Thursday, September 13, 2012

Book 3



Nude

By Morris Gleitzman and Paul Jennings.


Nude is the first novel in a six part series however the first three pages lure you in. With the authors use of language it would capture the interest of many year levels.eg lump of poo, fresh piece of poop and gaping at the crazy sight. The chapters throughout the novel rotate between the two main characters, Sprocket and Amy, which was a bit confusing at first then became intriguing right to the last page, where the connection between the two characters was revealed. The novel is written  in the first person which would allow the imagination to run wild.


Book 2


Airy Fairy Magic

Written by Margaret Ryan

Airy Fairy Magic Mix-Up! Written by Margaret Ryan is one novel in a series based around a boarding school for orphaned fairies. The main character is Airy Fairy; she daydreams and gets into a lot of trouble when she messes up her spells. Airy Fairies main rival is Scary Fairy who dislikes Airy Fairy because despite her clumsiness and the muddles she gets into all the other fairies love her. Magic Mix-up! is set in the summer holidays and the teacher takes the fairies on their summer vacation to a camping ground. Scary Fairy uses the holiday to pick on Airy Fairy but all fairies rally around her. This novel may interest girls more than boys but tackles real issues of bullying in a light hearted way and can open many areas of discussion on the topic. Used in a classroom setting the novel could target year levels from Reception to Year 4.



Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Book 7: Refugees

Book Title: Refugees
Author: David Miller
Year: 2003
Genre:


A swamp on the outskirts of town, is home to two wild blue-billed ducks. One day huge machinery began to move towards the swamp, which resulted in water loss. Refugees tells the story of the duck's misadventures in trying to find a safe place to live. This book is quite detailed using descriptive language, and has a powerful meaning behind the story. Although it has a lack of words and has big pictures that illustrate the text, this book would be most suitable for middle-upper primary. This is because it would be hard for younger students to be able to relate the two ducks with the lifestyle of a refugee.
 
This book would be suitable for a resource in an English, or Geography lesson if looking at refugees.

Week 4

In Week 4 we focused on writing as a social and cultural practice and the use of writing in a classroom.The first activity was thinking back to our early memories of writing. Jack kept a journal when he was younger, writing when they travelled. He liked it.

Writing to live; connects writing with students lives.After this activity we looked at some examples of NAPLAN tests, the literacy component. The creative writing section demonstrated the developing writer and proficient writer. It was evident that there were more complex text types e.g. arguments and more varied sentence openings and longer, more complex sentences.


We were all handed out examples of students writing and asked to match the writing samples and its description. The first example was experimental/early writing because it was evident that oral language was the precursor of speech written. The student's writing was very egocentric with repetitious sentence patterns. Example two and three belong in the  Experimental writing phase since there were simple  to compound sentences; few complex sentences and little awareness of others and their emotions.

Reading
Features of a Recount
  • A recount tells the reader what happened, recalling a past event such as Elouisa's excursion
  • It has a descriptive title.
  • Orientation
  • Personal Comments to convey opinion
Language used in a Recount
  • Nouns and pronouns to identify those involved
  • Action verbs, past tense, conjunctions and time connectives, uses adverbs, and adjectives.
Features of a Procedure

  • A way of insturctions or give directions


Activity 2

In the piece is it apparent that the girl was writing was in the Experimental/Early Writing stage. Her writing is speech written down since there is minimal punctuation. The feelings manifest through the constant listings of events as well using the word 'Oh Terrific'.





Book 13: Tomorrow When The War Began



Book Title: Tomorrow When the War Began

Author: John Marsden
 
Year Published: 1993

Genre: Action, Adventure Novel
 
 
 

Tomorrow When the War Began follows a group of seven young teenagers that have to deal with there town, Warrawee being taken over while they are on a camping trip. The novel is written in first person by a character named Ellie. After the group find out what has happened to their town they try do as much as possible to stay strong and try fight back. This novel is suitable for students aged 13-16. 

Monday, September 10, 2012

Book 12: Trophy Kid



Book Title: Trophy Kid

Author: Pat Flynn

Year Published: 1960

Genre: Children's Literature
 
 
 
This novel is about a Marcus Wright a school tennis star. He has a dilemma whether to choose love or the next state titles. Marcus goes to his two friends Matt and Kayla for help even though they know nothing about tennis. Marcus soon becomes he own worst enemy when he puts too much pressure on himself. There are many themes evident throughout the novel for the reader to understand such as winning and losing, death and support from your peers. This novel is suitable for 10-14 year olds.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Book 11: Shark Girl




Book Title: Shark Girl
 
Author: Kelly Bingham

Year Published: 2007

Genre: Children's Literature
 
This very inspirational novel by Kelly Bingham is about a bright 15 year old artist who has her right arm amputated off by a shark attack. She is very self conscious about what her friends and boys might say about her when she goes back to school. To help get her life back on track she volunteers at the hospital so she can re-discover herself. This novel is suitable for the age of 12 and about and helps students learn about trauma and the feeling of being different.