Hello there!
The final book I read and would like to talk about, while not actually being a narrative story as such, is Richard Dawkins The Magic of Reality. This book was a gift given to me on my birthday and is a perfect example of literature that could be utilised in the classroom. The point of the book is to educate people on the magic of what surrounds us, focusing specifically on what is scientifically known and looking at its beauty. There is a certain possibility and poetry to the way science is presented in this story, giving explanations of facts unknown or clarifying folklore. A great example of this would be the discussion of how everything really began, looking at the galaxy and giving pictures to display the vastness of space. This leads onto various topics in the book, spanning from temperature that sustains life to the ever lingering question "Are we alone?". While these questions are never specifically answered, they are given explanation and to some degree are scientifically justified.
Through this aspect, Richard Dawkins allows the reader to feel as though their prior opinion doesn't matter anymore, giving way to this new lot of information and perspective. This is truly valuable since all of the literature in the book is completely true. The pictures also help to fill in the gaps of everything that might not be fully understood by the readers on some parts, and reinforces other aspects as well. Dave McKean is able to convey the type of topic that is being discussed, be it fantastical or fact, and create images that are specific to each part.
This book could be used in a classroom for a multitude of purposes. One of which would be reading out loud to the entire class with the structure of the story allows it to feel more natural and relaxed. This aspect is what would also make it beneficial for students to read by themselves, having it being a higher level of reading with more adult like pictures.
Thank you for reading my posts on literacy and I hope you've enjoyed reading about these books and learnt a thing or two about how to use them in a classroom.
Hello there!
So this week I read a book recommended to me by an avid reader called Are You There God? It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume. It is categorised as a young adult or teenage right of passage book, telling the story of a sixth grade girl, Margaret, who grew up without a religious affiliation and is trying to find her personal beliefs in the world. This is made difficult by Margaret's mother being Christian and her father being Jewish. The novel follows her journey through both of these religions and prompt the themes of mixed heritage while also having many pre-teen female issues such as buying her first bra and jealousy.
For a school project, Margaret is assigned an independent study where she focuses on people's beliefs. This study is mirrored by her discovery of her own personal beliefs and about her trouble believing in God.The added pressure from her disagreeing families also adds more problems onto her trouble with her maternal grandparents trying to guarantee her Christianity. Her paternal grandmother seems more accepting of who Margaret, however she refers to her as "my Jewish girl" and introduces her to Jewish type religious practises, later saying she always knew she was more Jewish than Christian. After a fight held between a girl at school, Margaret visits a church confessional booth, the unseen priest enquires her problems but since Margaret does not know of the confession concept, believes God himself is talking to her.
This book would be better suited to older readers, probably in year 5 - 7, depending on reading ability, but displays a lot of themes and problems that would be relevant to those in these year levels. The writing style and Judy Blume's ability to portray her thoughts through her use of descriptive words comes across as being very passionate. Although the book was written in the 1970's, it still holds much of it's themes as a common thought for most people today and would be valuable in not only helping students to better their literacy skills but also allowing them to sort through their own personal beliefs.
The next and final book I will be reading and posting on here will be The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins.
Until next time.
Hello there!
Ryan here, this time I read The Waterhole by Graeme Base which is basically a fusion of a counting book, puzzle book, storybook and art book. It depicts a gathering of animals by a waterhole, with basic counting being the primary educational aspect of the book. An example would be 1 Rhino, 2 Tigers, 3 Tucans etc, etc. The story then counts in reverse, focusing on the same concept just in a different layout. Another layer of this picture book, a more simplistic approach, would be the shapes and colours of the animals, focusing on the visual element of the book. With this aspect, hidden animals are found in every page, enabling readers to discover them as a visual challenge and giving hints about what animal it is in the text. Another layer to the visual aspect is a clue to what location each page is based in, having an identifiable icon somewhere in the picture, giving a sort of natural history lesson. With all of these layers and aspects, the waterhole displays a message of the animals over consuming and drinking too much water, giving a metaphore for the worlds need to consume all resources in the world. Frogs are the main instigation of this, showing them as a sort of "Canary in the coldmine" type of character. When they vanish from the story, it is an indiciation of how bad things are getting.
Down to the secret waterhole the animals all come,
As seasons bring forth drought and flood, they gather there as one.
United in their common need, their numbers swell to ten,
But hidden deep amongst the trees lie ten times that again!
This book could be used with many differeng ages of children due its ability to portray various themes to various different age and level groups. It would be a very valuable teaching resource and give the ability to be used in various contexts.
The next book I will be reading is called Are You There God? It's Me Margaret by Judy Bloom.
Until next time.
Hello there!
Ryan here again and this week I read a classic novel that was used with my year 8 English class called Charlotte's Web written by E.B White. The story depicts a pig named Wilbur and his spider friend called Charlotte who saves him from being slaughtered. Wilbur was a pet for the farmers daughter, Fern, due to it being the runt of the litter and her begging her father not to kill him. After being spared, Wilbur gets sold to Fern's uncle and although Fern sometimes visits him, her visits decrease as she becomes older, making Wilbur lonelier each day. Eventually he meets Charlotte, the grey spider who welcomes him into the community of animals living on the farm.
The students who read this story experience a higher reading level and understanding of the story being presented. They are able to connect to these new themes and plot points, especially the compassion of Charlotte and the friendship her and Wilbur possess. They are able to reflect on concepts such as the spiders life cycle as well as that of pigs and their births.
The way this story is written shows great depth and description in terms of the way E.B White portrays situations. A specific example of this would be the description of swinging on a rope swing at the form, having a certain rhythm and feeling specific to this book. The pace of sentences of this part mimics the motion of the swing. This aspect could be shown to students and allow them to understand this in terms of literacy and the meaning this writing style reflects on the rest of the story.
The next book I'll be reading will be The Waterhole by Graeme Base.
Until next time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hello there!
My name is Ryan Alchin and I am an aspiring teacher who is studying a Bachelor of Education (Primary and Middle schooling degree) at the University of South Australia. I am majoring in Physical Education and English and will hopefully some day get to share my passion in these two fields with some eager to learn students!
I have found that while studying here at UniSA, I have changed and grown in many ways, making many new friendships and learning a lot of new things. My hobbies outside of schooling include reading comic books, trying out new and different foods and enjoying the company of friends and family.
All my posts on this blog will be related to the teaching of English and Literacy to young students. I will be deconstruction various features in different books for various ages, focusing on 5 picture books and 3 older novels. I hope that my assessing of these books will offer some insight into how to use them in a teaching context as well as what aspects would be beneficial in class organisation.
Until next time,
Ryan.
The final book I read and would like to talk about, while not actually being a narrative story as such, is Richard Dawkins The Magic of Reality. This book was a gift given to me on my birthday and is a perfect example of literature that could be utilised in the classroom. The point of the book is to educate people on the magic of what surrounds us, focusing specifically on what is scientifically known and looking at its beauty. There is a certain possibility and poetry to the way science is presented in this story, giving explanations of facts unknown or clarifying folklore. A great example of this would be the discussion of how everything really began, looking at the galaxy and giving pictures to display the vastness of space. This leads onto various topics in the book, spanning from temperature that sustains life to the ever lingering question "Are we alone?". While these questions are never specifically answered, they are given explanation and to some degree are scientifically justified. 
