Barrington Stoke Classroom resources Harry ANd Kate at the Book Museum Acorn Readers Part 1 Part 2 part 3 Part 4 Part 5 part 6 Synopsis and Themes Quiz Extension Activities Fun Activity About the Author Increasing Vocabulary Exercises www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 1 of 15
Introduction This guide is intended to provide a teacher or learning assistant with materials to support less able readers in accessing the Acorn Readers from Barrington Stoke. A synopsis and overview of themes is provided, followed by: Notes with suggestions for discussion points designed to develop reading comprehension strategies, including prediction and inference skills these are written for teacher use and not distribution to students, and assume the teacher will model and scaffold as the group works. Photocopiable quiz to check basic comprehension. Extension activities to further understanding of the text and/or provide opportunities for speaking, listening and writing work. Fun stuff provides art, craft or other enjoyable activity idea. A brief author biography. Word search and another photocopiable activity designed to develop vocabulary or consolidate sight words in the text should you wish to use these you may wish to do so before beginning work on the text. All photocopiable activities may be reproduced for use by students within your own school. Answers are provided for all photocopiable activities. We hope you enjoy using these materials with your students. www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 2 of 15
Introduction About the Acorn Readers Barrington Stoke s Acorn Readers are high interest, low reading-age books from eight well known children s authors, including former Children s Laureates Michael Morpurgo and Michael Rosen, bestsellers Sophie McKenzie and Georgia Byng, and TV comedian-turned-horror-novelist Charlie Higson. The Acorns offer seriously struggling readers in the upper primary the opportunity to access age-appropriate stories within a very low word count of 350 500 words per book. Texts have been edited to a reading age of 6 (with the occasional challenging item of vocabulary in recognition of the chronological age of readers). Challenged read ers The issues for children who struggle to read are complex and stem from difficulties across a wide range of language and thinking functions. It is common for these children to struggle with decoding, with literal comprehension at word, sentence and paragraph level and with higher levels of meaning. The Acorns and D ecoding Children who struggle with the mechanics of reading may have a learning deficit regarding letter/sound correspondences, or a deeper problem such as poor visual discrimination or poor working memory. In the case of children with dyslexia, compromised development of and access to the visual lexicon (store of known whole words) can also mean that children rely more on decoding than their peers. The Acorn Readers use the Barrington Stoke typeface and layout, which have been designed to support visual discrimination. High/low editing reduces the incidence of irregular words to reduce obstacles to decoding. The Acorns and literal comprehension at word, sentence, paragraph and text level Many readers read and understand single words but struggle with comprehension when words are put into sentences and paragraphs. These readers may struggle to use context to work out the meaning of words, to understand flexible use of multi-meaning words, to process complex sentences, understand passive constructions and grasp figurative language. www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 3 of 15
The Acorns are edited and designed to support these readers: Illustration adds to available context, multi-meaning words are minimised, sentences structures are simplified and passive constructions are avoided. Strategic processing and metacognition Strategic processing is a learner s ability to control and manage his or her own cognitive activities. Children with learning difficulties often process information with great difficulty and struggle to develop strategies others use as a matter of course. In reading it is not atypical for these children to be unaware of basic strategies such as re-reading passages they don t understand. Identification of key information, sequencing, prediction, inference and other processes required for comprehension are also likely to be compromised. Our guided reading notes are designed to help develop strategic processing. Metacognition is knowledge and understanding of cognitive process and abilities most simply defined as thinking about thinking. Work on metacognitive skills can help children with additional support needs to develop their cognitive processes and strategies. Despite their short length, the Acorn Readers are strong pieces of writing with sufficient style and depth to provide opportunities for reading beyond the text and understanding higher levels of meaning. www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 4 of 15
