The Wonder Garden

The Wonder Garden by Jenny Broom, illustrated by Kristjana S. Williams

What can I say about this book? I first became aware of it through The Literacy Shed blog and knew I had to have it. I was enchanted from the first page to the last.

The Wonder Garden is an exploration of 5 of the world’s most intriguing habitats: the Amazon Rainforest; the Chihuahuan Desert; the Great Barrier Reef; the Black Forest and the Himalayan Mountains.

It can be a little tricky to get these days, but it is still out there and well worth the hunt. Try here.

In the classroom

I have used this book in the classroom over and over again.

A focus on vocabulary: Children looked up words such as canopy, dappled, abundant in order to create their own dictionaries, complete with definitions, synonyms and examples of how to use their new words in a sentence. See my word web in resources for further ideas.

A focus on writing: Children created their own non-chronological reports about the town in which they live, using the book as a model. The children produced some wonderful pieces of work that were particularly descriptive and vocabulary rich.

You could even get them to imagine a newly discovered island, brimming with new types of plants and wildlife. Children's work could come together to create their own Wonder Garden about the fantastical flora and fauna of their imaginary lands.

A focus on Geography: In the geography curriculum, children make comparisons between localities. My class chose a location in The Wonder Garden as a starting point for independent research and compared their chosen location with the place in which they live.

A focus on art: Children created artwork inspired by the book, starting with colourful sketchbook pages full of animal studies, and culminating in a class mural of the Amazon Rainforest.

I am certain that this book will inspire many more lessons to come. Have you any Wonder Garden inspired ideas?