School Program Story by Danielle Freeland At Ipswich RSL today, David Lowe gave a dynamic presentation to 3L from West Moreton Anglican College and Amberley District State School 4/5 DE classes. He dazzled us with his dad jokes, a rhyming quiz and a Treasure hunt. Humour was the order of the day mingled with facts. I learned how to tell how old a whale is. I don’t need to go to a whale-weigh station. I just need to look in his ear to see how much wax is in the whale’s ear. I also learned Dave is a completely brilliant story teller whose books have been translated into Hungarian, French, Brazilian, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek and German. When Dave was young he really, really wanted a pet. He ended up with . . . a little brother. Then, he had two kids to bug his parents for a pet. His parents gave in and they had two pets, Janey and Paddy. Unfortunately, late one night, his Dad left the cage door open and they went on a long holiday. He begged his parents for a pet once again, but all he got was . . . another baby brother. Eventually, after more pleading, his parents gave in and he was given a hamster called Flavour. This little guy was really only good at four things: sleeping, running on the wheel, nibbling on food and poohing. Flavour inspired Dave to write his inspiration for his series Stinky and Jinks featuring Stinky - a genius hamster, who likes carrots. There are six books in the series including: My Hamster’s got Talent, and My Hamster’s a Spy. He has a great website where you can find out more about Stinky and Jinks and his other books such as The Incredible Dadventure. Look out for fun printable activities on his home page at www.davelowebooks.com/
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School Program Story by Danielle Freeland Hattonvale Sate School 5B and 6A had a real treat yesterday when they met with Coral Tulloch at the Old Court House at Ipswich. Coral, who was born in Melbourne, but now lives in Hobart, Tasmania studied fine art in Sydney, Prague and Italy. Her books are a visual feast. She also loves experimenting with art and has been known to let a tomato rot on a piece of paper just to see what shapes the juices makes as it decays. Coral showed us some of her gorgeous illustrations. Phasmid, about the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect thought to be extinct, depicts a wash of tranquil images including the wind depicted as a face blowing air onto the page. In One Small Island, she helps us discover a remote and precious World Heritage Site in the Sub Antarctic. In The Journey, she showed us a diagram of what people thought the world looked like when it was flat, games and maps. The detail of the maps in this book are exquisite. After this, Coral handed out paper and boards for the kids to draw. To start, she encouraged them to draw one line. Ever so gently, she asked them to turn that line into a river. Then a boat, a cook, a captain, and the picture began to grow. She exhorted the kids to use their imaginations and have great fun with it. Before they knew it, they had created a wonderful scene of adventure on the water. Kids flocked around her at the end to show her their drawings. Her encouraging words flowed like honey. The kids beamed at her praises. School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey New Zealand author and storyteller, Tanya Batt, had year 1 and 2 students wild with enthusiasm when she took centre-stage. Eyes were glued to her orange-field-of-flowers and trees landscape dress, ebbing beneath in a sea of tulle. ‘No matter where you go in the world, everybody has stories to share. Not everybody can read or write, but they can tell stories.’ That was how old stories survived from other cultures. Batt performed a Native American story about Gluscabi and the Wind Eagle. Her wind and voice sound effects had students so captivated, that one asked how she did it. Batt pulled out her 1000-voice sim card from the back of her neck. ‘Whoooaaa.’ Then she said, ’Do you think that’s true?’ as students’ mouths stayed agape. ‘I made that one up.’ The world needed old stories as well as new stories. She performed her story, My Dad’s a Dragon Catcher. Kids scootched a little closer. They loved the idea that Toby’s dad might have a team of dragon catchers because it was a big night-time job. See her YouTube version. Batt felt lucky to tell stories from other cultures that been around for a very long time. When she travelled the world people told her stories. She felt like it was being in service to the story because they weren't her stories. Being a good storyteller was not about talking but ‘being a good listener’. But most of her stories lived inside her because she often told stories and not read stories. She encouraged students, when it was story time, to be the story teller. Tell a story from the workshop, or about Princess Poo Tower — recycling horse poo into her compost or make one up. Her passion for telling stories started 27 years ago, ‘as the world becomes increasingly more rationalized, mega -fied, screen -ified and compartmentalized the need for arts education is greater than ever. The Batt website Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey Anita Heiss, author of 16 books - her latest ‘Our Race For Reconciliation’ covered three main themes during her Year 4 workshop. Students contributed — people they admired, what made a good friend and what things would you say sorry for. Year 4 shared their heroes and sheroes they admired. That one special person in their life they aspired to. Someone they could learn a lot from and would like to be more like. Some answers included — their Mum, an Uncle - a war veteran, a person who made changes using peace rather than war, football player and Andy Griffiths. Heiss, herself, aspired to author and poet Oodgeroo Noona (aka Kath Walker) of the Noonuccal people, Stradbroke Island. Also author Doris Pilkington Garimara AM, who wrote ‘Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence’ which was later made into the movie ‘Rabbit Proof’. Heiss said of her sheroes she wanted to be a writer like them and write stories for kids to read. Students answered, ‘What does it mean to be a good friend?’ Again well thought out - be helpful, friendly, offer to help, loyal, look out for each other, treat with respect, be kind, encourage your friends. ‘Don’t be toxic’ was an impressive answer from a 9-year-old. Surrounding yourself with positive friends was healthier instead of those who could ‘suck the life out of you’. Heiss’s friends from Northern Territory AFL ran with her over the line in the 42.2km marathon (further than Ipswich to Brisbane). She had Uluru as her constant companion during the 5hrs 43mins. It was Olympian Gold Medalist Cathy Freeman who inspired Heiss in her first marathon. Students also shared how they’d introduce their friends to others. This is my… friend, best friend, bestie, BFF, mate, buddy and tiddas - Heiss’s female friends were like sisters. You could also have friends who liked different things to you and the same things. One mate may like running, while the other preferred dancing, however, they both could like ice-cream. To support your friend you’d watch them running or dancing. And together you could eat ice-cream at the beach or park etc., ‘What things would they say sorry for?’ If you hurt someone, pushed them or bullied them. Heiss commended those who could recognise it as bullying and were able to say, ‘I’m sorry for being a bully. ‘To accept a person’s apology makes us feel better, it shows people you respect them. We can move on and forgive. It is a lot like reconciling. It means we’re bringing people back together again. When we’ve had a fight with our brother or sister (or friend), we say sorry… we come back together… we have a reconcile…we have a reunion. It helps people move on.’ Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com
Family Program Story by Tyrion Perkins How do you write a book with a virus as a main character? That was the question Ailsa Wild confronted when agreeing to help her scientist housemate get his work out to the world. He was writing papers about microbes, but hardly anyone was reading them. Ailsa had found science boring when at school, but working on this book changed her mind. She showed the small group of us the space-invader-like virus that attack bacteria. Together with the help from another researcher, an artist and graphic designer they came up with a story of a nurse in WWI who contracts dysentery, and is helped by the virus. They decided to do it as a graphic novel. Ailsa wanted minimal text, and the pictures to show a sense of movement. They spent two and a half years researching, writing as a script, storyboarding and discussing the artist’s sketches, right up to self publishing. I think all of us were amazed and excited how in-depth science could be told in comic book form. Ailsa then got us to have a go writing a script or storyboarding. Find out more at: https://theinvisiblewar.com.au/ Creators: Briony Barr & Gregory Crocetti Author: Ailsa Wild (with Dr. Jeremy Barr) Illustrator: Ben Hutchings Family Program Story by Tyrion Perkins Boys, girls and parents gathered to “Dance, Skip, Sparkle and Twirl through Stories” with author Natalie Jane Prior.
