One of our old favourites, the book “Who Sank the Boat” by Pamela Allen, is a great one to start off early in the year with – its rhythmic, repetitive, patterned language, the ridiculous illustrations and the power of knowing who did sink the boat, make it a winner.

This group is very tuned into stories and language and we had a great time with some stick puppets made using the photocopier and some textas (nothing fancy but just enlarged a bit, then laminated.).

It was hard for the other children to not have a go in front of the whole group – we all want an audience! – but they coped…and will get a turn in the next week or so (and they don’t know it, but they are also learning vital life skills around self-regulation and resilience – dealing with disappointment, all part of sharing and taking turns).

We had to remember which animal came next in the story while we joined in with telling the words…

Afterwards some children were so keen to play the story that  they didn’t need an audience or an adult. This is when you know they’ve caught the book bug!