Bookbug Picture Book Prize 2017Creative activities for the three shortlisted books

CFE Levels Early and 1 (Age 3-7)

Contents1 Who are these resources for?

2 Activity for all books: Shared Reading

2 Activities for There’s a Bear on my Chair

7 Activities for Hare and Tortoise

11 Activities for Shark in the Park on a Windy Day

14 Resources for pupils with additional support needs

Who are these resources for? These resources are designed to be of use to any nursery teacher, primary teacher or librarian looking to use the three shortlisted books as an inspiration for cross-curricular learning. As well as this, the resources will also help you to create a buzz about the shortlisted titles and the Bookbug Picture Book Prize.

Remember that every P1 child in Scotland receives the P1 Family Bag, which contains the three shortlisted books. It also contains an activity book for parents and children – this can be a great way to create a link between school and home, as pupils do fun activities based on the books they’ve been introduced to in school.

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Activity for all books: Shared ReadingShared Reading Outcomes for younger pupils: Lit 1-11a. Outcomes for older pupils: Lit 2-03a, Lit 2-11a, HWB 2-13a,

Shared Reading is a great way for older and younger pupils to share and discover books together.

Shared Reading involves older pupils reading picture books out loud to younger pupils. It hands the older pupil the responsibility of making sure a young child enjoys discovering a book, and is a great boost to older pupils’ confidence, especially if they do not see themselves as readers initially.

For a complete introduction to shared reading, including case studies, videos and a unit of activities to take you through the process, check out this page: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/learning-resources/resource/how-to-run-a-shared-reading-project

There’s A Bear On My ChairWritten and illustrated by Ross Collins

There’s a bear sitting on a mouse’s chair. And the mouse just can’t get it off, no matter what he does. He stares at it, shouts at it, tries to scare it and even tries to tempt it away with a juicy pear, but the smug bear just keeps on sitting there, watching the mouse get increasingly annoyed. This hilarious tale will provide you with a great opportunity to talk about sharing, as well as a platform for lots of creative activities.

How would you get the bear off the chair? Lit 0-31a, Eng 1-31a

The mouse tries everything he can think of to get the bear off the chair, but nothing works. Can your pupils think of any ways they might try to get the bear off the chair? Ask them to write a picture book or comic showing all the things they would do. They can come up with a new character, or re-use the mouse – Ross Collins shows how to draw the bear and the mouse in this video: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/teachers-librarians/2016/06/how-to-draw-a-smug-polar-bear-and-an-angry-mouse.

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Big and small animals MNU 0-01a, MNU 1-03a, MNU 1-20b, MTH 1-21a, Lit 1-14a, Tch 1-03b

The mouse tries to shove the bear off the chair, but he doesn’t stand much of a chance, because the bear is huge!

You can introduce Early Level pupils to small and large animals by reading them some of the following stories:

The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field Monster in the Hood by Steve Antony Big! By Tim Hopgood Oi Dog! by Kes Gray, Claire Gray and Jim Field Actual Size by Steve Jenkins The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

At First Level, ask pupils to find out about three very large animals and three very small ones. How tall is each animal, and how much do they weigh? Ask pupils to sort the animals in order of height or weight. Then, ask them to subtract the smaller weights from the larger ones to find the difference between each animal’s weight. Ideal pages for pupils to study include:

Elephants: http://bit.ly/2au6ju8 Giraffes: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe Polar bears: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear Rabbits: http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/ra/Rabbit

For older readers, the Animal Corner website is a good place to navigate, and contains height, length and weight statistics for most animals: https://animalcorner.co.uk/.

Kids.Net is also a great place for pupils to search for child-friendly, safe information: http://www.kids.net.au/.

As an extension, pupils can plot the various heights and weights on a graph.

How can the bear survive the cold? SCN 0-01a, Exa 0-12a

Although the mouse gets his own back, he’d be very cold in the Arctic compared to the bear, who is used to the cold. But how do animals survive in such temperatures?

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Lots of animals use a layer of fat called blubber to keep warm. You can perform this simple experiment with pupils to show them how a layer of fat can help keep an animal warm: http://www.icanteachmychild.com/how-arctic-animals-stay-warm-in-icy-water/

Another animal which is really good at staying warm in a harsh winter is the penguin. Penguins huddle together for warmth and take turns being on the outside of the circle. They also lean back to take their toes off the ice! Seals and walruses will also often go into the sea, which is not as cold as the land, during the coldest parts of the day.

