Jennifer Worthington

Page history last edited by jennifer worthoington 1 yr ago

Big Books Rule

Text mirrored by images - a cross-curricula, cross cultural experience…

…provided there is a purpose for the task, children will be motivated and enthusiastic. Literacy is no exception. Emerging writers, with quality guidance and opportunity are capable of producing quality literary masterpieces. The desire to communicate and share provides the stimulus necessary to transfer ideas to print. This was the case with the Year 2 class from Tanglin Trust School (TTS) who wished to create a special gift for a group of orphans they had heard so much about.

The Rainbow Fish series of books was selected as the vehicle that they would use to share their love of literature with their newfound friends, a group of children who had survived the Boxing Day Tsunami that struck Aceh in 2004. This project provided an opportunity for the students to immerse themselves in literacy. It involved the appreciation and sharing of the Rainbow Fish series of books an then discussing the author’s writing style, theme and illustrations to support the text.

To create their BIG BOOK version of the Rainbow Fish story, titled the Rainbow Fish in Danger, the children utilised the Sue Palmer model of the story mountain. This phase of the project was undertaken during a week of literacy lessons which the children used their story mountain to write and edit the text as a whole-class shared writing exercise. Once the final version was agreed upon the children asked the Bahasa teacher to translate the story into Indonesian to provide a cross linguistic/cultural link for the target audience. With the text completed the children then moved onto the next phase of mirroring the text in a series of original artworks involving water-colour washed backgrounds with collage and printed images. This phase of the project involved a week-end workshop where the students became young artists and immersed themselves in a variety of techniques.

The completed BIG BOOK was then launched at a parent viewing where the children shared their experience of being both author and illustrator of a special gift. It was then hand-delivered by senior students on their inaugural visit to the Samatiga Orphanage. The accompanying photographic display in the presentation is testimony to the overall success of the project and children immersed in literacy.

Audience: Primary (Lower)

Workshop materials: