Teacher Notes
 Show your students the title page of Amazing Amelia and ask, ‘From the illustrations, why do you think Amelia
might be amazing?’
 She has six limbs/legs and can hold lots of things at once
 All the things she is holding are used in sports
 Maybe she is good at sport
 ‘What word starting with the sound “a” have you heard used for someone who is good at sports?’ The most likely
answer is ‘athlete’, but encourage students who suggest ‘active’, ‘action man’ or ‘acrobat’.
 Read the first spread with the students. Brainstorm on the board other names beginning with ‘A’. Ask which ways
students have heard ‘Aaron’ pronounced. Some people start it with an ‘a’ as in ‘apple’, and others start it with the
first sound in ‘egg’.
 Read the second spread. A vowel sound such as ‘a’ can be said out loud in different ways, depending on the
sounds that follow. Mostly the following sound is a consonant, but sometimes—as in ‘Aaron’—it is another vowel.
Ask your students to identify how many different ‘a’ sounds there are on this page at the beginning of a word.
 ‘Amelia’: pronounced either like the ‘u’ in ‘up’, or like the ‘e’ in ‘over’
 ‘active’: like the ‘a’ in ‘apple’
 ‘all’: like the ‘a’ in ‘ball’
 ‘Australia’: the first ‘A’ is like the ‘o’ in orange, or like the ‘e’ in ‘over’
 Ask, ‘Do you know any other ways of saying ‘a’ at the beginning of a word?’
Eg. ‘after’, ‘ape’
 Suggest that students listen carefully for other ‘a’ sounds in the rest of the story.
 Look at the third spread. Ask, ‘Why does one of Amelia’s friends look worried?’
Eg. ‘She might get stuck to the web instead of bouncing off it and the spider might eat her.’
 Ask your students what Amelia’s accident is.
 When words have similar meanings they are called ‘synonyms’. Ask your students what synonym they have heard
for ‘assist’.
Eg. ‘help’, ‘aid’
 At the end of the story, Amelia and her friends sing the Australian national ANThem. A funny version of a wellknown song or narrative is called a ‘parody’. As a class, brainstorm some more lines to follow on from ‘Australian
ants let us rejoice’.
Eg. ‘for we have cake for tea’
See how far you can get—maybe right to the end of the first verse.
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Teacher Notes
 With your students, look at the front cover of Bouncy Ben. Ask, ‘What kind of animal do you think Ben is?’ If
someone says ‘bandicoot’, look it up on the internet with the class. Say, ‘Good guess. It could be, but its ears are a
bit longer than a bandicoot’s and it has a fluffy end to its tail. What else could it be?’ (Ben is a bilby.)
 Ask students what they know about bilbies:
 They are marsupials
 They live in dry parts of Australia
 They are nocturnal
 Bilbies are endangered, so there was a campaign to make them popular at Easter instead of rabbits
 Say, ‘So this is Ben the bilby on the cover. Can you see anything else that starts with the sound “b”?’
Eg. ‘blue’, ‘boots’
 Ask, ‘Why do you think he might be called “Bouncy Ben”?’
 He’s good at basketball/high jumping/pole vaulting/hurdles
 He’s a cricketer and can make the ball bounce when he bowls
 He gets excited and is full of energy
 Show your students the first spread. Say, ‘In this picture we can see his buddies, and all their names start with the
sound ‘b’ just like Ben’s, but what else can you see that starts with “b”?’ (The bilbies are looking at a ‘beetle’.)
 Say, ‘We use different parts of our mouth and we change the position of our tongue and lips when make the
different sounds in English. Our lips do important work when we say “b”. Practise making the sound “b” a few times
and notice what you do with them.’
Eg. ‘We press our lips together and then suddenly open them.’
Ask the students, ‘Which other sound do we close our lips for and then open them suddenly?’
The answer is ‘p’ but some students may say ‘m’. Get them to practise the difference. (We keep our lips closed for
a longer time with ‘m’.)
 The name ‘Ben’ has two consonants—‘b’ and ‘n’—with a vowel between them. Keep the same two consonants,
but change the vowel sound in the middle. What other words can you make by doing this?
Eg. ‘bean’, ‘been’, ‘bin’, ‘born’, ‘barn’, ‘burn’
Someone might come up with a couple of difficult ones such as ‘bairn’ or ‘bane’. Say, ‘Let’s see whether any of
these words crop up as we keep reading the book.’
 In the remaining spreads, look for other things beginning with ‘b’ that the illustrator has included.
Eg. bubbles, billabong, barn, budgerigar, budgie, banksia, bottlebrush, branch, bat, bees, butterflies,
burrow, bobbles
 Say ‘When the bouncing competition has finished, the author uses the word “Bonzer!”, which Australians
sometimes use instead of saying “Great!” or “Fantastic!” Can you think of another word starting with “b” that your
parents or grandparents might use to mean the same thing?’
Eg. ‘Beauty!’, ‘Beaut!’, ‘Bottler!’
Be aware that there might be less acceptable possibilities starting with ‘b’!
 Suggest that your students draw their bedroom at home and label all the things starting with ‘b’.
Eg. bed, blanket, ball, bat, boots, box, board, boogie board, boardies/ board shorts, books, bookshelves,
bag, band, bottle, bike, bell and so on.
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Teacher Notes

