Tomorrow is the first day of term and I am looking forward to reading “Peace at Last” by Jill Murphy to my class.
Here is a brief summary of the story for those of you not familiar with it:
It’s late at night and Mr Bear is desperately trying to sleep–but Mrs Bear snores so he tries Baby Bear’s room, but Baby Bear is pretending to be an aeroplane so there’s no peace there. Room by room Mr Bear goes through the house trying to find somewhere to sleep.
It’s a fantastic story for children in terms of participation opportunities, it is chock full of “night time sounds” that just beg to be shouted out at the top of your lungs not to mention a really cute repetitive line: “Oh NO! said Mr. Bear, I can’t stand THIS!”. One thing is certain, it won’t be a quiet start to my day!!!
The added bonus of all of this soundscaping is that our music lessons for the week can be nicely packaged up/integrated in a fun and meaningful way:
Strand: Music Unit: Listening & Responding, Composing
- discover ways of making sounds using body percussion
- select sounds from a variety of sources to create simple sound ideas, individually and in groups
We will fulfil our science objectives by documenting the differences between night and day. If I can manage it time wise we will explore shadows. Must google how to make some cool shapes!
Strand: Science Unit: Energy & Forces
- discuss differences between day and night, light and shade
- explore how shadows are formed
With out further ado here are my Reader Response sheets for Peace at Last. I hope that you like them!
Click here to download Peace at Last sheets
Peace at Last is a well loved story and is probably available from your local library. If you wish to purchase a large format version for your classroom click here. It costs 16 Euro including postage and packaging. I just love my copy!
Have fun,
Miss Mernagh 🙂
missmernagh.com 
What a lovely way to start the New Year. Have a great one!!
Hi Myra,
Yes, it’s time to put Santa behind us! I think that it should be still dark enough to make shadows in our classroom. Just searching for some batteries for my torch. They are around here somewhere!
Miss Mernagh 🙂
Love it! I’ve done Peace at Last with the Infants but never thought of all the ideas surrounding it that you’ve included here! Have already forwarded the link to my Infant teacher- thank you:-)
Hi Mary,
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! Peace at Last is one of those books that integrates very easily into lots of subjects and is also a tonne of fun. I hope that your infant teacher likes it!
Miss Mernagh 🙂
I am reading this story with a class tomorrow! I think they are going to love it!!
That’s fantastic!! It’s such a great story.Lots and lots of potential for drama, music and SESE.Love packaging up my lessons for the week in a nice theme. Peace at Last is just brilliant for this! Hope you are using one of my Reader Response Sheets ;)!!!
Oh I am using them for sure! I got so excited when I found a copy in their classroom today, it’s even a big book!! I only hope the kids are as excited about it as I am! I’m making some shadow puppets on sticks at the moment!
I am so excited to read Who sank the Boat tomorrow! It’s going to be a fantastic way to work on predicting and inferring! Finished Peace at Last today as I was out on Thursday and Friday. No time for the puppets 😦 Maybe next year 😉
The kids LOVED Peace at Last! We had a whole weeks fun with it!! Especially thinking of noises that could keep us awake at night, they had such brilliant ideas!
That’s great. Sounds like you had lots of fun and some great learning opportunities! Thanks for sharing!
Miss Mernagh 🙂