ISBN 978-1-40832-585-8 With Caryl Hart's funny story and Leonie Lord’s fabulous art, schooldays have never been such fun! I work with my publishers and learning specialists to create a wealth of FREE activities to accompany my books.

Suitable for use at home and in schools, pre-schools, libraries and other learning environments, these activities are designed to help children develop a wide range of CREATIVE skills, gain INSPIRATION and increase SELF-ESTEEM, ASPIRATIONS and SELF-CONFIDENCE. Our new English lesson plan is based on Whiffy Wilson: The Wolf Who Wouldn't go to Bed by Caryl Hart. You can buy the book for your class here. After they have written their sentences, Y1 pupils should be encouraged to read their sentences out loud to their teachers and their peers.

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Wilson’s friend Dotty is a strong female character who gently takes charge and shows Wilson what to do when they get to school. One of our favourite pictures shows Wilson with his arm around her at story time, it beautifully evokes the strength of their friendship and his appreciation of her support. Although Wilson’s father and teacher are mentioned in the text no adults are shown in the illustrations, the story is about Wilson, Dotty and their classmates. It would be interesting to focus on some verbs that can also be nouns – for example ‘play’. Teachers could ask pupils to use ‘play’ in a sentence as a verb and then as a noun. This could be repeated with other verbs/nouns: thought; walk; love; kiss; sleep; laugh; grin and dream.

This high quality text can also be used as a vehicle to teach the year 2 grammar appendix – nouns, adjectives and verbs.The Story: Wilson wouldn’t learn his numbers or how to write his name, he’s never used a pen or read a book. His father says that he must go to school but Wilson thinks that school is boring. Wilson’s friend, Dotty, takes him to school with her and they have a busy day. Wilson has a great time and the teacher gives him a gold star. Next morning when Wilson gets up early and calls for Dotty he is very disappointed when she tells him that it is Saturday and there is no school! The transition from home to school can be an anxious one. Stepping into the unknown and being worried about getting answers wrong or not knowing how to do something. Whiffy Wilson isn’t sure about starting school but maybe he needs to be brave and see what it’s all about. Teachers could display this opening paragraph and ask pupils to identify the verbs on flipchart paper. As the teacher continues to read this book, pupils could add verbs to their flipchart. Depending on the ability of the pupils, teachers could allocate some pupils to collect verbs and others to collect nouns.