Picture Book Explorers ~ Tabby McTat

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are a winning team, responsible for some of the most well-known and best-loved UK children's books. Tabby McTat is a lovely book about a busker's cat who loses his owner and finds him again. It's so easy to use the book as a springboard into learning with it's delightful story and colourful artwork.

The Picture Book Explorers ~ Tabby McTat is full of hands-on experiential educational activities for different learning styles that can be used to fit many different HE philosophies.
 Children can write songs, learn about rhyme, make an ink pen from a feather, create artwork in the style of Axel Scheffler, explore the science of sound, make a guitar, explore maths through music and money and make a regional dish. There are maps, worksheets, a timeline, flashcards, minibooks and fact sheets for families who enjoy paper-based learning  :)

As with all Picture Book Explorers unit studies, full instructions are given for all the activities and all necessary printables and information are included. The project pack leaves scope for discussion, expansion and individualisation. There are activities for all abilities and ages within the suggested range of 5 to 10, but you can easily adapt the activities for tag-along under 5s and over 10s. Under 5s may need more support and over 10s can set about the task of doing their own research and extending the information available in the pack :)

A selection of pages from Picture Book Explorers ~ Tabby McTat

Happy Exploring!

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Black Dog

Have you checked out the new resources in my catalogue? The suggested age range for Picture Book Explorers ~ Black Dog is 5 to 10 years old. It’s one of the smaller PBEs and is part of a series with a focus on the science of weather. The book, Black Dog by Levi Pinfold, is beautifully illustrated. The level of detail in the pictures of the Hope family home kept my son engaged for ages. We did all the activities in the pack for testing purposes, but you can pick and choose which ones suit your family best. We had a great time learning about British folklore as one of the activities and my son wrote his own Black Dog poem after reading the original folk song. (Links to the original lyrics are in the pack.) Making paint out of egg yolk was definitely his favourite activity Instructions for these activities and many more are included in the pack.

I have to say that we were very lucky because it snowed at the perfect time for this pack, but please don’t let lack of snow put you off exploring this fabulous book. There are other, year-round science activities and the snow related maths can be done at any time of year. Keep checking back for the next four Picture Book Explorers in this new weather science series. I'd love to hear about your child’s favourite activity in Picture Book Explorers packs 👩

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Happy New Year

Here's wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year.

Branch Out World has gone from strength to strength in 2017 with the resources now available on my lovely (nearly) new website, Educents, TeachersPayTeachers and Currclick.

I'm very happy to announce that there will be four brand new Picture Book Explorers packs and a brand new Let's Explore Topic Pack available in January. Watch this space!

Finally, I would just like to say thank you to all my lovely customers and supporters.

I couldn't do it without you 😊

Happy Exploring!

Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash

Let's Explore Earthquakes Topic Pack

We've had great fun this last couple of weeks testing out the new Let's Explore Earthquakes Topic Pack.

Boykin is 12 and has learnt a little about earthquakes in the past from the news and from workshops we've attended. Consequently, some of the information in the pack was revision, but most of it was new, thus helping to both consolidate and build on his previous knowledge.

The suggested schedule breaks the learning adventure down into bite-size chunks and short lessons (a la Charlotte Mason). This means that concentration doesn't wane; your child is fully engaged and real learning takes place.

The 13 minibooks will help your child to record and order his project, whilst the 11 hands-on activities will cement the topic for them, creating happy memories of your family's learning journey.

Happy Exploring!

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Plate Boundaries

I came across this fab rap for our Earthquake lapbook. We had such fun making up dance moves to go with it. I think The Boy will never forget the names of the different plate boundaries or how they move 😁

Earthquake Engineers

Ever wondered what earthquake engineers do?

Earthquakes and Tsunamis

This video explains how earthquakes trigger tsunamis.