EPCM401-Amy Feon Britton

The Gruffalo (Donaldson, 2017) - Synopsis

SYNOPSIS

The Gruffalo (Donaldson, 2017) is a story (containing rhyming couplets) about the journey of a mouse through a wood. The mouse constantly is met with predatory characters (Such as an owl, a fox, and a snake) which they cleverly scares with the threat of meeting a Gruffalo. The mouse eventually meets the Gruffalo, who also wants to eat them, and tricks them into thinking that they are too scary to be eaten.

Curriculum links and age range?

This book could appeal to many different age ranges but has the most significant impact on key stage 1 children. The book has a mix of different features that would allow for an in-depth exploration using the national curriculum (DFE, 2013).

Ingenuity through tactile mediums is imperative for healthy exploration and the navigation of the self in early development. Hewlett and March (2015, p.199) describes art as ‘Providing the children with a place where they can express themselves can provide opportunities for the imagination to spill onto the page’. The Gruffalo (Donaldson, 2017), with its vivid imagery and classic illustration; provides a catalyst to explore inspired images, therefore, naturally allowing children to ‘share their ideas, experiences and imagination’ (DFE ,2013, p.2, A) through different mediums in art projects.

The non-statutory guidance (DFE, 2013, p.10, C) introduces the concept of ‘living things depend on each other, for example, plants serving as a source of food and shelter for animals’. This idea can effectively be taught using The Gruffalo as Donaldson uses the predator and prey dynamic as the main plot of the story. Each animal, expresses a desire to eat the protagonist, which would be natural in any other context. As well as this, the variation of animal characters in a woodland habitat allows for open discussion and encouragement for the children ‘to identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals’ (DFE ,2013, p.7, C). This species awareness can help to peak a young person's curiosity about different animals and habitats, effective practitioners will recognize this as a tool to deepen understanding and open a discussion on current affairs such as climate change.

CURRICULUM LINKS

Building on this, the examination of experiences through different mediums can be purposeful in drama. Davis (2014, P66) expressed the importance of ‘meaning making in the centre of the activity. The meanings can be personal, the personal in the social, or mainly social’. Simply put, the feelings, experiences and contexts of the variety of protagonists and antagonists in The Gruffalo could be effectively analyzed and understood through drama. Much like the artistic application, drama is a safe medium to understand ‘why to consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others’ (DFE ,2013, p.7, B).

The Gruffalo (Donaldson, 2017) , as a piece of literature, is extremely appealing and readable due to the simple structural form of the book. The book follows a basic composition: Exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, which would allow for discussion and development in a child's sequencing skills. Legislation dictates that a Key stage 1 child should be ‘discussing the significance of the title and events’ (DFE ,2013, p.11,B) which would be easily facilitated with the use of The Gruffalo because of its simple chronology, predictable phrasing and unique characters.

Sequencing is not just used in literary formation but is also used in the core understanding (of fundamental topics) and the organization of how science should be taught. Hollins et al (2012,p.34) recognizes the significance of structure in science ‘When looking at the area of life processes and living things, it is important to identify relevant starting points and to develop a sequential path through the wide range of concepts underlying this area.’ Cause and effect as a principle for childhood development, amongst other things, allows children to develop a healthy understanding of natural life processes. Positive sequencing, in Children's stories like The Gruffalo (2017) serve to act as mediums to safely navigate sensitive topics (like life cycles and cause and effect) in the classroom setting (DFE ,2013, C).

Themes to explore

The Gruffalo (Donaldson, 2017) has many themes present in the story. A large literal theme being woodlands as the book is set in a ‘deep dark wood (…)’ ( Donaldson, 2017, p.1) and features creatures such as a mouse, an owl, a fox, and a snake. The complexities of animal dynamics (as they are sentient beings) leave a huge range of discussion points and activities to explore. An example, would be observing the illustrations of the story and facilitating an art project based on the woodland. Which, could be as simple as collecting natural materials and incorporating them into a piece of art. This would allow a child to explore woodlands in a creative way which is ‘essential for our personal, social and material development’ (NSEAD, 2021)

