16th Roller Coaster Day

National Roller Coaster Day is a day in which people are encouraged to get out to their favourite amusement parks and enjoy a ride on a roller coaster. 

Here's another of those words like icecream (ice cream) where I think of roller coaster as one word, rollercoaster because it is a new entity not a coast that rolls or a roll that coasts. I'm not a fan of roller coasters or ferris wheels as I like to have my feet flat on the ground, but I do know that many children love them and can't wait until they are tall enough to go on the one they want to ride.

If like me you would prefer to live vicariously and read about them, try these:

Information:

• Ride that Rollercoaster! by Louise and Richard Spilsbury

• Amazing Rollercoasters  by Anita Nathan Amin

• Ripley Readers: Roller Coasters

Stories:

• Roller Coaster  by Marla Frazee

• The Roller Coaster Ride  by David Broadbent

• The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! by Mo Willems

•  I Am (Not) Scared  by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant

•  B is for Construction  by June Sobel and Melissa Iwai

• Little Elliot Big Fun  by Mike Curato

• When Amelia Earhart Built a Roller Coaster  by Mark Weakland

• Shark and Bot: Epic Roller Coaster Ride by Brian Yanish

• Fox Tails: The Biggest Roller Coaster  by Tina Kugler

• Roller-Coaster  by David Mezenthen

• Heidi Hecklebeck and the Wild Ride  by Wanda Coven

• Spy Dog: Rollercoaster!  by Andrew Cope

• Bear Flies High  by Michael Rosen and Adrian Reynolds

Search this out in the library or on Youtube because the story is worthwhile

Bear is playing on the beach and, seeing the seagulls wheeling above him, decides that he would love to learn how to fly. And there are four children with him who know exactly how to make that happen.
An exhilarating story about friends helping each other to realise their dreams - and having great fun doing it

• The Screaming Mean Machine  by Joy Cowley and David Cox 

This story also out of print, but you will find it on Youtube. It  epitomises all of the roller coaster feelings. The language is wonderful and so good for showing students how to express drama and tension in their own writing.

A young girl wonders if, now that she is big enough, she will be able to overcome her fears and ride the roller coaster at the amusement park.