Book of the Day Teaching Ideas: The Flair for Imagination Edition

Each weekday I share picture books for the classroom and teaching ideas over at the Galarious Goods Instagram account. Now I’m happy to share them here with you.

A Flair for Hair by Bilyana DiCostanza

What are some of the different ways hair can be styled? This book presents different hairstyles . . . and how they look on a range of different animals.

This is a great inspiration for students to explore how a hairstyle might be created and to create their own procedure text - it could be as simple as combing your hair or as complicated as braiding!

My Teacher for President by Kay Winters

This is a great book looking at the qualities needed for a great president - and the on-the-job experience a teacher has which might make them the perfect choice.

This is a great way to look at the different jobs a president does and to think about why those jobs are important.

Get the book study for My Teacher for President here.

Puffling by Margaret Wild

Book of the Day - Puffling

Puffling is just a little bird who wants to go out - but needs to be kept safe.

This is the perfect introductory text for looking at habitats - especially the habitats required for baby animals.

The House That Cleaned Itself by Laura Dershewitz and Susan Romberg

This biographical picture book tells the story of Frances Gabe - the inventor who designed and built a house which cleaned itself.

There’s so many possible activities to accompany this book, including asking students to design a device which would make their own lives easier.

Get the book study for The House That Cleaned Itself here

Read more about The House That Cleaned Itself Here

Rainbow Bear by Stephen Michael King

Why is Bear so colourful? This gently mystery allows the reader to explore what polar bears do . . . and to imagine them in different colour schemes.

Students can design their own rainbow bear, thinking about different colours or designs they might like to use.

Related posts to read:

• 5 Places You Can Find Picture Books

• Five Ways to Explore Picture Books in the Classroom

• 5 Reasons to Explore The House that Cleaned Itself in the Classroom

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10 Great Books About Space Exploration for Your Classroom

I’ll admit it! In our family we are space fans. We watch documentaries and movies about space, we go to space exhibitions at the museum and we read space books. 

A lot of space books.

Here’s 10 of my favourite books about space for your classroom library.

1. Counting on Katherine by Helaine Becker

With the success of the movie Hidden Figures, more people now know about the contribution of Katherine Johnson and her fellow ‘computers’ when it came to getting men to the moon - and home again. This lovely picture book memoir allows children to also learn about this history. It follows Katherine’s life from when she was a young, enthusiastic learner, through to some of the challenges she faced to get an appropriate education through to her achievements. 

2. One Giant Leap by Don Brown

This is another memoir, but instead of focusing on the hidden figures behind the space program, it looks at arguably the most famous public face - Neil Armstrong. In 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first person to step on the surface of the moon. In the book, the author chooses to focus on Neil’s childhood and his wish to fly and on the Apollo 11 mission and the moon landing. By choosing just 2 focal points, students are able to draw connections between the boy who worked hard to fly and the man who worked hard to walk on the moon. 

3. Reaching for the Moon by Buzz Aldrin

This beautifully illustrated picture book is written by the second man to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin. It’s a longer book by the first two, but a fantastic overview of Buzz’s life from childhood until the moon landing and a wonderful insight into what an astronaut is actually thinking about and why they think they were able to succeed. 

4. Moonwalkers by Mark Greenwood

Like One Giant Leap and Reaching for the Moon, this is a story about the Apollo 11 mission and the first moon landing. However, instead of focusing on the astronauts, it focuses on the people watching the landing back on Earth. Billy lives near The Dish, and he wishes he can be an astronaut. The book shows us the elements of the mission through Billy’s craft projects, through the games he plays, through his dreams and through the viewing of the first steps on the family television. Terry Denton’s illustrations are particularly wonderful in this book - especially the spread showing the 20 steps to get the astronauts to the moon and back again.

5. To the Stars by Carmella Van Vleet and Dr Kathy Sullivan

Kathy Sullivan was the first woman to complete a space walk. Like other picture book memoirs about astronauts, this one explores some of the interests and characteristics she showed as a child and compares it with their achievements as adults. This one doesn’t follow a linear narrative, though, instead going back and forward to make direct connections. This interesting story telling style is well worth exploring with students.

6. The Astronaut with a Song for the Stars by Julia Finley Mosca

This memoir of Dr Ellen Ochoa is a bit different from the other memoirs - because it’s written in a delightful rhyming style. As well as examining Ellen’s childhood, this book looks at the influence of her family and their experiences. This book also connects nicely with Reaching for the Moon - emphasising the importance for both Buzz Aldrin and Ellen Ochoa of learning more to achieve. This book with additional information and a timeline included is a wonderful way to explore persistence.

