Jump into the three parts of the guide most families use first.
This theme is the literacy celebration month. The child becomes an author — writing, illustrating, and sharing their own book. All the reading and letter work leads to this creative milestone.
This month the child doesn't just read stories — they write and illustrate one. Beginning, middle, end. Character. Problem. Solution.
Mathematics lives inside stories: 'There were 7 birds. 3 flew away. How many are left?' This arc month makes mathematics narrative.
Publishing a book — even a stapled, hand-drawn one — is one of the most empowering experiences in early childhood.
Stories and Imagination's book project sometimes brings up a child's self-doubt — 'I can't write,' 'it's not good enough.' When this happens, redirect to the process rather than the product. Every mark on the page is a decision. Every story is theirs. The finished book doesn't have to be impressive; it has to be finished. A note on independence this term — by this point in the year, your role has shifted from demonstrator to appreciative audience. Ask what your child would like to work on today, how they plan to start. The goal was never a child who follows instructions perfectly. It was a child who can direct their own curiosity.
Story mapping turns reading comprehension into an active process — identifying character, setting, and problem in a familiar book prepares the child to build the same structure in their own.
Retell a familiar story at bedtime from memory; ask 'How does the story begin? How does it end?'
Story Mapping and Story Baskets work perfectly indoors. Rainy days are ideal writing days. Use the sound of rain as inspiration for a story setting.
If your child is beginning to notice story structure in books you didn't plan — identifying the problem, wondering about the ending — their comprehension is sophisticated and growing.
Planning before writing makes the writing better — the book plan scaffolds the whole project, and story maths problems show how numbers live inside narratives too.
Talk about the planned book at dinner — who is the character, what is their problem?; look at picture books together for illustration style inspiration.
My Own Book is an indoor activity. On rainy days, add atmosphere and create an author's studio with a special writing spot, a lamp, and quiet music.
If your child's story has characters they care about, even if the plot is simple, they're writing from authentic creative investment. That produces better readers and writers than technically correct but emotionally flat work.
This is the creative heart of the month — writing, editing, and designing a cover are all one process, and the child's engagement with their own story makes every skill more meaningful.
Share the book draft with one trusted reader (family friend, grandparent); ask for one thing they loved about the story.
Oral Storytelling works anywhere. Use the rain as a story prompt: Once, it rained so hard that... and let the child finish the tale.
If your child is willing to revise their writing — even one word or one sentence — without distress, that editing instinct is a significant literacy milestone. Most adults find it hard too.
The Author's Chair is the culmination of five months of reading and writing — sitting in it and reading to a real audience turns the child's work into something really published.
Read the finished book to another person; ask 'What would you write about next?'
Author's Chair works beautifully indoors. Rainy days are perfect for a cozy publication event — a blanket, a chair, one listener.
If your child's finished book is messy, illustrated in ways that don't match the text, or shorter than planned, it is still a real book and a real achievement. Display it somewhere they can see it.
This month's hands-on activities, grouped by week. Open Instructions to run each one.
On Day 1, the child designs their character — a portrait, a name, what they love, and what worries them — on the left half of a large sheet of paper. The story grows from who the character is. On the right half, four rough panels capture the arc — how it begins, what goes wrong, the moment they find a way through, and how it ends. The Character & Story Design Sheet stays beside the Creation Table all week, feeding Our Character's Math daily problems, Puppet Rehearsal in Week 2, and My Own Book in Weeks 2 and 3.
Read one familiar picture book together and ask two questions — what does the main character want, and what is in their way? Then set the large sheet on the table folded in half. Left half is for the character; right half is for the story panels. The first session is character only — open the left half and begin by meeting who is going to be in the story.
Child draws their character on the left half — any size, any detail. Ask three questions — name, what they love, what they are afraid of — and note the answers beside the portrait. On the right half, draw four large boxes and sketch the story as the child tells it — how it starts, what goes wrong, what helps, and how it ends.
