Oh dear, what a mad couple of months! Yes, I've tripped up and stumbled because I didn't get all the activity pages posted for Book Week 2016! Most are in draft form and just needing checking! I will continue to post the activities though as I get to them but I might take a break from Book Week.

My initial reaction to the winners was....Really? Seriously? And then I remembered back to my school days and yes, I used to think the same way back then. I can actually remember actively avoiding any book that had some sort of sticker on it declaring it had won an award well into my twenties as I considered most would be rubbish...oh course the odd one has been found to be good but anyway. Whether you agreed or disagreed with who won is up to you....now we have 12 months before we do it all again!

Hopefully now that family life is quietening down I will have more time on my hands to post.

PS: I have an exciting review I will be posting towards the end of the month - if you're a Japanese language teacher or if you are doing a unit on Japan this year then I highly recommend coming back to check it out.

After reading the books nominated in the Short List for Book Week 2016: Australia - Story Country here is my opinion on who I feel should be crowned the winner in each category! Please note that I have included some that I haven't posted my review of yet as I am working to finish the Teaching Ideas pages for as many books as I can before next week.

Currently I have no prediction for the Early Childhood category as I have only been able to get hold of two books so far. Fingers crossed I get the others early next week.

Title: And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Title: Flight

Title: One Step at a Time

I'm slipping in this post in between all the Book Week ones in the hope of inspiring some teachers to sign up for the Paralympic Challenge this year. I had almost forgotten that the program was offered as I hadn't seen anything advertised about it where I live - so sorry for the short notice!

Unfortunately as I am out of the classroom this year I don't have a class participating and my two kids are a little young for it (just wait until the next one!). As a specialist PE teacher back in 2012 I signed up all the classes I was teaching for the Challenge.

Title: The Amazing True Story of How Babies are Made

Got a fussy eater in the house? This book is for you! Join Trevor as he tries to convince his fellow piranhas that vegetables and fruit are as good as meat.