Gypsy House

After the long summer break I am begining to post again. Last week as part of the Roald Dahl day celebrations I visited Gypsy House, the home of Roald Dahl in Great Missedden. I had visited a couple of years ago but wanted to go and see the famous writing hut before it's proposed move next year. It was an enjoyable afternoon exploring the gardens and seeing the writing hut and gypsy caravan. Great Missedenden is a lovely village to spend time in with both the Roald Dahl Museum and looking at the buildings that inspired some of Roald Dahl's stories. I am looking forward to a visit to the Roald Dahl Gallery in Aylesbury as well as the Dahlicious Dress up day on the 30th September.

Harry Potter Premiere

Being a fan of all things Potter, I went to London to experience the excitement of the final premiere. I was not lucky enough to be amongst the 8000 fans in Trafalgar square, but managed to watch some of the events on the big screen and walk around between Trafalgar Square and Leciester Square whilst the movie was being watched in the three cinemas. I got to see some funny sights as well as catch a glimpse of some of the stars as they left the cinema for the aftershow party. I can't wait to see the film myself next week!

Colours

One of our classes was looking at colours, focussing on a different one every week. I found two very nice books for this topic. Something Begining with Blue is a lovely book with holes to peep through and encourages you to guess what is behind the peep hole.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See? is a very simple story with a repetative narrative. We used this one in class as a sensory story using coloured objects for the children to explore. We sat around a table covered with a large black tray (this allowed the colours to be easily seen against the background as some of the children are visually imapired). I tried to find items that were interesting to both feel and look at and some made interesting noises.

As we read the book we filled the tray with objects to match the colour of each animal (e.g. blue objects for the blue horse etc). A laminated picture of the animal was placed on the tray so that we could see they were the same colour.
At the end of the book I used a monkey puppet then the children looked at themselves in the mirror. We finished by placing all the laminated pictures on the tray and repeating the colours. Despite being such a simple story the children remained focused on the objects and the session lasted approx 35 - 40 minutes.  Another addition which could be made is to sing a song about each colour as it is being explored.

Rockpools

Whilst doing our seaside stories, one of the most popular activities has been exploring the rockpool. For this we used a round washing up bowl filled with tepid water and filled it with rockpool objects. In our rockpool we had pebbles and rocks, shells, plastic (but very realistic) starfish and crabs and some seaweed made from green plastic. Both visually and auditory sensual the odjects made a lovely noise when moved around the bowl. Each child had a 'dip' and showed us what they had found in the pool.

Lighthouses

One of the favourite stories that we do in class is The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch. I have developed a story bag and plan that has been used many times with several groups. The main props that we use are:
A lighthouse (ours is made from our bubble tube - see photo)
Feely bags with plastic food and matching symbol
A rope (strung between a ladder and the lighthoue
A large basket
Rubber seagulls on sticks
A large puppet/doll for Mr Grinling
A toy cat and blanket
Mustard

                                                           (our bubble tube 'Lighthouse')

We tell the story and act it act using the props. Each child is given a feely bag with food in and they match it to a large symbol that is held up at the appropriate time in the story. When the child has matched their food it is placed in the basket. When the basket is full, it is slid along the rope. It stops halfway and we then 'fly' seagulls around the basket (rubber seagulls on threads tied to long canes). You can also play seagull sound effects.

Laater we add the cat, Hamish to the basket and repeat the seagulls. When the mustard sandwiches are added to the basket we pass around a pot of mustard to smell and see how yucky it is.

The children's favourite parts are: exploring the foods, flying the seagulls and watching the basket slide along the rope! We have repeated this many times and the children manage to stay focussed and interested throughout the story.

DUCK!

Yesterday I went to a duck race and watched approx 4000 yellow rubber ducks drift down the river. It gave me an idea for a sensory story using Eric Carle's '10 Little Rubber Ducks'.

This story gives us plenty of scope for sensory activities:

• Using hammers and wooden blocks to create the noise of the factory.
• Painting the ducks with paintbushes and packing them in boxes.
• Driving the truck alonga  bouncy road, listening to the sound of the engine.
• Sailing on a boat, gently rocking side to side and then more vigorously duting the storm (use cymbals, thunders and torches to create the storm).
• The ducks fall into the sea (either using a large blue sheet or parachute to bounce the ducks or a tray of water (coloured blue).
• Remove each duck with a net as we count them, adding puppets or props for the creatures they meet.
• Use a duck 'whistle' at the end for the Mummy duck and duckilings and a squeaker for the rubber duck.