✓ A named character with one drawn detail is a complete Day 1 session. A Character & Story Design Sheet with a portrait, three character details, and four rough panels is ready to write from.
Left half — portrait, name, one love, one fear, and where they live — child draws and writes with support. Right half — child directs the four story panels (begin, problem, turning point, end) and draws a rough sketch in each. Tape the sheet beside the Creation Table for the rest of the week.
Left half — portrait, name, home, what they want, and what stands in their way. Right half — four panels drawn independently, with Panel 3 labeled the moment everything changes. At the bottom, the child writes one author's question — something they want to figure out through writing, such as "I want to know if she finds it."
Design a second character — the helper, the friend, or the obstacle — and add them to the left half of the sheet
The Character & Story Design Sheet stays beside the Creation Table through Week 2 — consult it before each My Own Book session
When reading any picture book, ask what the main character wants most and what is in their way — notice how the author answers both questions in the first three pages
Characters on screen want something specific — finding what it is makes any story make sense.
Real events have a character, a problem, and a turning point — the same structure as the four panels.
Give the character a name from your heritage language, or a name that travels between languages — a bilingual character carries the child's full linguistic identity into the story. Write the character's love and fear first in the heritage language, then add the English beside it.
Write and illustrate a 4-page original picture book. This is the month's culminating work. Every child, at every level, can complete this.
Use the story map as a guide. One page per story section: beginning, problem, events, ending.
Dictate the story for you to write. Draw one illustration per page. Add a title.
✓ A complete four-page book, however brief, is a published work. Length is not the measure of success.
Copy or write one sentence per page using phonetic spelling. Illustrate each page in detail.
Write 2–3 sentences per page independently. Add a dedication page, author bio, and back-cover blurb.
Make a wordless picture book — tell the entire story only through illustrations.
Make a second copy and gift it to someone — a grandparent, a friend, or a neighbor.
Share the finished book with a real audience and watch the child experience themselves as an author.
Studying real books helps the child understand craft, structure, and intentional choices.
A bedtime story told by the child — made up on the spot — builds narrative confidence.
Write or dictate one page of the book in your heritage language. A bilingual book made by your child is a powerful artefact — it tells them that both languages are real and worthy.
Study one picture book author across three days: read their books, notice their style, and learn one fact about them. It turns your regular library trips into something with a through-line the child will look forward to.
Choose an accessible author: Eric Carle, Mo Willems, Mem Fox, or similar.
Read two books by the author. Find one thing the same in both.
✓ Reading one book with genuine attention and noticing one memorable thing about it is complete author study.
Compare illustration styles, vocabulary, and themes across three books.
Write a 'review' of one book: title, author, favorite part, and recommendation.
Write a letter to the author sharing what you liked most about their work.
Make a display that groups the author's books by theme, character, or setting.
Look up whether the author has any videos or talks online — watching them brings the study to life.
Libraries make it easy to find all of one author's books gathered in one place.
Revisiting familiar authors builds reading confidence, pleasure, and critical thinking.
If the author has books available in your heritage language, read one in both — and notice whether the translation changes the rhythm or feeling of the story.
Each morning, one math problem stars the character the child designed on the story map — or the protagonist of the picture book they are currently reading. Counters chosen to fit the character's world (acorns for a forest creature, buttons for a robot, shells for a mermaid). A small notebook collects the week's problems as character scenes with number sentences beneath.
On Day 1, open the notebook together and write the character's name on the cover. Agree on what the character's counters will be ("Squirrel uses acorns. Robot uses buttons."). Each morning afterward, choose one short problem from the character's world.
Act out the problem with the character's counters — gather them, take some away, count the answer. Sketch the scene in the notebook.
✓ Acting out one character problem with the right counters and naming the total is a complete daily session.
Draw the problem in the notebook and write the number sentence beneath — 7 − 3 = 4 — naming the character in the caption.
The child invents a problem for the character and poses it to a family member to solve. The family member writes or dictates their answer into the notebook.
