Hi there teachers!  Thanks for stopping by to look at my website! I hope you’ve enjoyed using my “Benny Book” in the classroom.

Here are some ideas I thought you might be able to use with your students.  Keep popping back to the website to check for updates.  I would also love to hear how you have used a “Benny Book” with your class, so drop me a line on email.

LITERACY

·         Text innovation (E.g. Benny the Blue Heeler Rockets into Space)

·         Identify rhyme

·         Grammar – synonyms, antonyms, adjectives, verbs etc.

·         Plurals

·         Character Profiles

·         Wanted Poster

·         Write a letter/email to one of the characters

·         Create a word wall based on theme of book (e.g. farms)

·         Cut and paste –match animal images to their correct names

NUMERACY

·         Time

·         Seasons

·         Counting

·         Measurement (e.g. Number of L needed to fill the four wheeler, number of km travelled on the four wheeler each day)

THE ARTS

·         Clap out the story

·         Act out the story

·         Make masks of each of the characters

·         Create finger puppets and act out the story

·         Illustrate children’s text innovations

·         Create a song about “Benny the Blue Heeler”

·         Experiment with water colours and coloured pencils (just as the illustrator has)

·         Sketch various landscapes (e.g. city, country)

SOSE

·         “From Farm, Factory and Sea: Goods and services in our community” - SOSE Sourcebook Module (QSA website)

·         Caring for the environment

·         Excursion to a farm/invite a travelling farm to your school

SCIENCE

·         Energy

·         Force

·         Motion

·         Food Chains

·         Living and Non-Living Things

·         Habitats

·         Floating and sinking (e.g. why do ducks float?)

HEALTH

·         Sun safety (QSA website)

·         Being active in the outdoors (QSA website)

TECHNOLOGY

·         Email the author/illustrator with questions your students may have

·         Use playdough/plasticine to create a farming scene

·         Design a new piece of farming equipment

·         Design and create finger puppets to be used with the book

Work Sheets to Download

 Synonyms (Book 1)

Time to Rhyme (Book 1)

Character Profile (Book 1)

Fosberry Farm Phonics (Book 1)

Farm or Zoo Animals (Book 1)

Character Description (Book 2)

Fit and Fabulous (Book 2)

Fitness Test (Book 2)

From Start to Finish (Book 2)

Healthy Food Menu (Book 2)

Let's Cook (Book 2)

What does that mean? (Book 2)

What is Fitness? (Book 2)

 Helpful Links

www.readwritethink.org/materials/storymap/index.html

www.qsa.qld.edu.au