Week 4 Discussion

Our discussion this week was about 2 main things. The first point was regarding the questions for activity 2 on page 269 of Winch et al. Petrina and I spoke about the emotion portrayed in the passage of writing and that the words almost ‘tumble out’ of the student due to her excitement about going to the circus. You can really imagine the look on her face if she was in front of you, telling the story. We identified the use of words such as ‘terrific’, ‘I said YES’, ‘very funny’ and ‘good fun’ as ways of expressing the emotion and ‘let’s hurry and get ready now’ as a way of expressing urgency and excitement. We also talked about the spelling and grammatical errors that were clearly evident and that it is important as a teacher to acknowledge the fact that the writing is understandable and creative before focussing on what needs to be fixed. One technique that we identified in order to help correct some of the problems was for the student to read her story aloud to the teacher so that they can hear their work out loud and make sense of it themselves.

The second point that was discussed was the identification of the different text types or genres (Winch et al) and how we were able to identify each text type with the examples that were brought in (all from magazines). We looked as an advertisement for Seymour College as an exposition piece, ‘How to open a drinking coconut’ as a procedural piece, an advertisement about cranberry juice as an information report and a story titles ‘Shopping Meltdown’ as a recount. We then discussed the need to teach the different text types in classrooms, as it is important for students to be able to write for different audiences with different outcomes in mind. We ended on identifying the potential concerns in regards to teaching the text types and that it is important to make them relevant to their lives and give them a purpose in order to ensure the tasks are engaging.

Miss Bilby & Stuck

'Miss Bilby' by Colin Thiele

This picture book has text that not only rhymes, but that details important information about Bilbies and in particular, their endangerment. The story describes the real threats that Bilbies encounter and the positive impact that humans can have on endangered species. The pictures are simple, but beautiful and compliment the story well. A beautifully written story with an important message.









'Stuck' by Oliver Jeffers

This book is a cute and fun story that has gorgeous artwork to go along with it. If you really look for a message in this book, you could say that it is about thinking before acting, but I really just saw it as an entertaining story that children will enjoy. The text looks handwritten and some sentences and words are bigger than others to emphasize different points. All in all, this book is a bit of fun; both to read and look at.

Week 3 Personal Readings

'I'm the Best' written and illustrated by Lucy Cousins is a picture book about a small dog.
Dog decides to go around to his friends ladybird, gode, mole and donkey and boast about his superority and well.... everything!  As Dog gets too big for his boots, Dog finds that his so-called superiority is eventually challenged by his friends.

His friends become saddened by all the things he can do better, but Mole realises that he can dig deeper and the others come to understand that they have qualities Dog does not. Dog comes back to reality and becomes quite depressed over the fact that he isn't the best at everything and apologises to his friends.  All Dog's friends get together and give him a big hug and tell him he is the best at being their best friend and having beautiful fluffy ears!

I kissed the Baby! is written and illustrated by Mary Murphy (Judge of  So you Can Think You Can Dance America).  This picture book firstly captured my attention with its bold, graphic black and white illustrations.   News of a new born baby is passed from animal to aminal, each animal- bird, fish, squirrel, frog and insect is boasting of seeing, singing, kissing, feeding or tickling the new born baby.  Its a very simple and sweet picture book which captures the excitement that a new born baby can bring.

Week 3 Readings (Alicia)

My week 3 Readings were-

The Witches by Roald Dahl & Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

The Witches tells a story of a young boy who lives with his grandmother after the untimely death of his parents in a car crash.  She tells him all sorts of stories- especially about witches....r-e-a-l...w-i-t-c-h-e-s!  The boy gobbles up his grandmothers stories about how to spot witches(ex-wearing gloves to hide their talons. wigs because they are bald and blue saliva).  The story continues on at a hotel on the south coast of England for school holiday.  Little do they know this is the SAME place the witches are having their annual meeting.  The plot twists and turns using themes such as overcoming the monster, the quest, voyage and return, tradgedy, comedy and rebirth.  It is a touching tale for all ages that has been adapted for the stage and screen and remainsa classic since it's initial printing in 1983.


Where the Sidewalk Ends is a childrens book of poetry filled with fanciful characters and wonderfully illustrated line drawings (also by Silverstein).  Each page has a new character accompanied by a short almost always humerous tale told in rhymes.  I'd also like to mention that while researching this author for my author study I discovered that Silverstein was personally involved in the printing process of this book.  He had picked the type of paper and weight for his book to be printed on as this was just as important to him as an artist as the book itself was a work of art, an experience.  I remember reading these books over 25 years ago as a child and couldn't get enough of them, it's been so fun revisiting them again as an adult and I look forward to reading these poems to my daughter.

Week 3 Group Discussion Summary

Our initial discussion focussed on the idea of ‘deep literacy’ and the importance of introducing children to, and engaging them with, ‘big’ concepts and complex themes (as exemplified within some of our chosen books:  The refugee experience, habitat destruction, endangered animals, dancing bears, and whaling), and ways in which authors have woven these themes into a narrative structure, in these instances employing 3^rd-person narration.  We observed that the themes in the picture books mirrored the social concerns at the time of publication (e.g. Dancing Bears). We noted that some books (e.g. David Miller’s Refugees) are easier to fit into both the conventional narrative structure and 7 (or 8?) basic plots than others, and found that it wasn’t always as straightforward to identify basic plot structures as we had assumed. Libby Gleeson’s representation of a narrative as a piece of string with knots at strategic points in the story was a useful object lesson, but we remained uncertain about whether sub-plots could embody different basic plots. Consideration of the manner by which plotting story shapes can be an effective tool for analysing and engaging with what is really happening in a narrative was a useful exercise, and one which would be helpful in a classroom context.  

Week 3 Personal Reading Program

The amount of information that Jeannie Baker communicates via her intricate collages in Mirror is truly astonishing.  The reader is encouraged to reflect on the points of connection and difference in the parallel lives of a boy living in inner Sydney, and another in the Valley of Roses, Morocco by cleverly presenting them side-by-side.  Two cultures … two stories … one powerful representation.

My second book, Henry and Amy by Stephen Michael King also introduces us to two young children, using gentle humour in text and image to consider themes such as self-doubt, accepting ourselves and others, and friendship. In our home it is a family favourite.

Wilfred Gordon Macdonald Partridge, Author Mem Fox, Illustrator Julie Vivas

Wilfred Gordon Macdonald Partridge is a story of a young boy and his endevour to recall the memory of an old friend 'Miss Nancy'. Through the relationships that Wilfred had with a group of older people he builds an understanding of what a 'memory' is and how it can relate to a range of different emotions and life experiences. Wilfred's ability to collect a range of different objects, that trigger different memories allowed Mrs. Nancy to regain her memory and remember the friendship and relationship that she had with Wilfred. 

I feel that this resource allows students to construct their own concept of a memory and what it means to them. The understanding and empathy that is developed within this book allows students of all age groups to relate and create connections with their own life experience. 

Koala Lou, Author Mem Fox, Illustrator Pamela Lofts

Koala Lou is a story which follows a child's need for love and attention from her mother. Koala Lou competes in The Bush Olympics as a cry for attention and a need for her mother to notice and love her. Throughout the story Fox uses repetition of the line "Koala Lou, I do love you" until it is finally understood that Koala Lou's mothers love is unconditional. 

I feel that this resource would be especially useful with students in the younger year levels in emphasising that parents love is unconditional and that despite the amount of siblings or the impact of life in general there will be no deterrent of a parents love for their children.