Use drawings instead of counters — sketch the character's scene and solve it on paper.
Record the character's problem as a number sentence in the notebook: "Squirrel: 3 + 2 = 5."
Turn a real family event into a problem the character also lives through: "We had five bananas and ate two — what if Squirrel had to share acorns the same way?"
Any picture book's protagonist can be today's character — the maths rides on the story already in your hands.
When the child is already playing as their story-map character, the counters are already out.
Tell the character's problem in your heritage language — counting and solving in two languages deepens both mathematical and narrative understanding, and the character's name often carries through unchanged.
The child sits in the Author's Chair to read their completed book to an audience. This is publication day.
Set up the chair before the session. Treat this as a real event: introduce the author, clap after.
Read the book aloud. Show illustrations to the audience.
✓ Reading the book aloud to one real listener and receiving applause is a complete publication event.
Read and take one question from the audience.
Give a brief 'author talk': what is your book about? What was hardest to write? What are you most proud of?
Record a video of the child reading their book — watch it back together and celebrate it.
Invite a family member or friend to be part of the next author's chair audience.
Start a family reading night where each person shares something they've written or read.
Sharing at the library, at a gathering, or with a new person builds the habit of voice.
Being a generous, attentive audience member is part of the author's chair skill set.
Introduce the sharing ritual in your heritage language. The phrase 'I wrote a story' in the family's language is a small but powerful marker of bilingual authorship.
Each child reads or tells their story from the Author's Chair. The audience gives one 'warm' response — something they liked.
The child gathers a small collection of objects — a feather, a button, a tiny toy animal, a shell, a piece of ribbon — and arranges them in a basket or on a tray as an open-ended storytelling invitation. Every choice is deliberate: what goes in, how it is arranged, and what story it might start. The Story Basket lives in the learning space all week as a creative provocation.
Walk around the home with the child and say: we are going on a treasure hunt for objects that could begin a story. Each thing you choose should make you wonder — what could happen with this?
Collect objects together and arrange them in the basket. Hold each one and ask: if this were a character in a story, who would it be? Let the child begin a story out loud using two objects.
✓ A basket assembled with five objects and one sentence of story aloud — the invitation is complete. On a tired day, gather three objects together from the nearest room and ask what story they might start.
The child arranges the basket independently and tells a short story using three of the objects. You listen without directing — just reflect back what you heard.
The child creates the basket, writes or dictates a story opening using three objects, and presents the basket to a family member as an invitation: use these to tell your own story.
Name each object in the basket in your heritage language as you gather it — and invite your child to use the heritage-language name when telling the story.
After reading a picture book about a familiar creature — butterfly, frog, or bean plant — the child maps its life as a story using the same story map structure from the Story Map experience. The creature is the character; the transformation is the problem; emerging in a new form is the resolution. Every family's map looks different because every child draws their creature differently and chooses which moment feels like the turning point.
Read the picture book together first. Then draw four large panels on a blank sheet of paper together. Ask the child which part of the creature's life they think is its hardest moment. Their answer becomes Panel 2 — and the investigation begins.
Together, fill in the four panels for the creature — who the character is at stage one (egg, tadpole, seed), where it lives (setting), what it must go through (the hardest change), and what it becomes (resolution). Draw one simple image per panel. Read the panels back aloud together — once there was a tiny egg...
✓ A story map with three sections filled in — who the creature is, what it goes through, and what it becomes — is a complete session. Drawing is the core task; writing is extension.
The child fills in the four panels independently, using the picture book as a reference. They draw each panel and narrate it aloud using story language — first, then, and in the end. You listen as the audience.
Using the completed story map, the child dictates or writes a short life cycle story in narrative form — beginning, transformation, resolution. The finished story can be added as a page to their My Own Book or kept as a standalone field record.
Share a traditional story from your heritage culture about the same creature — many cultures have folktales about butterflies, frogs, or seeds that transform.
