Week 6- Smart Ice Cream

Hi guys, Julia here,

This week I am writing about another one of my author study books by Paul Jennings. The books is a short story called Smart Ice Cream and it is found in the larger book Unreal!

The book was basically about the main character who breaks into an ice cream van and eats ‘smart’ ice cream leaving him waking up ‘dumb.’ It is very short but also extremely funny and well written.

Jennings uses great imagery. For example he introduces the main character saying:

‘Every year I win a lot of prizes: top of the class, top of the school, stuff like that.’

This phrase using the verb win and adjective a lot make the reader imagine someone that is smart. However it is not until the text reads on and more information is revealed that the reader can start to recognise the main character is in fact not only intelligent but obnoxious and rude too!

The book is clever in the way that is has a sly coda which according to Gamble and Yates basically shows how characters have changed or what they’ve learnt. In this story the ending (where the main character wakes up ‘dumb’) is Jennings way of incorporating a coda. Jennings last paragraph is written with poor grammar showing the reader that the character has been punished for his actions. It light-hearted coda but it does convey that there are consequences for actions.

This short story was magnificent and would work great in the classroom! It has great imagery and themes and is appealing to young people. 

We Love Bears and Nipper McFee

Hey guys, it's Laura, 

Here are the books I read for this post

WE LOVE BEARS

The picture book ‘We Love Bears’ by Catherine and Laurence Antholt is a story about two children on a trip through Teddy Town with their teddy bear. This book is great for young children because the storyline is simple but the text incudes many sight words. Every line in the book rhymes so it gives a great pace to the book. The large and bright images convey what the text is saying well and the descriptions of every place the characters go to is thorough. This text is written in third person and includes speech for the characters. I think that rhyming the lines is a great idea because if children are having trouble reading along they may be able to predict what the second line of the text is. The pictures will also help struggling children because they are very connected to the text. They will be able to use the pictures as a guide to what the text is saying.

This would be a great book in a classroom for introducing poetry. Giving children examples benefits them because they are actually seeing it instead of being told about it. It would also be great for teaching the sounds of certain words. It is interesting to see the amount of words that sound very similar, with just a few letters different, while they mean different things. 

NIPPER MCFEE

This week I read the picture book ‘Nipper McFee – In Trouble with Great Aunt Twitter’ by Rose Impey and Melanie Williamson. This book is a part of a series where the main character, Nipper McFee, get’s himself into different situations and tries to get out of them. Nipper is a scruffy, young cat and the other characters in the story are either cats, dogs or rats. In this story Nipper accidently runs into his great aunt Twitter and she punishes him in different ways. Instead of dealing with the punishment, he tries everything he can think of to get out of it. Along the way, Nipper’s enemies, the basement rats try to sabotage his attempts and he must overcome them as well.

I believe for such a short story there were a lot of characters but they were introduced and described well. The book also uses a lot of comparison and repetition, which I found great because it gave the book a good flow. It would also be easier for children to read because the repetition makes them more familiar with the words used and the comparison gives children images in their head to relate to what Nipper is thinking or feeling.

The pictures in this book completely rely on the text. They are so interrelated that if the text were not present, the story would not make sense. One of the aspects that I found most interesting was that the authors implicated words in the text that were humorous and entertaining because they started with cat.

'Mr Miaowser asked, “Who is that cat-erwauling?"'

'The rats were waiting for him outside, with cat-apults and peashooters!'

'It was a cat-astrophe for Nipper!'

These quirky little add-ins were great because they further immersed the reader into a world with talking cats, dogs and rats. 

That's it for me this time!

Laura

Week 6 - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Hello there!

 Ryan here, reviewing a lovely book that brings back a lot of nostalgia from when I was a young child, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle. After initially reading this book, it seems as though it was originally designed for toddlers and young children to associate colours and meaning with objects. Also allowing them to rehearse a pattern of speech or reading as well as recall the pattern at the end. This story allows young readers, probably in reception or year 1, to observe different animals and features that are used to describe them. An example could be the brown bear and his colourings design to resemble fur, or the colouring of certain animals like the duck or the gold fish, as well as the actions some of these animals do, such as the cat licking itself.

