News & Events
Mrs Echidna goes to School
November was a busy month for 'Mrs Echidna', visiting schools in and around Brisbane. Every class is different, and I learn as much from the experience as the children do!
4th November: I spoke to 4 groups of Grade 2 children at this school. They were well prepared for the visit, and each class presented me with a list of questions they wanted answered! The questions related to everything from why I wrote the story, and where the ideas came from, to the life cycle of the echidna. What a great time we had!
17th November: Echidnas travel up to 40km for new territory; this was a bit further, on the Brisbane Southside, to address a group of High School ESL teachers... certainly new territory for me! They were enthusiastic about the potential for the book (and my other resources) in teaching literacy with children whose primary language is not English.
23rd November: I paid an informal visit to my daughter's class of 'preppies'. The children's fascination with the story and their involvement in the retelling never ceases to amaze me. Instead of the usual hand puppet, these children made echidnas from playdough and coloured matchsticks ...
30th November: Grade 4 this time... After the reading, the discussion centered more on how the story evolved, and the editing process; also how I researched the pictures of the animals and developped the illustrations. The group of 50+ children was exceptionally well behaved, and absorbed by all they learned about the process of creating and publishing a book. The boys who lelped me carry the gear back to the car quizzed me some more on the way!