Resource List

This kit has been developed to target the learning needs of Year 1 and 2 students at an Sydney public school, learning through a Geography unit entitled ‘Peoples and Places’. With over 87% of students in the entire school coming from an English as an Additional Language/Dialect (EAL/D) background, the linguistic diversity amongst the students is immense. While traditionally this school has had a high proportion of new arrivals to Australia within the community, two years of Covid19 restrictions has changed this demographic, as well as having a significant effect on the literacy learning opportunities for this cohort of students. As such, this kit has been designed to cater for students who are only at the very beginning of their literacy journey to those who are on their way. High visual content and predictable texts have been considered in selecting the texts to assist with English language development of EAL/D and other students (NSW Department of Education, 2020). As travelling has been restricted for a high proportion of these students lives, this kit will create literary traveling opportunities to places beyond a 5km radius.

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures (version 8.4). https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/cross-curriculum-priorities/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-histories-and-cultures/

Countries-ofthe-world.com. (2008-2022). Country flags of the world. https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/flags-of-the-world.html

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2022). Australian National Anthem. https://www.pmc.gov.au/government/australian-national-anthem

NLA Publishing. (n.d.). The Gum family finds home: Teachers’ Notes. https://pegiwilliams.com.au/pdfs/teachernotes/9780642279255.pdf

NSW Department of Education. (2020). EAL/D advice for schools.  NSW Department of Education. https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/policy-library/associated-documents/eald_advice.pdf

NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.-a). Living World. https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/science/science-and-technology-k-6-new-syllabus/content/2762

NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.-b). People and places. https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/hsie/geography-k-10/content/1178

Reading Australia. (2022). Are we there yet? Copyright Agency. https://readingaustralia.com.au/lesson/are-we-there-yet/

Wiggly Karaoke. (2021, September 25). Over in the meadow (karaoke) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppPZqDEQL0k

Book Bento Boxes

As a Bento Box in Japanese culture provides a sampling of culinary delights, presented beautifully, so too does a Book Bento Box (BBB), showcasing a sample of themes or moments from within a piece of literature (Bales & Saint-John, 2020). The premise of a BBB is to have students create a visually appealing array of items which have significance to the book which has been read. These items would be photographed or physically placed in small sections around the book or image of the book cover, which the box is being created about (Yung, 2020). By its very nature, a Bento Box is carefully and thoughtfully selected items in it, which transfers to what is required of students in a BBB.

This strategy is one which takes a creative and hands on approach to students exhibiting the knowledge which they have gained through the stories. To link and teach the skills which are set out in the Australian Curriculum for Critical and Creative Thinking, the process of creating a BBB needs to have inquiry questions and guidelines for the students to ponder so they can show how they identify and organise ideas, create possibilities, reflect on the processes in the task and show their reasoning (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), n.d.). For example, with looking at the geographical outcomes required within this unit of study where descriptions of features of places and the connections that people have with places an inquiry question of ‘What item could you choose to represent a place within this story?’ would create the opportunities for the students to show what they know and justify how they know this by their selection (NESA, n.d.).

The resources which would lend themselves to this strategy are:

• Are we there yet? – Alison Lester (2004)
• Somewhere in Australia – Marcello Pennachio (2013)
• The Great Australian Bite – Mitchell Toy (2020)
• The Gum Family Finds Home – Tania McCartney (2018)
• The River – Sally Morgan (2021) (Tisdell, n.d.)

The BBB could be started by reflecting on the sensory questions which are raised in the reading of The River by Tisdell (n.d.). The focus on seeing and hearing would be components which could be explored and as a class teacher led lesson, 6 items could be chosen to be samples to include in the BBB. Suggestions of items could be a small figurine of a turtle, a blob of mud, a frog shaped guiro and others which are collaboratively suggested by students. Teaching the focus on presentation would be necessary and this is now where collaboration with the teacher librarian could come in to play. Once an example had been established the other stories, which would have been read prior to setting the BBB task could be the literature which students create their own BBB from.

