Henry's Map (Literacy Development Through Fiction)
Dear Parents and Carers
As the term goes on, foundation have been jumping in head first as our Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) learning focus on geography continues. Building on our work on place, foundation have been looking at how locations and their features can be shown on simple maps. Foundation have been focusing on special places and places familiar to them, most notably the places they see on their way to school.
In class, we read the story 'Henry's Map' by David Elliot. The story is about a very neat pig who sets out to make sure that there was a place for everyone on the farm. Henry decided to draw his sty and set out to draw all of the other animals in their places on his map. As you know, a note went home which asked parents and carers to help the foundation children take special notice of the places they see on their way to school. This was tremendously helpful, and I want to thank you all for taking the time to do this.
As a class we talked about which animals Henry saw first, next, after that, and so on. In order to demonstrate this, each child was put into an animal group 'sheep', 'cow', 'horse' etc., and we re-read the story. As the story came to each animal, children got up and moved to be next in line. The children who had been given cows were first because that is who Henry saw first on his map, for instance.
The class shared their thoughts about Henry's map including times they had seen and used maps in various formats (paper, on the computer, etc.). The children noted how Henry drew pictures to show where the animals lived, and also wrote who lived there. Foundation were then encouraged to share the things they see as they come to school (with a focus on the order).
Foundation used the template in image 2 to show the route they take to school each day. Their map starts at their house and finishes at school. Children were encouraged to focus on landmarks that they see everyday such as a house they see when they turn.
This task draws on The Australian Curriculum HaSS (Geography) content, the Literacy General Capability, and two key outcomes from the Early years Learning framework (EYLF). EYLF outcome two relates to children being connected to their world, and outcome five relates to children being effective communicators. Foundation have successfully used their writing skills (and drawings) to communicate with the audience/reader while developing geographical mapping and thinking skills. These skills form the foundation for which they will build upon in the future.
Thanks again for keeping up to date with the HaSS learning we are doing in foundation. It is a pleasure sharing with you.
Kind regards
Hayley Koehler
Reference List
As the term goes on, foundation have been jumping in head first as our Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) learning focus on geography continues. Building on our work on place, foundation have been looking at how locations and their features can be shown on simple maps. Foundation have been focusing on special places and places familiar to them, most notably the places they see on their way to school.
 |
| Image 1: Henry's Map Cover |
In class, we read the story 'Henry's Map' by David Elliot. The story is about a very neat pig who sets out to make sure that there was a place for everyone on the farm. Henry decided to draw his sty and set out to draw all of the other animals in their places on his map. As you know, a note went home which asked parents and carers to help the foundation children take special notice of the places they see on their way to school. This was tremendously helpful, and I want to thank you all for taking the time to do this.
As a class we talked about which animals Henry saw first, next, after that, and so on. In order to demonstrate this, each child was put into an animal group 'sheep', 'cow', 'horse' etc., and we re-read the story. As the story came to each animal, children got up and moved to be next in line. The children who had been given cows were first because that is who Henry saw first on his map, for instance.
The class shared their thoughts about Henry's map including times they had seen and used maps in various formats (paper, on the computer, etc.). The children noted how Henry drew pictures to show where the animals lived, and also wrote who lived there. Foundation were then encouraged to share the things they see as they come to school (with a focus on the order).
 |
| Image 2: Map to School Template (personal image) |
Foundation used the template in image 2 to show the route they take to school each day. Their map starts at their house and finishes at school. Children were encouraged to focus on landmarks that they see everyday such as a house they see when they turn.
 |
| Image 3: Hayley's Map to School Exemplar (personal image) |
This task draws on The Australian Curriculum HaSS (Geography) content, the Literacy General Capability, and two key outcomes from the Early years Learning framework (EYLF). EYLF outcome two relates to children being connected to their world, and outcome five relates to children being effective communicators. Foundation have successfully used their writing skills (and drawings) to communicate with the audience/reader while developing geographical mapping and thinking skills. These skills form the foundation for which they will build upon in the future.