They made wands, lanterns and other craft, and heard a couple of stories from her book, “The Fairy Dancers.” A highlight was joining in a dance class with ballet teacher, Sam Lloyd, accompanied by ballerina, Ella. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and I think a few families may be watching some ballet shows soon. School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins Gregg is a descendant of the Kamilaroi and Yuwalayaay people of south-west Queensland and north-west New South Wales. He likes to keep the stories he was taught alive in his books, and sharing them with others. He started by joking with the Prep-2 classes, “Hi, I’m an awful.” “No!” they yelled. They knew the word author! He told them how he often sings with his daughter in feathers and his son in kangaroo skin doing the dance part – the story of a duck and water rat and how they became the platypus. He showed the children the version of Tiddalik the Frog that he illustrated. They had all heard of it. He taught us the proper pronunciation, and said how the frog is actually brown, but the publisher wanted it green so people didn’t confuse it with toads. He then taught them a kind of dance that would wake the frogs should they ever be in need of water when in the desert. But only drink a bit of the pouch water, so the frog has enough to last until rain. He ended with the stone game – where children danced as an animal, but only when the music went, or they would be out. Going on the laughter and jumping about at the end of a long day, they really enjoyed it. School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins Ailsa started by reading some of her popular Squishy Taylor series. The author used to be in the circus where she used acrobatics to tell stories and she took her experience of trust and fear and put them into how Squishy feel when out climbing on a wall. She talked about planning, writing and editing. “Did the publisher say it was done?” The year 3/4s were too smart, “No!” But I think they were shocked at the amount of purple notes sent by the editor. Ailsa then had the children close their eyes and listen to some upbeat, jazzy music. “Imagine a character you’ve never seen before.” “Stand up and move like your character.” Children gyrated, and loped and danced, then listed to different music for the setting. She led them in writing a fantastic group story about a shark-headed person on a pirate ship who has to get his hoes from land but he land is toxic and his shoes are 30k away. He comes up with a plan to build an aeroplane but toxic glowing rats are running around... Some of the class said they would continue the story. Adult Program Story by Yvonne Mes Sandy Fussell is an accidental writer. She started out in computing, but when she was included in a writer’s group with experienced authors she got the push she needed. Once her stories became published she had to face a challenge, a fear of speaking to groups. This meant that doing author talks in schools was nerve wrecking. At the time there was a great opportunity for emerging writers who were linked with experienced writers to mentor them through the school talk experience. Sandy shared how she has developed writing workshops for children using Minecraft. Minecraft is a well-known virtual sandbox game, where children build their own world and aim to survive and thrive. Sandy uses the characters, landscape and inbuild challenges to inspire children to write their own stories. Sandy finished her session by sharing practical the practical uses of software Trello which not only assists writers organising their writing life but can also be used to plot out their stories. Sandy Fussell is a best-selling author of books and short stories for young people. The Samurai Kids series garnered an International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) award for Outstanding Books for Readers with Disabilities three CBCA Book of the Year Notables. Her picture book, Sad, the Dog, was recommended in a New York Times review, she was shortlisted by the CBCA for several other of books. School, Family and Adult Program Story by Tyrion Perkins I still can’t believe there is a musical of Sigi Cohen’s and James Foley’s “My Dead Bunny.” And that’s after seeing it. Just two years ago I was hearing all about the funny/creepy book about a boy’s pet who comes back not quite right after death, and seeing the book trailer. Today I listened to the music and watched children around me tap their feet and even jig to some of the songs performed by That Production Company. It began with a bleak black and white set, the costuming and props matching the colour scheme of the book. The audience entered to the sound of creepy music that built up an atmosphere that lead to screams when lightning and thunder struck and Brad made his first appearance. The owner of Brad and his family sang the tail of how his poor pet met his electro-fried end, and how the boy came to dig him up. Brad was played by a large puppet when alive, and a silent but menacing Gary Farmer-Tricket in a green-tinged rabbit suit. The music was enjoyable. I particularly liked the one where Brad’s owner can’t sleep for the sounds of something “hopping down the hall.” The singers were all good, and the lead boy’s voice outstanding. We saw all the key moments in the book, with a few new events so it went for nearly an hour. The year five and six classes loved it, but I wouldn’t take the younger ones, as it is a bit scarier than the book. This stage version adapted by Cassandra Ramsay and Timothy Wynn with music and lyrics by Lizzie Flynn hits all the right notes. See it – if you dare... http://www.thatproductioncompany.com.au/ |
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