Bunyips and Other Mysteries

photo credit:  booksdirect.com.au

I bought this book the other day.  My Yr1 student has a bit of a 'thing' for bunyips at the moment.  And the Loch Ness Monster.  And Pacman.  And sharks. And Battleships.  And Traffic Rush on my iPad.   Anyway, the day he asked about bunyips we googled a bit to see what they looked like.  When I came across this book I knew it was a 'must have'.  Really....Jackie French and Bruce Whatley...it's going to be good!  I ordered the book and it finally arrived so I took it to school and we read it together during 'silent reading'.  Our reading isn't so silent, since I'm reading out loud.  And the other kids on the table are often listening in and peering over pencil and texta pots to see the pictures. 

Emily was a hit.  The big bad bunyip was super duper.  My student was a happy boy.  I might have even won a few brownie points that day.  That might have also been the day I declared myself to be Steve Irwin and that I needed to wrestle a crocodile off to the safety of the teacher's desk.  I haven't seen the crocodile hat since.  It had been on this boy's head for two solid weeks, apart from when we wrestled it off him during class time.  Thank you Steve Irwin!

Emily and her bunyip have also entertained my nieces, who were here for the day last weekend.  Really....it's a great book.  A bit of a Christmas theme runs through it, but none of us really cared!

As for the next two weeks....no bunyips, emus or crocodiles will cross the threshhold on this side of my picket fence.  We're on holidays.  I have two full, whole, blessed weeks.  To study.   And spend time with the children.  The thing I'm looking forward to most?  Having time to enjoy cooking really yummy and meals that are perhaps time consuming in the preparation.  And I'm looking forward to just being able to take my study at a slightly slower pace.  I'll only have two weeks of the semester left when I go back to work so I might even be able to get a little bit ahead.

The best news of the week came when my boss announced some new teachers joining our Secondary school next year.  One of them is my sister-in-law.  She'll teach Miss Sunshine and Mr Busy.  We're all incredibly excited.  Four months until the beginning of next year seems a long way off!