Creative Thinking Reading Response Pack
These book activities are a fun and engaging way for students to respond to reading and demonstrate comprehension!
All tasks are designed to encourage creative thinking, offering a variety of ways for students to show their understanding and engage with their text.
The pack includes 12 print-and-go templates that can be used with any novel or short story, giving you a lifelong resource to use again and again!
Outcome Codes: AC9E4LY05, AC9E5LE02, AC9E5LE03, AC9E5LE04, AC9E5LY01, AC9E5LY04, AC9E5LY05, AC9E6LE02, AC9E6LY04
Why Choose The Creative Thinking Reading Response Pack?
- All comprehension activities can be used with any fiction text, making this a lifelong resource!
- This pack includes 12 highly engaging, open-ended, and creative tasks.
- This resource is perfect for literacy groups or homework.
- All activities are print and go, requiring no prep from you!
- This is a great resource to accompany your class novel study and can be completed over several weeks while the students enjoy listening to the story.
What's Included?
- An email to the author
- Dear diary
- Deleted scene
- Fabulous fortune teller
- Comprehension chatterbox origami craft
- #charactergram
- All about bunting
- Character cloud
- Brilliant book cover
- Customised kicks
- Bespoke backpack
- Fantastic find-a-word
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Free Resources from The Sydney Teacher
Get free ideas and inspiration to use in your classroom today
3 Free Activities for 'Commotion in the Ocean'
If you’re reading Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae with your class, you’ll know how much students love the playful rhymes and vibrant sea creatures. To extend the fun and learning beyond the book, I’ve created three engaging (and free) classroom activities covering literacy and maths!
1. My Favourite Animal Writing Template
After reading the story, let students choose their favourite ocean animal. Using the writing template, they’ll draw their animal in the space provided and write a few sentences about why they like it. This activity encourages both creativity and writing practice, while giving you a lovely classroom display.
2. Whole-Class Graphing Activity
Turn your students’ favourite ocean animals into a maths graphing lesson! As a class, tally and graph which animals are chosen the most. This whole-class activity introduces data collection, graphing, and interpretation skills in a fun, meaningful way.
3. Animal Match-Up Game
Reinforce recognition and memory skills with an animal match-up game. Students will match the animal names to their corresponding pictures. It’s a great small-group or fast-finisher activity!
Download the Free Commotion in the Ocean PDF Activity Pack
All three activities – the writing template, graphing sheet, and match-up game – can be downloaded HERE for free!
📚 Grab Your Copy of the Book
If you don’t already own Commotion in the Ocean, it’s a must-have for your classroom library! You can grab it HERE
Book Week 2025: Free Activities for the “Book an Adventure” Theme
1. Daily Mystery Book Unwrapping
Wrap CBCA shortlisted books and other classroom favourites in colourful paper, adding a small clue to each one. Every day of Book Week, choose a book to unwrap and read together. The element of surprise creates excitement and exposes students to new authors and genres.
2. Adventure-Themed Costume Parade
Invite students to dress as their favourite adventurer or book character and take part in a Book Week Parade. Encourage them to briefly share who their character is and the adventure they’re on.
3. Book Week Reading Quest
Take your class on a 'Reading Quest' by exploring a different adventure theme each day of Book Week.
Some ideas include:
An underwater adventure – Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae
A hero’s journey – The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
A villain’s redemption – The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson
A space odyssey – The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers
Living in another country – My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald & Freya Blackwood
By the end of the week, your students will have travelled through oceans, galaxies and new lands
4. Peer Book Recommendations Wall
Create a display where students can share their favourite reads with the class. Give each student a blank card or sheet to illustrate the cover of their chosen book and add a short note explaining why others should read it. As the wall fills up, it becomes a colourful gallery of book suggestions, inspiring classmates to try stories they might not have picked up otherwise.
5. Book Week Colouring In
My free Book Week colouring-in page is the perfect mindfulness activity for when you need to calm things down—whether that’s after a busy Book Parade, a high-energy literacy session, or simply as a creative way to decorate your classroom.
Click HERE to download it!
Want more?
If you’d like even more themed crafts, reading templates, and ready-to-use activities, my Book Week Mega Bundle has everything you need to make your “Book an Adventure” celebrations unforgettable.
PLUS - it's updated every year for FREE with the new CBCA theme, so purchasing this bundle gives you access to a lifetime resource!
FREE Back to School 'Mystery Message' Ice-Breaker Activity
Looking for a fun back to school activity after the holidays? This FREE Mystery Message Pack is the perfect low-prep way to re-engage students with 10 secret messages to decode using a Pigpen Cipher. Ideal for any term, it’s a creative icebreaker that boosts motivation, teamwork, and excitement as students return to class.