Outside the Arctic, lizards will bask in the sun to raise their temperature, bees vibrate their muscles to ‘shiver’, lemmings build tunnels, and of course birds migrate. Lots of animals hibernate too!

You can ask very young pupils to show what they have learned about these animals by acting out what each one does to survive the cold. Play them some music to and ask them to mime the various animals’ behaviour – you can use Prokofiev’s ‘Troika’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsRDpsItq0.

Learning about sharing and conflict resolution HWB 0-01a, HWB 0-02a, HWB 0-04a, Lit 0-09a

Discuss the following with your pupils:

If the bear wanted to sit on the mouse’s chair, what should he have done? What kind of things could he say to the mouse if he wanted to sit on the chair?

The chair belongs to the mouse. Should the mouse never let anyone else sit on his chair?

The mouse gets really angry, and he shows it. Does this make the bear want to get off the chair? What should we do if we lose our temper and shout at someone?

The bear hasn’t asked permission to sit on the chair. What kind of things should the mouse say to the bear to help him understand that he is angry about this?

Can you think of any reasons why it’s good to share things?

Some of these scenarios can be acted out with finger puppets. Here are some puppet-making activities:

A polar bear: http://iheartcraftythings.com/polar-bear-kids-craft-finger-puppets.html A mouse: https://craftulate.com/2015/02/mouse-finger-puppets.html

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Design a new jumper for the mouse MTH 0-13a, EXA 1-03a

The mouse’s jumper has repeating patterns on it. Ask your pupils to design a new jumper with repeating patterns for the mouse. What shapes can they use?

Write a newspaper for a bear to read Lit 1-28a, Lit 1-14a, TCH 1-03b

The bear sits and reads ‘Bear News’ while the mouse tries to get him to move. Older pupils can become a team of journalists and compile some features for ‘Polar Bear News’ or a polar bear magazine. Features could include news about threats and conservation, as well as a weather report for the Arctic, tips on where to find food, information about other Arctic animals, etc. Some could even be cartoonists and include their comic strips from the very first activity!

If you want to teach pupils internet keyword search and page navigation skills, some good sites to use are:

Infant Encyclopedia – this has some simple articles featuring bears: http://www.parkfieldict.co.uk/infant/

WWF has some brilliant fact files on Arctic animals: http://gowild.wwf.org.uk/regions/polar-fact-files

This video tells pupils some facts about the Arctic weather: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB9N7V_C_r0

Make another chair TCH 1-12a, MNU 1-03a

Challenge your pupils to design a chair which the bear will like just as much as the mouse’s chair, or design a chair for another user entirely! They’ll need to think about the specific requirements and tastes of the user and the environment. They can draw their designs, then everyone can come up with price tags for their chairs and pull them together to have a chair auction! Send them in with a shopping list, and test their multiplication skills when you ask them to buy more than one of a particular kind of chair.

This activity from TES can help pupils to think about meeting the needs of the consumer (you’ll need to create a free TES login): https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/4b-chairs-3005886. The ‘Different Chairs’ Powerpoint is especially useful for showing pupils different

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designs for different users and environments, and the ‘Best Fit’ Powerpoint is a useful practice activity.

Some songs and rhymes Exa 0-16a

If you want to build songs and rhymes into your work around the book, here are a few great selections to get you started:

Three Blind Mice: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/schoolradio/subjects/earlylearning/nurserysongs/P-T/three_blind_miceWhen Goldilocks Went To The House Of The Bears: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/schoolradio/subjects/earlylearning/nurserysongs/U-Z/goldilocks_house_of_bears Hickory Dickory Dock: http://bit.ly/BBCHickoryDickoryDock

Further activities

You’ll find some activities to explore rhyming poetry, technologies and sciences in our Ross Collins learning resources: http://scottishbooktrust.com/learning/learning-resources/resource/ross-collins-learning-resources-creating-rhyming-poetry.

If you and your class loved There’s a Bear on My Chair Lit 0-11a

Check out our list of books about conflict resolution: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/12-books-about-conflict-resolution-3-7

Or how about this list of books about bears: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/books-about-bears-3-7

Or this list of books featuring rodents: http://scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/15-books-about-rodents-3-7

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Hare and TortoiseWritten and illustrated by Alison Murray

Hare (Leapus swifticus) can barely stay still for a minute. He’s the fastest on the farm. Tortoise (Slow and steadicus) can stay still for a very long time. She has occasionally been mistaken for a rock. So when they decide to have a race, Hare is certain to win . . . isn’t he? This richly illustrated story will introduce a whole new generation to the favourite Aesop’s fable, and is an ideal springboard for Health and Wellbeing activities, as well as other cross-curricular projects.

