Year 2 Learning Term 3, Weeks 1‐ 7 Unit of Inquiry: How we express ourselves An Inquiry into: the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values and extend our creativity Central Idea: Stories can engage the audience and communicate meaning and emotions Lines of Inquiry • the feelings and emotions that stories evoke • common values and beliefs expressed in stories • how stories are created and shared • how to construct an effective story Concepts 
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Form Connection Perspective Subjects The Arts (Visual Arts, Music, Drama, Dance) Mandarin, Social Studies, Language Overview Over the past week, all Year 1 students have participated in an incursion with storyteller Roger Jenkins who shared traditional folktales from around the world, with an emphasis on Asian stories. This incursion provided the students with a fantastic opportunity to ‘tune into’ the unit. They were exposed to and experienced the following key elements of the workshop through Roger’s engaging and entertaining method of telling stories:  the many different ways of telling a story  illustrate several key story structures  evoke a variety of emotions ‐ plenty of laughter, but also a serious story where the heroine is in trouble (fear, loss, sadness)  respond and participate to stories expressed in different ways In order to ‘tune your heads’ as parents into the unit, I would like you to reflect upon your definition of a story. What comes to mind when you think about stories? What genre do you automatically refer to when you think of the word ‘story’? Our natural reaction or tendency is generally towards books. If we take a moment to stop, look and think, stories form a large part of our daily lives: our history, our connections to friends and memories and they can be told in a variety of different ways. For example: though text, images, song, dances and aurally. How often do we listen to a piece of music and think about what story is being told? Do we really listen to the words and the crescendo of the music to hear and feel the story that the song is about? I would like you to take a minute to watch the clip below. Whilst you are watching it, I would like you to think through a conceptual lens, specifically focusing your attention on the questions below: Form: what is the form of this story? What elements and key features of a story were included? Connection: what connections were you able to make with the story? Perspective: whose perspective is the story being told from? Would the choice of music change the perspective or meaning of the story? What emotions were evoked whilst watching the story? Attraction perform their stunning shadow act - Week 1 Auditions _ Britain's Got Talent 2013.mp4
Inquiring into the unit through a conceptual lens FORM: The concept of FORM refers to the understanding that everything has a form with recognizable features that can be observed, identified, described and categorized. Students will ask questions such as, ‘What is it like?’ to assist in developing their understanding of form. Throughout the unit, students will be inquiring into the form of a story through the second line of inquiry, ‘how to construct an effective story’. They will focus on the structure, purpose and delivery of various stories; identifying the features of a story as well as inquiring into and experimenting with the different ways in which stories can be effectively communicated, depending on the intended purpose of the story. For ways that you can assist your child at home and more information on the importance of expressive reading, please refer to ‘the ways to help at home’ section of this newsletter. CONNECTION: The concept of CONNECTION refers to the understanding that we live in a world of interacting systems in which the actions of any individual element affect others. Through the second line of inquiry ‘how stories are created and shared’, students will inquire into the different reasons as to why people tell stories and why they are important. For example: to entertain, inform, provoke or to teach. Students will have the opportunity to explore the reasons as to how stories are created, how stories are born from ideas from other stories (e.g. Shrek – an original story which had elements that were ‘borrowed' from a variety of different stories), be exposed to different genres of stories as well as experimenting with creating alternative endings from stories. Students will also make connections with different types of stories and the most effective way to share stories, taking into consideration the intent and genre of the story. PERSPECTIVE: The concept of PERSPECTIVE refers to the understanding that knowledge is moderated by different perspectives and that these different perspectives have different interpretations, understandings and findings. Through developing student understanding of this concept, students will begin to establish a disposition towards rejecting simplistic, biased interpretations, moving towards seeking to understand and consider the points of view of others. Through this conceptual lens, students will have the opportunity to inquire into and develop an understanding that stories are told from different viewpoints and that they can evoke a range of different feelings, emotions, values and beliefs. Students will experiment with retelling a story from a different