Wilbur's Cosmic Cone - written by Alan D. Parr, illustrated by Anna Lee

Morena tamariki,

I'm so glad we managed to have Book Week this year. If you want to reflect on some of the fun we had, there are some lovely pics of the Book Character Parade on the WPS Facebook Page. I've also written a blog post about the Des Hunt visit.

We were also visited by Alan D. Parr, the author of Wilbur's Cosmic Cone. He is a school parent, author and TV cartoon scriptwriter. Alan delighted the Y0-2 children with a reading of Wilbur's Cosmic Cone. He also visited his daughter's Y3/4 class. 

While he read, Alan flicked through the lively illustrations on the class TVs. He brought along the crocheted versions of the characters from his book. 

Alan has a natural orator's voice, and a warm persona, which the children enjoyed. Teachers and children laughed at the funny bits and were drawn into the story. They asked interesting questions. He was really accommodating, visiting 5 classrooms. One of the teachers told me that the children did some inspired writing after he left, and they were trying out big words and vocabulary.

Write a story

Here's a fun challenge:

Would you like to write a story where you combine something interesting about your pet (or an animal at the Zoo), and something outlandish?

It's fun to write stories about something you know about in your own world, combined with something imaginary. In Wilbur's Cosmic Cone, Wilbur the dog is zoomed up to Mars. You could integrate anything that comes to your imagination with a real world character. It doesn't have to be an animal. It could be a story about how your sister developed superpowers. I don't know... it's your story, so have fun with it.

Activity sheets

Here are some "how to draw Wilbur" activity sheets.

I'll be back later with more resources.

Ka kite ano