part 1 Synopsis and Themes Synopsis and themes Harry and Kate reluctantly accompany their mother to see the rare books in a museum exhibit. While their mother looks at the books, they spot a man hang his jacket over a security camera, pry a case open and steal a book. The security guard is asleep and so Harry and Kate turn sleuth, follow the man and trick him into going into a storeroom where they lock him up. Harry and Kate at the Book Museum is a lighthearted kids crime caper with a low-key message about literacy. Guided Reading Ideas Front Cover Read the title and look at the picture. Look at the way that Harry and Kate are standing. Are these poses you would expect for people at a museum? Do they look like they are going to be doing some reading, or something else? Read P2 & P3 and look at the picture Mum says that the visit to the museum is going to be great. Do you think that Harry and Kate agree? What evidence do you have? Read P4 & P5 Were you correct in what you thought about how Harry and Kate felt about the museum? The security guard is asleep. Do you think this is because his job is boring or because the museum is boring, or some other reason? Read P6 & P7 Why do you think the man has hung his jacket over the camera? What do you predict is going to happen next? Read P8 & P9 Why is the man opening the case? What do you predict he is going to do with the book inside the case? www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 5 of 15
Read P10 & P11 Were you correct? Read P12 & P13 What do the readers think of what Harry and Kate do here? Would they follow the man, or would they do something else, for example alert the guard? Read P14 & P15 Read the text on these pages again with extra care. What has happened? Why is the thief coming back down the same corridor again? Read P16, P17, P18 & P19 Think about the way that Harry and Kate trick the thief. It seems that the thief does not have an important skill that might have helped him get away What is it? Read to the end of the book Mum and Harry have different ideas about what a great visit to a museum might be like! Who do the readers agree with? www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 6 of 15
Part 2 Quiz How well can you recall? 1. What sort of a museum did Mum, Harry and Kate go to visit? 2. What sort of books were in the museum? 3. What was the security guard doing when they got there? 4. Was Harry happy to be at the museum? 5. Harry and Kate saw a man do something odd what was it? www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 7 of 15
6. Did Harry and Kate tell the guard what they had seen? 7. Did the man know how to get out of the Museum? 8. What was written on the sign beside the door Harry sent the man through? 9. What did Harry and Kate do when the man had gone through the door? 10. Did Harry think the visit had been good? www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 8 of 15
PArt 3 Extension Activities 1. Reading a skill for life and for fun Reading is an important skill, as we can see when the thief in the book gets trapped because he cannot read a sign on a door. Work together to list as many different types of text as you can. Here are some examples to get you started: Text on food and drink packets that tells you what is in the item Text on medicine bottles that tells you how much of the medicine to take Text on a ticket for a plane or train that tells you when to get to the station or airport 2. Rare books Some books are worth a lot of money. Why? Read the following sentences. Which would make a book valuable and which would not? A book might be worth a lot of money because It is very old and people who collect old things might like to collect it There are not very many copies and people who collect rare things might like to collect it It has been loved a lot by someone and looks a bit old and worn and people might like that It belonged to someone important and people might like to collect things linked to that person It is popular and lots of people have a copy it has a special cover, e.g. one made of gold It is made by hand and has lots of very lovely handpainted pictures It has been signed by the author Likely to make a book valuable Not likely to make a book valuable www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 9 of 15