By Week 3, the child has a story draft in progress and ideas to spare. This is the activity for those ideas that don't fit the book — a hand-drawn beginning, middle, and end pathway on a large sheet, then a story told aloud from it. Short, low-prep, and repeatable any time they have a story brewing.
Fold paper into thirds to suggest beginning, middle, end. Have props in a basket nearby. Model drawing a simple 3-scene map of a familiar story first.
Show your model story map and tell its story using the three sections. Then open a blank sheet: 'Now it's your turn. Tell me about your character — who is in your story?' Draw a simple character together in the first box.
✓ If the child has drawn and narrated even one story scene, the core goal is met.
Guide the child through all three sections: 'What happens at the start? Then what goes wrong or gets interesting? How does it end?' Child draws and narrates as they go. Reflect back their language: 'So first… then… and finally…'
The child tells their complete story from the map while you record it as dictation. Read it back together. Invite them to share it with a family member or perform it with props.
Tell the story in your heritage language first, then retell it in English — or mix them freely. Code-switching in storytelling is a natural bilingual strategy, not a mistake.
The child flips back through their own finished story book and finds the mathematics that was hidden inside it all along — counting characters, tracking appearances, and creating a simple maths problem from their own narrative. This is the story becoming a mathematical object, not a new activity added on top.
Open the book to the first page. Ask "Who is in your story?" Name the characters together and write or draw a tally mark for each one on the recording strip.
Flip through every page together and count how many characters appear in the story altogether. Count aloud and touch each character in the illustrations. How many in total?
✓ Counting all named characters in the story and saying how many there are altogether is a complete session.
Ask "which character appears on the most pages?" Flip through and tally each character's appearances page by page. Count each tally and compare. Write or say the number sentence: "[Character] appears [N] times."
The child creates one maths problem from their story — something that could really happen in it. "If [character] met 3 more friends, how many friends would there be altogether?" Write the number sentence (e.g. 2 + 3 = 5) and draw the solution in a panel on the back cover.
Name each character in your heritage language as you count — counting in two languages using the child's own story characters makes the number sequence vivid and personal.
Children swap books and count the characters in each other's stories. Compare whose story has more characters and write the number sentences side by side.
Snack time already happens every day — this experience turns it into fifteen minutes of real independence. Your child prepares from start to finish — wash hands, gather, spread or assemble, serve. Careful hand movement and real-world sequencing in a routine that belongs to them.
Set out ingredients in small bowls on a low table. Place the spreading knife on the plate. Everything at child height. Wash hands together first.
Talk through each step before doing it: 'First we wash our hands, then we choose our base, then we spread.' Do the first step together — model spreading slowly and deliberately. Invite the child to take over.
✓ Once the child has spread and assembled their snack, the experience is complete.
Child completes all steps with minimal prompting. Encourage slow, deliberate spreading from edge to edge. Name the steps aloud together: 'What comes next?'
Child prepares two portions — one for themselves, one for you or a sibling. Child decides on the presentation and serves it on a plate with a napkin.
Name each step in your heritage language as your child prepares the snack — turning a routine into living vocabulary.
Your child takes responsibility for a plant, classroom fish, or small animal — watering, feeding, observing. Nurturing habits, attentiveness, and the foundation of environmental stewardship.
Create a simple care chart together with drawn symbols: a water droplet (water today?), an eye (observe the plant/animal), a sun (near light?). Post it near the living thing.
Do the care routine together the first time, narrating each step: 'We check the soil — is it dry? Yes, so we give it a small drink.' Follow the care chart step by step. Let the child hold and pour the watering can.
✓ If the child completes the watering and check steps, the experience is complete.
Child follows the chart independently. You observe and reflect: 'You remembered to check the soil before watering — that's what a careful gardener does.' Discuss what the plant or animal needs to stay healthy.
Child takes full ownership of the routine daily for one week, marking the chart themselves. At week's end, discuss: 'Did the plant grow or change? What did our care do?'