Hare and Tortoise board game HWB 0-14a, Exa 1-03a

Alison Murray has made a board game of Hare and Tortoise available on her website: http://alisonmurray.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/HT-map.pdf. Why not challenge your First Level pupils to create their own game based on the book?

Organise the great Tortoise and Hare rematch Lit 1-28a, Lit 1-31a, TCH 1-12a, Exa 1-03a

Tell your pupils to imagine that Tortoise and Hare are having a rematch. In groups, they need to organise all the things necessary for the sports event. Ask them to mind map all of the things you see at a sports event, then ask them to get to work on producing these. Here are some suggestions:

Pupils can design some banners to cheer on Tortoise or Hare, or both! This is a good opportunity to introduce alliteration, repetition and other features of persuasive language. Bring the flags and banners together to create flag bunting – this link shows you how to make bunting: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/flag-bunting

You can also ask pupils to come up with chants to cheer on Tortoise and Hare. Chants often make use of rhyme, so you might want to use some of the activities in our Ross Collins resource, which focuses on rhyming poetry: http://bit.ly/rhymingpoetryresources.

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Ask your pupils to design some trophies and medals. There are some fun examples on this Pinterest board: https://uk.pinterest.com/tiggerhms/fun-awards/

The map at the beginning of the book shows the racecourse. Ask your pupils to design and draw a new racecourse on the farm with some obstacles. Alternatively, they could produce a 3D model of the old course using tissue paper for the grass and pond and cardboard for the farmhouse and gates. If you want to introduce some technical drawing, this video shows how to create a 3D barn from card: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb0123JEvRU

Discussion Lit 0-02a, HWB 0-01a, HWB 0-10a, HWB 0-11a

If you’re holding a competitive sports day, here are some questions to discuss around the book and sports in general which might help to get pupils in the right mindset:

Tortoise isn’t sure that she’ll be very good at racing, but she just smiles and says she’ll give it a go. Do you think Tortoise really wants to win the race? Do you think she would have been upset if she lost?

Why do you think Tortoise decided to give it a go? Do you think that people should only take part in sports if they think they’re going to

win? Talk about a time you tried something new. How did you feel before you tried it? Was it

difficult the first time? Was it easier or different the next time you tried it? Do you think everyone can be good at everything they try? How can we help encourage others to try something new? What kind of things can we

say to them to encourage them?

Write or build a story about trying something new Lit 0-02a, Lit 0-09b

Encourage pupils to write a story about a person or animal who tries something new. You can do story building with Early Level pupils, where you gather them in groups, give them a character or setting to start off with and ask them prompt questions to build a story. For instance, what does their character try out; is it going to be easy for them to do; do they succeed the first time, and if not what do they do differently when they try again?

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First Level pupils can try writing stories or comic strips. If they struggle, make sure they pick an animal that will have particular difficulty completing a task – for instance, a mouse that wants to become a wrestler, or a snake that wants to play the piano. Use it as an opportunity to talk about failure and how it can be a learning experience: perhaps the animal gets help from friends, finds a creative solution to a problem, or inadvertently finds something else it’s good at (for a good example of this, read Mr Pusskins: Best in Show by Sam Lloyd).

Fastest and slowest MNU 0-01a, MNU 1-03a, MNU 1-20b, MTH 1-21a, Lit 1-14a, Tch 1-03b

Hare is very fast, while tortoise is as slow as they come. Ask your pupils to find three very fast land animals and three slower ones (not as slow as a tortoise however, or the activity won’t work!). Ask them to sort the animals in order from fastest to slowest, and get them to subtract the speeds from each other to find out the difference in the animals’ speeds. Alternatively, use some of the other farm animals and ask pupils who would win if these other animals raced against each other.

Some useful web pages include:

Animal Smart, which has this article about three fast animals: http://bit.ly/2awqh7M This page from factmonster lists lots of animal speeds:

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0004737.html

As an extension, ask pupils to plot the types of animals and their speeds in a simple chart or graph.

Write an opposite poem Lit 0-09b, HWB 0-21a

Hare is fast, tortoise is slow, and this contrast can provide a lovely basis for an opposites poem.

With Early Level pupils, you can ask them what an opposite is and ask for some examples of opposites. After this, read them the following few lines of poetry:

I like giraffes who are really, really tall,I like lizards who are really, really short.

