Author Study - Mem Fox

We just began a new author study on the work of Mem Fox. This has been really exciting as I have found myself building on different skills to the earlier author studies. I'm also seeing a much deeper understanding of authors and illustrators and an interest in exploring new books.

We began with Mem Fox's most famous story – “Possum Magic”, and I was fortunate enough to be able to get access to a Big Book version of the text. I also managed to find a DVD of Mem Fox reading the story (and also “Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge”). On the first day we just read the book and discussed what we liked about it. On the second day we watched the video and then did some map work using the Smart Board and a worksheet I created. My students pieced together a map of Australia and then labeled the states. I then asked the class to find the places that Grandma Poss and Hush visited, and draw the path that they travelled. On a blank map they drew the foods they ate at the places they visited. I was impressed by how much they picked up.

On Mem Fox’s website, she outlines how to read a book aloud with expression. I found it interesting, and have been encouraging my students to use some of her suggestions. In particular, I pointed out that Mem Fox pays close attention to the end of her stories and wants the reader to draw it out to enjoy it more fully. I read “Koala Lou” with one of my guided reading groups, and demonstrated how Mem Fox would stretch out the words on the last page. I've also been re-reading my favourite parts with the class, so they can experience my enjoyment of the way the text is created.

Today I read “Sophie” as part of our unit of work on The Way We Were. It is a great illustration of the circle of life and the changes we go through. After reading this, the kids made a timeline of their lives so far.

One of my favourite moments was when one of the girls pointed out that “Sophie” tied in with both the Integrated Studies and our Author Study. This made me realize that my class now pays attention to who the author of the book is (even before I mention it). Another student also pointed out that they had read another book illustrated by Craig Smith – “Cats” a recent book week nomination.

It’s exciting to see students developing this interest in authors and illustrators. I set up a mini Eric Carle and Lauren Childs sections on my class bookshelf so they can begin their own author studies during independent reading time - we'll see how that goes...

Author Study - Jan Brett and Jackie French

At the end of last week I concluded a 3-week author study on US author/illustrator Jan Brett. There were similarities to the author study I ran with my New York City kindergarten class, but as always, I made a few adaptations. Whilst in New York, I had much easier access to all of Jan Brett's books, and could even get multiple copies of some for use in small reading groups. Here in Australia, I can't access her books, but I have much better computer access and so have made better use of Jan Brett's website. I really enjoyed using her resources on the Smart Board in my classroom. I really recommend her site to teachers - particularly those in the US - as she does absolutely everything she can to share her work with children. There are great Newsnotes that show how the stories took shape, regular newsletters (in audio format) for children to hear what she is up to and be inspired, and even video snippets where Jan Brett takes children step-by-step through how she draws her characters.

So, having said all that, this week we began an author study of an Australian author - Jackie French. In many of Jackie French's books, the main characters are animals, and more specifically Australian native animals. Jackie French has a particular interest in wombats. So today we began with one of Jackie French's wombat books - Smudge. And prior to reading, we thought of all the things we know about wombats and listed these on a fish-bone chart under the headings: food, characteristics, appearance and habitat. As it was, my students had a great prior knowledge as their starting point. I found some really great internet resources to expose students to wombats visually. Flickr had this great set about Wally the Wombat, and You Tube has some videos of wombats in action. I particularly liked this one about a wombat getting comfortable. Later in the week we are going to read Diary of a Wombat, and then my students are going to take turns to take home a stuffed-toy wombat and write in his diary. I think (and hope) that they will be very excited about this idea.

I'm now a big fan of using author studies in the classroom to motivate students to read and inspire their writing. (And I had fun finding all the web resources about wombats!)

Update: I now have a way of making some teaching materials available to you. These are for use in the classroom, not for commercial purposes. Please contact me for further information. I am happy to email worksheets that are not compatible with Google Docs.
Jan Brett Author Study Overview
Jackie French Author Study Overview
Jackie French Worksheets: My Facts About Wombats