Thanks again for keeping up to date with the HaSS learning we are doing in foundation. It is a pleasure sharing with you.
Kind regards
Hayley Koehler
Reference List
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting
Authority. (n.d.). Retrieved April 07,
2019, from https://www.acara.edu.au/
2019, from https://www.acara.edu.au/
Department of Education Employment and Workplace
Relations (DEEWR). (2010).
Educators’ guide to the early years learning framework for Australia. Barton, ACT:
Australian Government
Educators’ guide to the early years learning framework for Australia. Barton, ACT:
Australian Government
Elliot, D. (2013). Henry's Map.
United States: Philomel Books.
Gestwicki,
C. (2017). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development
in
early education (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning Solutions. pp 1–15.
early education (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning Solutions. pp 1–15.
Kostelnik,
M.J., Soderman, A.K., & Whiren, A.P. (2011). Developmentally appropriate
curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education (5th ed.).Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson. Pp.20-30.
curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education (5th ed.).Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson. Pp.20-30.
Hi Hayley,
ReplyDeleteAgain I hope this is somehow helpful (I'm sorry if it's not).
- Your reference list once more. Same as the comment on the previous post, it's just lacking the necessary 4 academic references excluding the core text and curriculum documents.
- I'd still recommend adding in hyperlinks if you don't want to use in-text referencing. To my understanding it is a case of if you use a hyperlink no need to in-text reference. If there is no hyperlink, then add that in-text reference.
- I really like the example you provided for what a student's complete 'map' guide thing. It shows parents the sort of thing you are looking for when they help their child note the key features of their route to school. Quick question about that though - what if someone lived next door to the school or along the same street? How would you approach that? It's just those students would probably be less likely to have as many features they could use compared to those who need to travel further. I ask mostly because if I had done this activity my only landmark would have been to cross the highway, but that still leaves three other boxes to fill.
- I'm sorry for the above point as it's probably not relevant to the blog itself. I'm just genuinely curious to that answer as it is something you would need to consider if you were to implement this activity in your future classroom.
- Literally just bolting this point on here because I just thought of it, though it can be applied across all your posts. Sorry my brain is so scattered so you get random points like this one. But, the point I'm trying to say is I don't think you ever really addressed concepts of diversity in any of the three blog posts.
- Or the cross-curriculum priorities for that matter.
- Again, love how you included the parents throughout the entire post and the activity being appropriate for the students.
-Finally, mostly because I want to fall asleep in my bed instead of at my desk again so this must be wrapped up, it doesn't seem awfully clear on what the purpose of the learning is. I know it's meant to be maps, but eh? It sort of seems to move more into sequencing of events as they document their journey to school than focusing on the landmarks which I think is meant to be the key learning? Could be because it's Tuesday and I just woke up after falling asleep at my desk to finish this.
I'm off to sleep now. Again I hope some of this makes sense and is useful. If you need to question anything, then shoot me a message and I'm sure we can all freak out and try to get further explanations/understandings between being anxious and stressed messes over Inclusive, let alone the other assignments!
Shara.
Hey Hayley,
ReplyDeleteHere a few feedback points about your third blog.
- The hyperlinks in this blog are very useful and allow the viewer the opportunity to read more.
- You have provided the readers with a clear background of what the foundation students have been focusing on. Maybe consider explaining why these focuses are important for the students possibly providing a reference to back it up.
- Great way of including parents/carers.
- The learning sequences sounds very fun and engaging for the students especially the part where students are put into different animal groups to help while re-reading the story.
- The images link well and provide a great example of what the students will be doing.
- It was great how you added what outcomes and areas of the EYLF and AC the students learning was focused on and the short explanation of what the outcomes were about will help parents/carers (especially those who are unfamiliar with the AC and EYLF) understand what is being looked for during the learning sequence.