It is envisaged that the BBB would be photographed from above by students and then placed on Thinglink (n.d.)for interactive elements to be added. As this program is not one which has been used in the school before, the teacher librarian could collaboratively teach how to use the website, such as adding an annotation to an item explaining why it was chosen. The benefits of teaching the use of this online tool are that students can add sound recordings or videos of themselves explaining their choices, or text, which allows for differentiation amongst the students, catering for the wide range of literacy skills within this cohort of children.

For more information about Book Bento Boxes and the effectiveness of use see Building Beautiful Book Bentos (Valenza, 2019). For information on how to set up Bento Boxes using Thinglink see #BookBento HyperDoc (Highfill & Kloos, n.d.).

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). Critical and creative thinking (version 8.4). https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/critical-and-creative-thinking/

Bales, J., & Saint-John, L. (2020). Book bento boxes: Creative reading response. Scan, 39. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-39-2020/book-bento-boxes–creative-reading-response

Highfill, L., & Kloos, R. (n.d.). #BookBento hyperdoc original. docs.google.com. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FggkSwPyKx4YW1VlD9UB1b9FbfDBdQvEz93D2JgYUl4/edit#slide=id.p

Lester, A. (2004). Are we there yet? (A. Lester, Illus.). Penguin / Viking.

McCartney, T. (2018). The Gum family finds home (C. Booth, Illus.). NLA Publishing.

NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.). People and places. https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/hsie/geography-k-10/content/1178

Pennachio, M. (2013). Somewhere in Australia (D. Snell, Illus.). Scholastic Australia.

thinglink. (n.d.). thinklink. https://www.thinglink.com/

Tisdell, S. (n.d.). The river [Video]. Story Box Library Pty Ltd. https://storyboxlibrary.com.au/stories/the-river

Toy, M. (2020). The great Australian bite (M. Toy, Illus.). Five Mile.

Valenza, J. (2019, May 4). Building beautiful book bentos. Neverending Search. https://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2019/05/04/building-beautiful-book-bentos/

Yung, M. (2020, November 9). Book bentos: my first attempt. ELA Brave and True. https://elabraveandtrue.com/2020/11/09/book-bentos-my-first-attempt/

Literature Trips

Where a trip around Australia, or indeed the world, is not a feasible option to include within a curriculum, traveling in literature is. With the creation of online maps with 3-dimensional features and instantaneous travel via the internet, the world can now come to the students. While the use of maps in storytelling is something which has occurred for centuries, having a map on a device is one which is relatively new (Caquard & Cartwright, 2014). The use of narrative cartography means that readers begin to understand the relationship of potential time it takes to journey in the geographical spaces (Caquard & Cartwright, 2014, p. 101). One way which literature trips have been created online is through Google Lit Trips (GLT Global Ed, 2022) which provides some engaging age-appropriate resources for teachers to use, however, when it comes to the year 1 and 2 students this kit is designed for, creating their own online Lit Trips is probably beyond their literacy capabilities. This is where scaffolding and creating a conglomerate ‘offline’ version of a story map is what is proposed for this strategy.

This strategy comprises of the use of Google Earth and the game Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? (earth.google.com, n.d.) as a starting point for discussion and research. Where the game takes students on a mystery solving tour, it addresses the needs of the geography outcomes of the NESA (n.d.) course content, GE1-1 and GE1-3, doing so in an engaging, interactive way. As a whole class the story would need to be navigated, with students searching for answers in small groups on devices along the way. For example, small groups of students will look up flags or geographical places to answer the clues in the game to help the whole class find the answer and progress to the next country in the game.

The next stage of this strategy is for students to create their own interactive story map, using a large physical map of Australia and post-it-notes, basing the maps on the following texts:

• Are we there yet? – Alison Lester (2004)
• Somewhere in Australia – Marcello Pennachio (2013)
• The Great Australian Bite – Mitchell Toy (2020)
• The Gum Family Finds Home – Tania McCartney (2018)

To create the story map students would need to work with one of the known texts, having been read them all prior to this activity. In groups potentially set by student choice of which text they wish to investigate; these groups would then collaborate to research places within the texts. A focus of how to work out place names within the images and text would need to be taught by the classroom teacher or teacher librarian so students have the best opportunity to recognise place names, as Milkshake Hills does sound fictional to most! Not only would students focus on the map position to place a label on their map, but students would include a fact about the place they have found in the literature. For example, in The Great Australian Bite (Toy, 2020), the illustrations have clues about the area of Australia, such as quokkas being in Western Australia, which would fit in with curriculum outcomes of finding out why people visit other places (NESA, n.d.). Scaffolding of the students’ investigations would be necessary to ask inquiring questions putting links to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders History and Culture cross curriculum priority (ACARA, n.d.).