perspective, such as The Three Little Pigs from the perspective of the wolf, or add their own perspective to a story; as well as reflecting on what thoughts, feelings and emotions are experienced as a result of listening, watching, experiencing different stories. Students may also explore how the mode of delivery of a story can impact the effect that is has on different people’s feelings and emotions. Attitudes Creativity ‐ students use their creativity to compose original stories, retell existing stories through different perspectives and to use expression when reading. Appreciation ‐students develop an appreciation for different origins and forms of story Enthusiasm ‐ students show an enthusiasm towards reading and creating stories Learner Profile Communicators: students have the opportunity to speak in front of class, to listen, communicate in different ways ‐Reflective: students will be reflecting on how different stories make them feel and the emotions that are evoked Students will also be able to reflect on the stories they like and reflect on the different types of stories they prefer (i.e. oral, dance, music etc). Reflect on stories from other cultures. Self‐assessment of their own stories and responding to feedback from others Transdisciplinary Skills Communication Skills: Writing ‐ writing retells of stories and planning for writing narratives Viewing ‐ understanding the ways in which images, music, sounds and language interact to convey ideas/interpreting and analysing visuals and multimedia Presenting ‐ constructing and communicating information through visuals and multimedia (sound, music) for a range of purposes and audiences Vocabulary The following words are not a list to learn in entirety, rather a list indicative of the language that students will be exposed to throughout the unit. It is important to provide the students with not only a broad vocabulary base but to also support them in understanding the terms that they encounter through personal reading and inquiry. Character Plot Setting Problem Solution Values Belief Images Beginning Middle End Expression Fluency Communication Verbal Non verbal Fable Myth Legend Genre Comic Ways to help at home This unit provides a wonderful opportunity for engaging in open discussions with your child. One of the most important ways that you can assist your child at home is to experience and explore different types/genres of stories. Exposure to art, music, various texts, discussions around family stories and the method of sharing those stories will greatly enhance their understanding of stories and how they are used to communicate meaning and emotion. Another way that you can assist your child at home is to READ, READ, READ! The best way that we can help children to develop expression when they read is through modeling expressive reading when we read aloud. Bedtime stories or book sharing at home are a fantastic opportunity to do this and it’s not as scary as it sounds! Pinnell and Sharer, leading educationalists in Literacy, state that; Expressive reading is another important indicator of comprehending. Children can read a passage by grouping the words in each sentence into meaningful clusters but still use a monotone voice. You can help them by reading aloud to them frequently, modeling phrased, fluent and expressive reading. Children will also hear this type of reading whenever they listen to stories on audiotapes at a listening centre. Note that expressive reading is not overly dramatic or artificial; listening to expressive reading is like listening to a storyteller. Below are some excerpts from Mem Fox who explains the art and reasons behind the importance of reading aloud to children. The more expressively we read, the more fantastic the experience will be. The more our kids love books, the more they’ll pretend to read them, and the more they pretend to read, the more quickly they’ll learn to read. So reading aloud is not quite enough—we need to read aloud well. The ups and downs of our voices and our pauses and points of emphasis are like music, literally, to the ears of young children, and they love music. Simple tunes also make anything easier to remember, so it’s useful to read a book in exactly the same way every time, and to read the same book over and over again. The more quickly children pick up the "tune" of the words, the more they’ll remember the words and the more quickly they’ll have fun trying to ‘read’ the story themselves, with the same expression as we do’. Children will naturally gravitate toward familiar or ‘easy’ texts to read. This is a brilliant way of developing confidence, understanding and expression when reading since the focus on decoding more difficult words is taken away. It is difficult for a child to be expected to put expression into a text if it is a new or challenging. Try reading one of your favourite books to your child. Ask them how they think that this character might sound. They may have a completely different interpretation of the character. Conversations such as these when reading with your child, make the reading experience more meaningful and relevant. Below is a link to Mem’s website. Here you will find some examples of how Mem reads aloud some of her well known books along with tips and handy hints for parents to read to their children. http://memfox.com/for‐anyone‐interested/for‐anyone‐interested‐a‐read‐aloud‐lesson/