With your students, look at the front cover of Cuddly Callum. Ask, ‘Which one do you think is Callum?’ He could
be either the crocodile or the cocky/cockatoo. ‘Would you like to cuddle either of them? Why or why not?’
Eg. ‘Crocodiles and cockies both bite or the crocodile looks cute—it may even be a toy’

Remind your students that sometimes there are differences between saying a sound and writing it down. The
history of spelling includes changes and mistakes over thousands of years. Tell them that there are a few ways
to write down the sound that begins the name ‘Callum’ in English. The letter ‘c’ is one of them. Ask, ‘What other
words start with a hard ‘c’ sound?
Eg. ‘car’, ‘corner’, ‘crow’, ‘cricket’, ‘cone’, ‘collar’, ‘crumb’, ‘cake’, ‘Coke’
‘How else can we write down the sound of a hard “c”?’
 ‘k’: kerb, kookaburra, koala
 ‘ch’ (sometimes): character, chaos

Read the first two spreads. ‘Now we know that Callum is the cockatoo and Mr Cuddles is his toy crocodile. Why
do you think Callum takes Mr Cuddles everywhere with him?’
 Callum is very young
 He doesn’t have a teddy
 He is lonely
 Mr Cuddles might be lonely
 Mr Cuddles doesn’t have a family
 Mr Cuddles’s family are all out at work or school
‘What is another word for “companion”?’
Eg. ‘friend’, ‘mate’, ‘partner’, ‘buddy’, ‘bestie’

Ask what it means to ‘camouflage’ something.
Eg. ‘To hide it’, ‘to make it look like its surroundings so people won’t see or find it'
‘In the third spread, where could Mr Cuddles hide so that he would be camouflaged or hidden?’
Eg. ‘Mr Cuddles is green so he could hide in the green grass or among the green bushes or trees.’

Show the class spread eight and point out Cassie the cassowary, the crackers, crumbs and cockroaches under
the couch. Ask the students ‘What else starts with “c”?’ Students may answer ‘crab’, for example. Follow up with
‘What word for a noise starting with “c” might the crab make if he eats the crackers?’
Eg. ‘crunch’

Ask, 'How do you do a “cartwheel”?’ Take the class out onto a safe grassy area of the playground (or somwhere
with a soft landing!) and ask two or three students who are confident cartwheelers to show the class how they do
it.

On spread eleven, four different kinds of cockatoos are illustrated. Using either the internet or a book such as
Michael Morcombe’s Field Guide to Australian Birds, name each one and find out where they live.