Although not having a particular story per say, this book could be used in a young primary setting, enabling students to enjoy the well drawn and presented pictures as well as develop their skills in literacy, reading and identifying words.

The next book I will be reading and reviewing will be Charlotte's Web by E.B White.

Until next time.

Week 5- The Gizmo

Hi there, Julia here,

I’m just writing up about another of my author study texts The Gizmo by Paul Jennings. You have probably all heard of the text and possibly read it because it is a hit amongst primary school students. It is a short novel (which is appealing) and Keith McEwan supports it with illustrations. The illustrations add a lot to the character profiles and create this kind of ‘three dimension world’, which Winch talks about in his text. They also contradict each other (illustrations and text). Jennings presents the main character as a popular student in the way he dresses in a blue jacket, t-shirt and a cap. Where as, McEwan illustrates the main character as a naïve child. He illustrates a character that is being pressured to be popular and superior when in fact he is worried, scared and little immature. It is amazing how this is done and I recommend you have a look if you can get your hands on the book!

Overall it was an enjoyable book that was weird and funny like all of the other books Jennings writes. It explores the themes of stealing, peer pressure and guilt by the storyline where the main character succumbs to peer pressure and is left to deal with the repercussions of stealing through finding himself in many embarrassing situations. Jennings uses great techniques when he deals with these themes because he portrays them in a humours way while still displaying to the reader that there are consequences for actions.

See you in class Wednesday :)

Week Five Workshop Summary - Jordan

This weeks workshop started off with the group sharing their pre-workshop tasks which was to re-write a popular fairy tail into a story book. I have chosen two to explain to you.
The first was from Ryan who chose the popular story of Robin Hood. Ryan wrote the story so that the main character was similar to Robin. It was set in a time where there were lots of poor people in the world and a few rich people. The main character gives money to the poor which is taken from the rich but doesn't realize he is doing it. That is all Ryan got up to.
The second was from Julia who chose the re-write Cinderella. In her version Cinderella was at a boarding school and wasn't able to go to the school disco because the evil principle wouldn't let her go. However nice teacher (fairy god mother) makes it possible for her to go. At the disco the evil principle gets exposed and the nice teacher becomes the principle.
The other thing discussed in the work show was short film called The Lemonade Stand which we deconstructed. From this we discussed were the film was located, which was out the front of the main characters house. We discussed the characters in the film. The characters were Benny, his Grandfather and Kevin their neighbor. We also discussed what the story was about. Kevin was trying to close down the lemonade stand that Benny and his Grandfather owned. The last thing discussed was the camera angles during the clip. When Kevin was looking at Benny and his Grandfather the camera angle was high to create a image that Kevin had the power. When Benny was talking to his Grandfather the camera angle was on the same level. Finally, when Benny and his Grandfather were looking at Kevin the camera angle was low. This also showed the power situation between the three main characters.

Rascal Runs Away

Hey its Laura here,

For this week I read 'Rascal Runs Away' by Paul Jennings. This book has many pictures that accompany the text to help the reader visualise the story. This book has been recently published and it is a part of a series. The short story for young children is about a pet dragon who runs away from his owner, Ben. The story is focused on the journey Rascals undertakes and the characters he meets in order to find his way home to his owners.

The main aspect I focused on when reading this book was the themes. The themes that Paul Jennings writes about are similar for all his stories. They centre on the basic plots of the quest, comedy and the voyage and return. For example, Rascal Runs Away is about the voyage and return. The storyline features the main character, Rascal, getting lost, and the journey he takes and the people he meets on his journey to find his way back to his owners.  

Week 4 Workshop Summary

Hey Guys, Laura here,

This week in the workshop we discussed a great deal on the assignment. I think we all found it really helpful to compare what work we've done on it. It was really interesting to see how the people who studied the same Author interpreted the texts. In some cases the understandings we're familiar, but in others it was fairly different.

We also discussed the different types of text structures that were analysed in our readings. I found this really helpful for out first assignment because it broke down the features of each text type and identified the language features in each one.

