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S y n o p s i s - The Whale Who Wanted More KS1

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S y n o p s i s - The Whale Who Wanted More KS1

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RACHEL BRIGHT & JIM FIELD

This book opens introducing the Humphrey the whale. We see that he is lonely, but is on a quest.
The quest is to find something shiny, he searches all over and gathers things in large and small hauls, but he is never satisfied. Humphrey finds 'perfection' a gorgeous coral reef filled with lots of things he wants.

However, we learn that the reef, 'once magical' was now chaotic! With 'too many neighbours and not enough space.' As the creatures were too busy fighting with each other, they did not notice Humphrey's shadow above!

Crystal then takes it upon herself to shout at Humphrey to stop. She asks him why he always wants more. Humphrey does not know exactly, but he does want to feel 'filled-up, happy and whole'. Crystal says he may find that happiness comes from being 'caring' and 'kind'. She asks him if he has a gift to share with the world.

Humphrey realised that he can sing, but has not had anyone to give this gift to. He begins to sing and the ocean balance is restored. Humphrey's gift fulfils him more than any things he has collected. He learns how to give back.

The final message of the story is 'for we all need so little to have quite enough'

Link to book: https://youtu.be/00Dy6kNqUuY

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🐳 THE WHALE WHO WANTED MORE (Read Aloud) by Rachel Bright & Jim Field

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Identify the age/phase - The Whale Who Wanted More KS1

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Identify the age/phase - The Whale Who Wanted More KS1

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Suitable for ages: 5-6 KS1
I believe that this book is most suitable for 5-6 age range. This book is very kinaesthetically engaging with lots of colours and full-page illustrations, which I think a year 1 group would really enjoy and provides opportunity to ask questions, promoting book talk.

Questions (1) Some examples of such questions could be:
Do you think Humphrey is happy?
Why do you think that the sea creatures are fighting?

This book would be a good whole class read aloud that could form part of a unit of work. As a whole class read aloud, it is a perfect story to use before lunch/end of the day because it is quite short and easy to follow for younger children. However, it could become a topic of work, looking into the ocean, creatures that live there and become cross-curricular with a science topic on climate change (noting that Humphrey is collecting a lot of human rubbish in the ocean).

The author has used a mix of end rhymes and internal rhyming which is very easy to read and follow along with. This may lead into a class activity, children could try to rhyme their own sentences.

Another possible activity (2):
The book is read aloud but stops for example, when Humphrey reaches the coral reefs of "perfection". At this point, the teacher asks the children to write what they think will/should happen next. To support this learning, the children will have learned about rhyming in a previous session. This task will strengthen this knowledge and provide an opportunity to practice.

Activity (3):
The children may create a simple storyboard of a sequel to The Whale Who Wanted more. They would have 5-8 boxes and use simple sentences, using rhyming where possible to construct their sequel story. This is a cross-curricular activity if the teacher felt that the class could be pushed further, with Art and DT. They may be offered a choice of media to draw/paint their storyboard pictures (Art) and could even make a simple book out of A4/A3 paper (DT) if this is suitable for the class.

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MARCUS PFISTER

The Rainbow Fish is all about a fish who has beautiful shining scales. All the other fish want scales like The Rainbow Fish, but when they ask for a scale, The Rainbow Fish just silently swims away.

Eventually, The Rainbow Fish realises how lonely he feels and asks an octopus why no other fish like him. The octopus tells Rainbow Fish that he should give away his scales to the other fish. Rainbow Fish doesn't believe that he can do this, but in the end, he decides to share his scales and has lots of friends!

Link to reading aloud of the book: https://youtu.be/Z3cmddZh6t8

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Identify the age/phase - The Rainbow Fish KS1

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Identify the age/phase - The Rainbow Fish KS1

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Suitable for ages: 4-6
This story is simple and easy for children to engage with. It provides many opportunities for book talk as the teacher can ask lots of questions to understand how the children have interpreted the story. For example, do they agree with the choices Rainbow Fish made?
I chose this book for my assignment because I remember it so well from primary school. We had a whole topic on this book and made a big display in the classroom together.

The illustrations in this book use a lovely colour palette and represent small parts of the ocean very well. The way Rainbow Fish's scales sparkle is very exciting for children, especially within the age bracket I have suggested for this book.

I strongly feel that The Rainbow Fish could be a gateway to starting children's engagement in book talk. From my own experiences, I remembered it so well this book has been a strong memory for me for 14 years, and I have now chosen it for a university assignment! I think this alone suggests how powerful this book can be to encourage children to keep reading.

This book is also a lot of fun for teachers to read and use for class topics, providing an opportunity to show yourself as a passionate book reader.

