Image: Cooee Mittigar - a Story on Darug Songlines by Jasmine Seymour and Leanne Mulgo Watson. Magabala Books (2019)

Cooee Mittigar

Warami mittigar - hello friend. Walk on Darug Country and learn the Darug language names for plants, animals, weather and seasonal changes. Look out for reptiles basking in the bunnal - sun - and the calls of garad - black cockatoos.

• Use a  five senses chart  to describe a local natural place. Use local Aboriginal language to name the features.
• On what Aboriginal Country do you live and work? Locate the Darug nation and your local Country on the  AIATSIS Aboriginal nations map.
• How are your local seasons described by your local Aboriginal clan? Create a visual timeline to sequence your local seasons and their features.

Image: A Walk in the Bush by Gwen Perkins. Affirm Press (2017)

A Walk in the Bush

Iggy and grandad love their bushwalks. They listen and watch for birds and trace the trails on scribbly gums. They rest in ferny gullies and photograph scenic views.

• Listen and look for visiting birds. Use the  Backyard birds of New South Wales  to identify them.
• Take photos of the colours and textures of leaves, flowers and bark. Arrange them using  PicCollage.
• Crush and sniff fallen leaves. Collect some to take home for crayon rubbings.

Hey Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose and Debbie Tilley. Tricycle Press (1998)

Hey Little Ant

A conversation between an ant and a child, the ant tries to persuade the child not to squish it. Each has a different perspective on ants and leaves the reader with the question 'What do you think the kid should do?'

• Lie down on the ground and view the world through an ant's eyes. Take ant's eye view photographs of the surroundings such as blades of grass, leaf litter and shrubs.
• Collect ants and use magnifying equipment to closely observe their external features. Draw a labelled scientific drawing of an ant.
• Experiment with taking photographs that represent an ant's eye view that build empathy for ants.

Image: Millie Loves Ants by Jackie French French and Sue deGennaro. Harper Collins (2019)

Millie Loves Ants

Explore the world of ants with Millie the echidna as she trundles through gardens and bush paths sniffing out ants. Peek into the underground world of queen ants, hunter ants and soldier ants and meet a puggle, a baby echidna.

• Conduct an ant survey in your school, house or garden. How many can you count in each location in 30 seconds?
• Make an ant using modelling clay or scrunched and twisted paper. Give it three body parts. Use sticks or pipe cleaners for legs and attach them to the middle body part.
• Make an echidna using clay and twigs or a lemon and toothpicks. Use  iStopMotion  to create an animation of Millie looking for ants.

Image: Sam's Bush Journey by Sally Morgan, Ezekiel Kwaymullina and Bronwyn Bancroft. Hardie Grant (2010)

Sam's Bush Journey

A special place to Nanna, Sam's Nanna teaches him what the bush can provide and the signs to know that they are there. Sam discovers he can find himself food, shelter and water and the bush becomes a special place to Sam too.

• Create a  heart map  to list your feelings about a special place you visit with a family member or close friend. What makes it special? Why do you like going there?
• Use a  Y-chart  to describe a special place. What does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like?
• Walk through your local bush or natural area. Use a nature journal to sketch and note what's around you. Learn about local plants and animals from local Aboriginal Peoples.

Image: Welcome to Country by Austy Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy. Walker Books (2016)

Welcome to Country

Learn about the traditional lands and language of the Wurundjeri Peoples. Pay respect to the ancestors, Aboriginal Elders and communities of the land.

• Identify the Traditional Owners of the land on which you learn and live. How is an Acknowledgement of Country expressed at school?
• Walk around the local area and identify landforms, plants and animals unique to the area. Create an artwork that represents part of the local area.
• Compose a descriptive text describing features of the local area.

Image: Little Bird's Day by Sally Morgan and Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr. Magabala Books (2019)

Little Bird's Day

Journey through a day in nature with Little Bird. Sing ‘the world alive’ at dawn, feast on gum blossoms, fly with the wind, be refreshed by the rain and shelter at dusk.

