sea offers another warning about the environment--somewhat didactically--in this wordless picture book. Each spread features the window of Sam's room, from Continue reading »

Interacting with others – Listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others (ACELY1646)

Children start this session by looking at Where the Forest Meets the Sea, locating the rainforest in the book on a world map. Children start to use descriptive words and phrases to describe their own journey through the forest. My father says there has been a forest here for over a hundred million years," Jeannie Baker's young protagonist tells us, and we follow him on a visit to this tropical rain forest. Share and discuss some photos from the walk as a class. Jointly construct a Y chart about what students saw, felt and heard.Ask students if they have read a Jeannie Baker book before. If so, does that experience help them predict anything about this book? In groups, students are to create three freeze frames (still dramatic representations using students and props) to represent the past, present and future of the Daintree Rainforest. Students will take photos of each frozen scene and put them together in a multimedia format using Microsoft PowerPoint, Pic Collage or another app. They can then orally tell the story of their pictures. Alternatively, students may assemble their pictures in a collage accompanied by written text. Discuss other types of narratives that are passed down through generations to help people learn, i.e. fables, Dreaming stories, campfire yarns. Read a variety of Dreaming stories or invite a local Aboriginal Elder to share some of their own stories. Discuss the difference between an oral narrative and one that is written down. Opening this expertly designed picture book reveals two parallel wordless tales: one to be read left to right, the other right to left. The stories follow a day in the family life of two boys, who Continue reading » Go outside into the school grounds and categorise a variety of objects as eitherman made or natural.

In their groups, students are to discuss the Daintree Rainforest and why and for whom it is a ‘special place’. They can use a graphic organiser (PDF, 168KB) to write down ideas. I would recommend this book for kids from EYFS stage to year 2. There is lots of scope for discussion around this book, for example, talking about the things which the boy encounters, comparing and contrasting the boys environment to places your pupils have been, trying to find things hidden in the illustrations and considering what it would be like if the trees were cut down and replaced with buildings. Hands-on engagement Students create a poster with the message “Save the forests” (words are on the word wall and IWB)

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Read Jeannie Baker’s book Window. Discuss both books and how they are similar and different. Have students complete a table (template below) comparing the two books. As an alternative, groups of students could each take a Jeannie Baker book and do their own comparison. With our book recommendations, we want to spark an interest in children to discover STEM in their everyday lives. Most books go beyond the obvious STEM connections and can be a great starting point for exploring children’s questions and ideas further.

Have students create pictures of themselves with the characters from the book in each of the three environments, i.e. a rainforest environment, a coastal environment and their school environment. Students can incorporate drawing, painting or other types of artistic mediums. Students will also create speech bubbles and written dialogue for one or more of the characters and place them in an appropriate spot on the pictures. Explain to students the assessment requirements and show them an already finished exemplar poster (point out positive aspects including a title/ message, colour, materials…) I myself would borrow this book as often as I could and just stare at the pictures....I so wished it had texture because I really wanted to touch it too....which I refrained from because of the drool. Present students with a statement along the lines of: ‘The Daintree Rainforest is a good topic for a children’s book.’ Around the room place four signs that say ‘strongly agree’, ‘strongly disagree’, ‘agree’ and ‘disagree’. Have students stand next to the sign that reflects their opinions most strongly.

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http://www.australiancurriculumlessons.com.au/2014/07/27/forest-meets-sea-inferential-comprehension-lesson-plan-f12/ We walk with him among the ancient trees as he pretends it is a time long ago, when animals that are now extinct or rare lived in the forest and aboriginal children played there. But for how much longer will the forest still be there, he wonders?