This is still in the planning stage so I need to go and hunt for 10 rubber ducks, before hopefully using the story with a class on Wednesday.

Children's Laureate

I was glad to read the news that Julia Donaldson is the new children's laureate. Her books are extremely popular in several of the classes at school. With the younger children we read The Gruffalo over several weeks using the soft toys that accompany the book. To make the Gruffalo we drew a large version on sugar paper and used collage to add his hair (curled paper) and made his claws, teeth, wart, purple prickles and knobbly knees. They 'body parts' were laminated and had velcro on the back so the children could take them on and off.

By coincidence I read The Smartest Giant in Town with one of the older groups today. We read it as a sensory story. Once child was the Giant and the others were the animals he meets. Props we used were:
The Clothes Shop - A board (on casters) with a clothes shop sign and the items of clothing (trousers, shirt, tie, belt, socks, shoes)hung up on coat hangers (later in the story we added a 'closed' sign).
George the Giant -  wore a ragged gown and had a pair of big heavy sandals.
The Giraffe - wore a card headband with giraffe spot and ears and the symbol for giraffe on it. He also had a giraffe puppet to wrap the tie around.
The Goat - wore a headband with goat ears and horns as well as the symbol for goat. For the boat we used a physio step turned upside down with a pole for a mask. We then tied the shirt onto the mask.
The Mouse - wore a headband with mouse ears and mouse symbol. They had a mouse hand puppet to place into the shoe.
The Fox - wore a head band (see above) plus had a toy fox/puppet to put into the sock, and a pop-up tent.
The Dog - Wore a headband as above (they can walk over a brown blanket for the bog)

We told the story and dressed the giant in his robe and sandals. When he got to the clothes shop the children chose which clothes to put on him (using symbols) and we 'threw away' the gown and sandals in a black sack. When the giant was dressed we continued with the story. As each animal appeared a child dressed up as that animal (had a good look in teh mirror!) and was given the relevant piece of clothing from the giant. Switches can be used to say 'Thank you' and 'I am the smartest giant in town'. Each time the giant sings his song we focussed on the sequence, pointing to each child/animal in turn. At the end of the story we found the black bag and pulled out the gown and sandals. Finally we had a big wrapped box with a crown and card inside for the giant to wear. We ended the story by listening to the song on CD, again focussing on the sequencing.

The children really enjoyed this and we will be expanding on it by revisitng the sequence and creating simple three word sentences (who is doing what)

The Seaside

This half term several of the classes I work in are following the theme of 'The Seaside'. I have found several picture books and have adapted them and read them  to the groups as sensory stories. Many of them feature similar seaside activites so we have been using props to help us experience the beach within the classroom.



For paddling and swimming, in the sea the children have been sitting on stools with their feet in boxes/bowls filled with tepid water. They are encouraged to splash and move their feet in the water. Attracted by the movement and sound some also like to lean over and put their hands in too.

For walking on the beach, we put a layer of sand onto plastic trays and placed them under the children's feet so they can feel the sand and step their feet up and down. You can add shells and pebbles for them to bend down and discover. Those able to stand with bare feet can stand up and step onto the sand. We also poured water over the sand and the children's feet for the time coming in.

Making sandcastles can be made in either the sand tray or on individual trays for each child. This can be done in a variety of positions: Sitting on floor, sitting on a stool, in a standing frame (using attached tray) or lying prone over a wedge. We made castles together as groupa round a sand tray and also made them individually on small trays. We decorated them with shells and stones and then either knocked them down or poured water over them. This happened in the stories when the tide came in and washed away the castles.

Exploring rockpools was a fun activity using a bowl of water filled with seaside objects such as shells, pebbles, plastic crabs, starfish, fish and seaweed (cut out from green plastic- it sticks to your hands and legs like real seaweed). The children enjoyed feeling  and looking at the objects.

