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The Wishing Elf
Stage 3 More Songbirds are six brand new decidable phonic stories to add to the popular Oxford Reading Tree Songbirds Phonics series. They are real stories written by the best-selling author of The Gruffulo, Julia Donaldson. All the stories support the latest phonics curriculum developments.
The Oxford Reading Tree Songbirds Phonics series provides:
* fully decodeable texts that build on pupils' phonic knowledge as they work through the 6 stages
* opportunities for segmenting, blending and matching sounds and letter blends
* lively illustrations by a variety of artists
* flexible activities that can be tailored to your phonic teaching
* exciting, interactive CD-ROMs to accompany all stages
The six books revise all phonics previously covered in Songbirds Stages 1+, 2 and 3, and introduce one long vowel phoneme (sound) per title.
* Ron Rabbit's Big Day ('ee' as in see)
* The Wishing Elf ('ie' as in tie)
* Bob Bug and the Insect Club ('oa' as in boat)
* Where is the Snail? ('ai' as in rain)
* Stop Chatting Bill ('oo' as in soon)
* Back to Bed ('oo' as in good)
The Oxford Reading Tree Songbirds Phonics series provides:
* fully decodeable texts that build on pupils' phonic knowledge as they work through the 6 stages
* opportunities for segmenting, blending and matching sounds and letter blends
* lively illustrations by a variety of artists
* flexible activities that can be tailored to your phonic teaching
* exciting, interactive CD-ROMs to accompany all stages
The six books revise all phonics previously covered in Songbirds Stages 1+, 2 and 3, and introduce one long vowel phoneme (sound) per title.
* Ron Rabbit's Big Day ('ee' as in see)
* The Wishing Elf ('ie' as in tie)
* Bob Bug and the Insect Club ('oa' as in boat)
* Where is the Snail? ('ai' as in rain)
* Stop Chatting Bill ('oo' as in soon)
* Back to Bed ('oo' as in good)
16 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2007
About the author
Julia Donaldson
1,243 books2,016 followersGrowing up
I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).
Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us. A wind-up gramophone wafted out Chopin waltzes.
I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married.
Busking and books
Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.
The busking led to a career in singing and songwriting, mainly for children’s television. I became an expert at writing to order on such subjects as guinea pigs, window-cleaning and horrible smells. “We want a song about throwing crumpled-up wrapping paper into the bin” was a typical request from the BBC.
I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.
One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading.
My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes.
I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books.
Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers.
When I’m not writing I am often performing, at book festivals and in theatres. I really enjoy getting the children in the audience to help me act out the stories and sing the songs. When Malcolm can take time off from the hospital he and his guitar come too. and it feels as if we’ve come full circle - back to busking.
I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).
Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us. A wind-up gramophone wafted out Chopin waltzes.
I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married.
Busking and books
Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.
The busking led to a career in singing and songwriting, mainly for children’s television. I became an expert at writing to order on such subjects as guinea pigs, window-cleaning and horrible smells. “We want a song about throwing crumpled-up wrapping paper into the bin” was a typical request from the BBC.
I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.
One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading.
My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes.
I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books.
Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers.
When I’m not writing I am often performing, at book festivals and in theatres. I really enjoy getting the children in the audience to help me act out the stories and sing the songs. When Malcolm can take time off from the hospital he and his guitar come too. and it feels as if we’ve come full circle - back to busking.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 9, 2020
Raphy really enjoyed this one. He had imaginaions for many scenarios and scenes.
May 31, 2024
It was magical.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews