Book Selection

We chose

The Twenty -Seventh Annual African Hippopotamus Race

by Morris Lurie for 2/3 classes to study.

Children of this age enjoy this book immensely.

It is a regular paperback book, so children feel that it is dignified to be seen reading it. Because it is profusely illustrated, the weaker readers are not intimidated on first opening it.

We then examined the book to find whether there are language choices that we wished to teach.

We chose various sections to study in detail. These sections were chosen for what we wanted to teach children about reading and writing.

We tried 'patterned writing' on the sections we had chosen, to make sure it was possible.

The section we will discuss is attached. The box indicates the part that is studied in detail.

Language choices for children to use in their writing
1. How to introduce an important character in a dramatic way
2. A way of making a smooth transition from one sentence to another
3. Precise words
4. A series of describing words
5. Cohesion in the choice of describing words
6. How describing words differ. Some are classifying words (sports), and others are qualifying words (sleek)
7. Punctuation
8. The use of 'with' to add description after the thing being described
9. How to describe characters by
a. Telling what they do
b. Telling what they own
c. Telling what they look like, including what they wear
d. Telling what other characters think of them
10. Action and reaction

For the first patterned writing, # 1-8 were our focus.

Language choices for children to recognise in their reading
1. Sentences that start in unexpected ways
a. Children with an early understanding of reading expect what the sentence is about to come first. They find other sentence beginnings difficult to read.
2. Sentences that contain a lot of information (many clauses and phrases combined in one sentence)
a. The very amount of information in such sentences can overcome inexperienced readers
3. Precise words, whose meaning may not be known
a. Some children cannot decode words if they are not absolutely sure of their meaning
4. The role of speech in the text
5. Words in italics
6. How pronouns stand in place of other words

Scaffolding Literacy uses the teaching sequence to teach these things.

The 27th Annual African Hippopotamus Race. Extract from chapter 6, Sebastian.

Suddenly, down below, there was a great noise. "Honk! Honk!' Edward heard. 'Make way! Make way for the Mighty Sebastian! Make way! Make way!' There came into view, travelling fast, a sleek, low, shiny, bright red sports car, with flashing silver wheels, and behind the steering wheel sat a huge hippopotamus. He was the biggest hippopotamus Edward had ever seen, almost black in colour, with bright white teeth fixed in a hard grin. He was wearing a bright red jacket and a vivid green tie and white driving gloves, and, as Edward and Barney watched, he drove right up to the Official Numbers Given Here platform, brought his sleek red sports car to a sudden stop with a squeal of brakes, and then, with an easy swaggering air, climbed out of the seat. 'Who is that?' Edward whispered to Barney. 'I don't know,' Barney whispered back. 'Isn't he huge?' 'I'm the Mighty Sebastian!' announced the huge, dark hippopotamus, coming up the steps, two at a time, onto the platform. 'My name is Sebastian, and I mean to win this race! I'm the best and strongest and fastest hippopotamus in all Africa, and the race will be mine!' 'He's an Official Entrant,' Edward whispered to Barney. Just then, an Official hippopotamus in a white coat come up. 'Are you an Official Entrant?' he asked Sebastian. 'What if I am?' said Sebastian. 'If you want a number,' said the Official hippopotamus, 'you'll have to join the end of the queue.' 'Sebastian doesn't queue for anything!' bellowed the huge, dark hippopotamus. 'Well,' said the Official hippopotamus, 'if you don't get in the queue, you won't get a number. And if you don't get a number, then you can't compete in the race.' 'Who says?' said Sebastian. 'I do,' said the Official. 'It might interest you to know that I'm the winner of last year's Annual African Hippopotamus Boxing and Wrestling Competition.' 'Oh,' mumbled Sebastian, and started to go off to the end of the queue, but just before going, he turned around, pounded his chest, and shouted, 'The Mighty Sebastian will win!' 'Isn't he a boaster?' whispered Edward. 'Even so,' said Barney,' he is the biggest hippopotamus I have ever seen.'