You can find a book study for The Astronaut with a Song for the Stars - and a free resource! - at the Galarious Goods shop

7. The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield and Kate Fillion

Chris Hadfield became well known for his communication and songs from the International Space Station. However, this book focuses mostly on a child, Chris, who loves space and rockets, but is scared of the dark. When he watched the Apollo 11 moon landing he gains a different perspective on the dark and the wonders it holds.

8. On the Moon by Anna Milbourne

This is a special book to me, because we actually bought it at The Dish mentioned in Mark Greenwood’s Moonwalkers! This is a book aimed at younger readers showing a young girl who is interested in space and the moon. The book walks through what happened on a typical moon landing mission, from the launch to the landing and home again. This would be a great one to have in a lower grades class or for new readers.

9. Penguinaut by Marcie Colleen

It’s amazing how many picture books feature animals deciding to go to the moon! This lovely picture book is one of those, following the story of Orville the small penguin who has a lot of big friends with big adventures. So he devises a big adventure of his own - a trip to the moon - which he will complete on his own. There’s a lot to explore in this book and it’s a lovely companion to the non-fiction books.

10. Curiosity by Markus Motum

On the day my son was born, a little rover landed on Mars. That rover was Curiosity and this beautiful book is Curiosity’s story. It tells the reader why rovers were built, how they were built and how they were launched to Mars. It’s a beautiful non-fiction book which examines the history of the rovers while allowing room for further curiosity when it comes to space exploration.

Have you used any of these books in your classroom? Share your experiences in the comments.

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• 12 Books to Read After Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas

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• 7 Great Books to Integrate With Australian History and Social Studies

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Book of the Day Teaching Ideas: The No Biting Edition

Each weekday I share picture books for the classroom and teaching ideas over at the Galarious Goods Instagram account. Now I’m happy to share them here with you.

Wolf Won’t Bite! by Emily Gravett

When three pigs capture a wolf, they know they can do anything with him . . . because wolf won’t bite. This is such a good book for exploring how an author can build anticipation.

Students can explore the motivation of the three pigs and why they’re engaging in these activities in wolf. And how they might feel when it comes to the inevitable end.

I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon

This book explores what might happen when you happen to eat your best friend and you have to go on a hunt for a new friend. A funny story with an unexpected ending

Students can definitely use this story to explore what friendship is and what makes someone a friend.

Get the book study for I Just Ate My Friend here

The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants by Philip Bunting

This beautiful non-fiction book is perfect for taking a closer look at ants - a must have for any mini-beast study.

The author excels at sharing information through diagrams and pictures in the text. Students can explore these and use what they uncover to create their own diagrams.

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña

In this vibrant book, CJ wants to know why they are taking the bus. His Nana helps him look around him - to really look - and take notice of what’s important.

Students can use this to look at the point of view of the different characters in the story. They can draw pictures or write explanations of how they different characters see the world.

The Fabulous Friend Machine by Nick Bland

Nick Bland’s book is a must have for students exploring digital literacy and cyber security. The book uses an allegory to explore what can happen when we don’t actually see who’s on the other end of our online conversations.

Students can use this book as a model to write their own warning story about technology and to explore how technology and the online world can be explored responsibly.

Related posts to read:

• 5 Places You Can Find Picture Books

• Five Ways to Explore Picture Books in the Classroom

• Exploring Australian Picture Books About Weather

• Three Different Ways to Explore Poetry in your Classroom

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How Not to Teach the Vocabulary of a Novel (and 4 ways to teach it instead)

Are you about to read a new novel with your class and you want to concentrate on vocabulary? Here’s a cautionary tale about how not to teach vocabulary with a classroom novel . . . and four ideas to improve vocabulary when exploring a novel sized piece of text.

When I was in high school, we were assigned a classic novel to read as a class. This classic novel was filled with vocabulary words which were unfamiliar or less familiar to us. To help us with this, our teacher gave us a vocabulary list . . . and then told us to define every word as we read the novel.

It turned the reading experience into an absolute slog. Every time I read a new chapter, I had to haul out a dictionary (these were pre-internet dictionary times!), search for the words in the list, look them up, write out the definition and then figure out what it meant in the context of the text. By the time I got a few pages into the chapter, I’d forgotten what happened at the start of the chapter and I’d have to start again. It completely frustrated the whole class and many students gave up on the novel altogether.

