Jan 2007 Books to compare, first podcast

17 Jan 2007

My first Podcast
"Alexander's Outing" by Pamela Allen (Puffin, 1994) tells the tale of Alexander who wandered along with his head in the air, not looking where he was going ...and of course disaster befell him.
This is a wonderful children's literature example involving the reader/ listener using higher order thinking skills (HOTS), including predicting, problem solving and reflection.
Why do I feel like Alexander? Getting my head around this blogging and podcasting technology I could be on the road to a similar disaster.


Feb 2007
More books to compare for similarities
With my year 2 students, we have found many similar/parallel stories in the folk stories we have been reading. Notably, lots of different versions of City Mouse - Country Mouse (seven in our school library). Our favourite (girls) was "The Mouse with the Daisy Hat" - with a hint of romance.
An interesting pair was the Russian story "The Magic Gifts" and the Scandinavian folkstory "Peter and the North Wind" with many different features, but enough parallels for the students to predict the next event.
I hope to record (using my ipod) the next storyreading with the students' discussions after, edit using Audacity, then use this as audio for a PhotoStory3 movie (illustrations by the students).

Mar 2007
Comparing stories with year 2 students
Today I read the second in a pairing of books with Year 2 students. We were looking and listening for similarities and differences. It's always so interesting to watch faces as the students realise that these stories are about to follow similar paths and they can predict what may happen next.

The books of choice, within a folk-lore theme, were Nonny Hogrogian's "One Fine Day" (Caldecott Medal winner in 1971) and a book (anonymous) called "Cat and Mouse".
The parallels in the story were (1) the main character/ animal initially lost its tail, (2) this character then spent time trying to please numerous other persons in the chain while trying to get its tail returned (3) each person wanted a favour/payback in return for doing a good turn (4) the chain turned about when one person unselfishly gave without asking a return favour. One child called this a "pass-on" story like the game we play at parties. We are now out looking for similar types of story - "The Old Woman and the Pig" comes to mind.

May 2007 More favourites- books updated
One of my favourite story books is by American Author Bill Peet. "Big Bad Bruce" is a rollicking tale of a troublesome bear and a wily witch, with magic and trickery and lots of humour and much loved by my year 2 students. Sadly, Bruce is a bully, and even a wily witch cannot make him change his ways.
In my school library I also have another "Big Bad Bruce" picture book by an Australian author, Dianne Bates. This one tells the story of rough, tough Bruce the bikie and his weekend jaunts with his gang (of bikies) and his gang (family)- softly coloured, flowing illustrations yet with a touch of sharpness plus a surprise ending to this tale.
Now I have purchased a third "Big Bad Bruce", still by Dianne Bates (author) but a new illustrator, Cheryl Johns - and a very different feel to the illustrations- more modern and edgy, sharp, cluttered and powerful, tied by colour and design elements to the Harley bike image. How wonderful to be able to view two interpretations of the same story - great for visual literacy components of our English program.