Month: November 2017

Where does snow fall?

The answer is everywhere!

Open The Snow Wombat by Susannah Chambers and go on a wintry walk in the Australian Alpine to discover how the environment changes when it is covered in snow.

The young reader will delight in the map drawn on the end pages and the names of the different places the wombat visits. You can spend time searching each illustration drawn beautifully by Mark Jackson to find different Australian animals who also live in the snow and the various plants and trees that can survive the freezing temperatures.

Repetition and rhyme have been used throughout the story, encouraging young readers to read along and guess which word might come next.

We loved reading this story and had a lot of fun re creating the map, spotting feral and Australian animals and making our own puppets to reenact the story.

The Snow Wombat was SHORT-LISTED: CBCA Book of the Year, Early Childhood, 2017.

So what can you do with this book?

1. Draw your own map of the story, this will encourage skills of recount. You can also create your own map of where another Australian animal might go.
2. Discuss the different animals on each page. Which ones are Australian animals? Which are feral animals? Livestock? Endangered?
3. Learn about wombats and how they live.
4. Could you write another story about another type of weather?

Come on an adventure with me and learn about my life in the jungle

Sleepy is an adorable sloth. Sleepy the sloth and his friends live in the trees of the Central and South American tropical rainforests and Jan Latta has beautifully captured these animals in their natural habitat.

Jan Latta has produced the True to life series so she can educate children about endangered animals through a captivating story told through photographs taken of these animals in their natural habitat.

In this story – Sleepy the Sloth, we learn about what Sleepy does throughout the day, what he looks like and why, how he eats and the different things he does to live and survive. These facts are all learnt through a lovely story with accompanying photographs.

However, children aren’t just told the story of sleepy the sloth – they are also given some great facts and maps along with comprehension questions. There is a map, some fun craft activities and even a colouring in page.

We all want our children to learn about endangered animals but we want them to enjoy learning about them – and this book does just that. When children (and adults) do things rather than just listening or reading, they remember better.

After reading Sleepy the Sloth parents and teachers can use these activities to have more in depth conversations about how we can help to take Sloths off the endangered list!

Jan Latta is passionate about educating people about animals who are endangered and spends a lot of time researching her subjects before photographing them. Not only has she created books but there are accompanying videos for her books too so children can see the animal and how it moves.

Sleepy the Sloth will not only engage your young reader but it will also inspire them to think of ways that they can make a difference in this animal’s life – even if it is on the other side of the world.

You can check out Jan’s work on her blog and purchase one of her many engaging creations