Name each step in your heritage language as your child cares for the plant — turning a routine into living vocabulary.
Children gather their month's drawings, activities, and creations, choose their favorites, and organize them into a simple learning portfolio — building self-reflection, organizational skills, and pride in their own learning journey.
Spread all the month's work on a low table. Have the folder ready. Model picking up one piece and thinking aloud: 'I remember making this — it's my favorite because…'
Look through the work together, naming each piece: 'This is your Creature Story Map. This is your book cover. This is your finished book.' Ask the child to point to the one they like most. Place that one in the folder together.
✓ If the child has chosen at least one piece and placed it in the folder, the experience is complete.
Child selects 3–5 pieces to keep in the portfolio. For each, ask: 'Why did you choose this one?' Scribe their words as a caption on a sticky note. Child places each piece in the folder themselves.
Child writes or dictates a one-sentence reflection on their favorite piece: 'My favorite is… because…' Child can share the portfolio with a family member and explain their choices.
Invite your child to describe their favorite piece in your heritage language — sharing creative work in the family's language makes the pride bilingual.
After reading a favorite picture book, the child retells the story by creating a visual board. They draw or cut out key characters and scenes on separate cards, then pin or tape them onto a board in sequence. Unlike a story map (the Story Map experience), this focuses on retelling an existing story from memory — the child must recall events, decide what matters most, and present them in order. It turns a book you have already read many times into a fresh twenty-minute project that the child runs.
Read the book together first. Then close the book and say: can you remember the whole story? Let's see. We are going to draw the important parts on cards and put them in order on this board.
Together, identify 4–5 key scenes from the story. The child draws one scene per card (stick figures are fine). Arrange the cards left to right on the board and retell the story by pointing to each card.
✓ Placing three scenes in the correct order and telling what happens in each is the complete skill.
The child draws all the cards independently, decides the order, and retells the full story to you using the board as a guide. Add speech bubbles to one or two characters.
The child creates a retelling board for a story they choose, presents it to an audience, and answers questions about why they included certain scenes and left others out.
Retell the story in your heritage language using the same board — the visual structure holds the narrative while the child tells it in a different tongue.
Every real book has a cover that tells you what is inside. The child designs a front cover for the book they will write this month: a title, the author's name (their name!), and an illustration that hints at the story. This builds early understanding of how books work as objects and gives the child ownership of the publishing process from the very start.
Look at the covers of 2–3 picture books together. Point out: the title, the author's name, the illustration. Ask: what does the cover tell you about the story? Then say: you are going to be the author this month. Let's design your book's cover first.
Together, choose a title for the child's book (this can change later). The child draws a picture for the cover and writes their name as the author. You write the title if needed.
✓ A cover with a picture and the child's name as author is a complete, meaningful achievement.
The child writes the title and their name independently. They choose colors and an illustration that give a clue about the story. Add "by [child's name]" on the cover.
The child designs front and back covers, adds a short blurb on the back describing what the book is about, and creates a dedication page inside.
Add the title in your heritage language beneath the English one — a bilingual title on their own book is a quiet act of cultural pride.
The child makes one simple puppet for their book's main character — the same character from their Story Map — and uses it to tell their story aloud before writing a word. Performing the story first reveals what flows and what is missing. The puppet stays in the Author's Corner as a writing companion all month; some children will narrate to it between sessions without being asked.
Open the Story Map. Point to the character section and ask: who is this character? Now we are going to make them so you can tell the story before you write it. Make one puppet together. Give it a name.
Make the puppet together. Once it is ready, hold up the Story Map and invite the child to tell their story with the puppet — from the beginning to the end. You are the audience. Clap at the end. Ask: was there any moment where the puppet didn't know what to say? That is the place to look at the Story Map more carefully.
✓ A puppet that has spoken one sentence of the story in character is a complete rehearsal. The puppet stays in the Author's Corner ready for the next session.