• Sit still outside and listen for birds. Use a sound map to record their calls. Put a cross in the middle of a page as you and use symbols to record the sounds around.
• What is your favourite place and favourite time of day? Why?  Draw a picture of yourself in your favourite place.
• Experiment with spatter painting on black or coloured paper. Use leaves or cut out bird shapes then spatter over.

Image: The Big Book of Bugs by Yuval Zommer. Thomas and Hudson Ltd (2016)

The Big Book of Bugs

Butterflies, bees, snails and spiders are just some of the multitude of bugs that live around us. Discover fascinating facts about the world of invertebrates and the diversity of their shapes, sizes and habitats.

• Go outside and look for invertebrates in the leaf litter and shrubs.
• Write a factual sentence about an invertebrate that lives in your garden.
• Plant a ‘butterfly breakfast’ in a container or garden. Include a variety of flowering plants and watch for insects sipping nectar from the flowers.

Image: Here Comes Stinkbug by Tohby Riddle. A and U Childrens (2018)

Here Comes Stinkbug

Stinkbug's biggest talent is to make rally nasty smells. This upsets Stinkbug's bug friends. When he is confronted by a nasty surprise Stinkbug's big stink saves the day.

• Research and write a fact sheet on stinkbug adaptations. Include information on the stinkbug's proboscis and ability to emit an odour. Use the  Field of Mars EEC fact sheets  as a guide.
• Draw a cartoon of a stinkbug stinking out a spider predator. Add speech bubbles for the bug and spider's thoughts and words.
• Look closely for bugs in the leaves and stems of plants. There may be a stinkbug on your lemon tree. Draw and identify them using the  Bugwise invertebrate guide.

Image: Searching for Cicadas by Lesley Gibbes and Judy Watson. Walker Books (2019)

Searching for Cicadas

Camping in the local reserve with grandpa and searching for cicadas is a special time each summer. The time is spent looking for Green Grocers, Floury Bakers and Yellow Mondays. But the most prized is the elusive Black Prince.

• Search the trunks of trees for cicada shells. Notice the split in the back of the shell. Look for holes in the ground at the base of the tree trunk.
• Draw and label the life cycle of a cicada. Did you know the cicada shell was the nymph stage?
• Use fallen leaves on the ground to make pictures of the different types and colours of cicadas. Photograph and label them.

Image: Eric Carle's Book of Amazing Animals by Eric Carle. Puffin (2021)

Eric Carle's Book of Amazing Animals

A colourful visual informative text, discover the animals of the jungle, savannah, desert, ice and snow, the ocean, mountains, forest and around us.

• Go outside and look for evidence of animals that visit the school – scratchings, burrows, webs and nests. Record them using a T-chart or site map.
• Use loose natural materials such as leaves and sticks to create a collage of an Australian animal.
• Compose an informative text on a local Australian animal.

Image: The March of the Ants by Ursula Dubosarsky and Tohby Riddle. Book Trail Press (2021)

The March of the Ants

A group of ants set off on an expedition each carrying something they might need. It was long and tiring but just when they had almostgiven up hope the littlest ant read to them from the book she had brought along.

• Sit still and silently watching a trail of ants. Imagine what they might be thinking, feeling and saying to each other.
• Use a piece of string to lay out a mini trail in a mini world in the garden. Take a friend on a tour along the mini world, describing the sights from an ant's eye view.
• Draw two or three ants marching in a line. Use speech and thought bubbles to express imagined thoughts and conversations.

Image: Cocoon by Aura Parker. Scholastic Australia (2019)

Cocoon

Caterpillar Dawn can't wait to grow wings and fly. She weaves a cocoon and fills it with her favourite things but it takes a really long time. Finally she emerges with a new set of wings!