3. Make a rare book cover Some very rare old books have special gold covers. One example is the Book of Kells you can see pictures of it online. There is only one copy of the Book of Kells and it was not printed it was written by hand, by monks, over 1,000 years ago. It is filled with patterns of Celtic knots, and pictures of animals, monsters, and people from the Bible. You can make your own version of a gold book cover with only four things: A piece of card PVA Glue String Gold paint spray paint or poster paint will both work. The steps are very simple. First plan out the pattern you want on your book cover and draw it with a pencil. Now cut pieces of string and glue the pieces on the card, following the pattern. When the string is dry, paint the whole thing gold. Here is a brilliant example made by some children in Scotland: www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 10 of 15
Part 4 Fun Activity Make your own antique manuscript! Follow the instructions below to make your own antique manuscript. If you need inspiration, take a look at some antique books online to see what they look like. What you ll need: Sheet of A4 white paper Container that will hold warm water 3 Tea bags Hair dryer (optional) Coloured pens Water Timer Towel Step 1. Put warm water into the container. Add the tea bags. Wait 10 minutes for the water to turn a dark brown colour and to cool down. Step 2. Take the tea bags out. Make sure the water is warm, but not too hot. Step 3. Crumple up your piece of paper into a ball and then smooth it back out again as best you can. Place the piece of paper into the tub of tea water. Make sure the entire piece of paper is covered by water. Step 4. Let your piece of paper sit in the water for 15-20 minutes. The longer your paper sits in the water, the darker the paper will become. Make sure someone keeps time. Step 5. After 15-20 minutes take your paper out of the water and lay flat on a towel. Leave it alone until it is completely dry. If available, use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process. Step 5. When your paper is completely dry it should look like a very old piece of paper. Use your coloured pens to write and/or draw on your antique manuscript. Step 6. Show your antique manuscript to your neighbour! www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 11 of 15
Part 5 About the Author About Sophie McKenzie Sophie McKenzie grew up in London. She didn t always write books first of all she worked for newspapers as a writer and for magazines as an editor. In 2006 she went on a creative writing course and fell in love with telling stories. Sophie s first novel came out in 2006. It is called Girl, Missing and is the story of Lauren, a girl who believes that she was kidnapped as a baby. The book won a number of awards and became a best-seller and Sophie has gone on to write two follow-up stories about Lauren and her family. Sophie has also written a number of other books, including the series The Medusa Project. She also writes for adults. Sophie lives in London with her teenage son. www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Page 12 of 15
Harry and Kate at the Book Museum Word Search Find the hidden words. Colour each word as you find it. m u s e u m q w e r t p j h g z x v c r j u e t g j o m s n a s d f t h i e f h t c w n k i u t y r o w p k h e k c o j v s e c u r i t y w e e p r a j h g f x c v b m n g t o i c p o i n t e d w e u u b v n k o n g f s c a m e r a e r g e l n g h d a r h a s r k l u t i b v c s t e g a f d f k j g c y t r w c a s d g c o m n h e g f s e h n g e g d r a r e w o r t h t b o r e d c j h g a s e h v h r y j h f e w e d w e t h u m p e d k j d g r y museum rare worth bored snoring security thumped jacket camera pocket forced guard catch pointed thief police Teacher s Notes Harry and Kate at the Book Museum Increasing Vocabulary Exercises
Harry and Kate at the Book Museum Word Search Answers m u s e u m q w e r t p j h g z x v c r j u e t g j o m s n a s d f t h i e f h t c w n k i u t y r o w p k h e k c o j v s e c u r i t y w e e p r a j h g f x c v b m n g t o i c p o i n t e d w e u u b v n k o n g f s c a m e r a e r g e l n g h d a r h a s r k l u t i b v c s t e g a f d f k j g c y t r w c a s d g c o m n h e g f s e h n g e g d r a r e w o r t h t b o r e d c j h g a s e h v h r y j h f e w e d w e t h u m p e d k j d g r y museum rare worth bored snoring security thumped jacket camera pocket forced guard catch pointed thief police Teacher s Notes Harry and Kate at the Book Museum Increasing Vocabulary Exercises
Harry and Kate at the Book Museum Word Match Cut out these pairs of word cards. Shuffle the cards and then lay them face-down on your desk. Try to find pairs of cards. You can only turn two cards over at a time! When you have found a pair, take them off the desk. Make sure you read all the words out loud AND you know what they mean! museum security guard snoring lever private thief corridor sign storeroom arrested museum security guard snoring lever private thief corridor sign storeroom arrested Teacher s Notes Harry and Kate at the Book Museum Increasing Vocabulary Exercises