This purposeful back to school activity has been designed to accompany a whole class reading of the picture book The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright. These no-prep worksheets provide the opportunity for your students to connect and respond to the characters and events in the story.

Students will need to consider how they could convince Kevin the Koala to leave his tree and play with the animals. They will either draw and write a response to one excuse or write responses to two excuses. Students can base these responses on the events of the story and their personal experiences. We have included six cut and paste excuses for students to respond to, meaning that they can complete this task more than once!

This resource provides the opportunity for a rich discussion about the importance of being brave and trying new things and is ideal to be completed at the start of the school year; however, it is a meaningful activity which can be completed year round.

To suit the needs of your class, we have included templates with 24mm and 18mm lines. Younger students may benefit from having the templates enlarged to A3 for ample writing and drawing space.