During the tutorial we also spent also of time sharing our answers for the activity we did at home. One answer that we discussed a lot and had very similar answers was the question that asked what we would do as teachers that might help the student write more grammatically, clearly and expressively. One of our most common answers was to get the student to read out loud their own work. This way they have a chance to notice their own mistakes and correct them accordingly instead of being tole what it wrong and how to fix it.

Hey all, Jordan writing to you,

This week I read one of my books for the author study called Toad Rage by Morris Gleitzman.

Toad Rage is about a young toad by the name of Limpy who goes out on a quest to try and stop humans from hating toads. Alone his journeys he encounters various problems and his cousin ends up being struck by a truck, then in the jaws of a large dog. Eventually they end up causing a bit of trouble at the Sydney Olympics. This book was very enjoyable and children from a primary class would really enjoy this. It is easy to read and there is lots of humor in it to keep the reader interested.

In the next few weeks I will be reading Misery Guts and Now also by Morris Gleitzman.

Week 4- A Dozen Bloomin Roses

Hey all, Julia here,

This week I’m writing up about one of my author study stories. It is called A Dozen Bloomin Roses and it is short story that is part of a larger text called Quirky Tails by Paul Jennings. It is a very interesting and twisted story that is basically about a young boy who slyly buys flowers in a flower store that the main character works at. It is not until the last page that we learn that the flowers were for the main character that is in fact a girl (we think the main character is a boy until the last page).

Jennings uses lots of good characterisation techniques by the way he incorporates imagery.

For example this is how he explains the main character:

‘I have a black belt in judo and if I do say myself I am quite good in a fight (pp. 23).’

The adjectives quite good and black belt along with the verb fight creates an image that the character is strong and possibly male. Jennings creates suspense in his story and explains not much more until the end when we find out that the judo fighter is in fact a female called Samantha! 

Jennings also uses good similes, for example to explain a nervous character he writes:

‘He looked around like a hunted rabbit (pp. 25).’

The story also covers the themes of unrequited love and bullying. The themes are addressed in a funny way to keep the reader entertained.

It was an overall weird and twisted story that I enjoyed! I liked exploring it in my author study but could not be happier that the assignment has now been submitted and is 100% out of my life!!!!!!!!

Next week I will write up about The Gizmo also by the famous Paul Jennings.

Week 4 - My Cat Maisie

Hello there!

Ryan here again and this week I read another children's picture book called My Cat Maisie by Pamela Allen. The first thing that stood out to me from this book was the incredible illustrations which tell the story of a boy who wishes for a pet as a friend. The entire theme of this book is learning about animals, in particular cats and dogs, and how they are all different from each other in temperament and lifestyle.

The main character Andrew really wants a dog like his next door neighbour after seeing all the fun they have together running around. After finding a stray cat, Andrew finds out that the cat doesn't like to play games as much as Lobo the dog did, due to her being more fragile and small. This can be used really well in a teaching environment to prompt kids to see the different ways to treat animals, as well as how loving and kind they can be. I'd probably aim this more towards year 1's and 2's, probably reading it out loud to them in a big group. This is because some of the writing in the book is longer and harder to read than others, however the story and message is probably better aimed at younger kids.

The power of literacy portrayed through the pictures in this book are really powerful, showing the size and playfulness of dogs and how some of them can seem quite scary when they are excited and how cats would rather snuggle up at night when trying to sleep. The colour of the illustrations are also well done in showing the warmth surrounding Andrew's mum when he returns to her for safety, as well as the nice colours depicted around the animals when playing with kids. Overall this book uses its wonderful illustrations to teach young students about the truth around dogs as to encourage them to feel calm when around these animals. By educating kids through these books, students will not feel threatened as much when they see a dog being excited.

The next book I'll be reading is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle, a book that has been read in my house hundreds of times.

Until next time.

Week Three - The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Hey all, this is Jordan again. This week I read a children's book called the Tale of Peter Rabbit.

