17th August Reading is my secret power

It is Book Week in Australia, a time to celebrate books, especially Australian books, authors, illustrators and reading. As I only teach 4 to 8 year olds I found it harder this year to get enthused about the books on the shortlists. I shared the Early Childhood shortlisted books with my Kindergarten and Year 1 classes, but felt that in the main they were aimed at an even younger audience.   I read my Year 2s The All New Must Have Orange 430  from the Picture Book Shortlist, which they did enjoy and discussed the message at length, but I didn't feel invested in any of the others on the list, too much background needed.

So, instead Year 2 classes and I have shared books where the theme of Book Week, Reading is my secret power  and the theme of the power of reading has opened their eyes and mouths to just what reading or the lack of it means. We have had lots of lively debate, some good personal reflection and connections and lots of questions. All good.

Firstly, we read that wonderful book by Nadia Wheatley, The Greatest Gift of Charlemagne the King. Why is it out of print? The debate at the end of this story about what the greatest gift is always amazes me. The students fall into three camps, those who think it is the book, those who think it is the library and those who think it is the ability to read. Remember these animated students are 7 or 8 and they are loudly and vehemently stating their case.

Secondly, we read Nasreen's Secret School  by Jeanette Winter. I stopped at the part where it says the girls were not allowed to go to school and separated the students into boys and girls. The boys were asked to discuss what they thought it would be like to have no girls in the class. The girls were asked to discuss what they thought it would be like to stay home from school every day. Four different Year 2 classes all had very different views on this. We then kept reading and discussed at the end what would happen long term without schools.

Thirdly, we read Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges which continued this theme of education only for boys. The girls in particular had very little difficulty putting themselves in Ruby's shoes and had lots to say about being excluded from a university education. I paired this with The Girl Who Buried her Dreams in a Can an autobiographical picture book by Tererai Trent so that the students realised that this is not a phenomena applicable only in Ancient China or Afghanistan, but also happened in parts of Africa.

We haven't read these two books yet, but I plan to also share with the students what happens when learning to read is not easy or doesn't happen when you're young, by sharing Patricia Polacco's Thank You, Mr Falker and Amy Hest's Mr George Baker.

22nd - 26th August Book Week

Well another Book Week in Australia is over. This year's theme Australia: Story Country proved to be a good one and each class at my school celebrated with an Australian book that they read and  used as inspiration for discussions and response activities that highlighted places in Australia, either in the form of travel to places mentioned or to the home of authors, illustrators or famous Australians.
Each class did a one page 'postcard' to display for the whole school population and visitors to read read in the corridor. It was a huge success. On Grandparents Day on Friday the corridor was full of children showing adults their work and discussing the books displayed along side. See images below that when joined together made a long Rainbow Serpent winding its way to the library. Not all classes work is here as some had photos or identified specific children. The teachers chose the books to either fit with a unit of enquiry, because it was a favourite book or author or because the students showed interest in it. I was so impressed with the range and what each class did.

There are four classes per grade. The books chosen were:

Kindergarten
* My Place  by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins
* Silly Birds  by Gregg Dreise
* Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (new paperback single story editions) by May Gibbs and Mark McLeod
* Koala Lou  by Mem Fox and Pamela Lofts
Year 1
* Are We There Yet? by Alison Lester
* Bright Star  by Gary Crew and Anne Spudvilas
* Where the Forest Meets the Sea  by Jeannie Baker
* Tiny: A Little Dog on a Big Adventure  by Jennifer Castles and Steve Otton
Year 2
* Enora and the Black Crane  by Arone Raymond Meeks
* Feathers and Fools by Mem Fox and Nicholas Wilson (US) and Lorraine Ellis (Aus)
* Home  by Narelle Oliver
* You and Me Murrawee by Kerri Hashmi and Felicity Marshall