ALLEN, Pamela The potato people, Penguin Books Australia, 2002. SCIS 1076536, reviewed Scan 21(3).

Cover illustration by Pamela Allen
Cover reproduced with kind permission of Penguin Books Australia
Do not reproduce

LAGUNA, Sophie (illus Kerry Argent) Too loud Lily, Omnibus Books, 2002. SCIS 1107466, reviewed Scan 22(2).

Text copyright © Sofie Laguna, 2002.
Illustrations copyright © Kerry Argent, 2002.
First Published by Omnibus Books, a division of Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd, 2002.
Reproduced by permission of Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd
Do not reproduce

SHANAHAN, Lisa (illus Emma Quay) Bear and Chook, Hodder Headline, 2002. SCIS 1073829, reviewed Scan 21(3).

Cover illustration by Emma Quay.
Cover reproduced with kind permission of Hodder Headline Australia.
Do not reproduce

TANNER, Jane Playmates, Penguin Books Australia, 2002. SCIS 1109743, reviewed Scan 22(2).

Cover illustration by Jane Tanner.
Cover reproduced with kind permission of Penguin Books Australia.
Do not reproduce

Learning about Reading – Context and Text
Discuss with students how the structure of a particular text type being read relates to its purpose and how readers can use their knowledge of text organisation to predict and extract meaning from texts.

Learning to Write – Producing Texts
WS2.9 Drafts, revises, proofreads and publishes well-structured texts that are more demanding in terms of topic, audience and written language features.

• contributes to joint text construction activity
• writes for a chosen audience
• chooses when to write subjectively or objectively
  

1. In order to construct a whole class introductory email, discuss the purpose of this Introductory email and its audience. Discuss appropriate voice, modality, greeting and ‘signature’ and email ‘etiquette’, need for accurate ‘subject’ etc. The email message would include the school’s name, location, size of group and any other interesting features of the school or class.
   
2. Access and discuss email introductions from other rappers and locate these schools on the Rap maps.
   
3. Read and enjoy the Early Childhood shortlisted books as itemised above.
   
4.   If time available, complete optional activities.
   
5. Make entries in Rap journal.
   
6. Teachers subscribe to, and introduce themselves to the Teacher-Rap.

• finds information for specific purposes in factual texts (p 29)
  
• retells and discusses interpretations of texts read or viewed, with attention to main ideas and supporting details (p 29)
  
• justifies inferences made about a text
  
• makes some inferences about ideas implicit in a text (p 29)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• writes a range of literary texts (p 37)
  
• writes a variety of poems (Modules p 272)
  
• writes fuller descriptions of people, animals and objects (p 37)
  
• writes simple poems(p 37)
  
• rereads work to clarify meaning, deletes or adds words as required, adds information (Modules p 272)
  
• recognises and discusses the organisational structure of poems (Modules p 272)
  
• uses basic structure and grammar of information report or description (p 57)

1. Students look closely at the illustrations and story of one or more of the shortlisted books. (Students can be grouped according to their book choice, or the whole class can study the same book, decided by consensus).
   
2. Students list the characters they encounter in the book, and discuss which character they wish to investigate and why, justifying their suggestion in terms of character impact, role in the story, personal appeal or other factors.
   
3. A group consensus is reached as to the character to be the focus of Rap Point 1.
   
4. Using Rap sheet 1students locate and record information given directly from the text, revisit the text and justify inclusion of information inferred from the text.
   
5. Students then brainstorm plausible imaginary information to record about their character.
   
6. Share students’ answers as a whole class, and jointly compile a more complete profile of the character.
   

   ---

7. Discuss the structure and features of a poem, with reference to particular poetry structures eg. haiku, cinquain, limerick, biopoem etc. Read and discuss examples of these poems in other contexts.
   
8. Discuss whether your poem will include or omit the character’s name, and whether or not the group’s response to Rap point 1 will invite other rappers to guess the character.
   
9. Using the information gathered in Rap sheet 1 above, students individually, or as a group jointly construct a poem describing the chosen character. Possible structures for different types of poems are provided by Rap sheets 2 to 6: Rap sheet 2 for haiku Rap sheet 3 for cinquain; Rap sheet 4 for biopoem; Rap sheet 5 for limerick; Rap sheet 6 for acrostic.
   
   When considering interesting ways to present information teachers could discuss with their students different ways of presenting and organising information, and perhaps model some approaches discussed.
   
10. Choose one poem to be the group response to Rap point 1, draft, revise and proofread this response or the joint construction and send it to the Rap with the subject line: Response to Rap point 1, or Can you guess? if the character’s name has been omitted.
    
11. Read responses from other rappers, and try to guess characters not identified in other rappers’ poems. If a mystery character can be identified, and the guess justified by the text and the poem, send a message to the rap, explaining and justifying the group’s guess, with the school’s name in the subject line eg Wollondilly, are we right?
    