This book is about a rabbit called Peter who is a bit mischievous. His mother tells all his brothers and sisters to avoid going near Mr McGregor's garden. But Peter chose to go into the yard and he got in a little bit of trouble and nearly got caught and turned into stew.
This book tied into this weeks readings as it had a beginning where the characters were introduced, there was a problem in that Peter went into the yard and nearly got caught, there was a second problem because Peter couldn't find the gate. However, there was a resolution to the story in that Peter finally found the gate and then ran home as fast at he could.
I found this book quite interesting and I think students in a lower primary school class would also find it enjoyable.

Week 3 - The Steadfast Tin Soldier

Hey guys it's Laura,


This week I read the book 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' by Hans Christian Anderson. I thought the book was to the point with the characters and the storyline and also with the underlining tone of the story. This book was fairly short so the author couldn't go into much detail but he did describe the characters well enough to understand them and their role in the story. the main theme of the story was 'The Quest'. It involves the tin soldier working hard and not giving up so he can reach his goal. The goal of the tin soldier was to reach his love, the ballerina. The particular print that I read did provide pictures to link to the story and I found them to be a great visual aid to picture the characters and the setting.

The story in the beginning started out with only one main character, the steadfast tin soldier, but as the story different characters with different roles were introduced into the story. For a story so short, lots of 'steps' in the story were described but they could only be mentioned briefly.

I thought the author conveyed the thoughts and feelings of the tin soldier well, but kept a faint mystery about the ballerina until the end where she proves her love. Though the characters didn't say much, their actions conveyed their intentions well and I thought overall this was a great story, suitable for a literacy classroom.

Week 3 - The Wolf's Chicken Stew

Hello there!

Ryan here again, this week I have just finished reading The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza. This book was very interesting and could be utilised very well in a teaching situation. It tells the story of a hungy wolf and his craving for chicken stew and after finding a chicken that can satisfy this craving, he tries to fatten her up. He does this by leaving various foods on her front doorstep, each time cooking something different and something bigger. However, at the end it turns out that the chicken has dozens of baby chicks and he has been feeding them instead. The chicks are very appreciative of what he has been doing and all give him hugs, calling him "uncle wolf", with the wolf leaving with a change of heart and wanting to help the chicks eat again. The themes of this story is change and how sometimes doing one thing can lead to another.

By being able to implement this with students and show the values and morals associated with this story, the students would be able to reflect on how to use this example in their own life. It also has an very subtle underlying theme of health and how eating too many bad foods can negatively affect you. This is reinforced with the wolf continuously saying "Let's fatten you up with all these pancakes". There is slight counting involved in the book, especially in the aspect of the wolfs cooking, but it mainly focuses on common literacy and understanding the structure of the story. I would use this again with year 2 - 3 students.

The next book I will be reviewing My Cat Maisie by Pamela Allen, I have never heard of it before and found it in my local library, being attracted by the vibrant colours and well drawn illustrations.

Until next time.

Week 3- Workshop Summary

Hi guys, Julia here,

Just giving a recap of what we discussed today in the English Language and Literacy workshop!

First we talked about what inspired us in the Gamble and Yates reading. We discussed many points which were made about narratives but came to the conclusion that objective points were extremely interesting. An objective point (or dramatic viewpoint) is one where the writer does not enter the minds of any characters. All is revealed through actions. We talked about how the writer expresses actions by adjectives and verbs and thought it was interesting that the actions of someone can determine a viewpoint. I guess it is like someone’s body language!

We then went on to explain story shapes and clarified any confusion we had. When we compared our shapes they were indeed similar. We liked how they broke down the classic way books and movies tell stories (setting, action, climax, resolution, etc).

Next we linked our story shapes to the basic 7 plots. Our books incorporated the plots of

-          Comedy

-          Tragedy

-          The quest

An example of a book using basic plots was The Steadfast Soldier. It incorporated the basic plot of the quest. Around 90% of the book was the quest (the soldier was on the quest). After the climax however the resolution was a tragedy (the soldier dies).

Lastly we talked about narrative techniques. I talked about some techniques that were incorporated by Paul Jennings into his book The Gizmo. Jennings uses imagery well. He used adjectives and verbs to explain character profiles and they often contradicted the illustrations. This technique gave deeper meaning to the book. Jennings also writes in first person so he can get inside the narrators head.  