For information to understand the benefits and pitfalls of Google Lit Trips please see Google-Lit-Trip Review (Aranda, 2018). While to further investigate ways to incorporate geography and literature see Literature + Story Mapping = Geography! (Bales, 2018).

References

Aranda, V. (2018, October). Google lit trips. common sense education. https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/google-lit-trips

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures (version 8.4). https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/cross-curriculum-priorities/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-histories-and-cultures/

Bales, J. (2018, December 4). Literature + story mapping = geography! Jennie Bales. https://jenniebales.wordpress.com/2018/12/04/literature-story-mapping-geography/

Caquard, S., & Cartwright, W. (2014). Narrative cartography: From mapping stories to the narrative of maps and mapping. Cartographic journal, 51(2), 101-106.  https://doi.org/10.1179/0008704114Z.000000000130

earth.google.com. (n.d.). Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? [online video game]. https://earth.google.com/web/@17.90693717,-12.41937117,-34606.6327455a,57359668.97d,35y,0.00004064h,18.19296234t,0r/data=CjwSOhIgYmU3N2ZmYzU0MTc1MTFlOGFlOGZkMzdkYTU5MmE0MmEiFnNwbC14LXgteC1zcGxhc2hzY3JlZW4

GLT Global Ed. (2022). Google Lit Trips. https://googlelittrips.org/

Lester, A. (2004). Are we there yet? (A. Lester, Illus.). Penguin / Viking.

McCartney, T. (2018). The Gum family finds home (C. Booth, Illus.). NLA Publishing.

NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.). People and places. https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/hsie/geography-k-10/content/1178

Pennachio, M. (2013). Somewhere in Australia (D. Snell, Illus.). Scholastic Australia.

Toy, M. (2020). The great Australian bite (M. Toy, Illus.). Five Mile.

Throughout this subject I have been hesitant to look beyond physical copies of items, thinking of the context of the library which I work in. However, I have had an epiphany while researching items for my literary kit assignment.

I stumbled across an updated version of “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?”

Carmen Sandiego On Apple IIc by MarkGregory https://www.flickr.com/photos/markgregory/

I am not naturally someone who is drawn to spending hours playing games on a computer, but something about this game in my childhood piqued my interest. The mystery and suspense, along with checking general knowledge (without a Google search I might add!) always had me wanting to spend time learning more.

It was not until finding a Google Earth version of this game that I suddenly realised that this was a computerised version of a ‘choose your own adventure’ or a detective story which I was heavily invested in.

Suddenly the lights are on and I can see a world of possibility of engagement with stories in all avenues of places!

While having devices to showcase such online interactive stories is an issue at my school, I now am driven to find opportunities for students to be able to access these style of texts.

As I contemplate the question of how I process information and read, I am struck with the quandary which I am in regarding this.
Some of my best times of relaxation and switching off have been lying at a beach, 10 nights away, 11 books to read – accomplished with ease. Without the distraction of screens (or work) I have been able to fully focus on the words on pages and the imagination landscapes where I can escape to in my mind. This contrasts to what I do on a daily basis, with work and university studies. Most of my reading for this involves screen time. The ideal for me is feeling pages turning under my fingers, however the convenience of instant access outways this in everyday life.

Bliss! Photo by form PxHere

I see similar trends in my own teenage crew at home. While they far prefer drawing to reading as one of their pastimes, the bulk of their reading time is spent on devices. Like Taylor (2018) suggests, teenagers reading often involves a multisensory experience with headphones and multiple tabs open on a computer. While the efficiency of this style of learning is one that as a parent I often question, it does appear to be the way it is done.

The library which I teach in does not currently have immediate access to a huge amount of technology, so e-books have not been a trend from this library. During lockdown 2021, there was some use of reading platforms, such as Reading Eggs/Express and PM Readers for students to access stories from home, however, as many families don’t have reliable internet or devices at home it was not heavily promoted due to equity in access. Having access to digital forms of stories can become a financial issue for many families and is one which needs to be considered.

