UEL Primary PGCE 2013-14 discussion
P6 on-course reviews
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Book Review No.10 - Dinosaurs Love Underpants - Clair Freedman & Ben CortThere are spoilers in this review - it's a personal favourite book!
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Book Review No.12 - The Smartest Giant in Town - Julia Donaldsonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book review 7:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book review 8:
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Book review 9:
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Book review 10:
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Book review 11:
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Book review 12:
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:)
Flotsam David WiesnerA beautifully illustrated picture book describing the seaside adventure of a young boy who finds an innate camera floating along the shore. He is flabbergasted when he realises that the camera unlocks the key to a realm of photos, revealing life underwater unlike anything we know. A world where, starfish dance elegantly whilst holding small cities on their backs and fish are made of mechanical parts.
Who will be next to unlock the magical world of Flotsam?
The book is suitable for all primary school children as it requires readers to engage with illustrations rather than text. Flotsam, can be used in numerous ways around the classroom and can be adapted in teaching all ages.
Firstly, children could be provided with images from the story and different writing techniques (the power of three, adverbial starters, similes, dialogue, ing-starters). Children must pair the two together by creating a sentence for the story using the writing technique. Once all of the pictures from the story have been made into sentences, these could to create a full text. This allows children to understand how different writing techniques are combined to create an effective piece of writing.
Another way Flotsam could be used in the classroom is, by getting children to write a letter to a friend explaining that they have found. This teaches children how to follow the conventions of a letter, introduces formal and informal writing and encourages children to use different writing techniques to create imagery for the reader.
Flotsam could also be used in the lower years through the use of story mapping. Children could create their own story map of flotsam and add sentences to their story map explaining what is happening in each picture. This provides a framework for individuals new to story writing and aids in structuring their work.
1)The brave monkey by Hayes RobertsThis story is about a little monkey who goes out into the world, searching for something to remove his fear of getting an injection done that will prevent him from getting scurvy. The adventure of the little monkey is an important theme in the story as it is a symbol of maturity and a step into understanding the world. The book illustrates the importance of family too and the nuclear family, with both the father and the mother playing an active role in nurturing the child into finding a solution to his problem. The image of the doctor is crucial is showing the importance of looking after one’s own health and the importance of taking medications or injections for protection. The child follows a map to find a rock and this experience of following a map presents his independence and demonstrates the need to learn by oneself through ecperimentation and discovery. The mention of scurvy is also educational within the science subject and shows the importance of receiving vaccinations at a young age. If a monkey can do it, then humans can do so too.
2) The Journey of the Noble Gnarble by Daniel Errico illustrated by Christain Colabelli The story is centred round a ‘gnarble’, a fantastic, imagined type of fish that strives to reach the top of the sea and escape. The creative nature of the very name of the fish sparks up imagination in children’s minds too. He has been told that he is not capable of swimming up high by his peers and goes through many obstacles before reaching the top of the sea. The story is written in rhyming couplets, a very effective writing tool which enables the story to be told as a song and the tone of the voice can be changed too. This is appropriate for children for seven and below as the rhyming allows sounds to be repeated. The song like nature of the book is entertaining for children and would attract their attention. The images are very effective as they are very colourful and quite big, so if the children didn’t fully comprehend from the sentences, the picture would give them an idea of what the story line is. The story teaches children to uphold and maintain a concrete self confidence and high self esteem as demonstrated by the gnarble; he believed that he could swim and reach the top of the sea in the story regardless of the rest of the characters.
3) The Little Ginger Bread Man written and illustrated Carol Moore The central theme of the story is friendship. It initially starts off with an old lady baking gingerbreads in her oven when suddenly a butterfly comes and takes away the last gingerbread man. The last one was unique in the sense that it was half the size of the other gingerbread men. Running away from the wild animals depicted in the story, he nearly gets eaten by a fox however the butterfly saves him and returns him back to his family. The butterfly represents true loyalty and honesty in the story. It also demonstrates that through loyalty in a friendship, one can attain success and happiness and this is why I enjoyed reading the story. By using animals as the main characters in the story, it also teaches sensible traits that us humans should have too and to also be careful of people who are evil - the figure of the fox represents a cunning and a greedy character. It is appropriate for children aged 5-7, as there are rhymes and chorus which repeat throughout the story which is quite entertaining for children. I would suggest that this story to be used during drama sessions and role play, where children can get the opportunity to sing the chorus too. Children will also get the opportunity to dress up as animals so the thought of creating animal outfits and changing voice pitches can be quite fun. The book can be used in the curriculum and linked to PSHE (to be fair with friends and build honest and loyal relationships), art (creating various types of gingerbread men), food technology (making gingerbread men) and maths (using models of ginger bread man to help with their counting skills).
4)Kitty wants a box from Carol MooreA simple book to read with simple sentences and short words that is appropriate for children in key stage 1. It’s about a cat that doesn’t find a suitable box to fit inside but at the end finds the perfect box. The cat uses trial and error with the different sized boxes and this can be relevant to maths problems where children use trial and error to solve complex problems so this book is quite important in allowing children to experiment with different and new environments. The writer uses simple adjectives like ‘small’ ‘short’ ‘wide’ ‘tall’ to describe the different boxes and the vocabulary is complemented with the illustration of the boxes too.
5)Ollie’s Jar by Carol Moore The book says a simple story of the eel Ollie, who lives in a jar and moves around the jar and then finally finds a friend. The writer uses prepositions such as ‘over’’ under’ ‘through’ ‘back’ alongside images to teach children the different positions one can move around. I like it because the simple story plot teaches the use of direction words and it is a useful language tool for children to use in their writing. The book is appropriate for ks1. Children can read this independently as the sentences are short and the message is easily comprehendible.