This week’s readings have helped us analyse the structure of narratives and be aware of the different techniques that can be used by authors.

Week 3- Have You Seen My Cat?

Hi, Julia here,

This week I have read the picture book Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle. The book was very simple but also quite interesting. The entire book had 3 phrases in it!

-          Have you seen my cat?

-          That’s not my cat

-          This is my cat!

However, there was a story to follow and this was because of the books illustrations. Like we learnt in lecture 2, a book can be told once from its text and again from its illustration. This book did this!

It is a book suitable for very young children and they could purely flick through it and still understand what the book was about. It was basically about establishing different types of cats. That is wild ones and pet ones. The book supports Winch’s idea of how illustrations represent a 3 dimension world.

Have You Seen My Cat? was an overall enjoyable book.

Next week I will post about The Gizmo by Paul Jennings which I'm reading as part of my author study!

Week 3 - Dr. Dog.

Hello there!

Ryan here again. I have just finished reading Dr. Dog by Babette Cole. Considering I was read this book as a young boy, it was almost exactly as I remember it. Presenting a very quirky and odd story, saying things like "Never scratch your bum and suck your thumb". Although saying this out of context sounds rather odd, reading it through the story promotes hygiene to young readers in a way that is both entertaining and fun. It also helps overcome the fear held by most children dealing with how doctors can be seen as scary and are most often associated with pain. Considering Dr. Dog is a doctor that makes house calls, also being a very loving beagle, helps to overcome some of these thoughts and notions. The pictures were also very well done, having lots of warm colours surrounding the characters and their environment. The best part in my opinion however, was how the book ended on a fart joke.

Reading this book to young students years 2 - 3 would best suited, allowing them to become familiar with some of the words in the story. As far as individual reading goes this might be good for students 3 - 4. There are some tricky spots that they could find challenging, but with the visual aid of the pictures they would overcome them with little difficulty. The story of this book is also excellent at stimulating the imagination of students, simply due to the wacky idea of a dog being a doctor.

The next book I'm going to read is The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza, which was recommended by my sister who is a teacher of year 3 students! I'm looking forward to reading it.

Until next time.

Week 3 Pinocchio

Hi guys, Julia here,

This week I finished reading Pinocchio. It was an interesting book overall. It started like any other fairy tale (‘once upon a time’) but it actually went on to talk about some very important morals and values. The entire book gives the message of the importance of family to readers. It is through Pinocchio that the reader is able to realize that children can't live without a guardian or parent. The book also shows why not to trust strangers when Mr. Fox and Mr. Cat promised Pinocchio that if he buries gold coins they'll turn into money trees. This obviously did not happen and Pinocchio was left facing the consequences. Funny enough it was through his consequences that the learnt about the consequences of lying. Pinocchio's nose grew whenever he lied!

I could go on and on about the book but the main message I think the author wants to show the readers is that we make our own decisions. We need to learn to not be influenced by others and to take responsibility for our own actions! Basically Pinocchio in the book was not a 'real boy' and he could not grow up because he was unable to make his own decision and not lie.

The text is a great transition from a picture book to novel because although it is still a picture book there is a lot more writing. The book still uses simple language however and the author incorporates many descriptive adjectives making the text enjoyable.

I am now starting to read another picture book called Have You Seen My Cat?

Jordan Rhind

Howdy,

My Name is Jordan Rhind and I am a second year education student at Mawson Lakes. I am specializing in PE and Science. Physical Education is my favourite subject by far but I am also interested in the science of space and the human bodies. When I am not at uni I am usually playing my favourite sport which is hockey.

I found this week’s lecture didn’t really explain the first assignment that well but the work shop made it clear what we have to do. I found this week’s readings quite interesting as it outlined the need for children to be read to.

This week I have read Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.  I decided that I wanted to read the Harry Potter series after watching the movies. Once I started to read this I found that I couldn’t put it down, I just wanted to read it to find out what was doing to happen next. I found the first book really interesting and it has made me excited to read the second book and the whole series.