Possum

Magic
By Mem Fox

* a book a week *
Created by Miss
Simplicity
Contents and Information
Read the book daily and complete an
activity a day;

1. Pre-Reading Words – a list of story words.

Read them with the class before reading, or
print out a copy for each student as a reading
checklist, or read them using Guided Reading
strategies.
2. Sequencing – students cut and sequence
story events – two versions available (one
harder and one easier with less events).
3. Story Map – students recall main story
events. Two versions available; the first has
events listed already so students draw a
matching picture. The second version has
students cut and glue story events then draw a
matching picture.
4. Matching – students cut and match story
foods to the location Hush ate them i.e. pavlova
and Perth go together.
5. Multiple Choice Comprehension
6. Phonics Find/Sort – Two versions given.
Students search or sort story words with 'th’,
‘sh’ and double letters. Answers provided.
7. Cloze Comprehension
8. Survey – students develop their oral
language skills by surveying their classmates.
The topic is flexible and can be decided by the
teacher. Options include;
Which is your favourite/favorite food?
Which food have you never tried?
There are two survey sheets provided. The
first is designed for students to tally responses
and the second is designed for students to write
up a name in each box.
Results could be plotted onto a graph for further
discussion.
9. Australian Map - students draw story foods
on the map, based on where Hush tried them.
10. Draw and Label – student draw and label
foods Hush tried on her journey.
11. Beginning/Middle/End - recall sheet.
12. Possum Facts poster
13. Mini Report Writing template – Two
options… one for writing, the other for drawing.
Use the poster as a reference for these
sheets.
14. Word Sleuth
15. External links
 Pre-Reading Story Words
Australian koala biscuits
bush slide Anzac
possum squash Darwin
Hush snake vegemite
Grandma invisible tail
Poss visible Perth
magic book Tasmania
wombat miserable sea
kookaburra heart lamington
dingo thought head
emu food pavlova
Sequencing – Version A
(cut and glue the story events into the correct order)

Grandma Poss and Hush ate Anzac biscuits in

Adelaide and Minties in Melbourne, steak and
salad in Sydney and pumpkin scones in
Brisbane.

Hush wanted to be visible again.

In Hobart Hush ate a lamington and her head

appeared. It worked!

Grandma Poss couldn’t make Hush visible, but

knew it had something to do with people food.

Grandma Poss and Hush ate a vegemite

sandwich in Darwin. A tail appeared.

Grandma Poss made Hush invisible.

Once a year Grandma Poss and Hush would

eat a piece of all the foods, just to make
sure Hush would stay visible forever.

In Perth they ate a piece of pavlova. Hush’s

legs and body appeared.
Sequencing – Version 2
(cut and glue the story events into the correct order)

Hush wanted to be visible again.

In Hobart Hush ate a lamington and

her head appeared. It worked!

Grandma Poss and Hush ate a

vegemite sandwich in Darwin. A tail
appeared.

Grandma Poss made Hush invisible.

Once a year Grandma Poss and Hush

would eat a piece of all the foods,
just to make sure Hush would stay
visible forever.

In Perth they ate a piece of pavlova.

Hush’s legs and body appeared.
Name: __________

Grandma Poss made Hush invisible to Hush wanted to be visible again. Grandma Poss and Hush ate a
keep her safe. vegemite sandwich in Darwin. A tail
appeared.

In Perth they ate a piece of pavlova. In Hobart they ate a lamington and Once a year Grandma Poss and Hush
Hush’s legs and body appeared. her head appeared. It worked! would eat a piece of all the foods,
just to make sure Hush would stay
visible forever.
Name: __________
 Cut and glue onto the story map. Events are jumbled up!
Grandma Poss and Hush ate a Once a year Grandma Poss and Hush In Perth they ate a piece of pavlova.
vegemite sandwich in Darwin. A tail would eat a piece of all the foods, just to Hush’s legs and body appeared.
appeared. make sure Hush would stay visible forever.
Hush wanted to be visible again. In Hobart they ate a lamington and Grandma Poss made Hush invisible to
her head appeared. It worked! keep her safe.

Cut and glue onto the story map. Events are jumbled up!
Grandma Poss and Hush ate a Once a year Grandma Poss and Hush In Perth they ate a piece of pavlova.
vegemite sandwich in Darwin. A tail would eat a piece of all the foods, just to Hush’s legs and body appeared.
appeared. make sure Hush would stay visible forever.
Hush wanted to be visible again. In Hobart they ate a lamington and Grandma Poss made Hush invisible to
her head appeared. It worked! keep her safe.

Cut and glue onto the story map. Events are jumbled up!
Grandma Poss and Hush ate a Once a year Grandma Poss and Hush In Perth they ate a piece of pavlova.
vegemite sandwich in Darwin. A tail would eat a piece of all the foods, just to Hush’s legs and body appeared.
appeared. make sure Hush would stay visible forever.
Hush wanted to be visible again. In Hobart they ate a lamington and Grandma Poss made Hush invisible to
her head appeared. It worked! keep her safe.
 Possum Magic
Melbourne Darwin
Cut and glue each
food based on
where it was eaten.

Perth Brisbane Hobart

Sydney Adelaide
cut
 Possum Magic
1. Hush and Grandma Poss lived in
 a house.  a burrow.
 an Australian zoo.  the Australian bush.

2. Grandma Poss’ best magic was to make

 wombats blue.  Hush invisible.
 kookaburras pink.  dingoes smile.