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Ask the children to come up with other animals who are opposite to each other in some way, then ask them to continue the poem. When you read it out loud as a class, ask the pupils to come up with actions to accompany the poem, perhaps mimicking the way each animal moves.

With older pupils, you can ask them to write their poems down and perform them.

Grow some carrots SCN 0-03a

Carrots are a relatively easy vegetable to grow, and you can ask your pupils to take charge of digging and planting them, as well as watering them regularly. They take around a maximum of 16 weeks before they are ready to harvest. Lettuce is easy to grow too, and grows all year round.

The Royal Horticultural Society has some good advice about growing carrots here: http://bit.ly/RHSGrowCarrots . They also have advice for growing lettuce: http://bit.ly/RHSGrowLettuce.

Numeracy activities MNU 0-02a

For Early Level, the book provides opportunities to count things: the number of animals who live on the farm, the number of carrots, or the lettuces in the lettuce patch. Encourage pupils to try out some division by seeing if they can feed two, three or four hares with the amount of carrots on the farm.

Memory game Lit 0-02a

Ask your pupils to sit in a circle. Start them off by saying, “I went to the farm and I saw a cow.” The pupil next to you must repeat what you have said and then add an animal. The next pupil must try to remember the previous two animals and add their own, and so on! The “World’s Greatest Sandwich” activity on this web page can be a good precursor to this activity: http://bit.ly/CircleGames

Some songs and rhymes Exa 0-16a

I Went To Visit a Farm One Day: http://bbc.in/2atPBuT

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Five Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day: http://bbc.in/2atPVtUBusy Farmer Ben: http://bbc.in/2atQ4xb

If you and your class loved Hare and Tortoise Lit 0-11a

Check out our list of books which retell famous fables: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/11-fables-retold-3-7

Check out our list of books about rabbits: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/10-books-about-rabbits-3-7

And here’s a list of books set on farms: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/12-farmyard-reads-3-7

Shark in the Park on a Windy DayWritten and illustrated by Nick Sharratt

On a blustery day, Timothy Pope and his father take a walk in the park. Timothy has his telescope with him and can’t wait to try it out. But wait – Timothy has spotted a giant fin, which can mean only one thing: a shark! Or can it? This fun rhyming story will keep your learners turning the pages to find out if Timothy has really spied a shark, and the book provides lots of learning opportunities around sciences, literacy and numeracy.

Design your own park Lit 0-02a, Lit 1-25a, Exa 1-03a, MNU 1-03a, Lit 1-28a

This activity idea can be a springboard for lots of cross-curricular learning!

Ask your pupils about their local park. Do they go to the park? What have they enjoyed doing there? What do they see adults enjoying at the park? What other things might they like to see at the park? You could use the quick activity sheet for the book to get pupils to draw what they might find at the park – the sheet can be found here: http://scottishbooktrust.com/learning/learning-resources/resource/bookbug-picture-book-prize-2017-learning-resources

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Tell your pupils that they have been asked to design a new park for the community. Get them to mind map different things that should be in the park. They need to think about all the different people who visit the park and the things they might need and want!

After this, get them to plan the park. They could do this in groups, deciding where the best place for certain attractions and facilities could be. Get them to draw a map of their park and label all of its features.

After this, ask them to design tickets for attractions in the park, and work out how much money someone would need to bring to go to every attraction. You could also get them to design Danger signs giving instructions on what to do if you see a shark!

If you want to incorporate some extended writing, older pupils can write letters to persuade the local council that a new park is needed, or write a speech for a local dignitary to read out on park opening day.

Discussion Lit 0-02a, HWB 0-01a, HWB 0-06a

Here are some questions to help you discuss the themes of the book:

Tim and his dad help out someone in need. Why do you think people help others? Can you think of a time someone helped you?

Tim and his dad go to the park together. Do you enjoy doing things together with other people? Is it sometimes enjoyable to do some things on your own too?

Most towns have some kind of park in them. Obviously people think it’s important to have a park! Do you think it’s important to have a local park?

Write or build a story about the park Lit 0-02a, Lit 0-09b, Lit 1-31a

Encourage pupils to write a story set in a park. You can do story building with Early Level pupils, where you gather them in groups, give them the setting and perhaps a character to start off with and ask them prompt questions to build a story. For instance, what is their character doing in the park; who do they meet; do they run into a problem, and how do they get around it?

