Year 5
365 Penguins
The penguins are back, in a new format and with a fresh new cover! The family in 365 Penguins finds a penguin mysteriously delivered to their door every day for a year. At first they’re cute, but with every passing day, the penguins pile up—along with the family’s problems. Feeding, cleaning, and housing the penguins becomes a monumental task. They’re noisy and smelly, and they always hog the bathroom! And who on earth is sending these kwak-ing critters? Bright, striking illustrations with lots of opportunity for counting (and lots of laughs), 365 Penguins has become a perennial wintertime favorite since it first came out in 2006.
Suitable for: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
In the beginning, Bartholomew Cubbins didn't have five hundred hats. He had only one hat. It was an old one that had belonged to his father and his father's father before him. It was probably the oldest and the plainest hat in the whole Kingdom of Didd, where Bartholomew Cubbins lived. But Bartholomew liked it - especially because of the feather that always pointed straight up in the air.
Suitable for: Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
The Art of Clean Up: Life made Neat and Tidy
Swiss comedian and cabaret artist Ursus Wehrli loves organisation in the extreme. In The Art of Clean Up, Wehrli arranges a bowl of alphabet soup, a group of pool-goers, a spruce branch, and other elements of our chaotic world into neat rows sorted by colour, size, shape or type.
This eye-catching work of inventive organisation reassembles the everyday world as you know it. An inexpensive gift book, it will appeal not only to designers and artists, but to anyone willing to see the world in a new way. Makes you want to turn page after page to see what Ursus will organise next…
Suitable for: Kindergarten, Foundation, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
Charlie Weatherburn and the Flying Machine
A 32 page children's picture book which is suitable for primary school students. Charlie loves mathematics and uses his skills to achieve the unthinkable: solo flight. Hilarious, rhyming verses and lively, colourful illustrations combine to create a book that young children and adults alike will relish again and again.
Suitable for: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
Clocks and More Clocks
When the hall clock reads twenty minutes past four, the attic clock reads twenty-three minutes past four, the kitchen clock reads twenty-five minutes past four, and the bedroom clock reads twenty-six minutes past four, what should Mr. Higgins do? He can't tell which of his clocks tells the right time. He is in for a real surprise when the Clockmaker shows him that they are all correct!
Suitable for: Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
Counting on Frank
Frank loves to calculate things. He knows how many humpback whales would fit in his house. He knows how long it would take to fill his bathroom with water. But can Frank guess the number of jellybeans in the jar?
Suitable for: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
The Doorbell Rang
Ma has made a dozen delicious cookies. It should be plenty for her two children. But then the doorbell rings - and rings and rings.
Suitable for: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
Fibonacci Zoo
When Eli and his father visit an unusual zoo, they count the creatures in each exhibit. Eli sees one alligator, then one bison, and next two camels. Soon a number pattern emerges and Eli thinks he can predict how many animals will be in the next exhibit. Explore the zoo with Eli as he runs ahead to test his hypothesis.
Suitable for: Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Year 7
Fractions in Disguise
When a valuable fraction goes missing, George Cornelius Factor (a.k.a. GCF) vows to track it down. Knowing that the villainous Dr. Brok likes to disguise his ill-begotten fractions, GCF invents a Reducer—a tool that strips away the disguise, reducing the fraction and revealing its true form. Equal parts of action and humor add up to a wholly entertaining introduction to simplifying fractions.
Suitable for: Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
How Full is your Bucket?
Every moment matters. Each of us has an invisible bucket. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it's empty, we feel awful. Yet most children (and many adults) don't realize the importance of having a full bucket throughout the day. In How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids, Felix begins to see how every interaction in a day either fills or empties his bucket. Felix then realizes that everything he says or does to other people fills or empties their buckets as well. Follow along with Felix as he learns how easy it can be to fill the buckets of his classmates, teachers and family members. Before the day is over, you'll see how Felix learns to be a great bucket filler, and in the process, discovers that filling someone else's bucket also fills his own.
Suitable for: Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
How Much is a Million?
Schwartz and Kellogg have provided us a great literary resource for teaching children important math concepts through imaginative pictures and a fun story style. This series of books helps us teach how to quantify large numbers, an introduction to basic financial concepts, and why and how we use standard measurements. I've found that introducing hard to understand concepts through books and pictures instead of approaching it as something we are going to learn makes my children more receptive. By allowing them to "discover" things on their own, through books, they learn things easier and quicker. Adding the beautiful artwork of Steven Kellogg, which has inspired the imagination of children for decades, doesn't hurt either.
Suitable for: Year 5, Year 6, Year 7
Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat
The paperback edition of a picture book full of joyful colour and energy, about a timid girl who finds the courage to live life on her own terms, with the help of a travelling minstrel and his dancing cat. Milli could take a thing that was a nothing and turn it into a something. She could find any old forgotten this or that, give it a bit of a wiggle, and transform it into something amazing. But no one in her town valued what Milli could do, and she was far too shy to insist. No one ever wanted anything special. So Milli spent her time making brown shoes, black shoes and plain old work boots. But then comes the day two vagabonds roll into town - crazy Jack and his dancing cat. Sturdy new boots are exactly what they need, but what can they give Milli in exchange? Dancing lessons! So they teach her jazz and ballet and tap. They do the two-step, the three-step and the tricky-twisting-backward-slide-four-step. And Milli begins to feel brave and free. So she makes them the most beautiful shoes she can imagine. She rustles up a few amazing things for herself, too. And eventually even the townspeople have to take notice.