Sparks (2021) raises interesting questions of whether screen enhances comprehension in the readers which also needs to be taken into consideration with classroom use versus at home usage. An interesting perspective which does need further investigating.

References
Sparks, S. D. (2021, July 22). Reading on screen vs. print: New analysis thickens the plot on promoting comprehension. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/reading-on-screen-vs-print-new-analysis-thickens-the-plot-on-promoting-comprehension/2021/07

Taylor, A. (2018, September 16). ‘Technology can bring books alive’: Harry Potter inspires novel with moving images. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/technology-can-bring-books-alive-harry-potter-inspires-novel-with-moving-images-20180915-p50407.html

To think about the future, I would like to reflect on the past, my past. Growing up in a house with a school librarian meant that I was always surrounded by the written word. Moreover, it was constantly being read, either by myself or my parents who ensured that I got to know classics as well as literature of my time. I poured over the Book Club catalogues which would come home from school, the series of the time piquing my interest in children and babysitting. Now time has come full circle and I see that same series of books coming in for a new generation – however, with one difference, this next generation comes with some of them as graphic novels.

One of the ways in which multimodal texts was presented to me! The cars trips with this strapped in to the seat so everyone in the car could hear it. Pixabay – https://pixabay.com/illustrations/boombox-boom-box-radio-cassette-5467421/

My initial thoughts on this are that I grew up in an era where the internet was not yet invented, so spare time for me was spent reading books and listening to audio recordings of stories. As a family we used to travel interstate and there was many an audiobook listened to in that time. In contrast to my own teen stepdaughters today, they have never been without information just a click away, and while as a family we still make the interstate road trips, every person has access to moving images should they desire. Where my childhood came with my imagination alone coming up with the manifestation of characters and places, the visual world of today has very much affected the ideas of children of today.

In this there is still a place for children’s literature, however, in an expanded form from the previous decades. The explosion of graphic novels on bookstore shelves and requests within my school library shows that this style of illustration with text, like the comic books of former eras, is a current need in children’s lives, perhaps showing the visual nature of society in which we live (Australian Writers’ Centre Team, 2020). The increase in different multimodal texts reflects the world around becoming more multimodal (Victoria State Government Education and Training, 2018, August 29). I have found it interesting to note that in the midst of pandemic times that people are wishing to spend less time on devices and more with physical books, which I have seen both in articles (CopyrightAgency, 2017) and in real life.

As the Australian Writers’ Centre (2020) states, other trends in children’s literature which I too have seen occurring around me are non-fiction and real-world issues, natural disasters (including COVID19) interwoven with fictional stories, and a complexity in the topics of young adult fiction which has not been seen before. This showcases where I believe the future of children’s literature lies, as a reflection of the current state of affairs in the world, along with opportunities for escapism.

I the believe that the future of children’s literature will be in it being responsive to the generation which it services. Something which I think it is doing.

References

Australian Writers’ Centre Team. (2020, July 17). 7 trends in children’s and YA publishing. AWC: Australian Writers’ Centre. https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/7-trends-in-childrens-and-ya-publishing/

CopyrightAgency. (2017, February 28). Most teens prefer print books. copyright.com.au. https://www.copyright.com.au/2017/02/teens-prefer-print-books/

Victoria State Government Education and Training. (2018, August 29). Multimodal literacy. Department of Education and Training. https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/litfocusmultimodal.aspx

When I first began teaching quite a few years ago in a Victorian Preschool, a teacher mentor of mine encouraged me to use picture books as a springboard for learning for the 3-5 year old children. I have taken this as a major part of my teaching philosophy to children well beyond the age of 5 and continue to practice using books as a springboard to the present day. To me the opportunities which a quality text provides to the realms of imagination are endless. The mode by which the literature or text is delivered has differing appeals and these have been present both in and out of my teaching career.

Text come to life in our minds – the power of books!

I have been asking myself, why is this important in thinking about this subject? This subject’s content descriptions are topics which I have always been interested in and I believe that my base learning and teaching styles will be built upon within this subject.

Now to see what is new for me…