Briefly interrupted through Literacy Week and preparations for a visit by Sai Kung-based author Matt Cooper, PK2 students have been exploring the writing and illustrating of Grace Lin. Grace Lin, whose novels such as Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Starry River of the Sky and The Year of the Dog, are much loved by our upper primary students, also creates beautiful picture books, all with an Asian theme our students can so easily relate to.
Throughout our inquiry, we shared some of her stories as read-alouds with our students. As you can tell from the pictures below, they were very much enjoyed - and also sparked wonderful conversations about personal connections students made with the stories, such as flying a kite, eating dim sum and celebrating Chinese New Year.
Our PK2 students were wonderful inquirers when exploring Grace Lin's illustrations, discovering that she not only uses lots of bright and happy colours but also lots and lots of different patterns. As they are currently inquiring into patterns under the transdisciplinary theme How We Express Ourselves, our young inquirers are very knowledgeable about patterns and were excited to discover that patterns were basically found everywhere in Grace Lin's illustrations: on the clothes people wear, in the characters' surroundings, like the sky, a meadow, a garden and more.
This past Monday, in order to get students to share some of their learning about the author and illustrator, we asked them to imagine being Grace Lin. What would they do? Here are some of the answers students gave:
"I make books."
"I write stories"
"I draw pictures."
"I use the colours of the rainbow."
"I put patterns in my pictures."
We then encouraged students to put what they had learned into practice by completing a picture template from Grace Lin's website. It was great seeing the many patterns appearing in the pictures and the lively conversations happening at the same time as students shared with each other what they were adding to their picture:
"I have a pattern in the sky."
"I am repeating my pattern."
"I am going to write my name with patterns."
"I have a pattern on my shirt."
"I put stripes on the kite."
"I make books."
"I write stories"
"I draw pictures."
"I use the colours of the rainbow."
"I put patterns in my pictures."
We then encouraged students to put what they had learned into practice by completing a picture template from Grace Lin's website. It was great seeing the many patterns appearing in the pictures and the lively conversations happening at the same time as students shared with each other what they were adding to their picture:
"I have a pattern in the sky."
"I am repeating my pattern."
"I am going to write my name with patterns."
"I have a pattern on my shirt."
"I put stripes on the kite."
Well done, PK2 illustrators, readers and inquirers!
If you would like to enjoy some of Grace Lin's stories with your child, remember that you can visit the library together every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon between 3 and 4pm. You might also enjoy exploring the author/illustrator's website and blog.
If you would like to enjoy some of Grace Lin's stories with your child, remember that you can visit the library together every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon between 3 and 4pm. You might also enjoy exploring the author/illustrator's website and blog.
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