Teacher Lingo

Make a Video with Kids at Pixorial

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Making movies with kids is a wonderful learning activity. Children get to develop communication skills, think creatively and critically, and express themselves via digital media. I value any opportunities for kids to develop digital literacy skills in...(read more)

Children's Book Review, Night Watch

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Night Watch is a children's picture book written by Phil Cummings, illustrated by Janine Dawson and published by Working Title Press (2013.) Giraffe, Elephant, Hippo and Baboon all live...(read more)

Have Fun with Fungooms

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Have Fun with Fungooms by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Lots of parents I know try to balance the amount of screen time their kids get. I think that's an excellent idea. Sometimes kids lives are so switched on, or so full of extra-curricular...(read more)

Let's Prepare Our Kids for the Future

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Let's Prepare Our Kids for the Future by Susan Stephenson Regular readers of The Book Chook will have picked up by now that I believe strongly in the importance of play as the way kids learn best. When children start school, I think we should maintain...(read more)

Children's Book Review, Once Upon a Slime

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Once Upon a Slime was written by Andy Griffiths , illustrated by Terry Denton and published by Pan Macmillan (2013). - Have you ever wondered where ideas come from and how stories are made?...(read more)

Create Stories at Storyboard That

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Create Stories at Storyboard That by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Storyboard That offers an online place for kids to create digital stories . Its main purpose is as a visual aid for communicators e.g. in the business area, but it would also...(read more)

Why Reading Really is Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Why Reading Really is Magic by Mem Fox Reading is magical because it brings parents and children together for fun, bonding and giggles. It also helps promote a children’s brain, social and language development. Reading aloud to young children, before...(read more)

Children's Book Review, Arkie Sparkle, Treasure Hunter: Tick Tock

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Arkie Sparkle, Treasure Hunter: Tick Tock was written by Petra James and published by Pan Macmillan Australia (2013.) 7 treasures 7 continents 7 days 7 books 6 changes of clothes 5 suspicious...(read more)

Switch Kids On to Reading and Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Sun, 05 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Switch Kids On to Reading and Writing by Brian Rock As a former teacher and current parent, I’ve had experience in introducing kids to reading and writing . And while there’s no magic potion that works for all kids, I’ve learned that oftentimes the messenger...(read more)

Learning Activities for The Wrong Book

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Learning Activities for The Wrong Book by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com As I mentioned last week , 11.00 am on May 23 is National Simultaneous Story Time in Australia, when hordes of eager kids and adults share a picture book in libraries, schools,...(read more)

Children's Book Review and Giveaway, Nanny Piggins and the Race to Power

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com I love books that lure kids onto the magical pathway to reading by offering humour and entertainment, don't you? Do you remember my enthusiasm for the first in R. A. Spratt's Nanny Piggins...(read more)

Let's Celebrate Star Wars Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Let's Celebrate Star Wars Day! by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com You may have noticed by now that here at The Book Chook, I love to celebrate. I very much enjoy special days that offer us the opportunity to sneak some literacy and learning into...(read more)

National Simultaneous Story Time 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

National Simultaneous Story Time 2013 by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com What is National Simultaneous Story Time? National Simultaneous Storytime ... is organised by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). It is a colourful,...(read more)

Children's Book Review, Interrupting Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Interrupting Chicken is a children's picture book by David Ezra Stein, published by Walker Books (2013). It's time for the little red chicken's bedtime story and a reminder from Papa to...(read more)

Fun with Avatars

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Fun with Avatars by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Avatars are definitely engaging. Creating an avatar online is a nice way to involve kids in learning digital literacy skills - they'll learn about menus and buttons, try different effects, and...(read more)

Activities for Children's Book Week, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

We're getting close to that time of year in Australia when all who love reading and children's books have a huge celebration known as Children's Book Week . School and public libraries will be offering all sorts of activities and fun according to this...(read more)

Children's Book Review, Lighthouse Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Children's Book Review by Rebecca Newman Lighthouse Girl by Dianne Wolfer, illustrated by Brian Simmonds, published by Fremantle Press (2009). Review edition is a hardback ISBN 9781921361531 (the book is also available as a paperback $19.95, ISBN 9781921696572)....(read more)

Three iPad Apps that Encourage Creativity

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Three iPad Apps that Encourage Creativity by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Today I want to tell you about three iPad apps that I believe have the potential to encourage kids to think creatively. Using these apps, kids could tell a story, record...(read more)

Producing Visual Content Online with Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Producing Visual Content Online with Kids by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com In Visual Literacy - Investigate and Play with Images , I re-stated my belief that picture books are a great format for developing early visual literacy skills, and that...(read more)

Children's Book Review, An Anzac Tale

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com An Anzac Tale is a graphic picture book , written by Ruth Starke, illustrated by Greg Holfield, and published by Working Title Press ( Penguin ) 2013. When Australia pledges its support...(read more)

LEGO DC Universe Superheroes Comic Builder

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

LEGO DC Universe Superheroes Comic Builder by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Here's an engaging comic editor that will delight young LEGO fans. They'll have fun, express themselves and have opportunities for creative thinking, writing, developing...(read more)

How Do Kids Not Write a Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:00:00 GMT

How Do Kids Not Write a Book Review by Susan Stephenson The most successful article on The Book Chook in terms of traffic is How Do Kids Write a Book Review , which according to Blogger, has had 120 000 page views. Because I'm aware that with some kids,...(read more)

Children's Book Review, The Treasure Box

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:00:00 GMT

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com With Anzac Day approaching on April 25 (a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand), the thoughts of many parents, teachers and librarians will turn to books we can share...(read more)

Visual Literacy - Investigate and Play with Images

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 18:00:00 GMT

Visual Literacy - Investigate and Play with Images by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Our world is becoming more complex visually. We must help kids think critically about what they see. (We also need to help them develop the skills they need to...(read more)

Looking Back to January, February, March 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Stephenson) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:00:00 GMT

Looking Back to January, February, March 2012 by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Towards the end of each month in 2012, I revisited popular posts from 2011. Not only did that mean new readers of the blog might find something useful otherwise buried...(read more)