6)The Farm Animals written and illustrated by Rolando Merino This is an animal book, appropriate for the science genre. There are various names of animals and an image to show how the animal looks like. The use of onomatopoeic words shows the noise of the animals and they stand out from the text as it is a different colour and font. There are also sentences giving facts about the animals for example milk comes from cows and wool comes from sheep etc. The book hasn’t got a storyline however the book is educational as it helps children visualise and hear animals so it makes the children use their sense to familiarise themselves with the animal species. The book should be read out in small groups and allow the children to repeat the noises as this will help them with their speech and phonics skill. Appropriate for nursery or reception children.
7)Invisible Alligators by Hayes Roberts The story begins with a trouble faced by the character which initiates mystery and suspense in the story and draws attention from the children. She is troubled by the alligators however she manages to solve all the problems and thus presenting a key trait – she is a problem solver. Throughout the story, the author makes references to algebra which is part of the numeracy curriculum which children can relate to. The author uses fantastic characters like talking invisible alligators – a somewhat magical animal that is invisible yet visible to the character in the story which can effectively spark up imagination within children and perhaps make them think about the different types of animals that can be invisible at night. The illustrator of the story book look like sketches of a child and this illustration shows children that they too can be creative and draw sketches. The book can be used to help children think about the different types of problems they face and perhaps discuss and suggest ways in which these problems can be solved.
8)Wolstencroft the Bear by Karen Lewis The story begins with a traditional story opening ‘not long ago’ but it is set in the modern times ‘in a drug store’. The modern setting of the story allows children to relate to the story and draws more interest and attention. It also arouses curiosity as it’s about a teddy in a drug and is seemingly quite unusual. The author uses adjectives to describe the facial features of the teddy bear and therefore teaches children how to use adjectives to describe objects. The theme of the story is Christmas and Easter so the character Rita helps the teddy Wolstencroft build his self-esteem and eventually makes him realise that he should appreciate and love his own name. the idea of friendship, sacrifice, loyalty and helping one another are the key overarching themes of the story and makes children realise how we should treat one another. This book should be ideally read out in class by the teacher and show the pictures as there is a lot of text. The link to RE is of great importance and teachers could link the plot of the story to PSHE lessons and teach children how they should treat our friends, highlighting the importance of helping one another at times of need.
9) The Weiner Dog Magnet written and illustrated by Hayes Roberts The story is predominantly based on science and the mechanism behind the use of magnets. The character in the story buys a magnet with a nickel called the Weiner Dog Magnet. The author purposely inserted the name of a metal to help children expand their scientific vocabulary. After buying the magnet, she then realises that the real dogs are attracted to the magnet and this creates misery for her. The idea of how the other dogs attract to her magnet demonstrates the nature of magnets and the way they work. The character then uses the magnet and the dogs to create a bridge which also illustrates how science can be used in practical life. Science can be used to help one if he/she is in danger. Apart from the materials topic of the science, there is also a hint on healthy eating. The author mentions how she gathered her strength from the broccoli she eat, suggesting that one can be strong by eating green vegetables. The book is ideally for 7 – 9 year olds as by that age, they should be quite familiar with metals and their properties.
10)Pirate’s Treasure by Carol Moore and illustrated by Aura Moser The story is about a little child, Jimmy’s innocence in treasure hunting. He dreams about a pirate telling him to dig a hole in his garden but only to find out that there is a dog’s bone and hardly any treasure. He feels disappointed about the hard work he has done however he gets rewarded by his mother for creating a bush that he didn’t initially intend to make. The story shows how the hard work and effort of every child will be recognised one day and be praised for it and not necessarily will children be praised or recognised straight away. Work recognition needs time and also requires the right person to come along and praise it. I think the story is about patience and being humble with the hard work children put into their work. The book perhaps is aimed at 7 year olds where the idea behind the story is easily comprehendible. This could be used in the classroom to get children to think about what kind of treasures you could find underground.
11) The Kiss that Missed by Karen Brar This story is interesting as it is about a kiss that a child missed from his father. The kiss then travels quite far and the knights go to look for the kiss and bring it back to the house. The beginning sentence of the story is unusual as it is initiated by ‘Once upon a Tuesday’. The abnormal opening indicates the story to have an abnormal plot like trying to catch a kiss. The movement of the kiss gives the story a magical feeling and at the same time, it is quite humorous for children. The moral of the story is that parents should take time to read books to children and give them time before they go to bed. I like the story because I think it is very entertaining and funny. The story plot can be used to incite new humorous ideas about the flying saucer, the flying mum. The idea can give birth to new ideas for children and make them write funny stories too.
12) The library lion by Michelle Knudson The story is about a lion coming to the library but weirdly the lion wasn’t breaking any laws in the library so he was allowed. The idea of the library as the central setting makes the reading as a interesting and an attractive process. The story hour is also emphasized in the storybook which makes the children realise that even animals like a lion enjoy the story hour. It makes reading a likeable activity and something that children should try to enjoy and make into a habit like the lion. The book is very relevant in the classroom because it quite importantly makes reading as something that is valuable and important to everyone.
UEL Primary PGCE 2013-14
Books mentioned in this topic
Flood and Fang (other topics)Who's in the Bathroom? (other topics)
Dumpling (other topics)
A Squash and a Squeeze (other topics)
The Snowman (other topics)
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