Suggest that your class make a list of everything beginning with the letter ‘c’ that they have seen so far today.
Eg. cornflakes, carpet, coffee, chocolate, café, crash, comb, cream, car, carport, carriage, cover,
crutches, cork, cricket, cockroach
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Teacher Notes
 Show your class the front cover of Daredevil Declan. Ask them what they think a daredevil is.
Eg. ‘someone who takes extreme risks and isn’t scared of being hurt’
 Ask students if they know which culture or country the name ‘Declan’ originally comes from. (It is a Celtic name—it
comes mostly from Ireland.) On the board, ask your students to brainstorm a list of boys’ names and a list of girls’
starting with ‘D’. For example,
 Boys’ names: David, Dennis, Drew, Don, Darren, Dale, Dallas, Dugald, Douglas, Darryl, Daniel
 Girls’ names: Debbie, Denise, Dee, Dorothy, Dot, Dale, Dallas, Dora, Devika, Demi
Point out that some names can be for either a boy or a girl.
 ‘What kind of animal is Declan?’
Eg. ‘dog’, ‘dingo’
 ‘In what ways do you think he might be a daredevil?’
 He rides his bike very fast
 He might be a trail bike rider
 He performs stunts by jumping cars or other obstacles at the show with his bike
 He might rescue people who get into danger
 Maybe he is a police dog—he might sniff out drugs and risk getting caught by criminals
 On the second spread there are two old-fashioned Australian expressions that were used a lot in the ‘olden days’,
but you still hear them occasionally today. Ask students, ‘What are they and what do they mean?’
 ‘dinky-di’: Meaning real, genuine or true, eg. ‘He’s a dinky-di Aussie.’
 ‘down under’: This was an expression that people in Britain used for Australia, because they
regarded it as being down under the globe, on the bottom of the world.
Play for your students the 1980’s pop song ‘Down Under’ by Men at Work.
 Look at spread six. Ask ‘What is a “deluge”? The picture gives you a clue.’ Explain that it is a very heavy storm—
the kind that might follow the build-up of the dark clouds in the picture.
 Ask, ‘Why would a deluge be bad for a dirt bike rider?’
Eg. ‘Because the dirt would turn to mud and his bike would slip and slide everywhere’
 Look at spread seven. Ask, ‘Who has ever wondered what they could do on a rainy day? What sorts of things
could you do if you were bored?’
Eg. play games, watch TV, surf the internet, cook dinner, make Mum a cup of tea, invite a friend over,
read a book, write or draw, dress up and put on a show.
‘What do you think Declan’s friends will do?’
 Which of the ideas that they think up for fun are the most risky? Ask students which ideas might upset Declan’s
parents:
 Spinning plates on a stick—they could knock over precious ornaments
 Playing Dad’s musical instruments—they could disturb the neighbours with their noise or break the
instruments
 Dot-to-dots—they could get paint on the carpet or walls and not be able to clean it off
 Eating doughnuts—they could get sick from eating too many doughnuts
 Ask students, ‘Do you have a daredevil in your family or among your friends? What is the most devilish thing that
person has done?’
 Make a list of the unique Australian words or expressions used in this book.
Eg. dinky-di, down under, dunnies, daggy, didgeridoo
Add some more of your own.
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Teacher Notes

With your students, look at the front cover of Energetic Elliot. Ask, ‘What kind of animal is Elliot?’ (Elliot is an emu.) ‘What do you
know about emus?’
 Emus run fast
 They lay big eggs
 The fathers help hatch the eggs
 Emu chicks are striped
 They have sharp beaks
Look up some more interesting facts in the library.

What other books have you read about emus?
Eg. Edward the Emu, Edwina the Emu, The Story of Karrawingi the Emu, Why the Emu Can’t Fly, Emu Stew
Look up the emu, the ostrich and the cassowary. Make a table with your class that shows the main differences between them.

Ask, ‘What does the word “energetic” mean?’
Eg. ‘You have lots of energy’, ‘you rush around doing lots of things fast’

In the first spread, ask your students what other birds they can see besides two emus.
Eg. ‘pigeon’, ‘brolga’, ‘stork’, ‘egret’

Ask the class, ‘What is the echidna looking at and why?’
Eg. ‘He has an egg-timer; he is using it to see how fast Elliot can run’.

‘Where have you seen those black-and-white checked flags before? What are they used for?’
 Formula one car racing
 They are used to indicate the winner
 To show the race is over

Ask the students what are some of the different sounds ‘e’ makes when followed by a vowel:
 like ‘e’ in ‘emu’: easy, east, eat
 like ‘y’ in ‘yellow’: Europe
 makes ‘i’ a long sound: either, eiderdown
 a double ‘e’ sound: eel, ear
 like ‘er’: early, earth

‘When “e” is followed by a consonant, what are some of the different ways it sounds?’
 like the ‘e’ in ‘egg’
 like the ‘e’ in ‘emu’, ‘evening’ and ‘even’

Choose three students to show the rest of the class how to play elastics.