12. Make class or individual entries in Rap journals.
    
13. Teachers share their experiences of this rap point with colleagues on the Teacher rap.
    

Visual texts such as those found on television, in film, video, CD-ROMS, PowerPoint presentations and web pages from the Internet are the predominant component of some of the major sources of information and entertainment in our society today. These texts are constructed for a variety of purposes including entertaining, persuading or informing. They often contain specific messages that the composer wants to relay to the readers or viewers. Students need to be taught the skills and understandings that will enable them to “read’ the messages contained in visual texts.

• discusses interpretation of texts read or viewed (p 29)
  
• justifies inferences made about a text read or viewed (p 58)

Learning about Reading – Language Structures and Features
RS2. 8 Discusses the text structure of a range of text types and the grammatical features that are characteristic of those text types.

* understands visual information in this form and interprets it (p 59 Content Overview)

Learning to Write – Skills and Strategies
WS 2.10 Produces texts clearly, effectively and accurately, using the sentence structure, grammatical features and punctuation conventions of the text type.

• uses accurate tense and number in verb groups
  
• uses past tense
  
• uses conjunctions to construct cause-effect relationships
  
• uses modal verbs and adverbs in text types to indicate shades of meaning
  
• uses correct punctuation in published version of own writing
  

1. Through teacher-led discussions, students talk about visual techniques and their impact on readers, using familiar picture book(s), a suitable big book or one of the shortlisted books. Use the worksheet (Rap sheet 7) [as a guide to the aspects which may be examined, discussed and explained.
   
   (Teachers could consult the web sites listed in Additional resources for background information.
   
2. Through class discussions and using examples from books, students understand how visual texts contribute to meaning, and how different techniques have various impacts on readers.
   
   

   ---

3. Students re-read a chosen shortlisted book, loosely identifying the key sections of the book, and complete Rap sheet 8 (either individually, in groups with different titles, or as a class with one master sheet).
   
4. Students find examples of visual techniques introduced previously and/or new visual strategies which illustrators have used to contribute to meaning.
   
5. Giving examples from the texts,
   and using their notes on Rap sheet 7 and Rap sheet 8 students articulate the visual techniques they have identified and outline the impact of these on them as readers, justifying their selection and reactions.
   
6. Students jointly collate their information above and organise it into sentences and paragraphs, perhaps introducing themselves as the illustrator. The group could decide to respond to this Rap point in the singular, first person, putting themselves in the shoes of the illustrator.
   
7. Using correct email and Book rap etiquette, the group response is sent to the Rap. Other rappers’ responses are read, discussed, and visual techniques mentioned checked with the shortlisted titles as responses are received.
   
8. Make class or individual entry in Rap journals.
   
9. Teachers share their experiences of this rap point with colleagues on the Teacher Rap.

Learning to Read – Reading and Viewing Texts
RS2.5 Reads independently a wide range of texts on increasingly challenging topics and justifies own interpretation of ideas, information and events.

• refers to the author and illustrator of a book, commenting on other texts produced by them (p 29)
  
• retells and discusses interpretation of texts read or viewed (p 29)
  
• *contributes to class summary after reading or viewing (p 29)

1. Identify and locate copies of other books by the shortlisted authors and/or illustrators through, for example, OASIS Library Enquiry, student prior learning, Internet searches, public libraries, SCIS records. (This could be a good opportunity to reinforce location and selection skills eg. simple searches on OASIS Library, selecting appropriate search engines and sites.)
   
2. Students individually, in groups or as a class, read and enjoy some of these other texts.
   
3. Students briefly retell stories read so the whole class has some idea of the scope of other books available.
   
4. One author or illustrator is selected for investigation and Rap sheet 9 is commenced.

Learning about Reading – Context and Text
RS2.7 Discusses how writers relate to their readers in different ways, how they create a variety of worlds through language and how they use language to achieve a wide range of purposes.

*  recognises different styles of favourite authors(p 33)

* selects texts relevant to topic under discussion (p 33)

* offers an opinion about a story or aspects of it (p 33)

• Other books by this chosen author are listed on Rap sheet 9 and general comments made. Some titles can be investigated in more depth. One title is chosen to compare and contrast with the shortlisted title.
  
• Similarities are noted using the Venn diagram on Rap sheet 10; these may include thematic material, text layout, intended audience, language similarities, integration of illustrations and text, illustrative motifs, style, audience appeal, effective techniques.
  
• Differences are noted on Rap sheet 10, and may include aspects listed above and other features which students identify.
  
• Specific valuable techniques noted from these ‘similarities’ section are listed on Rap sheet 10.
  
• Using the information gathered, students jointly plan a response to Rap point 3.
  
• Draft, revise and proofread this response and send it to the Rap with the subject line: Response to Rap point 3 from ……(school name) and perhaps name of author investigated.
  
• Read responses from other rappers, and compile a list of books written by these shortlisted authors that have not been located or identified before, adding to Rap Sheet 10.
  
• Make class or individual entries in Rap journals.
  
• Teachers share their experiences of this rap point and their rap experiences so far,  with colleagues on the Teacher Rap.