Bianca's Week 8 Post

This week I focused on three picture books that each identified a very important issue that society often finds difficult to communicate with children.

The Great Katie Kate Tackles Questions About Cancer by M Maitland DeLand, M.D. and illustrated by Jennifer Zivion is an information-rich picture book which aims to help children and their families understand many of the difficult and confusing medical procedures associated with leukaemia through the use of the fictional character ‘Katie Kate’ who acts as a superhero. I found this story to be very poignant because of the book’s context. This would be a very good picture book for children aged 7 to 10 due to the language and vocabulary used. It would also be a great aid for teachers wishing to explore difficult issues associated with children suffering from cancer.

Time To Pray by Maha Addasi (translated by Nuha Albitar) and illustrated by Ned Gannon is a picture book written in both English and Arabic that explores the story of a young girl visiting her grandmother in the Middle East. During her stay, she learns about the Islamic practice of the daily five prayers, and the rituals that are associated with these prayers. I find this book to be particularly refreshing because it gives us, as Australians, an opportunity to look into the ordinary life of someone who is Islamic and witness the positive spirituality that is evident throughout their day. The last page of the book is my favourite, with detailed information on each of the five daily prayers and when they should be undertaken.

Eli the Bipolar Bear by Sharon Bracken and illustrated by Joshua Nask is a picture book that focuses on bipolar disorder in children, and how this can affect them in all aspects of their lives as well as tat of their family and friends. The main character is a polar bear called Eli, who appears to suffer from some strange and confusing behavioural problems despite having a normal, healthy family. We later learn that he has bipolar disorder, and that medication and cognitive behavioural therapy is used to help treat and alleviate his symptoms. This book is an excellent read, not only for children but for professionals and teachers as well, as it helps to create a fictional and light-hearted scenario in which a very difficult behavioural issue is raised.

PRP Post 5

Fox by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks (2000)

Fox is a picture book written by Margaret Wild and Illustrated by Ron Brooks (2010).  This books tells an emotional story that retells the story of European settlers from the point of view of animals.  Two of the main characters within this novel are the feral ‘Fox’ who has migrated to Australia and also ‘Magpie’.  The story is presented in a very interesting manner with some brilliant visuals of the outback desert.   These visuals encapsulate the beautiful red sandy landscapes and the scrub that accompanies it.  Although this is a picture book it would definitely be better read to older readers above the age of 7 as it deals with some quite complicated and emotion provoking concepts in regards to the settlers treatment of indigenous people.  This would be a great book to read children to get them thinking and hence begin a topic on indigenous Australians.

The Slobberers by Paul Jennings and Morris Gleitzman (1997)

‘The slobberers’  is the first novel in the ‘Wicked’ series written by Paul Jennings and Morris Gleitzman.  This novel is a great story of adventure with lots of wacky twists throughout the story.  It has a very deep message about getting along as both Rory and Dawn are forced to work together to survive despite their differences.  This novel also deals with the very sensitive topic of divorce for teenagers and shows the point of view of two children dealing with this.  It is overall a very wacky and entertaining tale and could be a very valuable and enjoyable read for young adolescents.

Week 7 Summary

This weeks reading talked about effective teaching of reading. This was done by discussing teaching strategies like shared (or modelled) reading, guided reading and independent reading.

I initially found the ideas of shared reading and guided reading to be confusing after reading about them in chapter 8. The examples given in chapter 10 made it much clearer that shared reading is a strategy that can be used to teach the whole class about a particular reading technique. Shared reading is lead by the teacher. Guided reading is the part that confused me a first because I thought it was the same as shared reading, but involved a smaller group. I now realise the smaller group allows the teacher to work closer with the students. The idea that the teacher guides students through the reading of a challenging book by helping them know what reading skills they should use makes more sense.

Shared and guided reading sessions are good ways to teach students the knowledge and skills they will need to be successful and independent readers.

Kaitlyn's PRP Week 6

This week I have read 2 novels

 

Title: Once

Author: Morris Gleitzman

 This book is about WW2. It is told from the perspective of a young boy. Each chapter starts with the word once. This starting sentence gives each chapter a dramatic sentence about what the boy will do in that chapter. Throughout the book the boy tells stories, this is a key part of the book. This would easily lend itself to getting students to write their own stories. With the story using a real past event there is also the opportunity for fact checking and research.

Title: Mahtab’s Story

Author: Libby Gleeson

This book is the story of a family of refugees. Libby Gleeson has used experiences taken from interviews to create this story. Reading this novel could help students build empathy by giving refugees a face and showing the refugee experience. Students could then make connections. Reading this book could also facilitate class discussions about refugee issues. Students could also discuss the reasons Gleeson had for writing the story.