Education

  • Grafton NSW High School
  • Wollongong Teachers’ College – Primary: two years full time
  • Sydney Conservatorium of Music – Secondary Music and English: four years full time (Dip.Mus.Ed. with Merit)
  • Piano Teacher Accreditation – Sydney Conservatorium of Music

In-service courses

  • Dorothy Heathcote Drama
  • Classroom Art and Creative Colour Techniques
  • Gifted and Talented Education
  • Orff Schulwerk Music
  • Kodaly music
  • Lindemood Literacy
  • Spalding Literacy
  • Speech, Poetry and Movement in Creative Performance

Choral Experiences

  • Member of various choirs from an early age;
  • Sydney Opera House choir and orchestra performances conducted by Richard Gill;
  • Sydney Philharmonia Choir;
  • Performing Arts Association Choir, Coffs Harbour NSW.

Teaching summary

  • Khancoban Public School (Snowy Mountains NSW) class teacher
  • Manly Public School (Sydney) class teacher
  • St Mary’s College, Wollongong – Music Co-ordinator Yrs 7 to 10 and cathedral organist for school events; public concert organiser, organised coach travel and subscription ballet excursions to Sydney Opera House over several years; piano accompanist for G and S performances
  • Ravenswood, Sydney Lower Primary music specialist, accompanist; musical play author and producer
  • Waterloo, Erskineville, Newtown – Three-year Disadvantaged Schools Program as a Years K – 6 Creative Arts Demonstration teacher, Art, Music and Drama. (twenty-two demonstration lessons per week; organised public art exhibitions, concerts and drama performances for the three schools)
  • Knox Grammar School – Yrs 1 to 4 Art teacher and later Year One class teacher; author and producer of end-of-year musical plays; accompanist for musicals and violin soloists
  • PLC Melbourne – Year 6 class teacher; commissioned to write a 90 minute multicultural musical play for Years Five and Six called Riders; full stage production
  • Ascham, Sydney; Lower primary class music; integration of the creative and performance arts with literacy; (informal) consultant for high-level class Assembly items; wrote/composed/produced/directed end-of-year musicals.

Retired from class teaching – moved from Sydney to Coffs Harbour NSW

  • Coffs Harbour Regional Conservatorium – piano teacher Preliminary to Grade 8 – twelve years (part time)
  • President of 80-member Performing Arts Association choir and orchestra. Choir rehearsal accompanist and organ soloist. Designed and co-ordinated combined choir and orchestra concert programmes for public performances over six years (volunteer position).
  • Musicianship teacher – small group.
  • Choral Director and Accompanist – Coffs Harbour Conservatorium Singers; ‘Tone Deaf’ Choirs.

Moved to Toowoomba, Queensland in 2015.
Now concentrating on writing English literacy books and composing piano and choral music as a hobby.

Published Works

Very Loud Stories – plays for a class of reading partners - click for details
    (These stories are perfect for home reading parent/child bonding.)

  • The Fox and the Crow
  • Henny Penny
  • Echo and Narcissus
  • King Midas and the Golden Touch
  • The Three Billy Goats Gruff
  • Little Red Riding Hood and the Five Senses

Shared Reading Partner Plays - click for details

  • Who Will Bell the Cat?
  • Goldilocks and the Three Bears
  • Jack and the beanstalk
  • The Fox and the Goat
  • The Gingerbread Man
  • Little Red Riding Hood
  • The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
  • The Two Travellers
  • The Enormous Turnip
  • The Hare and the Tortoise
  • The Wind and the Sun
  • The Three Wishes
  • The Fox and the Crow
  • The Man, the Boy and the Donkey
  • The Ugly Duckling

LOUD Poetry for Shared and Class Reading
     and Performance - click for details

  • Toad
  • The Three Little Pigs in Rhyme
  • Captain
  • Storm!
  • Slick Limericks – 35 original limericks
  • Loud Poems for Noisy Kids

Scripted Plays illustrated with artworks - click for details

  • The Story of Pandora
  • The Riddle of the Sphinx

Oral Language and Speech - click for details

  • Mighty Mouth Movers Student Book
  • Mighty Mouth Movers Teaching Manual
  • Oral Language for Pre-Schoolers and Pre-Readers
  • Oral Language for Beginner Readers
  • Oral Language for Budding Actors

Classroom Management – Super Teacher Series - click for details

  • Getting to the Heart of Learning Problems
  • From Bully to Model Citizen
  • Fixing Bad Behaviour

The Reading Works Series - click for details

  • Vowels
  • Consonants
  • Blends
  • Digraphs
  • The Schwa
  • Silent Letters
  • Contractions
  • Homophones and Heteronyms
  • Uncountable Nouns (Collective and plural nouns without s on the end)
  • A-Z Letters and their Sounds
  • IPA Sounds and their Letters
  • Wonder Words (word families)
  • Nuts and Bolts Literacy Teaching Manual

Reading Works Charts

  • The Letters and Sounds of the Basic Alphabet
  • Vowels
  • Consonants
  • Blends
  • Digraphs
  • The Schwa
  • Silent Letters
  • Contractions
  • Homophones and Heteronyms

(Note: A3 format individual charts and A4 personal chart booklet available from Ellie on request.)

Music Books and Compositions - click for details

  • Accurate First Time Piano Scales (www.pianoscales.com.au)
  • We All Live in Australia – from the Dreamtime to the present time, we honour and cherish Australia because it is our home
  • Earth Song – We are riders together on this fragile planet – SATB a capella
  • When Your Pants Begin to Go – Words Henry Lawson
  • Internet Song
  • It’s Time to Sing! (Children’s Songbook/Reader; Teaching Manual)
  • Learn to Read Music by Drawing – workbook
  • Music Lesson and Practice Logbook
  • The New Alphabet Song

Musicals - contact Ellie for details

  • The Fairy Who Wouldn’t Fly – based on Australian story by Pixie O’Harris
  • Over the Moon
  • Flying to the Rescue
  • A Tight Spot for Santa
  • Riders – a multicultural musical 

Other books

  • Ten Pretty Butterflies – a counting book – click for details
  • How to Draw the Sun (available on request)