• Look for leaves on the ground with some of their edges missing, munched by caterpillars. Look for chewed leaves on plants. But don't touch caterpillars as they can sting!
• Trace or draw a leaf with a part chewed away. Colour it so it looks exactly the same. Try watercolour pencils.
• Draw and label the life cycle of a silkworm or monarch butterfly. How long does it spend in its cocoon? What happens inside the cocoon?

Image: Why I Love Australia by Bronwyn Bancroft. Little Hare Books (2010)

Why I Love Australia

The features and colours of Australia's diverse landscapes are represented through colourful shapes and patterns - ‘jewelled necklace’ of city lights, ‘crusted salt pans’ and pounding waves.

• Print a screenshot of a closeup satellite image of your street. Use felt markers to draw over the main outlines. Draw repeating patterns for tiles, trees and other textures.
• Explore landscapes of Australia using StreetView on Google Maps. Virtually visit Uluru, a beach, desert, snowy mountains, a town.
• Download a photograph of a scenic place and use  Typorama  to create a poster for it.

Image: The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. Little Brown and Company (2009)

The Curious Garden

Liam is a curious boy who nurtures plants along a disused railway track. He and his neighbours tansform their city into a place of plants, green spaces and beauty.

• Plant micro greens into small pots and harvest within a week or so for a tasty and fresh food treat.
• Sprout garlic cloves in jars, or try carrot tops, onions, bean and wheat seeds.
• Strike cuttings of rosemary and perennial basil in glass jars. Plant them out after roots form.

Image: Big Rain Coming by Katrina Germein and Bronwyn Bancroft. Puffin Books (1999)

Big Rain Coming

In Australia’s Top End Old Stephen and the children wait for rain. Whilst he studies the clouds and signs for rain the days get hotter and hotter. And finally it arrives and everyone celebrates.

• Record the weather over a week in a weather diary. Use symbols to describe the weather three times a day.
• Record a storm soundscape using kitchen objects and body percussion – water splashing, wind, thunder, rain.
• Learn local Aboriginal language for weather terms. In Darug Country storm time is marked by yuruka -hot, walan - rain and manga manga - lightning.

Image: Stick Man by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Scholastic UK (2017)

Stick Man

Stick Man is carried off by a dog playing fetch, is dropped into a river and used in a swan's nest. Desperate to be home, he ends up in a fireplace on Christmas Eve. Thankfully his luck turns and he is home for Christmas.

• Make a stick person and some stick children. Compose a narrative and map it out on a  storyboard. Create an animation or narrated slides of your story.
• What else can you make using sticks? Try making a tower of sticks, a mini-shelter, a floatable raft, a birds nest. Add leaf wings and use wool or string to wrap the stick to make a dragonfly or phasmid.
• How is timber used around your house or school? Use a  concept map  to list its uses.

Image: Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker. Walker Books (1987)

Where the Forest Meets the Sea

In a tropical rainforest in North Queensland a boy explores the dense forest. He looks and listens and wonders about its history, Traditional Custodians and future threats.

• Locate the Daintree Rainforest Visitor Centre on Google Maps and use Street View for a 360 view. What are its features? How does it compare to your local area?
• Visit a rainforest or use the 360 view of the Daintree Rainforest and use  see-think-wonder  or a  five senses chart  to record your observations.
• Is there a local natural area threatened by development? Create a one minute documentary that explores both sides of the issue.

Image: Mallee Sky by Jodi Toering and Tannya Harricks. Walker Books (2019)

Mallee Sky

Explore the vastness, colours, landscapes and seasonal changes of the mallee country. Empathise with the challenges of drought and joy of long awaited rain.

• Take photographs of the local landscape and compare it the features of the mallee country. Create a word bank of words that describe the local landscape.
• Write a short description of the local area. Use noun groups, compound sentences and a complex sentence.
• Recall and verbally describe eerie and unusual local weather events such as a thunderstorm, dust storm, hail storm or torrential rain. Recount personal feelings and observations.