But how can you still focus on vocabulary without taking away the enjoyment of the novel? Here’s four ideas to try in your class - don’t forget you can mix and match them as you like.

1. Introduce Vocabulary Before You Start

One thing to reflect on is why you are exploring vocabulary. If you’re teaching dictionary skills, that can be done with any collection of words and probably shouldn’t be connected to a novel. If you’re trying to make it easier for students to understand the text, though, why not introduce any complex words before they start?

This is a great way to use vocabulary lists. Present them to the students before you explore a chapter or make them available for students to access while they’re reading. Students can use the list to identify any words they’re not sure of, they can engage in discussions about what those words might mean or they can look them up.

By doing this, students aren’t spending ‘busy time’ defining words they already know the meaning of and they’re already aware that there’ll be some words which they’ll have to think about when they’re reading. If they haven’t looked them up yet, they might be able to use context clues to get a better understanding of the word, if they have looked them up, then they’ll approach the text with that additional knowledge.

This is also a good way just to get students thinking about language used in a book, even if they don’t define them. They’re seeing that words and word choice is important, allowing for further discussions about this while they read.

2. Go On a Vocabulary Hunt

As students read a chapter or several set chapters, challenge them to find any interesting words - or words which are used in interesting ways. Students can make a quick note of these words in their notebook or on a post it note to come back to later.

When they’ve finished reading, students can compare the words they’ve found. They might like to see if there were any words which several students identified and discuss why those words stood out to the students. Students can also compare their words with a prewritten vocabulary list or make their own vocabulary list for the chapter or chapters.

Once students have these words they might like to add them to a classroom display of words or an online shared file. This student led activity opens the door for further exploration of the language used and serves as a prompt for students to use some of these words in their own writing.

3. Examine a Vocabulary Word in Context

This requires only one vocabulary word. However, if you have a lot of words to explore, you can assign different words to different students or different pairs of students. Ask the students to locate the word in the text and to write down the sentence it’s used in. The students can then explore how it works within the sentence - what type of word is it? Does it evoke a feeling or an emotion? Is it part of figurative language?

When students have discussed the word, they can try substituting a different word into the sentence. They can examine it to see if another word could work better or how it might change the sentence if another word was used.

4. Group the Vocabulary

Once students have a group of vocabulary words - either from a vocabulary list or a group they have created themselves, students can look at how these words might relate to each other. Students can organise the words into smaller groups, based on any characteristics they like. Working in a small group or partners, they can discuss why different words might belong in a certain group or why they should be in a different group. They can then try to rearrange them into new groups based on different characteristics.

This activity is a way of making the vocabulary from a novel more familiar to students, so they are more likely to identify it if they come across it in another context. Allowing students time to give characteristics to a word or to make connections with other words, allows the words to become part of their schema - generally making them better readers!

How do you teach vocabulary when you read class novels? Share your experiences in the comments.

Related posts to read:

• 3 Ways to Engage Students with Folding Vocabulary Lessons

• Addressing Controversial Topics in the Classroom

• 3 Ways Students Can Use Folding Resources to Make Comparisons

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Book of the Day Teaching Ideas: For When You Want To Dance

Each weekday I share picture books for the classroom and teaching ideas over at the Galarious Goods Instagram account. Now I’m happy to share them here with you.

Josephine Wants to Dance by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley

This book, following the story of Josephine the kangaroo who really wants to be a ballet dancer, is a wonderful story about holding onto dreams.

This is a great story to retell from different points of view - from what Josephine’s brother was thinking to how the other dancers in the company react.

Memorial by Gary Crew and Shaun Tan

Based around a Memorial tree, this book tells the story of different generations of one family who’ve experienced war - the perfect book for Anzac Day or Remembrance Day

Students can create a timeline of the different wars mentioned in the book and undertake more research into those wars.

Get the book study for Memorial here

Errol! by Zanni Louise and Philip Bunting

This lovely, funny book about a penguin who won’t listen to his mother is a great book to explore with lower primary students.

Students can expand their writing skills by writing about Errol’s adventures and the places he went.

Engibear’s Dream by Andrew King

Engibear’s Dream is perfect for STEM activities, with a focus on what you should do when an engineering project doesn’t quite work the way you hope it will.

Students can use this text as an introduction to engineering, examining the book for vocabulary which they could use as they write about their own engineering adventures.

Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

This sweet book explores the diversity we can find in our communities and in our world - it’s a great book for lower primary students.

Students can use the book as inspiration as they create a portrait of who they are and the world around them.

