Towards the end of Term One, I introduced the Year 3 classes to the new Jinny & Cooper series by Tania Ingram and the books were a big hit!
I wanted to build on the interest for this series, but it’s tricky to do in depth work on a novel when you only see classes for 45 minutes once a week. So I asked Miss Mc who teaches 3MC if she would like to read the Jinny & Cooper books to 3MC and then work with me in the library on a Friday. Miss Mc did a fabulous job reading and discussing the books with 3MC.
At our first session in the library we talked about what we liked about the books and which was our favourite book and character, with both The Revenge of the Stone Witch and Cooper the guinea pig being the clear winners. Then 3MC had fun making Cooper pop-ups from Tania’s website and I tweeted our Cooper pop-ups to Tania.
Our second session in the library had students thinking, sharing and recording their responses to the books. 3MC discussed how the first book, My Teacher’s Secret was important because it introduced each of the characters. In the second book, The Revenge of the Stone Witch, Tania developed the story using exciting cliffhangers and created a mystery that wasn’t solved until the very end.
The third session was a busy one with 3MC exploring Tania’s website to learn a bit more about her. Then 3MC were VERY excited to hear they were going to talk to Tania via Skype! In small groups they brainstormed questions to ask Tania under the headings Life, Writing and Books. Those questions were then shared and finalised to create a set of questions to ask Tania.
Last Friday was the BIG day and 3MC arrived in the LRC full of excitement (and some nerves) to find the chairs set up in front of the IWB ready to Skype Tania. Miss Y had tested Skype earlier in the week to make sure it worked BUT there were gremlins around! Miss V came and helped to get the microphone working, but when we tried to skype Tania the call FAILED each time. Tania suggested we try a Google Hangout…and it worked!!!
Thanks to technology we were able to sit in our library in Melbourne and hang out with Tania at her house in Adelaide to talk to her about her books and writing….what a fabulous Friday morning in our library!!
THANK YOU TANIA!
These are some photos from our Google Hangout with Tania…
Click on the 4 arrows to make the slide show full screen
Some of the things we discovered about Tania…
Tania’s daughter is a great source of ideas for her stories
Tania writes at home in her lounge room or at her kitchen table
Tania types her stories
Tania really enjoys creating and writing stories.
Tania thinks chapter books are easier to write than picture books (that made people think!)
Tania likes chocolate
Tania is a bit quirky like Cooper
Cooper is based on Tania’s dog that would eat EVERYTHING
Tania likes chickens (We think her next book should be a chicken story!)
There will be another talking animal in one of Tania’s next Jinny & Cooper books (We’re not telling!!)
We can’t wait for the next two Jinny & Cooper books…
Thanks again Miss Y, Miss McGrath and everyone in 3MC. I had a blast talking to you all.
Hi Tania,
Thank you for being so generous with your time and answering our questions and chatting with us. We all had a blast talking to you too!
#ReadingIsFun
Miss Y 🙂
Thank you Tania, Miss Y and Miss McGrath…..Riley has not stopped talking about the experience….it really was a reading is fun fun moment.
Jo
Wonderful to hear Jo!
I loved that Riley brought his crocheted Yoda toy to show Tania…
#ReadingIsFun
Miss Y 🙂
That was a wonderful toy. I think I might look for that pattern. 🙂 I’m glad Riley had fun.
Wow Miss Y and Miss McGrath you must be thrilled with the fabulous connections the students in 3Mc made by unpacking the Jinny & Cooper books. Tania is a creative and generous author.
This activity shows the power of collaboration and commitment to team to impact on student learning.
Congratulations. Mrs S
Hi Mrs S,
Wonderful to hear from you!
It has been a delight to work with Miss McGrath and share our passion for books and reading with 3MC. We are very grateful that Tania generously spent time talking with us on Friday…we’re very lucky!
I hope you are reading some great books Mrs S. I miss giving you books to read and enjoy from our library and talking about them with you.
#ReadingIsFun
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Miss Y
I just want to ask if you could say hi to all the kids for me.