Other activites from some of the books included: putting on sun cream (real or imaginary, singing 'this is the way I put on my cream.....when I go to the beach'; sailing in a boat (rowing in pairs whilst singing 'row the boat'); putting on sunhats (singing '______ is wearing a hat'); flying a kite (kite on a long pole infront of a fan) and playing under an umbrella (using a play parachute and lifting up to create an umbrellas.

Additonal sounds - We listened to seashore relaxation tapes and some sound effects such as waves and seagulls.

Additonal smells - suncream and 'seaside' (sand, shells)

London - Part 2

Yesterday afternoon I continued my literary jaunt around London by popping into The Imperial War Museum to see their exhibition 'Once Upon a Wartime'. It features five war stories for children; War Horse by Michael Morpurgo; Carrie's War by Nina Bawden; The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall; The Silver Sword and Little Soldier by Bernard Ashley. As I had read the first four books as part of my studies, it was great to see inspirations for the stories and some background information. The rest of the museum was good too, I managed to look around the exhibition on children in the war as well as the Holocaust exhibition. I finished off with a quiet sit down in the Tibetian peace garden. That was the end of my day in London. I will try to get down again soon to sit the next round of exhibits.

London Children's Literature Day

Today I spent the day in London looking at several exhibitions featuring children's literature. My first stop was The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. They have a lovely exhibition featuring the work of Judith Kerr. It is a Seven Stories touring exhibtion, which is great as I miss many of their author exhibitions as Newcastle is quite a way to go, although I try to visit now and then as it's one of my favourite museums. The exhibiton features many of Judith's original art work from both The Tiger Who Came To Tea and the Mog books.  There is a large tiger eating all the food as well as a huge cat basket for the children to sit in and read a selection of Judith's books. There is also a section on Judith's early life which was the inspiration for her children's noel When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. My own favourite highlight were the photos of the real Mog who lived to the grand old age of 127 (cat years) and was as a particualr as the illustrated Mog.

After the exhibition I watched a children's session featuring a re-telling of The Tiger Who Came to Tea complete with an adult sized tiger who ate alot of fruit! It is definitely worth a visit and the rest of the museum is great to get nostalgic about toys from your own childhood.

I then went over to Picadilly to visit the lovely 'Illustration Cupboard'. This small gallery sells and exhibits work by book illustrators and is currently showing original art work by Shirley Hughes in honour of Alfie's 30th birthday. They also have some art work by Jill Murphy, Lauren Child, David McKee and many other children's authors. The downside is that you will want to buy them all! Forthcoming exhibitions include Chris Wormell.  See the works exhibited at: http://www.illustrationcupboard.com/

Story Museum

If you venture down a quiet side street in Oxford, you may see a strange shop window. Look closer and you will see it caters for the storybook community. Amongst the odd things in the window are giant's dental floss, an invisibility cloak repair kit, wolf repellent and a borrower trap. It is an exciting preview of the Oxford Story Museum which opens in 2014. I for one can't wait. For more information and lots of story stuff visit their website http://www.storymuseum.org.uk/ .

Illustration Festival 2

Also at last weeks Illustration Festival, I got to watch Chris Wormell read from his new book One Smart Fish. This book is a lovely picture book about evolution and how One Smart Fish invented legs so he could walk on the beach! After reading the story to an enthralled audience Chris created a strange creature from the bits of animals that were called out, e.g. the head of a cat, the neck of a giraffe etc. Then a huge roll of paper was rolled onto the floor and children were asked to draw any type of animal they could and covered the paper with a huge menagerie.

Illustration Festival

Last weekend I was lucky enough to see David McKee (Elmer, Not Now Bernard) and Tony Ross (Little Princess Books, Horrid Henry (illustrations) at Blackwell Bookshops first Illustration Festival. They spent an hour going through the alphabet drawing animals that the young audience called out. They made it look so easy. At the end they did signings so of course I had to buy some books!

Hello

HI, my name is Sam and I love books. I love children's literature and although my own daughter is well past the picture book stage I still love to look at picture books. I work with children who have a range of severe special needs so use picture books in my work with them. We have sensory stories using props and objects to help them experience and engage with the story. That is the favourite part of my job and I plan to tell you about the stories we have used and what we did to make it come to life. I also like meeting children's authors so try to go to events to hear them talk about what they do or see them in action. I have been lucky enough to travel around to some of the many places in the UK that focus on children's literature so would also like to share that too!