‘My Grandparents’
A Card from R
Lots of love
‘Grandmar’ with a silvery pipe cleaner smile
Though he says my pancakes with lemon juice and sugar are ‘The best!!’
This is how much I love you
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Tag Archives: Literacy
Emily’s turtle
One day Emily brought her pet turtle, Kirk, to kindergarten (preschool).
I found him in Grandpa’s dam.
Was he swimming in the dam
No. There wasn’t any water in it.
Mum said I could bring him home.
When Emily came in a few days later I could tell something was wrong –
watery eyes, sad shoulders and mouth.
She came over to me where I was squatting on a child’s chair.
She leaned into me and said,
I lost Kirk.
Ohh. What happened?
Mum said to put him in the garden for a wander.
And now we can’t find him.
I wonder why Kirk went away?
I wish Kirk hadn’t gone away.
Later that day Emily painted a picture.
When she’d finished it she brought it to me and said,
Can I do a play?.
Can I do a play? Image: © Janet McLean 2016
She dictated her story as a play script which we acted out at mat time.
| THE STORY | THE LEARNING |
| Emily had ‘written’ other stories and she knew that I couldn’t write as fast as she could talk. She told her story slowly so I could keep up, word-by-word, phrase-by-phrase.
Once there was a creek. At mat time we displayed Emily’s painting as a backdrop for the play. Before we acted out the play I asked Emily to tell us about her painting. The turtle is lying on its back. And that above, that is what he’s thinking. What is the turtle thinking? It’s thinking about the family that it lost, So this is like Kirk, You were his family, and he lost you? No, They died in the war. |
Recalling and using symbols Emily drew on and used her own experiences and knowledge to paint her picture, and to tell and dramatise her story.
Expressing feelings: Emily expressesd her feelings directly in conversation, and figuratively in her story Literacy: Emily used a classic narrative story structure: There’s a beginning: “Once there was…’. Early in the story she introduced the main character – the turtle, Kirk. There was a problem (something is wrong the Kirk).The problem was solved (Kirk was rescued and taken to the vet). The ending was satisfying but open-ended – the family took the turtle in. The turtle had a baby which grew up to have baby of it’s own. Her story about Kirk was complex and metaphorical. Visual literacy: Emily’s painting depicted ideas drawn from personal experiences. She included universal symbols (hearts, for love), and she included the literary device of a speech balloon. Literacy through social interaction – with adult. Emily chatted with me in a natural way. We exchanged ideas. She asked me to help her express her ideas in written form. I helped her find new, more complex ways of expressing her thoughts – verbally, written, and visually. Social interaction – with children. Emily has two close friends, Ruby and Ari. The three of them play together, in all areas of the program. However, Emily often works independently, developing her own ideas. She wanted to share her ideas with the other children – the whole group. |
Further thoughts:
Emily trusted me to listen to her, and to take seriously the ideas and feelings she was trying to express and share with me, and through me, with the other children
I searched for the hidden meaning in her story and picture. When I talked with her and her Mum I discovered hidden meaning embedded in her story and the picture. Her Mum filled in some of the details. On the ANZAC Day long weekend Emily went to visit Nan and Pop in the country with her Mum, and her sister and brother. They found Kirk along with dozens of other turtles floundering in the near-empty dam. While they were at Nan and Pop’s caught up with lots of Aunties, Uncles and cousins, and there was lots of talking around the kitchen table. One of Emily’s great-uncles was one of the oldest living ANZAC soldiers, and on ANZAC Day his photo was in the local paper. They found out which Aunties were expecting babies. Then, on the way home they stopped for a picnic near a river, and found an injured swan. They called the ranger to come and look after it.
I thought ‘funny’ was a funny word to use. until II realised she was using it to mean odd, or strange – her use of funny is idiosyncratic, immediate and touching. At mat time I helped Emily to choose other children to be the characters in the play. Together we directed the action. First I read the whole story, then broke it up scene-by-scene:
- The children on the mat became the creek, gently swishing their hands.