Related posts to read:

• 5 ANZAC Day Picture Books to Use in Your Classroom

• Five Ways to Explore Picture Books in the Classroom

• Exploring Australian Picture Books About Weather

• Three Different Ways to Explore Poetry in your Classroom

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4 Literacy Activities for I Just Ate My Friend

He was my best friend . . . and now he’s gone!

If you haven’t read I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon, I highly recommend getting your hand on a copy. This lovely picture book, which follows the monster’s search for a new friend - after they ate their old friend, is a brilliant book to read with early primary students, and a great one to take a closer look at in the classroom. 

Here’s a few ways you can explore this very funny picture book in your classroom.

1. Create Your Own Monster

The monsters in I Just Ate My Friend all look very different. Students can choose a monster and work in pairs or in small groups to describe these monsters. Alternately, students can explore creating their own monster.

One way to create a monster is to combine it with mathematics and use chance - and a dice - to create a monster. Each number of the dice can correspond with a particular monster feature and students can roll the dice, then draw the piece of monster they get. If students are in the pre-reading stage, this can be done in literacy rotation groups with a teacher or assistant or even as a whole class activity. Once students have drawn their monster, they can write descriptions for their new creation.

Want to create monsters with your class? You can get free printables to support this activity in your classroom by signing up for the free resource library.

2. Engage in Readers Theatre . . . And Create Their Own

Because the main character in I Just Ate My Friend meets a lot of other characters, it’s a great opportunity to introduce and explore reader’s theatre with your students. Students can discuss how they think different lines in the book should be read (exploring fluency and expression) and take turns being the main character and the monsters they meet. 

Once students are comfortable with the text, they might also like to think about how they could expand it. Students can brainstorm other monsters the main character might meet and act out what those monsters might say. They could challenge themselves to have enough monsters for the whole class to participate!

3. Exploring What a Friend Is

This is a great book for exploring the qualities of friends. Students can brainstorm words which describe friends and create images or descriptions of friendships.

Students can also explore what friendships look like in other media. They might like to talk about television shows or movies or other books which feature friendships and talk about the qualities of friends shown there.

Do you want to teach this activity with your students? You can find it as part of the I Just Ate My Friend book study

4. Exploring Surprising Endings

I Just Ate My Friend has a surprise ending which completely changes the book. This is a great opportunity for students to talk about surprise endings and why the author might have chosen to write it. They can also connect this book to other books with surprise endings and discuss what makes an ending surprising.

Once they’ve discussed surprise endings, students might like to try creating their own surprise endings. They can create stories in small groups or pairs, write them, record them or have them scribed and create their own books.

Have you read I Just Ate My Friend in Your Classroom? Share your experience in the comments.

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Book of the Day Teaching Ideas: The First Edition

Each weekday I share picture books for the classroom and teaching ideas over at the Galarious Goods Instagram account. Now I’m proud to share them here with you.

A Dog’s Tale by Michael Rosen and Tony Ross

A lovely book which explores advice perfect for young dogs - and humans. This is a great book for exploring advice, which advice is good advice and how we can use it in our lives.

Students may like to create their own animal advice books. They can explore the behaviour of different animals and reflect on how that behaviour might connect with human traits.

Fire by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley

This is such an important book, exploring the fury of a bushfire and its impact on people, structures, animals and the natural environment.

Students can spend some time exploring the author and illustrator notes in the book. They might like to use these to form more questions.

Get the book study for Fire here

Oi Cat! by Kes Gray and Jim Field

This is a serious favourite in my household with it’s rhyming word play - and the playful use of words makes it perfect for the classroom.

As well as exploring the rhymes in the book, students may like to choose one of the animals mentioned in the story for further research - looking at what they are, where you find them, their habitat and other interesting facts.

Cloud Dance by Thomas Locker

This is a really pretty book exploring clouds - a great one to add to any exploration of clouds and weather.

Students can use this book to inspire their own writing, drawing or photography of the clouds they see. Alternately, they can find pictures of clouds online and write poetry and descriptions of these.

The Return of Thelma the Unicorn by Aaron Blabey

Thelma is back! This time backed up by Otis and exploring what good she can do for the world.

This is a great book for exploring good things we can do in the world. Students might like to brainstorm how they can be ‘unicorns’ for their community and how they can bring joy and glitter into the world.

Related posts to read:

• Five Ways to Explore Picture Books in the Classroom

• Exploring Australian Picture Books About Weather

• Three Different Ways to Explore Poetry in your Classroom

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The Power of Settings When You’re Teaching Coraline

What will be on the other side of that locked door? This is the question asked early on in the Neil Gaiman novel Coraline. As Coraline reaches up to get the key and turns it in the door, we aren’t sure whether there’ll still be bricks there, or if there’ll be something else there.

Just like this moment, the other settings in Coraline are filled with a little bit of uncertainty - which is why they’re so exciting to explore in the classroom!

Coraline tells the story of a girl who has recently moved to a new home. As she is exploring the environment around her, she is compelled to explore behind the door - even though when her mother opened it, there was nothing but a brick wall behind it.

The settings tell us a lot about the themes and ideas of Coraline. From the woods which aren’t really woods and just take her back to the ‘other’ house, to the flat where her neighbours live in (both in the ‘real’ world and in the ‘other’ world) to the well in the yard of the real house. As students work their way through the novel, it’s worth taking the time to explore the settings in more detail, allowing students to better understand it.

Here’s some ways you can explore the settings in more detail:

Create a List of the Important Settings in Coraline

What are the most important settings in Coraline and why are they important? This is a question which students can ask themselves as they are reading the story - maybe reserving a part of their notebooks or contributing to a collaborative list of important settings. Once they’ve finished reading the book, students can review the list and identify which of the settings are most important and why. Students can then take this further by identifying which of the settings are most important to which character and why.

Describing a Setting from Coraline

If students have identified the important settings from Coraline, they can extend it further by describing the setting. Asking students to describe a setting in their own words - or to draw and describe it - requires them to really focus on what is - and isn’t included in that setting. As students are describing it, you can further prompt them to think about what people might see, hear or feel in that setting.

Want to engage in a draw and describe activity with your students? Find this activity as part of the Coraline Characters and Settings teaching resource

Creating a Map of Settings

Coraline is one of those books where the characters need to go on a journey to solve a problem. As she goes on the journey, she visits a range of settings. This can be explored in the classroom as students look at the journey to create a map of the settings. 

As students make a map, they can explore which places Coraline chose to visit and why she chose those places. They can look at how her emotions change in the different places she visits and whether the setting has any influence over those emotions. They can also explore who she encounters in each of those settings and how that impacts the plot of the story.

Have you explored the settings of Coraline - or another novel? Tell us about your experience in the comments.

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• Exploring Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

• Adventure Girl and Reclusive Author

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Why You Should Teach Coraline as Your Next Novel Study

Are you looking for your next classroom novel study? Here’s why you should consider Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.

Coraline tells the story of a young girl who’s recently moved into an apartment in an old house. In the process of ‘exploring’ she discovers a door that leads nowhere . . . until it does. She finds herself in the ‘other’ world, a world where the other mother wants to fulfill her every wish. Or does she . . . ?

This short novel is filled with interesting characters to explore, storylines to follow and themes to examine. But here’s some other reasons you should teach Coraline in your classroom.

Coraline is Filled With Wonderful Writing and Language

Neil Gaiman is a wonderful writer and his writing style shines in this book. It’s filled with beautiful descriptive language which makes it perfect for vocabulary lessons. Students can identify their favourite words within different chapters or sections. They can define these words, discuss why the author might have chosen to use them in the book and what feelings they evoke in the reader, then try to use the vocabulary in their own writing.

Coraline Explore the Notion that Everything Has Two Sides

The Other Mother and the other ‘other’ characters are fascinating to explore. They are probably one of the key ideas to discuss when engaging with a Coraline novel study. Students can compare and contrast the features of the ‘real’ characters and the ‘other’ characters. They can talk about why those characters might have certain characteristics and how that would impact their relationships with others in the story. Students can also explore those characters which don’t have ‘other’ counterparts and question why that might be the case - why the author made that decision.

Coraline Explore the Theme of Bravery

Bravery is one of those themes which we often find in children’s novels, even when it’s expressed in a range of different actions. Jamal in Boy Overboard, for example, needs to be brave when he finds himself and his sister in an awful situation without their parents. He often shows his bravery through quick thinking and being willing to make suggestions to those in positions of authority. Rowan in Rowan of Rin is another character who has to be brave to solve a problem. In his case, he has never thought of himself as brave in the village of people who appear to be brave - but it is his calm and caring nature which allows him to be brave. 

In Coraline, Coraline is required to say no at a time when it would be very easy to say yes. She has to use her brain to be a problem solver and at times, she simply has to run, and keep going.  Students could examine her different actions throughout the book and identify when she is being brave and when she isn’t and what bravery looks like in the world of Coraline.

Teacher Resources

There are three teacher resources for Coraline as well as a resource bundle available through Galarious Goods.

The Comprehension and Vocabulary teaching resource allows students to take an in-depth, chapter by chapter look at Coraline. Different printable resources allow students to examine the comprehension and vocabulary of Coraline including chapter questions and more in-depth looks at an aspect of each chapter.

The Character and Setting teaching resource takes a look at the characters of Coraline and some of the events which happen to them. It also includes classroom activities where students describe and discuss the settings in the book.

The Whole Novel teaching resource encompasses the entire novel of Coraline. It includes reader response, retell, themes, discussion questions and creative activities.

Related posts to read:

• Using Boy Overboard in the Classroom

• Introduction to Rowan of Rin: Classroom Discussions and Teaching Resources

• Introducing The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

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Just Empty Your Head! How Students Can Create a Brain Dump When They’re Reading

“Just hold all these complex ideas in your head. Then add in some new vocabulary. And form some questions. And don’t forget to make predictions!”

What are we asking students to do when we ask them to read a complex text or a novel? When you start to break it all down, it’s easy to see that students are being asked to recall or process several things at the same time. And that is, of course, an incredibly important skill to have. But how can we scaffold this to ensure that every student in the class has success with the more complex task? Enter . . . the brain dump!

What is a Brain Dump?

Essentially, a brain dump is the act of taking everything that you’re thinking . . . and putting it down onto paper (or a technological alternative). Many people use them when they’re feeling stressed or anxious or overwhelmed; it allows people to grab all of the nagging little thoughts in their heads and put them into a tangible form. They’re also great if you’re in the habit of ‘remembering’ all of the things you need to get done in a day or a week. By putting them down onto paper you have something to help you remember, loosening the mental load just a little.

“So, that sounds great . . . but how does it work when you’re teaching reading to children?”

Using a Brain Dump when exploring a book

As I pointed out, reading a text involves a lot of different actions, particularly if the text is longer or is complex. There’s characters to remember, settings to put into place, plots to follow. There’s the basic act of decoding, then there’s understanding the vocabulary - either by using context clues, remembering words or by using word roots. Students then need to make predictions of what might happen next or why they think a particular character acted the way they did or why the author might have chosen to use that particular word. The act of reading is a complex one!

By creating a brain dump, students can get everything they’re thinking about the text out of their head and onto the page. They’re able to see what they do and don’t know and use their brain dump to create new connections. 

“That’s great . . . but how do we teach it?”

How Do We Teach Brain Dumps for Reading

It might be best to start with a short piece of text - a poem or a picture book - which is familiar to the students. On the first read through, students should simply listen to the text. On the second read through, you demonstrate the brain dump. As you read through it again, model writing down everything which comes into your head - from observations on the characters’ names (“Oh, that dog is called Trevor. I went to school with a Trevor. Just like the Trevor from Fireman Sam . . .“) to questions (“I wonder why Pig never seems to learn his lesson. Or does he learn his lesson and just constantly make new mistakes?”) to random thoughts which are unconnected to the text but came into your brain anyway (“I wonder if it’ll be wet at lunch?”)

Once you’ve modelled your brain dump you can use the same text or another familiar text for the students to have a try. Remind them that it doesn’t need to be perfect - it’s not being used for assessment - it’s just a way of helping them better understand the texts they are reading. Give students plenty of opportunities to practice - remembering that they can be used with texts students use in history or civics, science or technology as well.

Tip: Students can use any piece of paper - or a computer or tablet - for brain dumps. However, you can find a range of free brain dump templates by signing up for the Galarious Goods free resource library.

“Ok, I get that. But what do we do with them once we have them?”

Using the Brain Dumps

Once students have their brain dumps, they can use them in a range of ways. Again, this is something you might like to model to the students - but they might also develop their own ways of using them, which they might like to share with their classmates.

Students might like to use their brain dumps for basic recall references. They allow students to write down the important characters or the important dates and events, something to refer back to when they need them. Or they could use them to brainstorm questions they might like to ask about the text, going back through their information to see where there are any queries.

If students create brain dumps for two different texts, they might like to use them to find connections - once they see the information written in front of them, it can be easier to see where those themes or ideas overlap. Students might also like to share their brain dump with a classmate to see how different people have responded to the same text.

Have you used brain dumps for reading in your classroom? Tell us about it in the comments!

Related posts to read:

• Three Connections to The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

• Exploring Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

• Exploring Author Intention

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