Picture Books
in the Classroom
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Picture Books are Awesome!
What Do You Do With An Idea?
Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom
Amazing; a must have for all classrooms from ECE to Secondary!
Used in our Y8 classes to kick off Passion Projects- would be great for Genius Hour, 20% Time etc
Stunning Illustrations
@BridgetLCM
Two Little Bugs
Mark and Rowan Sommerset
Beautiful design
New Zealand author and illustrators (Waiheke Island)
Great for discussions about Growth Mindset, optimism and resilience
@BridgetLCM
The House That Jack Built
Gavin Bishop
New Zealand Author/ Illustrator (Chch) -Such an important book for all New Zealanders
(Universal theme of colonialism)
A fantastic example of how illustrations and text combine to tell a story
@BridgetLCM
The Adventures of Beekle
Dan Santat
Lovely story about friendship and finding that one special person
Stunning illustrations
Heart warming and lots of fun
@BridgetLCM
The Three Bears- Sort Of
Yvonne Morrison and Donovan Bixley
New Zealand Author/ illustrator
Absolutely hilarious. A child keeps interrupting the story with questions
Great for discussions about curiosity and questioning what has generally been accepted
Talk about being discerning/ questioning new information
@BridgetLCM
Crayons have feelings too.
Great take on persuasive writing with many different points of view.
@chaelebel
The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak @annekenn
Best book to read aloud in a long time….
One World, One Day
By Barbara Kerley
One World, One Day uses exquisite, moving photographs and Barbara Kerley’s poetic text to convey a simple yet profound concept: we are one global family.
Tangaroa’s Gift
The text is in Maori and English.
It is a beautiful book that explores the themes of feelings and relationships.
Wonderfully rich language.
@stephkitto1
Voices in the park by Anthony Browne
Great for Other points of view
Symbolism
Visual language
Able to be used across all levels
One minute’s silence by David Metzenthen
ANZAC’s
Turks and ANZAC’s - both sides of the story
Global impact of war
Sophisticated picture book able to be read on many levels
Sepia tones
Teacher notes here
@edna331
The treasure box by Margaret Wild and illustrated by Freya Blackwood
Beautifully illustrated, collage, decoupage
War
Treasures
Refugees
Hope
Renewal
Making connections, past, present
Teacher notes here
@edna331
If : a mind-bending new way of looking at big ideas and numbers
By David J Smith
“By simply reducing everything to human scale, Smith has made the incomprehensible easier to grasp, and therefore more meaningful.”
Earth’s history condensed to just 1 hour - dinosaurs wouldn’t show up until the 56th minute.
Amazing facts and visuals make everything easier to understand
A must have!
Same author as If the world were a village.
Teacher notes here
@edna331
BANG By Leo Timmers
Wordless picture book.
Absolutely stunning illustrations.
@stephkitto1
Tiddler by Julia Donaldson
A great book to use in the junior school as inspiration for writing. Children love writing new adventures for Tiddler.
@stephkitto1
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
By Michael Rosen
My year 2 class created their own version of this book.
We had fun recording it and adding sound effects.
@stephkitto1
The Woven Flax Kete
by Angie Belcher
Use this book at the start of the year. Also great for camp as I challenge my students to think about what ‘treasures’ they will get from this experience. Works as a reflection tool too.
Some teacher’s notes available here.
@fiona_nz1
Can You Count to a Googol?
By Robert E Wells
Great book to show the relative size of big numbers. Also gives a history of the naming of Googol.
@fiona_nz1
The First World War by Anna Ciddor
An Australian book now out of print but I think it is still available through the National Library. Compares the living conditions of two brothers, one who went to war and the younger brother at home in Australia. Liked using this as it worked well in my Year 4 class.
@fiona_nz1
Can’t find an image of it - sorry!
Bantam and the Soldier
by Jennifer Beck
Lovely story of hope during life in the trenches. Arthur rescues a little bantam who he takes back into the trenches.
@fiona_nz1
I WOnder...
By Annaka Harris
Great to get thinking going about big ideas and to illustrate the idea that we don’t know the answer to everything and that it is okay not to!
Useful for all sorts of curriculum - in science.
@jackbillie35
If…
By Sarah Perry
Great images and ideas to spark writing and art.
@jackbillie35
Roly the Anzac Donkey and
Jim’s Letter’s
Both books by
Glyn Harper
Both NZ based books.
Jim’s letter’s is beautifully illustrated.
The story is told through the letters written between two brothers separated by war.
Fox
by Margaret Wild
Australian book with important messages about friendship, teamwork, and treatment of others.
“Edgy” artwork with different use of font and text placement.
Good for any age
@mjbuckland
Mrs Windy Flax and the Pungapeople
by Barry Crump
(and the rest of the series)
Real Kiwi stories in the bush and on the beach. Messages about the environment and sharing space with other animals.
Ideal for Yr 0-6 students
@mjbuckland
old Huhu
Kyle Mewburn & Rachel Driscoll
A moving and beautifully illustrated story about losing someone dear.
http://www.picturebooks.co.nz/old-hu-hu-activities/
@chaelebel
Queen Alice’s Palaces
Queen Alice’s Palaces
by Juliette MacIver
A fantastically imaginative and funny tale all told in rhyme. Has fairy tale overtones and a cunning and evil villain in Sir Hugh!
Delightful for all ages.
Teacher Notes: http://lamontbooks.com.au/media/19338/Queen-Alices-Palaces.pdf
@cky_cathy
Giraffes Can’t Dance
@GregPearceNZ
“We all can dance, he said
When we find music that we love!”
Fantastic book for starting discussions about…
Perfect book for use with
The most magnificent thing by Ashley Spires
Great for talking about frustration, ideas, perseverance, resilience, learning through failure, invention and creativity.
http://www.kidscanpress.com/products/most-magnificent-thing
@alidevnz
My Blue is Happy
Jessica Young
A focus on colours and the different feelings and emotions they evoke.
@lisawhaz- Canada
A Shelter in Our Car
Monica Gunning
A social justice theme with powerful illustrations
@lisawhaz
How Full is Your Bucket?
Tom Rath
Empowering students to be good citizens
@lisawhaz
Violet by Tania Duprey Stehlik
The big idea here is acceptance and finding beauty in being different and unique.
@lisawhaz
Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
writing.
By Mo Willems
Matariki & her sisters.
http://issuu.com/ulimasao/docs/matariki_story
Written and illustrated by 6 year olds from Newmarket School.
The story explains how and why Matariki appears in our skies.
The book is digital so you can read on iPad.
Thea Stilton & Dork Diaries
Why there my favorite ?
Because they are full of humor and there just my type of book’s.
Dork Diaries Thea Stilton
These books is my
because
The Lion who wanted to love
A book about knowing yourself and being brave to share your true self with others.
The tiger who came to tea
A great story of imaginative possibilities.
Role-playing, freeze-framing, character profiling and much much more.