Suitable for: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Year 7, Year 8
Moonlight Crab Count
Even kids can get involved in science! Ecologist Dr. Neeti Bathala and Jennifer Keats Curtis collaborate to bring us the story of these adventurous citizen scientists. Leena and her mom volunteer each summer to count the horseshoe crabs that visit their beach. With their dog Bobie at their sides, the duo spends a night on the shore surveying horseshoe crabs who have come to mate and lay eggs. Readers will learn valuable facts about these ancient animals and how they can get involved in the effort to conserve horseshoe crabs.
This fictional story includes a 4-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 26-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. Moonlight Crab Count is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers.
Suitable for: Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5
Mr Archimedes' Bath
Every time Mr Archimedes has a bath with his friends, the water overflows. Somebody must be putting extra water in the bath. Is it Kangaroo? Or is it Goat or Wombat? Whoever it is, Mr Archimedes is going to find out.
Suitable for: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5
Multiplying Menace: The Revenge of Rumpelstiltskin
Rumpelstiltskin is back! This time he's making mischief with his multiplying stick. Can Peter unlock the secret of the stick in time to save the kingdom? Whimsical illustrations bring fun to multiplying whole numbers and fractions.
Suitable for: Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
The Multiplying Menace Divides
A ribbiting math adventure! After being banished to the Abyss of Zero in MULTIPLYING MENACE: THE REVENGE OF RUMPELSTILTSKIN, Rumpelstiltskin is back, and he's stirring up more trouble than ever. Together with his sidekick, a witch named Matilda, Rumpelstiltskin plots his revenge on Peter and uses his magical powers to divide the kingdom into frogs. Peter and his dog, Zero, must locate the Great Multiplier and find a solution that will break the Great Divide before Rumpelstiltskin has a chance to combine the two mighty math sticks. Can Peter once again save the kingdom in time, or will it meet a green and warty fate? Young readers will fall in love with this math adventure and learn all about dividing by whole numbers and fractions, as well as division rules for equations involving zero. Beautifully rendered illustrations will grab readers' attention as they learn basic math skills in a fun and inventive way. Back matter includes a summary of the basics of division.
Suitable for: Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab
If one is a snail and two is a person ... we must be counting by feet! This is a fantastic story to stimulate children’s counting skills and could be used in any primary classroom. The discussion may include skip counting and other rich mathematical discussion promoting additive and multiplicative thinking. This book can be used for a whole class mathematical investigation.
Suitable for: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
Robyn Boid: Architect
Robyn Boid studied Architecture at the National University, and dreamed of becoming an architect.
Meet Robyn Boid - a small, dedicated bird who loves to build nests and dreams of becoming an architect. She lives at the University, where she listens to the architecture class through the window each day. Eager to learn, Robyn practises building all the important architectural shapes, but all the while, she seeks the perfect design for her very own nest.
This encouraging tale of creative achievement is centred around the journey of a lovable character. Paired with unique and involving illustrations, this is a gentle introduction to the world of architecture.
Suitable for: Foundation, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
Sir Cumference and All The King's Tens
A clever introduction to place value. Sir Cumference and Lady Di planned a surprise birthday party for King Arthur, but they didn t expect so many guests to show up. How many lunches will they need? And with more guests arriving by the minute, what about dinner? Sir Cumference and Lady Di have to figure out a quick way to count the guests to bring order to the party. Sir Cumference and his friends have been entertaining young and old alike for years as they introduce important math concepts with clarity and humor.
Suitable for: Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Year 7
Uno's garden
This playful counting book for the very young is a celebration of nature and imagination. Specially adapted by Graeme Base, the gorgeous illustrations guide children as they learn their numbers, discovering a whole menagerie of surprising and delightful creatures along the way.
Suitable for: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
A Very Improbable Story
What are the odds?
Ethan wakes up one morning to find a very strange cat stuck on his head. The cat, Odds, refuses to budge until Ethan wins a game of probability. Without looking, Ethan must pick out a dime from his coin collection or two matching socks from his dresser, or do something else improbable. If he doesn't, Odds is there to stay, and Ethan has a 100% chance of missing his big soccer game.
Suitable for: Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
What the Ladybird Heard
"Oink!" said the cats ...With all the MOOing and HISSing and BAAAing and CLUCKing, the farmyard is full of noise. But when Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len hatch a plot to steal the fine prize cow, it's the quietest animal of all who saves the day!Spot the glittery ladybird on every page of this wonderful rhyming tale from the creators of the bestselling THE PRINCESS AND THE WIZARD and SHARING A SHELL.
Suitable for: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
Which One Doesn’t Belong?
Every colourful page of Christopher Danielson’s children’s picture book, Which One Doesn’t Belong?, contains a thoughtfully designed set of four shapes. Each of the shapes can be a correct answer to the question “Which one doesn’t belong?” Because all their answers are right answers, students naturally shift their focus to justifications and arguments based on the shapes’ geometric properties.
Most curricula treat geometry as little more than vocabulary lessons. Which One Doesn’t Belong? is a powerful, flexible resources that teachers can use to provoke lively discussions and deep learning about shapes with students of all ages.
Suitable for: Foundation, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Year 7
These support pages were produced using Strategic Partnership Program funding from the Department of Education and Training.