- The ‘funny’ turtle lay on his back next to the creek.
- The family came along, found Kirk, and took him to the vet.
- The family took the turtle home.
- The turtle had a baby.
- The baby grew up.
- The baby had a baby.
Today, Emily worked over a long period of time, in different areas, to work through and express her ideas.
She actively participated in shared learning through creative literacy and art experiences.
In the process she created a coherent metaphorical tale of rescue, love, and the circle of Life, drawing on a number of different real-life experiences
© Janet McLean
The lost footy jumper
Sunday night. Just settling down to watch TV when the iPad started buzzing.
Hello?
Hello, Janna?
Oh! Hello Rory
Hello Janna. Is my Essendon footy jumper at your place?
Ahh, well, I think it might be. Let me go and look.
Hang on. It might take me a minute or two to find it.
Okay.
I went to the cupboard where I stash the clothes that get left behind for me to wash when the brothers come over. I pull out five pairs of trakkie daks – two Size 8s, two Size 6s, and one with a flying bat on each knee that looked about a size 4.
Then out tumbled five T-shirts.
- One black, long-sleeved, size 18-24 months emblazoned with a Superman logo, and the words My Daddy is Superman.
- One plain grey, size 8.
- One black, size 6.
- One white, size 8, with long blue sleeves, and a huge lion’s head wearing a stars and stripes helmet.
- One red, size 6, with a picture of a bear holding a skate board and gazing pensively off to the right.
- Another grey, size 6, with a bear wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and an orange T-shirt.
There’s also a bag of too-small nappies, two packets of baby wipes, four bibs, one pair of pajama pants, nine pairs of socks, and any number of odd socks, and…
…an Essendon footy jumper.
Rory, are you there?
Yes.
I think I’ve found it. Is it sleeveless?
Umm…
Does it have KIA logo on the back?
Urr. It’s…
I think this is it. Do you need it straight away?
Yes
What do you need it for?
Tomorrow is hot dog day at school and we are allowed to wear our colours.
What are your colours?
Our footy team.
Oh, okay.
So, how are we going to do this?
You need it tomorrow do you?
Yes
I could bring it over in the morning before you go to school.
Oh, okay. What time?
What time do you leave for school?
We leave at 8.30.
Okay, I’ll be over there by 8.30.
Thanks, ‘bye.
‘Bye.
A few minutes later the iPad dinged with a message.
“Hi it’s Rory thank you so much for finding my jumper see you tomorrow I don’t know how to thank you send us another message to tell us what you want me to do.”
I messaged him back.
I’m happy to bring the jumper over – If you want to do something for me maybe you could do a drawing of the Queen Fairy to go with this story. See you tomorrow at 8.30. xx
This is the story I sent. It is one of many that I have collected over many years of teaching in a story-sharing preschool.
THE QUEEN FAIRY
By: Anon. Aged 5 years
She is wearing a crown.
She has golden teeth
In one hand she is holding her wand, and juggling water
With her other hand she is juggling the whole moon, which she has picked out of the sky
She changed the moon into the world because she didn’t want it to be light at night
All of the people wanted to be scared so they told her to do that
Then she took the sun out of the sky, so every night and day it was dark
The snake in the grass bit her because she took the moon away
It was a good snake and if you did something bad it bit you
It wasn’t long before the iPad dinged again. It was Rory sending a photo of his drawing…
…with the message:
is this ok for you
Perfect – thanks Rory
(The snake says, ‘You took the moon’).
Pumpkin, peas and carrots for lunch
One day Rory found this photo. He showed it to his Dad, Damon and said, ‘Dad’, tell me the story about this picture when I was a baby.’
‘Well…’, said Damon, ‘…this day I gave you mashed pumpkin, peas and carrots for lunch.You ended up with food in your hair, between your toes, on your eyebrows, up your nose. We had to have a bath! Looks to me like your enjoying yourself’. ‘I am!’ said Rory.