The Rainbow Fish would an excellent topic for a unit of work:

Activities/Tasks/Questions:

1. Focus on The Rainbow Fish as a character and use collaging in Art to create their own Rainbow Fish and identify how Rainbow Fish is feeling at certain points of the story and why. They could also give their opinion of what Rainbow Fish should do next.

2. Question: After the children are familiar with the story, ask questions such as:
- Why is the Rainbow Fish reluctant to give up his scales?
- Do you think the Rainbow Fish needs to learn how to share?
- Why is sharing important?

3. Children may write short pieces about their favourite part of the book, possibly the illustrations, a certain fish etc. These could be placed on a wall display.

Additional Note: A journal suggested that The Rainbow Fish could be used to explore interpersonal relationships with children. This could then tie in with a PSHE session on relationships.
Link to journal: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED468871.pdf

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S y n o p s i s - We're Going on a Bear Hunt KS1

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S y n o p s i s - We're Going on a Bear Hunt KS1

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MICHEAL ROSEN & HELEN OXENBURY

We're Going on a Bear Hunt is a repetitive, rhyming short book.
We follow the family as they go on a bear hunt through long grass, deep rivers, thick mud, a dark forest, a snowstorm and a  gloomy cave! When the family reach the cave, they discover a bear and have to run back home all the way through the places they have just been. Eventually, they arrive at their home, and hide under their bed.

Link to audio version: https://youtu.be/-d1_Z068z74

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S Y N O P S I S - The Girl of Ink and Stars

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S Y N O P S I S - The Girl of Ink and Stars

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This book focuses on a girl called Isabella. Isabella dreams of exploring the 'Faraway Lands' that her father used to map. However, the island is now under new management, you cannot leave.

One day, Isabella's best friend goes missing, and she must lead the search for her. Whilst searching, Isabella realises that she must in fact save the island itself. This book is full of mystery, legend and adventure. Isabella must navigate it all to find her friend and save the island she loves.

https://youtu.be/n_9kDF3PWc0

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Identify the age/phase - We're Going on a Bear Hunt KS1

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Identify the age/phase - We're Going on a Bear Hunt KS1

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We're Going on a Bear Hunt is one of the greatest known children's stories across the world. This is one of the main reasons I chose to look at this book as my final KS1 book. As it is so well known internationally, the book is available in many different languages, as well as in dual-language books. This makes it an excellent resource for EAL students, to encourage book talk, immerse them in English whilst they have the comfort of the language they are most familiar with to support their understanding.

The ideal age for this story ranges from 3-7. The story is very exciting for children to read-along with and is very simple to follow. Therefore, it is most suitable for younger children as an introduction to reading/book talk.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt is very versatile but in the classroom, is best as a whole class read aloud. It repeats the same sequence of sentences for each place the family experiences. As the children recognise the repetition, they usually join in and can gain a great sense of adventure following along with the journey they are taking to find a bear. The text is very easy to read due to its size and the simple words used are easy for children to recognise if a teacher is reading to the whole class.

Why is this book especially good for book talk?
Use of onomatopoeia (swishy-swashy, squelch, squerch). This is exciting for children to listen to and say themselves.
The rhythm of the book whilst reading, is very fun for children to read along with. It encourages children's engagement with reading and reading confidence with the classroom.

Possible activities/questions:

Activity 1: Children may recreate part of the story with role-play. This could be a cross-curricular activity with PE. Each small group of children have one part of the story to tell and get to practice different actions to perform in a sequence. The teacher could assess from this the children's understanding of the words. This activity could also be done outside. The book is read alongside children performing their scenes, solidifying the connections between the words and the meaning of the words.

Question 2: Throughout the story, the teacher may ask children to predict what they feel may happen next, and whether they feel the family should go on the bear hunt, encouraging the children to expand with a simple reason why they feel that way.

Question 3: At the end of the story, a short series of questions could be used to evaluate children's feelings and attitudes towards that specific book and reading in general. For example: What was your favourite part of the book?
Do you think you would like to go on a bear hunt?

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Identify the age/phase: The Girl of Ink and Stars

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Identify the age/phase: The Girl of Ink and Stars

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This book is most suited to older children 10-11 or perhaps children in Year 5 that need to be challenged. It is quite an easy book to follow, but quite long (240 pages).

I feel this book would work best as a whole class read aloud. Whole class reading is crucial to help children develop literacy skills and fluency in reading (Gold, Gibson, 2001). I think it is really important that each child has an opportunity to read a part of the story in the class room. Each child should read a section similar in length, but adapted to their ability if needed. Furthermore, the teacher can read the first section, modelling to the children the pace and fluency that they can try to reflect in their turn.

