It's a magical place, in the book place, where anything can happen.
In the book place, in the book place, in the book place.
In the book place, in the book place.
Wow, well I know that some of my friends have started school and this is what they did.
See if you can find your bag ready to go to school.
Right, Josh, got your bag? Everybody ready? Let's go.
This way.
My name is Leanne and I'm going to start school soon.
My kindy director Julie is taking us to visit my school.
My friends Stefan and Josh are starting school with me.
The school is much bigger than kindy.
We meet Mrs Knight, the school principal, and other children from a different kindy.
Hello Josh, welcome.
The other children are drawing pictures of an apple tree.
We meet the lady who's going to be our teacher, her name is Jan.
This is the canteen where you can buy food. It has some yummy things.
There are lots of big kids in the schoolyard playing basketball.
We went to the library and saw the computers.
There was a dinosaur game.
I found the book the same as we have at kindy.
Then Mrs Knight showed us the toilets.
I like the water fountain.
The school is really different from kindy.
I can't wait to start school.
It was great to meet my teacher and some new friends.
Some people don't want to go to school and some people can't wait to get there.
That's right, that's right. And this is a story about someone who doesn't want to go.
It's called Nicky and it's a story by Tony Ross based on an idea by Zoe Ross.
Do you want to read it together?
Do I start?
I'm not going to school.
It will be nice.
No it won't. I won't know anybody.
You'll soon make friends.
School dinners will make me sick.
No they won't. School dinners are lovely.
Marcia says the teachers will bite me.
No they won't. They'll tell you exciting things.
I'm not going to go in. I'll be the littlest.
Everybody is little. They'll love you.
Well what was it like?
Wonderful. Dinner was great. I wasn't the littlest.
And I made a new friend called Nicky.
That's nice.
Nicky has lovely hair.
Sweet.
Sometimes Nicky is a bit naughty.
But has a lovely smiling face.
Nicky wears loads of pink.
Peachy.
And is very strong.
Wow.
Can Nicky come to tea and stay for sleepover?
Of course. And you can go to school together tomorrow.
Tomorrow? You mean we have to go again tomorrow?
Of course they have to go again.
Silly Billy's.
At least they'll have a best friend.
My favourite friend is Matthew and Zach.
They're my friend because they play football a lot with me.
My friend is Chris and Kane and they play cars.
And they just play pretend they're driving very fast.
And we make them do skids.
My favourite friend is Natalie.
Because she always plays with me.
My favourite friend at school is Nicky and Laura.
Because they always play with me every day.
My favourite friend is Kane and I like him because he always plays with me.
My favourite friend is Naomi.
Because sometimes I play with her and sometimes I go over to her house.
My favourite friend is Zach and Kane.
My favourite friend is Christa and he plays with me sometimes.
My favourite friend is Sean and Ned because they are good friends to me.
They always catch the ball with me and play football with me.
My favourite friend is Nick because he always plays football with me and he's always on my team.
My favourite friend is Simon and Jason because they always play with me.
And Jason is next to me and we always play football.
My favourite friend is Matthew because he's my partner.
I have lots of friends. Lots and lots and lots.
You certainly do. Good morning.
Hello Andy, Nola. Hello friends.
Can you remember your first day at school?
My first day at school?
Actually I can, Bookworm. We sang a song called Little Cabin in the Wood.
Oh I know that one. I know that one.
Should we do it together? Good idea.
Okay, pretty old song for me. This one.
Little cabin in the wood, little man by the window stood.
Little rabbit hopping by, knocking at the door.
Help me, help me, help, cried he, before the hunter he sees me.
Little learner, little man cried, and warm up by the fire.
It was a long time ago.
Do you want to try it to remember?
I know that one. I reckon we should do it with the actions.
Do you know if there were actions?
I learnt them when I was about this high.
We'll do it with the actions Bookworm and will you sing along?
I'll sing along.
Because you sing the other song very, very well.
Little cabin in the wood, little man by the window stood.
Little rabbit hopping by, knocking at the door.
Help me, help me, help, cried he, before the hunter he sees me.
Come on in, the little man cried, and warm up by the fire.
Help me, help me, help, cried he.
I remember that song. We used to sing that at school too.
We had another favourite song at school when I was little.
That had a bunny in it too. It was little bunny foo foo hopping through the forest.
Do you remember that one?
Well, my teacher when I was little, Miss Goodhart,
she used to read us a story every morning.
And back then I used to love listening to stories.
Right now I like reading stories and telling stories.
And I'm going to read you a story right now.
It's this one. It's called Bertie in the Bag.
And it's been written by Paddy Boomer.
Thomas' family had moved house.
And it was the morning of his first day at his new school.
Mum had bought him a large new bag for games.
And in it he had his swimming things.
Thomas opened it for the last time to make sure that everything was there.
Come on Thomas, called Mum.
Here's Kate Hogan to walk you to school.
Thomas' tummy felt strange.
The bag was still open and he quickly popped in Bertie, his toy hippo,
and told him to be very quiet.
Then he went downstairs.
Kate Hogan was a neighbour.
And Thomas had only seen her once before.
She walked so fast that he could hardly keep up with her.
Then she met a friend and they talked to each other
and took no notice of Thomas.
This is your classroom, said Kate.
You can put your things down here. Hurry up.
There were so many children pushing, bumping and scuffling.
They all seemed to know each other.
Thomas didn't know anyone.
The teacher, Miss Bennet, put Thomas at the table closest to the pegs.
Thomas was pleased.
Now he could keep an eye on Bertie, who had been quiet enough until now.
Then with Bertie, you never knew.
And sure enough, Bertie was already tired of being cooped up in the bag
and was busy crawling out.
Bertie climbed up onto the lockers and sniffed the clothes hanging from the pegs.
Thomas was getting rather uneasy.
He tried moving his chair a bit so as to hide Bertie from view.
Kate Hogan was monitor that week and was on her way to feed the gerbils.
Thomas held his breath and hoped she would not see Bertie.
Luckily, Bertie was behind someone's raincoat.
Miss Bennet gave everyone a worksheet to do.
Thomas heard a rustle behind him.
Bertie had unearthed his sandwiches and was busy unwrapping them.
He dropped the packet with a thump.
Miss Bennet, said Miranda, someone's sandwiches have fallen out.
Thomas got up quickly and put them back.
All was quiet for a while.
Thomas got on with his worksheet.
Bertie was finding things very dull.
He rummaged in Thomas' bag and came out wearing swimming trunks, goggles and a towel.
He rolled over and imagined himself doing backstroke in the gala.
Thomas leaned back to give Bertie a quick poke with his ruler.
The chair toppled over and he landed on the floor.
My goodness, Thomas, said Miss Bennet, how did that happen?
The other children laughed.
Thomas blushed and felt rather silly.
He was relieved though that no one had caught sight of Bertie yet.
Time for a story, said Miss Bennet and led the way to the book corner.
Thomas sat right at the back so that if he looked through under the nature table he could see Bertie.
Bertie was relaxing and enjoying the story.
It was about a fire engine.
Just outside the door Thomas could see the fire hose.
He hoped Bertie wouldn't notice.
But it was already too late.
Bertie was moving bags and cases and climbing up to reach the alarm.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang.
He dived back into the bag.
Along came the headmistress.
Along came Uncle Bob the caretaker.
How strange, they said.
Who could have rung the alarm?
And who could have left all these things lying about, said Miss Bennet.
Thomas said that he would pick them up.
Thank you, Thomas, said Miss Bennet.
You are a helpful boy.
Tim helped Thomas pick up all the things.
That's a big bag, he said.
What else do you have in it?
Just something I needed for today, said Thomas.
I shan't be bringing it again tomorrow.
Then Thomas and Tim went back to the book corner to listen to the end of Miss Bennet's story about the fire engine.
And as for Bertie, he yawned, curled up,
and settled himself down comfortably for a good nap until it was time to go home.
Well, Bertie certainly was a favourite toy.
The Beach is the place for Teddy and me.
The sand and the waves, it's such fun to see.
Teddy and me, we have fun together.
Jumping on the beach, we have fun together.
The sand and the waves, it's such fun to see.
Teddy and me, we have fun together.
Jumping onto the sand and splashing around.
He's always a friend when I need one.
He's always there.
And this little Ted hates staying at home.
He gets very sad when I leave him alone.
But show him a park and he loves to play there.
Swinging on swings or sliding down the slippery dip.
He's always a friend when I need one.
A friend who's always there.
And my little Ted loves helping me out.
With shopping and things always out and about.
A thousand and one things to do while we're shopping.
But Teddy and me don't mind how tough it gets.
He's always a friend when I need one.
A friend who's always there.
That's my Teddy.
A friend who's always there.
He's never far away.
A friend who's always there.
This is Edward and this story is about his first day at school.
In fact it's called Edward's First Day at School
and it's been written by Rosemary Wells.
I wonder what sort of exciting things might happen.
Monday was the first day of play school.
Are you ready Edward?
Asked Edward's dad.
But Edward was not ready so his dad helped him to get dressed.
Edward's mum fed him his porridge.
Together they put him in the car.
But Edward got out again to get Bunny.
I'll hide he thought and they'll never find me.
But they did.
Back went Edward into the car.
His seat belt was securely fastened.
Now we are ready at last said Edward's mum.
At school Edward's teacher was all smiles.
Everyone was happy and busy.
But Edward didn't want to be happy and busy.
Edward wanted to go home.
On Tuesday Edward didn't want to paint.
On Wednesday he didn't want to slide.
On Thursday he went into the wrong washroom.
Oh no!
Said the girls.
On Friday Edward's teacher said.
Not everyone is ready for the same things at the same time.
Well we'll just take him home until he is ready.
Said Edward's mum and dad.
Be ready soon!
Shouted everybody.
I'm ready right now.
Said Edward.
What are you ready for?
Asked Edward's dad.
I'm ready for my sandwich.
Said Edward.
And Bunny is ready for his bug soup.
Well it looks like play school takes a bit of getting used to for some bears.
And children too.
I wonder what these children thought about their first day at kindergarten.
I love how I have to take that thing off.
That's what I mean.
Well they're not good dresses to take to the birthday party are they?