The theme of nature is also explored through the description of The Gruffalo itself . The extensive imagery like ‘purple prickles’ (Donaldson, 2017, p.5) is made more hyperbolic as the narrative progresses. This organic change of description could represent an ever-evolving eco-system similar to the many on earth. This creates an appreciation for the natural processes that surround us as well as links to the importance of preservation in the natural world. This is something that could be explored in a cross curricular fashion as the process of evolution has many subject applications such as RE and Science. Alternatively, the ever- evolving image of this figure could be symbolic of the corruption that nature faces through one individual. The mouse successfully evokes fear into the other animals in the narrative and corrupting the natural process of predator vs prey occurring. It could be argued that this corruption mimics how humans are tainting the natural world forcing huge environmental evolutions to take place.

Donaldson (2017) successfully explores the theme of perceptions in the story. They do this by subverting the natural order of the species (Predator and prey) and instead makes a traditionally scary creature fearful of a small mouse. This demonstrates a moral lesson to the reader of not being able to trust stereotypes because you become prejudice if you do .In their journal article, Wallace et al (2016, p.1294) state that ‘racism is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning values to people and groups based on phenotypic properties that unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, while unfairly advantaging others’ you could argue that this profoundly links to The Gruffalo as the mouse unethically uses another characters physical properties to progress himself in their predator vs prey system. This complex racial issue could be presented to children in numerous ways, and some may choose to explore this with the support of a book in a classroom/ PSHE setting. It is important that issues such as these are not ignored and are responded to accurately.

Naturally, it is obvious that not all themes or dynamics will be suitable for the consumption of children in such a complex form.

THEMES TO EXPLORE

What Donaldson has effectively done, however, has given a tool for people to use to facilitate a multitude of conversations relating to current issues. As well as, written a beautiful narrative that will be undoubtedly enjoyed by a multitude of people. It is clear that the text and the themes are open to the interpretations of the reader, which leads to fantastic learning opportunities by all.

Phonics and Readability

PHONICS AND READABILITY

Waugh and Joliffe (2013) assert the importance of hearing books from good readers, so children are able to recognize how a book is supposed to sound. The Gruffalo is a great example for a shared reading experience as it uses interesting language ie ‘[…] deep dark wood […]the nut looked good’ (Donaldson,2017,P.1) which will make a modelled shared reading experience memorable. Repeated shared reading experiences will naturally develop a young person in their own reading and phonetic pronunciation.

Furthermore, The Gruffalo (Donaldson, 2017) uses rhyming language to assist with a child's phonetic knowledge. Davies (2015) claimed teaching rhyme along side language fundamentally assists with acquiring semantic meanings as well as supporting the fundamental structure of word. The Gruffalo (Donaldson, 2017) therefore cleverly assists with the development of language in all its forms. Ergo, making its potential for phonics application in the classroom abundant.

The insightful use of poetic form in The Gruffalo assists with the learning of the fundamentals of language. This is illuminated when you consider ‘poetry is made up of word families, which are the rhyming words’ (Nichols et al, 2018, p. 3191) The Gruffalo containing a plethora of rhyming couplets, introduces the idea of similarity between words and their structure. This serves to introduce words in all different forms, assisting with the development in a young person's phonics. Furthermore, this consolidates the view proposed by Dymoke (2015, p.152) who stated ‘through listening to poetry, thinking about how images and sounds take shape in their heads and savoring the sounds of the words spoken aloud, young people can discover so much about how language works’.

The effective use of character dialogue makes The Gruffalo’s characters varied. It could be argued that this can make for a more personal learning experience as children will be able to navigate and find links between themselves and the characters. This will effectively make the book more relatable, and therefore more readable.

One Mole Digging a hole (Donaldson, 2008)- Synopsis

SYNOPSIS

One mole digging a hole is a children’s poetry book that teaches counting, through the use of rhyme and colorful images. It goes up in 1’s from 1-10. The characters develop a garden throughout the book.

Curriculum links and age range?

This book has been developed for the use of early key stage 1 children or EYFS children. The links here allude to both age groups being prevalent but with more of a focus on key stage 1 children.