3. How did Grandma Poss and Hush travel to the

different Australian cities?
 by car  by walking
 by bike  by flying

4. Which food made Hush’s tail appear?

 a scone  pavlova
 mornay  a vegemite sandwich

5. Which food did Hush eat?

 chips  steak You can choose
 minties  ice-cream more than 1 answer!

6. Why did Hush eat a vegemite sandwich, a piece of

pavlova and half a lamington once a year, on her
birthday?
__________________
__________________
 Word Find
Find story words which contain ‘sh’, ‘ch’ and ‘double
letters’.
sh th double letters

And lots more!

 Word Sort
Cut and glue story words into their correct column.

sh th double letters

bush food Hush there

they that possum shouted
seen deep shrink the
she thought small this
squashed breath all tall
 Word Sort
Find story words which contain ‘sh’, ‘ch’ and ‘double
letters’.
sh th double letters
bush this deep

answers
shrink
Hush
that
there
possum
Poss
she thought kookaburra
squashed they all
shouted the seen
breath kangaroos
both look
birthday tall
through small
something looking
worry
food
And lots more!
 Possum Magic Cloze
Hush was invisible wanted
to be visible again. So,
Grandma Poss and set
off to find how to make Hush
. In Hush
ate a sandwich and
her tail appeared. Hush’s legs
when she ate
pavlova in Perth. In Hobart
Hush ate a and the
rest of her appeared.

vegemite body Hush Darwin

appeared but lamington visible
 Class Survey
pavlova

Anzac
biscuits

steak

salad

vegemite
sandwiches

Minties

pumpkin
scones

lamingtons
 Class Survey
pavlova

Anzac
biscuits

steak

salad

vegemite
sandwiches

Minties

pumpkin
scones

lamingtons
Possum Magic
What food did Grandma Poss and Hush try at these Australian cities?
Darwin

Brisbane

Sydney

Perth

Adelaide

Hobart Melbourne
 Possum Magic
What foods did Hush try in the story?
 Possum Magic
Beginning Middle End

_________ _________ _________

_________ _________ _________
_________ _________ _________
_________ _________ _________
Possums live
in Australia
Possum Facts Possums have
a long tail
and New which can
Zealand grasp onto a
Possums are branch and
mainly can carry
herbivores grass.
and eat fruit,
flowers and Possums are
leaves. nocturnal.

Possums are
arboreal Possums live
meaning they for an
live in trees. average of 8
years.
Possums are
marsupials – Possums are agile
Possum babies live in their mother’s and can jump up to
they have a pouch for the first 4 – 5 months.
pouch. 4 metres or 13
feet.
_________
Possums _________
_________ _________
_________ _________
_________ _________
_________ _________

_________ _________
_________ _________
_________ _________
_________ _________
_________ _________
Possums
 v a p a j c p e r t h p h j c t n i k
e d u l a m i n g t o n a g q b w z m
g e m o v z j p g j n h g v m z n h m
e l p s i i n v i s i b l e l e i a z
m a k u s w g x l c h u s h b o g h q
i i i m i j u y i v l h
t d n e b f f c p g a y
e e s l l q i q z r s d
s f c b e v s y d n e y
a f o o j c q m z e m m
n m n u h r s t e a k x
d i e r o r s u j n s q
w n s n b j g m o r n a y f s a l a d
i t f e a a n z a c b i s c u i t s c
c i b q r g r v b u s h u g c t s z n
h e f z t g r a n d m a p o s s m o r
c s l c n o o d a r w i n g j c y z l

1. mornay 8. pavlova 15. invisible

2. Hush 9. Anzac biscuits 16. Sydney
3. Darwin 10. bush 17. Grandma Poss
4. visible 11. lamington 18. vegemite sandwich
5. Minties 12. magic 19. salad
6. Adelaide 13. steak 20. Hobart
7. pumpkin scones 14. Perth 21. Melbourne
1.

v a p a j c p e r t h p h j c t n i k
e d u l a m i n g t o n a g q b w z m
g e m o v z j p g j n h g v m z n h m
e l p s i i n v i s i b l e l e i a z
m a k u s w g x l c h u s h b o g h q
i i i m i j u y i v l h
t d n e b f f c p g a y
e e s l l q i q z r s d
s f c b e v s y d n e y
a f o o j c q m z e m m
n m n u h r s t e a k x
d i e r o r s u j n s q
w n s n b j g m o r n a y f s a l a d
i t f e a a n z a c b i s c u i t s c
c i b q r g r v b u s h u g c t s z n
h e f z t g r a n d m a p o s s m o r
c s l c n o o d a r w i n g j c y z l
1. mornay 8. pavlova 15. invisible
2. Hush 9. Anzac biscuits 16. Sydney
3. Darwin 10. bush 17. Grandma Poss
4. visible 11. lamington 18. vegemite sandwich
5. Minties 12. magic 19. salad
6. Adelaide 13. steak 20. Hobart
7. pumpkin scones 14. Perth 21. Melbourne
 External Links

Scholastic notes which include a Hush mask template

http://www.scool.scholastic.com.au/schoolzone/toolkit/
assets/pdfs/Possum_Magic_Party_Notes%2008.pdf

Ringtail possum craft

http://www.thelittlebigbookclub.com.au/sites/thelittleb
igbookclub.com.au/files/files/title_resource/silly_galah
_activity_time_no_2.pdf
 Credits
Graphics, borders and fonts;
http://openclipart.org/
http://pixabay.com/
www.google.com (labelled for reuse image)
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ashley-Hughes-38
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hello-Literacy
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Krista-Wallden-Creative-Clips
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Pink-Cat-Studio
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ramonam-Graphics
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Dancing-Crayon-Designs
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Educlips