No no.
Not that thing.
What do we do?
Thank you.
We're getting here.
But soon I will.
Pshh.
And this is our baby.
I'm getting some juice ready for us.
Now where's the butter?
Can you get the butter for me?
Melissa I'm sending this to the butter okay?
There you go Nicola.
Baby toy.
Who's that on the bench?
The baby.
It's night time now.
What do I do?
There, it's night time.
I'm going to put it with the baby.
That's a hat for a baby.
School isn't always about being inside in a classroom doing things.
Sometimes you can go on school camps, be outside.
And here's a book that's about that.
It's called Wish You Were Here and it's been written by Martina Selway.
Wish You Were Here.
Rosie is going on the school camp holiday.
Mum says she'll love it.
Grandad says she'll love it.
Aunty Mabel says she'll love it.
But Rosie would rather stay at home.
She wrote, Dear Mum, the mini bus was very bumpy and I felt sick.
The driver stopped the bus but when I got out I felt better so we started off again.
Then Sarah felt sick.
Miss West said, Let's all sing a song.
Sarah's face went funny and white then she was sick.
It went all over my new trainers.
I don't want to go to camp.
Love from Rosie.
Then she wrote, Dear Grandad, when we got to the camp it was raining and everywhere was muddy.
Danny Fisher pushed Roland and he slipped into a huge puddle.
He was covered in mud.
Mr Granville said, Rule number one, don't get wet.
It's difficult to dry things out when it's raining.
I think Roland was crying.
I don't like Mr Granville.
Love from Ginger Nut.
Dear Aunty Mabel, we're staying in this big smelly old cabin because it's too wet to sleep in the tents.
I'm sharing bunks with Sarah but I don't mind because she's brought lots of biscuits with her.
Danny kept trying to scare us.
Miss Jones said, Stop making those silly noises Danny, you're not frightening anyone.
But we were frightened.
I don't like it in here.
Love, Rosie.
Her next letter said, Dear Mum, when we woke up it was still raining.
The boys helped to cook breakfast and it was awful.
My egg was too runny.
Afterwards we walked a long way through the woods to visit an old mill.
On the way Danny wouldn't stop climbing trees.
In the end he got stuck.
It took ages to get him down.
Mr Bennett said, If you don't behave yourself Danny, you'll be sent home.
We kept taking the wrong path.
I wish I could be sent home.
Love from Ah.
Thanks, Arthur, Rosie.
Dear Grandad, the old mill was brilliant.
We watched corn being ground up to make flour.
Everyone there was dressed up in old fashioned clothes and looked very funny.
Afterwards they gave us a tray of buns made from the flour.
Danny Fisher took two and licked them both.
Miss West said, Not two Danny, give one of those to Rosie.
I didn't want one.
I didn't want a bun that he'd licked.
Love from Ginger.
Dear Aunty Mabel,
The teachers made a rope swing across the stream today and everyone had a go, except Sarah.
I tried and tried but couldn't get over.
I kept landing in the water.
Roland Roberts said, Rule number one, don't get wet.
Everybody laughed.
But I didn't think it was very funny.
I think I've got a cold.
Love, Ah.
Her next letter said, Dear Grandad,
It's stopped raining at last and we're going to sleep in the tents tonight.
Yippee.
Now Sarah says she doesn't want to because there may be creepy crawlies.
Miss West told her that nothing could possibly harm her.
Danny Fisher said, Only slugs and snails and spiders and snakes.
Sarah started to cry and Danny had to see Mr Granville.
I hope there aren't any crawlies.
Love from Rosie.
Dear Mum,
We've just been to a blacksmith's to watch him shoe a horse.
When the shoe went on the horse's hoof, it was still hot but it didn't hurt him.
You could smell the hoof burning. It was horrible.
Mr Bennett said, It smells like Mr Granville's socks.
Guess what? When we got outside, the sun was shining.
I think we've got sausages for tea.
Love from Rosie.
Dear Grandad,
We woke up so early this morning it was still dark.
We lay in our beds talking until it got light and the birds started singing.
Miss Jones said, Okay girls, who's going to help me make breakfast?
We all yelled, Me!
We made eggy bread. It's fab.
I'm getting used to camp now.
Love from Gingernut.
Another letter.
Dear Aunty Mabel, After tea today we built a big campfire.
Mr Granville played his guitar and we all sat round and sang songs.
We stayed up really late until all the wood had burned away.
Miss West said, Come on sleepy heads, off to the land of Nod.
She let us go to bed without a wash.
I really like this camp.
Love from R.
Dear Mum,
I did it. I crossed the stream on the rope and Mr Granville gave me a star.
After lunch we're going to make a raft from logs
and tomorrow we're going to visit some caves.
I can't wait.
Danny Fisher said, Come on Tarzan, it's my turn next.
I'm having the best holiday ever.
Wish you were here.
Love from Rosie.
Music
Well it's time for us to go.
Yes.
Very after today, isn't it?
Well I thought I might go and get something to eat.
I'm going camping.
Interesting.
I can play my guitar.
Bookworm.
I think I might go and visit a school.
I think we should say goodbye.
Bye.
Music