In their journal article, Zitomer (2016) highlights the importance of movement, self expression, and inclusivity in dance. For many children, dance is a unique way of expressing oneself. In One Mole Digging A Hole, a diverse group of animals are working on different activities in a garden setting. They all use different movements in doing so. One Mole Digging A Hole, in this regard could facilitate children allowing them to ‘perform dances using simple movement patterns’ (DFE ,2013, p2, E) mimicking the activities seen in the story. This would not only link to the physical education element of the curriculum, but the accessible nature of this task, allowing for SEND participation. The idea of interpretive dance based on a story could also benefit EYFS children. Dance, as an activity, gives a child the opportunity to ‘Move energetically, such as running, jumping, dancing, hopping, skipping and climbing’ (DFE, 2021, p12) with the ability to ‘negotiate space and obstacles safely, with consideration to themselves and others’ therefore allowing for a statutory early learning goal for physical development to be attained.

CURRICULUM LINKS

Many of the characters in One Mole Digging A Hole (Donaldson, 2008) are actively participating in different gardening activities. By mimicking the gardening process in the book, children will be able to explore natural processes, and be able to do some ‘observing closely, using simple equipment’ (DFE, 2013, p.6, C) as to how a plant is developing. This will also encourage children to be ‘asking simple questions {…}’ (DFE, 2013, p.6, C) about nature. There are multiple practical tests that could be done with a gardening theme that would let a child ‘explore the world around them and raise their own questions’ (DFE, 2013, p.6, C).

The creative nature of the text could be used to facilitate many other lessons, including DT. Benson (2017, p.4) explains that ‘D&T offers opportunities for many different ways of working – group, pair and individual work with adult support, or without’ meaning that it suits a variety of different learning styles. In One Mole Digging A Hole (Donaldson, 2008) , the narrative progresses by animals creating a garden. This idea could be used as inspiration to ‘design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria’ (DFE, 2013, p.2, F) in groups, pairs or individually. This allows a lot of scope for creativity, and also allows children to benefit from working as a team, which is one of the themes present in the text.

Equally, this book-related DT project can have application to early years children too. DT, with the collaborative elements, could help children access their early learning goals. In this instance, a group project could lead to cooperative work (DFE, 2021) that may result in the development and ability to ‘show sensitivity to their own and to others’ needs’ (DFE, 2021, p12)

Incremental counting from 1-10 is used throughout the story. This offers valuable teaching opportunities for younger children as the book as it could assist with understanding how to ‘identify one more and one less’ (DFE, 2013, p.6, G) in reference to place value. It could also help children to ‘read and write numbers from 1 to 20 in numerals and words’ (DFE, 2013, p.6, G) which is part of the statutory guidance for key stage 1 children.

Themes to explore

One Mole Digging A Hole (Donaldson, 2008) is a playful text that uses semantics to create a theme throughout.

Gardening, is one of the key elements of the book and is shown through the characters use of tools such as ‘rakes’ (Donaldson, 2008, p.3) and ‘forks’ (Donaldson, 2008, p.9) in the text. As well as the strong verbs such as ‘pulling’ (Donaldson, 2008, P.11) ‘Chopping’ (Donaldson, 2008, p.13) and ‘Pruning’ (Donaldson, 2008,p.19). Gardening is also used in the bold images, with striking colours that visually shows the activity described. This effective use of strong gardening verbs and bold images, makes the entire process of gardening appealing to its young audience. On a deeper level, this could inspire young people to appreciate the natural world and discover small ways of maintaining it.

Bilton (2010) gestures that children need to be outside for maintenance of their health. In One Mole Digging A Hole, the final image of all of the animals relaxing in a garden, connotes the positivity and rewarding nature of being outside. This appreciation of the natural world, is clear with the statement ‘EVERYONE enjoying the sun!’ (Donaldson, 2008, p.21) alongside the smiling images of the animals. It is clear that Donaldson wanted to correlate gardening with positive mental mindset- something that is very important for children to grasp.