Thanks,
From Isabella G 🙂
Hi Isabella,
What a lovely surprise to hear from you!
I hope you and Brodie are both enjoying your new school. I bet you are as excited as I am about how well North Melbourne are playing this year! I hope you have been able to make it to some of their games.
I will definitely say hi to the kids in Year 3 for you.
If you would like to send an email to me at smotlrc@gmail.com we would love to hear your news. I could read your email to the Year 3s when I see them in the library.
Go Roos!
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Ms Y,
Thank you so much for arranging our Google Hangout with Tania. A huge thanks as well to Tania for giving her time for us.
Lachlan
Dear Ms Yeomans,
My favourite part about doing a Google Hangout with Tania Ingram was when we got to go up to the computer to talk to her.
Mary
Dear Miss Y
I have never be so over the moon to hangout with an awesome author like TANIA INGRAM!
THANKS MADISON
Dear Miss Y,
Talking to Tania was so great!!!!
I hope next next time we can meet other authors.
From Pokemon champion Lucy!
P.S (There’s no P.S )
Hi Ms Y
I felt excited before we started because I have never had a Google Hangout with an author before.
Aaron
Dear Miss Y
I was inspired by how much information Tania told us. I was also inspired with what other stuff she did in life. I really loved doing a Google Hangout with Tania. I would also love if we could invite Tania to our school.
From Riley.S
Dear Miss Y,
Talking to an author was THE BEST THING EVER!
So thank you so much for doing this for us!
From Macey D
Dear Miss Y
I was so excited when I found out that we were going to do a Google Hangout with Tania! I had so much fun!
From Holly
Dear Miss Yeomans,
My favorite part about doing a Google Hangout with Tania was when we got to go up to the computer, talk to her and ask her a question.
From Mary
To Miss Y
I was excited to hear all of the information about Tania and it was really really fun!!
From Xavier
Dear Ms Y,
I really liked when we did a Google Hangout with Tania Ingram. I also really liked when we asked her some things about her life.
From Ryan
Hi Miss Y,
On Friday it was the best! I loved it when you FINALLY got Tania on Google Hangouts. I was so lucky that I got to say thank you to her!
Tania if you’re reading this I would LOVE you to come back and talk to us.
Audrey H
Dear Miss Y,
When we did our Google Hangout with Tania I really enjoyed her comments on the books that she wrote. My most favorite bit was talking to her.
FROM OLIVER S
Hi Miss Y
On Friday it was AWESOME! l learned so much about Tania. l learned that Tania could not resist chocolate and l learned that her personality is like Cooper!!
From Claudia
To Miss Y
Man I was so excited to meet Tania because she was so awesome and she is also funny.
From Julian.s
Hi Miss Y,
I loved seeing Tania for the first time and asking her questions and having fun:)
My favourite part was when I got to ask her a question and she gave a lot of information for everyone who asked something so now we know lots of things about Tania. Thanks for setting it up for us:D
From Antonia
Hi Miss Y
I had an exciting time and I like the crochet Yoda
from Riley
Hi Miss Y
I liked that Tania was really interested in our questions and gave us the answers.
from william
Thank you for all of your great comments 3MC!
It certainly was exciting to do our Google Hangout with Tania and it was my first time doing a Google Hangout too! It was a great way to connect with Tania.
You all did a wonderful job asking your questions to Tania because it’s quite different to talking face to face with someone. Tania was so generous with her time replying to all of our questions (as well as funny) and we certainly learned a lot!
I wonder if Tania is going to crochet her own Yoda toy now Riley?
Let’s hope that if Tania comes to Melbourne in the future that she will pop in and visit 3MC and our library….
Miss Y 🙂 #ReadingIsFun
Hi 3MC
It was great to read all of your lovely messages. Thank you for your kind words. I had a great time talking with you all as well. And the next time I come to Melbourne, I’d love to come and meet you all face to face. I’d also be interested to hear how you enjoy books 3 and 4.
Tania 🙂