Finding+Out

**Purpose:** 

The purpose of this stage is for children to research about Graeme Base books and broaden their understandings of the books.

**Resources Preparation:** 

As many Graeme Base books as possible will be provided to the children. The students will then research the books and gather information about the various themes contained within each of the books. These themes will link the text to Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Humanities, LOTE and Arts. The texts will also help the children link the above disciplines to the world around them.

**Grouping:** 

For this activity, the children will be placed in groups of 5.

**Sequence of activities:** 

The sequence of activities for this stage is built around the children researching all of the Graeme Base books and looking for over-riding themes.

Each group will be given a text and they will be asked to read the text as a group and discover the various themes contained in the text.

The three examples below will indicate the nature of the activities:

In Uno’s garden, the children would investigate the Numeracy focus. They will look for mathematical patterns and note how the Moopaloops and plants keep getting less as the buildings keep doubling in number.

In Waterhole, the environmental theme will be noted. The children will note how the book portrays the effect of drought on the animals. They will note how frogs are shown to be the indicator species for climate change and how fewer frogs appear on the pages as the water reserves get less.

In The Sign of the Seahorse, the children will perform the book as a play. They will perform it as “Reader’s Theatre” or they will do “Choral Reading”.

**Strategies and skills required for this stage:-** 

Reading the texts Understanding the meaning of the text Interpreting the underlying messages Investigating the central themes Recording their observations of the above Mathematical skills Performing Arts skills (Reader’s Theatre; Choral Reading)

**Evaluation and Assessment for this stage:** 

Literacy skills: Being able to read and interpret the text; taking note of underlying messages and recording of observations Numeracy skills Performing Arts skills