Sheila Rae the Brave

This Living Book takes things a little further than some of the earlier titles. In addition to the usual "Read Me" or "Let Me Play", Sheila Rae has some very interesting activities. If you can possibly purchase the School version, it comes with some extension activities, a second story book, black line masters and heaps of ideas.

Songs

Throughout the story are scattered several songs. You can hear each song inside the story, or you can go to the special song section and hear the songs complete with lyrics. The songs cover a few different styles of music, including ballads, a march, rap and a variety of tempos. The hands-down favourite of my students is Cool Cat sub-titled by several of the children as Daddy-O. In the school version, the sheet music to All Alone is provided. It is such a sweet song and you will love the harmony.

A teacher at Mareeba State School has been teaching reading and writing through songs. Her students write down the lyrics to songs as their writing exercises. These writing exercises are motivating for the students and help them link the written word to the spoken word. The songs used in these sorts of writing exercises are mainly nursery rhymes and popular childrens' songs. I have been using Living Books texts to link the spoken and written word and I find having the song lyrics available in this way is just the icing on the cake!

Mapping Game

This is a really sweet little activity. Sheila has to use her map to follow the clues around the park. There are a few cute animations within the screens. We have used this game as a starting point to mapping activities of our own.
Navigating your Local Community - As part of our life skills programme, we are busy familiarising our students with our local community, particualarly the local supermarket. We use a floor plan of the building to colour in different sections, e.g. deli, fruit and veg, cleaning products, pet foods etc. When we write our shopping list, we try to think where the different items belong and see if we can find them there. The students are often asked to guide us through and tell us which way to turn, as we seem to be very forgetful. Maybe it is old age? We take photos, words and shopping advertisements and try to find the items in them. It works fairly well.

One thing I feel is vital when teaching students to successfully navigate their local community is to verbalise what you are doing. Keep talking while you walk...We are going past the fire station. What comes next? The phones? Then we have to walk past the clock. Soon you will find that your students will tell you that you have to go past the fire engines and the post and the clock, and then you will be at the Post Office. Make sure you discuss landmarks, such as clocks, statues or favouite shops, and most important of all, pedestrian crossings.

Themes

Two of the main themes in this story are Feelings and Family. If you look at either of these themes, it might be useful to also look at The Berestein Bears Get in a Fight which also explores these two themes. Come to think of it, there are several Living Books that go nicely together. Maybe I should make up a table? Might just do that.

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