‘If a team is called the “Eastern Emu Eleven”, what game are they playing?’ (They are playing cricket.)

Ask students to choose any three words from this book that start with ‘e’ and to find as many rhyming words for each of them as
they can.
Eg. ‘Eleven’: seven, Devon, heaven, leaven, Kevin

‘Who is Elvis?’ (look him up in the library). ‘What is an “entourage”?’
 A group of followers
 A group of associates
 People who follow some sort of leader (a king or queen, a star, an emperor, even a sports star)

In spread five, Elliot loves to eat enchiladas and edam cheese. Find out what an enchilada is and discuss which countries these
foods originally came from.

‘Why does Elliot run out of energy?’
Eg. ‘He doesn’t get enough sleep’, ‘he runs around too much’
‘How does he fix the problem?’
Eg. ‘He makes sure he sleeps all night’
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Teacher Notes
 Say to the class, ‘Fred is a fairy penguin, but look at the ball on the front cover. What kind of sport does he play?’
Eg. ‘football’, ‘soccer’
If students answer ‘soccer’, suggest that they are right but that there is another word for soccer starting with ‘f’.
Australians are used to calling this game ‘soccer’, but more recently the people running this sport have tried to get
us to change this practice.
 Ask the class to find out where in Australia fairy penguins live.
Eg. ‘South Coast’, ‘Aotearoa’ (New Zealand)
Ask if anyone has seen one. ‘What are they like and how big are they?’
Eg. ‘They are the smallest penguins’, ‘they’re only 43cm tall’
 Look at the first spread. Ask, ‘What other animals beginning with “f” has Lachlan Creagh included in this picture?’
Eg. ‘frill-necked lizard’, ‘fur seal’, ‘field mouse’, ‘frogmouth’
Ask students to make a list of any other animals they know that start with ‘f’.
Eg. Flying fox, finch, fox, ferret, frog, flamingo, fantail pigeon, funnel web spider
 Have a look at what Fred is carrying and wearing on the second spread. Ask the class ‘What “f” sport is he ready
to play?’ (Fred is ready for fencing.) ‘What other “f” sports or pastimes does Fred enjoy in this book?’
Eg. ‘frisbee’, ‘fishing’
 Ask a couple of students to bring a frisbee to school. Find a safe playing area in the playground—one that offers a
soft landing! Divide the class into two teams and then send half of each team up to the other end of the playing
area. Agree on some rules for a game of frisbee (eg. if the catcher drops it the thrower has to throw it again). See
which team is faster and more accurate.
 ‘Why can’t Fred find any of his friends on Friday?’ They are having a feast. Find out how to make felafel, fried rice
and fairy bread. Find out where felafel and fried rice originally came from.
 Help students to make a recipe card for each, with the headings ‘Ingredients’ and ‘Method’. Add an illustration so
the cook will know what the finished dish should look like. Students could ask at home whether they can help make
one of them for the family.
 Ask, ‘Why would you like to be one of Fred’s friends?’