Throughout the text, the theme of effective teamwork is extremely prevalent. This is clear as all of the animals are working in unison for a common goal to get completed. The animals are all separated into their own species, which could parallel the different skill sets that individuals have. Appreciation and effective management of different skills allowed a diverse group of different abilities to come together to create a wonderful garden (a shared common outcome).

THEMES TO EXPLORE

From a basic perspective, the book is very educational, this is due to the animals being counted incrementally throughout. Containing basic rhyming counting statements, the book allows children to remember numbers in a fun and interesting way. Donaldson, therefore, effectively uses the theme of numbers throughout the story.

Phonics and readability

PHONICS AND READABILITY

The text is very simplistic, with attractive images to support the words. For a child learning to read, the simple sentences containing CVC words allow early years children to quickly distinguish familiar words and sounds (Waugh et al, 2015). However, for a slightly older child, the simplistic nature of the book will assist with grapheme and phoneme inferences, as well as build on semantic understanding (Waugh et al, 2015). In short, it is evident that this text could be used to teach and revise the fundamental knowledge needed in order to read effectively.

All of these different elements, along with the humour, educational intention and fun nature of the book; makes the story extremely desirable and readable for its audience.

If this book was to be used in a classroom setting, it would be for a phase 1 or phase 2 session. Knowing this, it would be probably best to read it in adult lead small groups, in order to allow for semantic questioning and assistance in sounding-out tricky words.

A Drove of Bullocks, a compilation of animal collective nouns (George, 2012) - Synopsis

SYNOPSIS

A drove of bullocks (George, 2012) is a factual children's book that explores the different names for different groups (also known as collective nouns) of animals ie a pride of lions. Underneath the animal group names it also has a small paragraph of useful information about the animals, including but not limited to, what they eat, where they live, and misconceptions about the animal.

It is geared towards an older reader because of the writing style, but contains appealing graphic-like images that would attract audiences of all ages.

Curriculum links and age range?

CURRICULUM LINKS

A Drove Of Bullocks (George, 2012) is geared towards an older reader such as child in key stage 2 or a high-attainment key stage 1 reader.

There are two main subject links that could be explored using this book. One of which is the art applications surrounding it, with the bold and graphic imagery, this book offers opportunities to inspire different pictures with established techniques. This book, therefore, could be used as a catalyst ‘to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]’ (DFE, 2013, p2, A).By creating images in this way, this may enable a conversation ‘about great artists, architects and designers in history’ (DFE, 2013,p2, A) leading to cultural awareness being facilitated and explored in depth.

Also, by introducing children to this book, they will be exposed to ‘reading books that are structured in different ways’ (DFE, 2013, p33, B) which will support their wider awareness of texts. This will inevitably lead to a young person ‘reading for a range of purposes’ (DFE, 2013, p33, B) meaning that they will increase ‘their familiarity with a wide range of books, including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions’(DFE, 2013, p33,B)

Themes to explore

THEMES TO EXPLORE

A Drove Of Bullocks (George, 2012) has a many different variations of themes present throughout the text. One of which being animals; as a factual book, there are animal facts present in small paragraphs throughout the text.

There are also large graphic images supporting the text, containing various animals featured in the book. There are no limitations of the exploration that could be facilitated using this theme.

Finally, contemporary and graphic art supports the factual information throughout the book. Large, bold, silhouette images are used and represent different animals- serving to make a fun and appealing links to the text.

Phonics and readability

PHONICS AND READABILITY

As established, this book is for a high-achieving key stage 1 student or Key stage 2 reader. This is because this is a lexically challenging fact book which requires a lot of phonetic decoding and could support with writing/ encoding in the future.

There is complex language throughout the book, with challenging and unfamiliar semantic meanings. If this text was to be explored by a young person, ‘appropriate strategies to be proactive’ (Castillo et al, 2014, p69) could be used. For example, use of a dictionary would allow for unknown words to be investigated. Ergo, promoting a love of learning and independence.

Global Sustainability outcome:

Outcome A- Global Sustainability

STEM outcome:

Outcome B-STEM

Creative/expressive outcome:

Outcome C- Creative/expressive

Phonics/readability outcome:

Outcome D- Phonics/readability