Activities/questions:

Question Activity 1:
After each chapter has been read aloud, or when each child has finished their section, the teacher will ask questions based on the text to generate book talk. They would be based on the chapter/section read. For example, in Chapter One, a question could be 'What do you think about Isabella's character so far?' this question asks children to demonstrate that they have thought about and understood the text describing Isabella's characteristics.

Activity 2:
Children could create their own map and mythical land based on the story. They might have to write a paragraph that describes a character or maybe themselves and what they can see, hear and smell in their land. The teacher should model this paragraph first, giving examples of the language they should include in their work. To ensure that the children think for themselves in this activity, the teacher could prompt children to think of some adjectives for this in a class discussion, putting them on the whiteboard for children to use as a scaffold.

Task 3:
Role-play. Children may use tablo to show a frame of a part of the story. They will the be asked to say a word or phrase that describes how they feel as the character in that moment.

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S Y N O P S I S - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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S Y N O P S I S - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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Harry Potter is not an ordinary 11 year old boy. He, unbeknownst to him, is a wizard. Harry lives with his aunt and uncle in Privet Drive after his parents were killed. When he receives a letter, inviting him to join Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry sets off on the adventure of a lifetime. Join Harry and his friends for a school year in Hogwarts!

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is suitable for all ages. For reading however, I feel a good age is between 8-11 for the activities I have chosen as children will be able to understand what they are reading at this age. Younger children may enjoy the story but it could be too complex of a book to engage with at this depth.

I think this book should be a unit of work. There are so many opportunities to make a sequence of lessons surrounding this book, incorporating every subject! I think it is an exciting story to engage in cross-curricular.

Activity 1:
Children have to discuss the characters - hot seat one. Teacher models, are asked questions, why did you do this? what did you feel like when you saw Hogwarts for the first time? Before this activity, children would have to understand how to ask questions and know what they need to find out. When children are comfortable with this, they may then take turns getting into character. I think it could be very fun to provide the children with props to help them become the characters and see their imaginations at work!

Activity 2:
I had an idea of creating a DIY scrapbook of their journey through the Harry Potter story. It would contain bits of their work creating a collage of activities and providing opportunities to consolidate book talk. The activities may include mind mapping around a character, writing a descriptive paragraph about a scene they are 'in' and answering short book talk questions.

Task 3: Children have to solve the Hogwarts mystery! Questions that relate to book talk (how did you feel when this happened? what do think this character should have done?) they have to engage with the story in order to answer the questions, recalling what they have read and coming up with reasoned answers. I think I would do this as the first lesson of the day for English as it is an exciting hook and would hopefully prepare children to learn for the rest of the day.

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Wolf Brother tells the story of Torak, a young boy, on a quest to save his forest. Torak stumbles upon an orphaned Wolf on his journey and forms a pack with him, a connection he needs to complete his quest. Along the way, Torak meets a frightening clan, The Raven Clan and must prove that he is not a threat to them in a duel. The clan reveal to Torak that he is a prophecy, he is the Listener, the one who is destined to destroy the bear. Upon learning this, Torak continues with his quest, knowing that it is up to him to defeat the evil bear that is going to kill his beloved forest. With Wolf, and his new friends by his side, Torak bravely faces this task and fulfils his late father's instructions.

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Wolf Brother is an exciting tale for children to engage with. I believe that Year 6 children are most suited to this novel. It is quite a long book though it is not complex in language and uses lots of adjectives.  The story is set 6,000 years ago in the Mid-Stone Age Era which provides many cross-curricular teaching opportunities for this book.

I think this book could be set as a home read task for each child, perhaps asking them to read two chapters per weekend (they are relatively short chapters and so this may be increased if the teacher feels this is suitable). The activities to encourage book talk may be:

Question/s 1: A short set of questions to discuss with the whole class that aims to review the chapters that have been read over the weekend to check children's understanding of what they have read. For example: What creature was Torak trying to run from?
How did Torak feel after losing his father?

Activity 2: As you move through the book, children may look at the Stone Age as part of their History lessons where this book may be a good cross-curricular link. They might research some of the terminology used in the book such as buckskin and research what the environment would have looked like surrounding Torak. This encourages book talk as children will discuss what they find, how they would feel being in the same environment as Torak and learn more about the context of the setting.

Task 3: The class may look at Stone Age art that has been discovered. To scaffold, the children will have copies of some examples of cave painting for reference. They will then make their own painting in reference to a chapter, for example, when Torak meets Wolf. To expand this activity, children may be tasked with going outside to find natural materials such as leaves to add to their pictures. Their work may be added to a working wall with a short description of how the character is feeling and what they are experiencing in their painted scene.