He loves to play games and sport

He has fun

He eats different foods

He is really popular and has lots of friends
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Teacher Notes
•
•
Look at the front cover of Grumpy Grace with your students. Ask what kind of animal Grace is. (Grace is a gecko.)
If students say ‘goanna’, suggest they look more closely at the shape of Grace’s tail.
Ask, ‘Why might Grace be grumpy?’
⇒ She is holding a book, so maybe she can’t read very well
⇒ Maybe she has a quiz or test and she thinks she won’t do well at it
⇒ Maybe it’s her diary or journal and she can’t think of anything interesting to write in it
⇒ Maybe she has to do homework but would rather be outside playing with her friends
•
Briefly ask your students why they are sometimes grumpy. Empathise occasionally, but don’t offer negative
feedback on their reasons.
•
Look at the first spread. Grace looks happy here. She is with her friends and they are sharing a meal. Ask, ‘What
are they eating?’ (Worms) Use the library or internet to research what else geckos like to eat.
⇒ eg moths, beetles, insects generally
•
Find Gundagai and Gillingarra on the map. Brainstorm a list of other places in Australia that begin with ‘G’. Find
them on the map too.
⇒ eg Glenelg, Glen Iris, Geelong, Gulgong, Goulburn, Griffith, Gawler, Gladstone, Geraldton
•
Remind your students that ‘g’ can be given a hard or soft sound. On the board, brainstorm a list of words that
begin with a hard ‘g’, like ‘gecko’, and a list that start with a soft ‘g’, like ‘gentle’.
•
Read as far as the page where Grandma tells Grace to ‘get a grip’. Ask, ‘What do you think might make Grace
happy?’
⇒ eg ‘If she could finish her chores’, ‘If she could play with her friends’, ‘If she went on holidays’
•
Read on and ask your students whether they predicted what would happen next.
•
Ask ‘Everyone is going go-karting. Why does Grace still look grumpy?’
⇒ eg ‘Because she is studying’, ‘Because she doesn’t know how to drive’, ‘Because she is scared of
doing something new’
•
Ask, ‘Why does Grace change her mind?’
⇒ eg ‘Because when she doesn’t join in she feels lonely’
•
Give each student a sheet of paper and some crayons or pens for drawing. Ask them to produce a double page
spread for the letter ‘G’ in an alphabet book. They should illustrate it with other animals and objects starting with
‘g’ (not necessarily Australian) and show that ‘g’ can be pronounced with both a hard and a soft sound.
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Teacher Notes
•
Show students the cover of Helpful Harry. Say, ‘This is a tricky one. We can see that Harry is a dog, but what kind
of dog starts with “H”? Anyone who has visited a farm might have heard about this kind of dog.’ (Heeler)
•
With your students, do research on heelers in the library. Find out what colours they come in (red, blue) and what
sort of work they do.
⇒ eg many Australians have them as working dogs on farms, helping to control and guard the sheep and
cattle; people often have them as pets
•
Ask your class, ‘Why do you think Harry is looking at the bee?’
⇒ eg ‘Bees are busy workers, just like Harry’; ‘because dogs like to try to catch and eat insects’;
‘because they move quickly and dogs like to chase them’
•
Look at the second spread. Ask, ‘How is Harry being helpful?’
⇒ eg ‘Escorting the ducklings across the busy road’, ‘helping the wombat to dig his burrow’
•
See if your students can think of other ways that Harry might be helpful.
⇒ Rescuing sheep and cattle
⇒ Guarding sheep, cattle and chooks against foxes at night
⇒ Helping to find things that are lost
⇒ Collecting the newspaper
⇒ Telling his owner when a storm is coming
⇒ Being a good watchdog if strangers come to the door
⇒ Playing with his owner and keeping them company
•
Look at spread six. Find out whether your students have ever heard the word ‘hoedown’ before. It’s mostly used in
the United States. If they have never heard it, they will be able to predict what it means by looking at the picture
and reading the text underneath. Look it up in a dictionary to check. (A hoedown is a celebration, often including
food, music and dancing.)
•
Suggest that your students look at the word ‘hoedown’ for two words that they might recognise. Explain that
sometimes when you meet a new word, you will notice it includes shorter words that you already know. These
shorter words can help to predict the meaning of the unfamiliar word.
⇒ eg a ‘hoe’ is a tool for digging. When you stop work, you put your tools ‘down’. And when you stop
work, what do you do? You have a ‘hoedown’. You rest, relax and celebrate—especially if you have
just finished a big job on the farm.
♦ (Be aware that the US slang ‘ho’, meaning ‘whore’, has unfortunately crept into the language of older
Australian students and this may enter the class discussion or create the odd giggle.)
•
Ask, ‘Where do you think the harmonica might be? What things or places around the farmyard start with “h”?’ Read
on until spread ten. ‘Did you predict where the harmonica was hidden?’ (It was under the hydrangea.)
•
Give each student a sheet of paper and something to write with. Ask them to write a list in dot point form of at least
five ways they plan to be helpful this week. If they can think of more than five ways, the people they help will be
very ‘happy’!
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