The child tells the full story with the puppet independently while you listen. After the performance, ask one question as a curious audience member — something the story left you wondering. Help the child decide whether to answer it in the story or leave it as a mystery.
The child creates a second puppet for the problem character or helper in their story and rehearses the key scene where the two characters meet. If something feels unclear in performance, mark that section of the Story Map to revise before writing begins.
Let the puppet speak in your heritage language for one scene — a character who switches languages gives the child permission to do the same in their writing.
Children fold, collate, and staple sheets of paper to create a blank book of their own — the physical vessel for their original story. Making the book before writing in it gives the authorship experience weight and permanence. A child who holds a book they made is already a different kind of writer.
Fold each sheet in half and nest them inside each other — this is the signature. Show the child: the fold is the spine. Demonstrate where the staples go: two, evenly spaced, along the fold. Adult hand-over-hand with scissors for any edge-trimming; adult handles the stapler until the child is confident with the pressure needed.
Fold each sheet together, one at a time. Stack and nest them into a booklet. Staple together along the fold. Trim the edges if uneven. Write the title on the cover together.
✓ A folded, stapled booklet with a title written on the cover is a real book. It is ready.
The child folds and collates independently, checking that pages line up before stapling. They design the cover — title, author name, and an illustration — independently.
The child creates a more refined binding — a card cover, decorated spine, and a dedication page inside the front cover. Treats the finished object with care, as a real book.
Write the child's name in both languages on the cover of the book — their name as author, in every language that belongs to them.
Design an original story character: give them a name, an appearance, a personality, a want, and a fear. Draw the character from multiple angles. Then invent one problem they face and how they might solve it. Once the character exists on paper, most children will carry on inventing their story through the rest of the day without any prompting.
Show the character profile sheet. Fill in a silly example together: a snail named Gerald who wants to win a running race but is afraid of salt. Laugh together. Now it is their turn.
Fill in the profile together with the child's ideas. You draw the character as they describe it. Ask: what does their voice sound like? What do they eat for breakfast?
✓ A character with a name and one detail (what they look like or what they want) is a real creative achievement.
The child fills in their own profile independently and draws the character themselves. You listen to any narration and ask: what would your character do if they found a mysterious door?
The child creates a full character profile independently, draws the character in two different poses, and dictates or writes a short story featuring this character facing their fear.
Name the character in your heritage language or give them a name that works in both — and ask what the character might say or want in that language.
Children set up and maintain a dedicated writing and illustrating space — sharpening pencils, organising art materials, arranging paper, and making the space beautiful and ready. A good author knows that the right environment is part of the work. This experience makes care of the creative workspace a deliberate, satisfying act.
Clear the workspace completely first — everything off. Then rebuild it together: what does a good writing space need? Let the child decide the arrangement. Your role is to ask questions, not to set it up for them.
Sharpen three pencils together. Sort art materials into their containers. Arrange the space so everything has a clear place. Choose one special object to keep in the corner.
✓ Sharpening one pencil and placing it ready for writing is a complete act of preparation.
The child organizes the full workspace independently — sorting, sharpening, arranging. They decide what belongs here and what doesn't. The space should feel ready for a real author.
The child creates a simple label or sign for their author's corner and writes a short list of what belongs there. They take responsibility for resetting it at the end of each session independently.
Include one book in your heritage language in the author's corner — its presence makes clear that stories in all languages have a place in this space.
After a familiar book is read, the child retells the whole story from memory in their own words to a real or toy audience. No book. No prompts unless they are stuck. This builds oral narrative skill, memory, and confidence in sustained speech.
Close the book. Tell the child: now you are the storyteller. The audience does not know the story. You have to tell the whole thing so they understand. Ready?
The child tells the story with the story map available as reference. You are the audience: listen, nod, react. Offer: what happened after that? only if they get truly stuck.
✓ Retelling the beginning and the ending in sequence, in the child's own words, is a complete oral narrative achievement.