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First Level pupils can try writing stories or comic strips. One good story idea might be to ask them to imagine that there is a town without a park, or where a park has been taken away from the community. How do the characters overcome this problem?

Numeracy activities MNU 0-02a

For Early Level counting activities, you can count the number of animals and people in the park or the number of leaves on a page.

Make a kite TCH 1-12a

Making a kite is a great activity to talk about strengthening materials. You can ask pupils for their suggestions as to how it could be done: they can revise and improve their designs along the way. This set of instructions is a great place to start: http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-Paper-Kite-for-Kids/?ALLSTEPS

Learning about the seasons SCN 0-05a, SCN 1-05a, Lit 1-28a

Ask your pupils to investigate how the park would look in different seasons. What colour would the trees be, and why? Why might the pond turn to ice, and why would it turn back to water in spring? Why wouldn’t you see as many birds in the park in winter? Ask your pupils to produce a summer and winter guidebook for the park, telling visitors about the facts they have learned.

If you want to investigate ice further, try the activity on page 6 of our Ross Collins resource: http://bit.ly/2atQiV3

Take part in the John Muir Award SCN 1-01a, SOC 1-08a, HWB 1-13a

The John Muir Award challenges participants to discover a wild place, find out about it, conserve it in some way and share the experience with other people. A local park can be the wild place your pupils discover, and there’s lots for them to find out about: what kind of trees and plants grow there, what kind of animals you can find, what the park’s history is, how you can get around in the park, and so on.

Conserving your wild place can take many forms! Find out more on the John Muir Trust website: https://www.johnmuirtrust.org/four-challenges

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Some songs and rhymes Exa 0-16a

Here are some songs and rhymes related to the book for your pupils to sing:

The North Wind Doth Blow: http://bbc.in/2atPkInThe Leaves on the Tree: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-leaves-the-tree Come Little Leaves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-T0eocxFos Five Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/schoolradio/subjects/earlylearning/nurserysongs/F-J/five_little_ducks

If you and your class loved Shark in the Park on a Windy Day Lit 0-11a

Check out our list of books that use pages creatively: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/13-books-that-use-pages-creatively-3-7

This list gives you 8 books celebrating the great outdoors: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/walk-on-the-wild-side-3-7

And here are 10 books about dads: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/10-books-about-dads-3-7

Activities and communication resources for children with Additional Support Needs (ASN)The following activities are based on a standard activity from each of the 3 books, but have been adapted to make them more accessible for children with ASN and/or communication support needs.

Printable symbol boards and vocabulary sheets, in PDF format, to aid communication will be available soon for each individual activity and can be downloaded at www.booksforall.org.uk/bpbp under ‘Teacher

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Pack Activities.’ You will also find symbol resources to accompany the 3 short-listed books and to assist in the voting process here.

The symbol boards can also be used as overlays with recorded voice output in the GoTalk 9+ communication aid http://www.inclusive.co.uk/go-talk-9-p2072)

All of the symbol resources can also be downloaded from the Scottish Book Trust’s website at http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/learning-resources/resource/symbol-sheet-resources-for-bookbug-picture-book-prize-2017.

Learning activities

There’s a Bear on my Chair: Big and Small Animals MNU 0-01a

This activity encourages children to think about very big and very small animals. Ask them to study the 4 animals on the symbol sheet and then decide whether they are tall or short and heavy or light. You could also support the children in deciding which animal is the tallest or shortest and heaviest or lightest of them all. The children also have the option to ask for ‘more animals,’ in which case you can give them further animal choices e.g. using picture cards, as an extension to the activity.

Hare and Tortoise: Fastest and Slowest MNU 0-01a

This activity encourages children to think about very fast and very slow animals. Ask them to study the 6 animals on the symbol sheet and decide whether they are fast or slow. You could also encourage them to select 2 animals and then think about which one would win in a race. Support the children in deciding which animal is the fastest and the slowest of them all. They also have the option to ask for ‘more animals,’ in which case you can provide them with further animal choices e.g. using picture cards, as an extension to the activity.

Shark in the Park on a Windy Day: Learning about the seasons Lit 0-09a

This activity encourages children to think about how the park might look in different seasons. Would the trees have leaves on them in Winter? Would the pond be icy in Summer? Use the symbol sheet to support the children to think about the changing temperature in each season; is it warm or cold? Discuss how the changing seasons influence the appearance of nature in a park. You could also encourage the children to talk about their local park and what they see and do when they go e.g. using picture cards, as an extension to the activity.

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