As well as our well known and highly viewed website for kids www.kidcyber.com.au, we have since 2019 also been publishing e-book resources for teachers, available for just a few dollars. We invite you to browse the list below.
The writers and publishers of kidcyber are Shirley Sydenham, a primary/elementary school teacher, and Ron Thomas, a primary teacher-librarian. We are authors (together, individually and with others) of numerous books for teachers and kids, published in Australia and overseas.
We provide:
More than 400 pages of easy to understand text for students K - 6 research and inquiry learning
Information organised under eight topic headings
An easy to navigate format
illustrated with photos and enhanced with video clips
'Ask a kidcyber Researcher' feature where students can request specific information about a topic by emailing us@kidcyber.com.au
Advice to parents about helping with school homework assignments and projects
Our pages
kidcyber pages are written with middle and upper primary school students in mind, although some are written specifically for younger students, for example those about pets, farm, celebrations, and community.
Most pages begin with few simple facts in large print for younger students, before the body of text which is written for older grades.
Additional, carefully chosen links are provided for additional information where appropriate
A suggested citation for a bibliography appears on each page to assist students in this task. Students should be encouraged to acknowledge the sources of information they use for their learning.
Our e-book resources for teachers
Available ebook formats for just a few dollars: epub mobi pdf lrf pdb txt html
Poet – Pourri: Writing Poetry in the Elementary - Middle School Classroom
By Ron Thomas & Shirley Sydenham
A practical guide to introducing and developing poetry writing. The book is intended to assist teachers/educators to teach and assist children to write in a poetic form. There are over twenty models of helpful poetic structures to share with students as they begin their poetic writing, including haiku, acrostics, senyru, limericks and others. Activities are included to guide and support students as they follow a pattern to create their own poem in each style. Literary devices such as alliteration, simile and metaphor, rhyming and onomatopoeia, and idiom are also covered.
Written by experienced teachers and writers who have trialled these methods with great success.
Download a free sample
Buy now!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/904337
https://books.apple.com/au/book/poet-pourri-writing-poetry-in-elementary-middle-school/id1442100844
Fonix is Phun! Some Seriously Good Ideas for Introducing Single Sounds Using 100s of Everyday Fun Classroom Activities
Phonics needn’t be a drag, but they are a solid foundation. Fonix is Phun provides practical assistance to teachers and home schoolers alike as they introduce initial single sounds to early learners. For novice teachers, it provides a tried and tested format that gives a simple basic structure. For experienced teachers it offers activities to refresh and complement what you already do. And the results of most activities will decorate the classroom as well. The games and songs will increase the class’s repertoire and revise the learning throughout the year.
Repetition is of course important for early learners as they learn what a single sound is called, what it says and looks like, but the fun stuff is what really helps them remember.
Class and group activities such as making and eating j for jelly, making paper f for frogs and racing them, making a dancing dragon for d and many more. Some games and activities further develop fine and gross motor skills, visual and auditory discrimination – essential to learning sounds, reading and writing.
Download a free Sample
Buy now!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/907661
https://books.apple.com/au/book/fonix-is-phun-some-seriously-good-ideas-for-introducing/id1445511611
Spooky Stories For Halloween - Book 1
Ghosts, goblins and screaming skulls are just some of the scary characters to be encountered in this collection of spooky stories. Ideal for reading at Halloween or at any time if a fright is what you are after.
You will get goosebumps as flesh eating goblins chase an old man through a dark and gloomy forest. Your spine will tingle as two brave kids do battle with an evil witch as she tries to return to their attic. On a camping trip a group of girls is told a story about an innocent woman hanged for witchcraft. Is it now the zombie that stalks the forest, terrifying the girls?
The stories open doors to vampires, a headless woman and many other scary, haunting and mysterious happenings. Prepare to scare yourself silly with these bone chilling, creepy tales. These stories by experienced storytellers Shirley Sydenham and Ron Thomas, ideal for reading or telling aloud and will delight children from ages 8.
Download a free Sample
Buy now!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/931763
https://books.apple.com/au/book/spooky-stories-for-halloween-book-1/id1458525872
Spooky Stories For Halloween - Book 2
The second collection of Spooky Stories For Halloween by Sydenham and Thomas.
The goosebumps continue!
Meet flesh eating goblins in a dark and gloomy forest.
Gasp as two brave kids do battle with a witch trying to return to their attic.
A selection of bone chilling, creepy tales feature vampires, a headless ghost, a zombie stalking a forest and other scary and mysterious happenings
Download a free Sample
Buy now!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/931764
https://books.apple.com/au/book/spooky-stories-for-halloween-book-2/id1458527297
All Kinds of Bears
An Integrated Unit for Elementary School
There are eight kinds of bears: nine if you count teddy bears! All Kinds of Bears: An Integrated Curriculum Unit for Elementary School is a practical guide to inquiry or project-based learning about bears, all kinds of bears. The book will be useful to teachers who want to try inquiry based learning in their classrooms, extending the work on bears into all curriculum areas.
The book offers a basic guide to the inquiry learning process for those teachers who haven’t tried it before, or as a framework to aid students who have not used it. Or even giving a new slant or perspective to teachers who have used it in the past.
In addition, there are many ideas given for complementary activities about bears in all curriculum areas, including math, creative writing, science and technology, drama, music and art as well as health and physical education. There’s an introduction to simple debating, there are games and songs, a drama lesson plan for older students and a simple one for young ones. There’s even a fun unit for the early years where students bring their teddy bears to school, during which time much of their work is centred round the teddy bears in the room. Work ideas for classroom use are included.
A chapter on evaluation completes the unit, giving sample rubrics for assessment and an outline of higher thinking skills to observe, facilitated by the inquiry learning process. A sample for student self-evaluation is also there.
Download a free Sample
Buy now!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/910241
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