Thanks for stopping by! I'm an early years teacher and a literacy co-ordinator with a passion for picture books. 

I blog about how children's read alouds inspire some fantastic creative experiences in my classroom- and at home with my two daughters. I love sharing books with young children. Sometimes that is where the story ends. But usually, we find we want to play, imagine, talk, create and write about what we have read in books.

We are interested in finding out more about our favourite authors and illustrators.

We wonder about what makes certain stories so meaningful.

And best of all, we have lots of fun making amazing, story-based crafts from everyday materials! 

I first began designing teaching materials while on secondment to an early years advisory team. We developed educational outreach resources for Sesame Workshop. It felt exciting to see our ideas published, distributed and implemented by teachers. Children responded positively to the activities we'd provided and it was so rewarding!

I try to create engaging hands-on tasks, which support curriculum requirements and provide opportunities for children  to respond meaningfully to a given text. 

Picture books are usually at the heart of all the learning experiences you'll find here. I hope that sharing our ideas at Learning Parade will encourage other teachers and parents to extend the enjoyment that comes from reading a good book, to the next possible learning opportunity that could arise.