The child tells the story from memory without the map. You listen as the audience. After the story, give genuine feedback: I did not know the part about the fox. Tell me more.
The child tells the story to a new audience (a visiting adult, a sibling who has not heard it) without any support from you. They manage the beginning, all key events, and the ending.
After retelling in English, try the opening and closing in your heritage language — even two sentences frames the story as belonging to both worlds.
Help the child organize a personal space they own: their art supply area, their bookshelf, their bedside table, or their toy box. They decide the system (books by color, art supplies by type), implement it, and maintain it. This builds agency over personal environment and decision-making.
Ask: what would make this space easier for you to use? Let the child identify the problem before proposing solutions. Your role is to support their system, not impose one.
Organize together using the child's ideas. You ask: where would this go in your system? They decide. You implement. Label together if helpful.
✓ A child who decides where one category of things will live and places them there has exercised real organizational thinking.
The child reorganizes their space independently. You observe and ask at the end: how will you find what you need? Walk me through your system.
The child maintains their organized space over the following two weeks, noticing when it becomes disorganized and restoring the system without prompting.
Name each step in your heritage language as your child organizes — turning a routine into living vocabulary.
Short, low-prep activities that reinforce what your child is learning this month. Slot them in between core experiences or use them on lighter days.
Explore Letter Y through tracing, songs, and spotting the letter in familiar words and objects.
Use a simple story to set up addition and subtraction problems — for example, 'there were 8 animals, then 3 walked away'. Solve using objects or drawings.
Work on Story Elements Sort to practice putting ideas into words and building narrative structure.
Share Read Like a Writer together, building vocabulary, comprehension, and a love of stories.
Explore Letter Z through tracing, songs, and spotting the letter in familiar words and objects.
Write addition and subtraction number sentences (equations) for problems up to 20, using numbers and symbols to record thinking.
Share Read Draft Aloud together, building vocabulary, comprehension, and a love of stories.
Practice addition and subtraction within 20 using objects, fingers, a number line, or drawings — building fluency and confidence with both operations.
Revisit letters Y and Z, with a quick catch-up round for W and X from the previous arc month. Use matching games and quick-fire review to reinforce the full W–Z range before the Final Alphabet Review.
Work on Edit Together to practice putting ideas into words and building narrative structure.
Consolidate key skills through Add Detail, reinforcing learning from earlier in the month.
Design the cover for the class book, combining literacy and creative thinking.
Revisit the letters covered so far with Full Alphabet Review, using matching games and quick-fire review.
Celebrate the year's writing by sharing Library Display — a proud moment connecting print to audience.
Every child can make a book. The form adapts to every level.
For full developmental benchmarks by age, see the Child Development & Learning Guide.
Skill arc focus this month:
Skill arc focus this month:
Stories and Imagination's primary materials are paper, staples, and imagination.
Items specific to this month — tick each as you gather it.
Specific to your skill position this month — gather these for the letter and maths work.
Reusable items used across multiple months — most families already have these. See the Year-Round Basics list.
Picture books chosen to enrich this month's theme — read one a week, or return to favourites as often as you like.
Begin each morning with a story problem: 'There were 6 rabbits. 2 hopped away. How many are left?' Math and literacy together.
Add published books by authors the child has studied. Add the child's own finished books here too — they belong.
Set up a dedicated writing and illustration space with blank books, pencils, erasers, and art supplies.
Create an 'author study' display: one author, several books, and a fact or photo about them.
Skill arc adjustments for your position:
What story, character, or imaginary world is your child living in right now? Stories and Imagination's entire theme is imagination — whatever they're obsessed with IS the curriculum.
Match the session length to your day — everything else stays the same.
These are not learning activities — and that is the point.
This tracker is for your own quiet observation — not a report card. Mark what you notice. Three levels are available for each milestone: Exploring (just starting to engage), Growing (doing it with some support), and Flying (doing it confidently and independently). There is no wrong answer. Every child moves at their own pace.
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